Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Theingyi Zei Market
In the block between Anawrahta and Mahabandoola roads, bounded by Shwedagon Pagoda Rd to the west and
Kon Zay Dan St to the east • Daily 8am-5pm
A world away from the clean, calm and carefully manicured Bogyoke Market,
Theingyi Zei
is what a proper Burmese bazaar looks like, filling almost an entire city block with a chaot-
ic crush of stalls, shoppers, sacks, boxes, bicycles, piles of rubbish and the occasional rat.
The market is divided between two parallel buildings separated by a pedestrian alleyway
that hosts one of Yangon's biggest and busiest vegetable markets. The western of the two
buildings is insanely crowded, especially on its Mahabandoola Road side, usually rammed
with crazed bargain-hunters and stuffed with huge quantities of cheap clothes piled up on the
quaint wooden stalls (most of which appear to date back to colonial times, with an unusual
designresemblinglarge,two-storeycupboards).Theeasternbuildingisonlyfractionallyless
chock-a-block, although things become a little calmer as you head north, and the market ac-
quires a distinctly Indian flavour as you approach Anawrahta Road and the Sri Kali temple,
with shops full of sacks of spices, pulses, dried herbs, and mysterious bits of culinary and
medicinal herb and root.
Musmeah Yeshua Synagogue
26th St • No official opening hours - stick your head into the courtyard to see if the synagogue's guardian is
available to show you around
The self-effacing
Musmeah Yeshua Synagogue
is easily missed in one of downtown Yan-
gon'sbusiestdistricts.Thesynagoguewasconstructedfrom1893to1896toreplaceanearli-
er building of 1854 and served colonial Rangoon's thriving community of Sephardic Jews
washometoasmanyas2500Jews,althoughmostlefteitherduringthewartimeJapaneseoc-
cupation orlater,followingNeWin'smilitary coupof1962.Thesynagoguelostitslastrabbi
in 1969; Yangon's current Jewish population now numbers fewer than twenty and much of
the synagogue congregation comes from overseas visitors. The beautifully preserved interior
is well worth a look, with its gold-railed
bimah
(the platform from which the Torah is read)
flanked by a pair of
menorah
lamps, a finely decorated ceiling and high arches supporting a
pair of wooden balconies - for women - on either side.
Chinatown
Yangon's bustling
Chinatown
(roughly the area south of Anawrahta Road between Shwe
Dagon Pagoda Road and Lanmadaw Street) is the major home for the city's Chinese-descen-
ded inhabitants, and one of the liveliest and most enjoyable parts of downtown.
Guanyin Gumiao Temple
Mahabandoola Rd • Free • Daily 24hr
