Yangon: A visit to the Royal Lake Kandawgyi and Bogyoke Park

On our last day in Yangon before leaving by nightbus to Kalaw Yuma and I decided to walk to the Kandawgyi lake from the place we were staying, Lavender Hotel situated by the Shwedagon pagoda. On the way to the lake we passed by another pagoda called the Kyay Thone Pagoda, and we also enjoyed seeing the local people doing their daily routines (not to mention that the street was filled with Pokemon Go players! It was surprising the game was so popular here too..)

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When we got close to the lake we discovered that it was mostly inaccessible from the road, so we walked towards the north end of the lake where we found a road leading down to the Bogyoke Park.

Lake Kandawgyi used to supply clean water to the city. But that is probably a long time ago..

The lake in itself is one of the two biggest lakes in Yangon, and the posh area around what also is referred to as the "Royal Lake" is home to a number of embassies. Visitors to the lake get a fabulous view of one of Yangon’s most famous restaurants; the Karaweik. This restaurant dates back to 1972 and is a replica of the Burmese royal barge, which is also depicted on the bottles of the country's beloved Myanmar Beer. We crossed a little bridge to a small peninsula and took some time to enjoy the view of the lake and the floating restaurant.

By the Bogyoke park they also had a nice little restaurant called The Best that offered a great view of the lake. We came there for lunch so there weren’t too many guests there at the moment, but one could tell from the location and the atmosphere that this place is popular among foreigners and locals alike. The food was great, and so was the view.

The final thing we went to see was what looked like a man-made plastic mountain called the “Utopia Tower”. Outside there were some signs saying they had karaoke and restaurants inside, and it seemed like the rooftop restaurant could be of interest. However, a short visit inside made it clear that this place's golden days were in the past; everything inside seemed old and not very well-kept.

We took the elevator to the top (to our great happiness the old thing didn’t break down) in hope of finding a nice restaurant where we could enjoy a nice view and maybe a drink, but all that was there was small heaps of rubble and a guard asking for money to let us go out to see the view. We decided it was better to down again.

All in all it was nice to stop by the Kandawgyi lake, so if you have some time to kill and want to get away from the busy Yangon streets you might want to take a short stop here. If I ever get the chance to go back to Yangon I’d most definitely spend an evening with dinner at The Best Restaurant.!

Thanks for reading! Please feel free to leave comments/questions below and I'll do my best to answer.

-Anette

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