After a day of touring Yangon in 90 plus degree weather and high humidity, and getting back to our hotel at 3:20 in the afternoon, our guide asked if anyone wanted to go with him to Dala, ‘a slum’ as he described it, across the Yangon River from downtown Yangon. He said he was leaving in ten minutes. Vicky and I made the quick decision and were back in the hotel lobby in ten minutes. There was only one other woman who joined us, so it was a group of three plus our guide.

We took a cab ride from our hotel to the Pansodan Ferry Terminal. Once we exited the cab, we didn’t see another white or Anglo person for over three hours. This was a very local, suburban or rural Yangon area trip. Some 30,000 people a day use the ferry to cross the river but many more than that use small boats. The ferry cost a dollar. Just boarding the ferry, the ten minute ride across the river, and departing the ferry on the other side was quite an experience all by itself.

1. You can see part of the ferry terminal in the first photo. We were just arriving (Vicky is on the left) and at that point, it was not very crowded. But by the time the ferry approached the river bank, it was wall-to-wall, body-to-body, like we were making press-board people.

2. Once aboard the ferry, we took seats and there was plenty of room to spare. It didn’t seem very crowded at all. Plus, food vendors and other vendors came around selling items right to your seat, such as watermelon.

3. The young lady in the third photo was selling hard boiled quail eggs. We purchased a dozen and they were quite good.

4. The fourth photo is looking back at Yangon. You can see that it is quite a big, bustling, and busy place.

5. The last photo was looking down the Yangon River. There were dozens of ships and many dozens of small boats of all sizes and shapes out in the river.