Myanmar stay for student exchange program day4-7

Hi, this is Genki.

The story continues from the last one and this is from the evening of the forth day. 

The forth day, 19th Nov.

Do you know there is a big lake in Yangon? Its name is Inya Lake. Actually it's one of the best places in Yangon to run, exercise and chat. I heard the best timing is the morning or evening. One of my friend Banyar Oo took me to the lake in the evening.

After that, we went to Suwai Thin's house. We walked and walked and walked... During the way, Banyar Oo told me there are many people from different religion living in Yangon. That's why there are not only pagodas but also church and mosques in Yangon. 

 

A high school but also a church

OK back to what I was talking, Suwai Thin is one of the YTU students and my friend. As we arrived their house, her mother served us some juice and fruit. I was surprised at the fact that her uncle is a rector of one of the Universities in Yangon!

 

We took pictures at Suwai's house

After that we went to the downtown area for dinner. Actually we walked through the Yangon University during the way, and I found that its area is really large. There are more than 10 tennis court in the University. 

I also found a big supermarket which was actually built this year! It was completely different from the other buildings. The inside of the supermarket is as follows. You can see that Myanmar is now experiencing a big modernization.

The fifth day, 20th Nov.

This day, I asked one of my friends to take me to the rural areas around Yangon. Then he managed the trip and we went to the east side of Yangon by Phyu's car, who is one of the teachers of YTU and lives in the sub-urban area of Yangon city. She served us breakfast and lunch and it was delicious. During the drive, I could see many farm land and villages and from what she taught me, they live in a low income condition. Not only driving the rural area but we went also to some pagodas. We saw the river side which is located near one of the pagodas and as you can see, some people live in the other side of the river. 

We had breakfast and lunch together

The road condition is not so good

After coming back to the Guest House, I went to a gym with my friend Bobo and William. I had to register but it was only 15000 Kyats per month. In general people in Myanmar are thin but guys who were building up in the gym were all muscular. I was the only foreigner there so it may be better to go to the gym with my friends. Anyway, it was a good place to exercise and I want to keep coming here during my stay.

The bad news here was that I got a cold :(

The sixth day, 21th Nov.

I and Bobo took two people from Tohoku University around the Yangon area. One of them is  Associate professor Dr. Komori and the other is his student, whose name is Ms. Sato.

After meeting at the hotel they stay, we went to Shwedagon Pagoda, which is the largest pagoda in Yangon and also in the world. It was literally fantastic. Actually this was my second time to come here but yet I was overwhelmed by this big pagoda. I really recommend you to come here at least once in your lifetime. 

Then we went to the central Yangon area , which Bobo and I went 3 days ago.

After having lunch in a Myanmar restaurant, we took a private boat and went up the Yangon river toward the upstream for an hour. There were big ports along the city side but as for the other side, we could only see the small old houses. I think poor people are living there and that's why they need water for their lives. Rich people can easily have an access to the water because of the good infrastructure, but poor people can't. So I think one the reasons poor people tend to live near the river is not only that they cannot live elsewhere because of the lack of land to live but also such kind of reason.

The seventh day, 22nd Nov.

Japanese research group and YTU research group went to Bago region for a field survey and I followed them. At first we went to Zaung Tu Weir. Actually I've come here in June but the water level was completely different as this is the dry season and it was the beginning rainy season the other day. 

After going to the weir, we went to the dam which is located in the west side of Bago city area. In 2011, a flood occurred in the tributary which flows from the dam. 

After having lunch, we went to one of the damaged areas by flood where many poor people live. 

 

Then we went to Tawa because here they have a sluice gate at the end of the canal which connects Bago river and Sittaung river. We went to the Bago river side. This canal is mainly for irrigation but it works as a weir in the case of flood. Sedimentation is a problem here and they are dredging the canal continuously.

During the bus move, I could see the features of Bago city area a little. I want to do a more detailed survey here taking advantage of this survey.

See you soon!