Yangon – The Strand Hotel

As I was walking through downtown Yangon, the rain started up. Most of the streets have large trees to provide a bit of shelter, but as the rain started to get heavier, I sought a safer refuge. I was right next to the Strand Hotel, so I thought I’d pop in.

The strand Hotel is one of a series of grand Asian hotels built at the hotel of colonial times. It’s right up there with Raffles Hotel in Singapore and the Imperial hotel in Bangkok. Well, they were all run by the Sarkies brothers. I had considered staying here, but as rooms START at USD$450 a night, I decided that I wasn’t that keen after all.

The hotel sits on the waterfront. Well, the road next to the waterfront. Due to some trees and buildings, you can’t actually see the water. It’s the thought that counts though...

The building is as you would expect. All crisp white walls, staff in funny hats and silly clothes and everyone speaking impeccable English. I was escorted to the cafe for a spot of lunch.

I always feel funny when the staff are better dressed than me in restaurants. If this was a similarly posh hotel in Europe, there’s no way in hell they’d let in a scruffy looking dude in shorts and sweaty t-shirt. Being the Orient, however, I was treated like royalty.

Lunch was nice. It was also massively expensive for Yangon. All things are relative though. For a meal in Europe, it was quite cheap. I couldn’t help that think that the cost of my lunch would feed a local family for a year, but it tastes nice and that’s the main thing...