Issue 7 • January 2019
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Mann Yadanarpon Airlines Inflight Magazine Issue 7 • January 2019 An ode to exotic MANDALAY PUTAO: In search of adventure in the far north What’s hot in YANGON RIGHT NOW? www.airmyp.com CONTENTS Issue 7 18 January 2019 10 Putao: in search of adventure in the far north 18 An ode to exotic Mandalay 26 Restaurant & Bar Guide: what’s hot in Yangon right now! 34 Popa Garden Resort: 34 nature & soul 4 | Yadanarpon 36 Mann Yadanarpon Airlines Inflight Magazine Issue 7 • January 2019 An ode to exotic MANDALAY PUTAO: In search of adventure in the far north What’s hot in YANGON RIGHT NOW? www.airmyp.com 40 Mann Yadanarpon Airlines 36 Freedom and luxury at Head Office Gerizim Hotel Yangon International Airport Estate, Airport Road, Mingalardon Township, 11021, Yangon, Myanmar. Hunt Line: (+95-1) 656969 40 Shwe Mann Taung: Mobile : (+95-9) 09404460006-7 a premier experience with Fax: (+95-1) 656998 E-mail: [email protected] a touch of class www.airmyp.com www.facebook.com/ MannYadanarPonAirlines Regulars All rights reserved. No part of this publishing may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means including electronic or 6 Corporate Profile mechanical, including photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior consent of the 48 Mann Yadanarpon Destinations Publisher in writing. Opinions expressed in Yadanapon are solely 55 Route Map those of the writers and are not necessarily endorsed by Mann Yadanarpon Airlines or the 56 Travel Tips publisher, who are not responsible or liable in any way for the contents or any other the 58 Flight Schedule advertisements, articles, photographs or illustrations contained in this publication. Yadanarpon | 5 Corporate Profile Our Vision • To be the airline of choice for customers by maintaining the highest levels of safety, service and efficiency. Our Mission • We are dedicated to providing quality service that exceeds expectations. • We respect our employees' aspirations while demanding the highest standards of performance. • We share our achievements with the community. About Us Mann Yadanarpon Airlines (MYP) was incorporated as a Myanmar private limited liability company on 23 July 2013, and granted a permit on 27 January 2014 by the Myanmar Investment Commission to operate air transportation services on both domestic and international routes. 6 | Yadanarpon Our Network Our Cabin Crew Our Destinations for the current winter season Our cabin crew training and administration are Yangon, Mandalay, Nyaung- U (Bagan), Heho managers and supervisors hold cabin crew (Inle Lake), Tachileik , Myitkyina, Lashio, Thandwe instructor certificates from the ATR Training (Ngapali), Sittwe. All of our destinations are of Center in Toulouse, France. All of our cabin crew tourism and/or commercial significance. have attended the Airline Cabin Crew Training Course approved by the Department of Civil We will expand our network to more domestic Aviation. destinations after acquiring additional aircraft. We plan to commence regional operations after we have consolidated our domestic operations. Our Engineering Crew Our licensed aircraft maintenance engineers have Our Fleet type ratings on ATR 72-600 from the ATR Training Our current fleet consists of two new ATR 72- Centers in Touluse, France and Singapore. 600 aircraft which were delivered on 31 January and 1 April 2014 respectively. We plan to acquire Maintenance of our aircraft is carried out by additional ATR 72-600 aircraft in the near future in our own Approved Maintenance Organization order to expand our network. approved by the Department of Civil Aviation, Myanmar. Base maintenance is outsourced to Our Flight Crew approved maintenance, repair and overhaul organizations (MROS). Our pilots are all qualified on ATR 72-600 aircraft type. All our pilots’ training are carried out at the ATR Training Centers in Toulouse, France and Singapore, with recurrent and type rating simulator training at ATR approved facilities in Bangkok, Thailand. Yadanarpon | 7 8 | Yadanarpon Yadanarpon | 9 10 | Yadanarpon In search of adventure in the farRaymond Belvuenorth h, hasty preparation: so often the key to spontaneous travel but every so often a downer. Couple it with Myanmar’s ever-present Aimmigration officers – ready and waiting for tourists at airfields all over the country – and you occasionally have a recipe for failure. Thus a long-awaited but quickly formulated trip to Putao, the most northerly major town in Myanmar, so nearly ended in failure. The kind immigration folks sternly informed me that without special permission, which needs to be sought 20 days in advance of travel, I could not travel far beyond the township’s bounds. In particular, I was forbidden from overnighting outside town. Yadanarpon | 11 Apart from the general annoyance that Given my three-day timeframe, that still left comes with encountering bureaucracy, this plenty of scope to explore some villages, meant that any hope of visiting remote enjoy some boating on the Malikha River villages, which I’d read was a highlight of (immigration watches the bridges, not travel to the area, would not be possible. the banks) and learn some of the region’s history. Thankfully, Myanmar people are used to decades of overreaching officialdom, so However, that was all in the coming days they can normally be relied upon to come and I had more pressing issues at hand – up with ways around the rules. When I specifically, finding a place to unload my met the tour guides in Putao that I had luggage and retrieve a sweater. Putao is made contact with prior to departure, my about 1500 kilometres (about 940 miles) spirits lifted. While they confirmed that due north of Yangon and tucked into a overnight stays outside town were not valley between several mountains – the possible, apparently I could still visit plenty foothills of the immense Himalayas. of villages – provided we did not cross the Malikha River. Putao is only about 500 metres above sea level, so while night-time temperatures can dip into low single digits (in Celsius), the day-time temperature is usually in the mid- 20s. By the time my plane arrived in Putao, Given my three-day timeframe, that still left after leaving Yangon in the morning and stopping in both Mandalay and Myitkyina, plenty of scope to explore some villages, the sun was dipping on the horizon, and enjoy some boating on the Malikha River together with it the mercury. and learn some of the region’s history. The first stop was Putao Trekking House, a beautiful 16-room lodge overlooking the main valley and a two-minute walk from 12 | Yadanarpon the city centre. After locating a later learned there is a guesthouse warm shirt, a coffee was delivered to next door of the same name, with the bungalow’s balcony. In the late rooms for about $40 per night). afternoon sun it is a brilliant place to unwind and watch butterflies The following morning I awoke with flit across the citrus tree-studded the sun illuminating the curtains. grounds. There are oranges, lemons, With exploration adrenaline (okay, limes, pomelo and grapefruit, the last that’s not a real thing) coursing unusually sweet and bearing little through my veins, I quickly dressed resemblance to the sour fruit I know and made my way onto the main from down south. road and into the town again. My resolve was rewarded by a glorious I then explored Putao proper in vista – the sun rising over the search of dinner, donning a heavy mountains and revealing, piece-by- sweater and a beanie, my hands piece, the misty valley around us. tucked into my pockets. After so many years in Yangon, the cool In Myanmar, markets tend to be the temperatures were a welcome shock. epicentre of life. For a visitor, they Less pleasant was the realisation tell so much about an area and its that there are only two restaurants people: not just what people eat, but in Putao and that most people eat also what they produce; what the at home. I picked the one with more people look like; how people make guests, Hta Wan Razi Restaurant (I a living; and, to some extent, the Yadanarpon | 13 comparative wealth. The fresh food it via a day-long trek but with the sections are particularly interesting; I help of some motorbikes we reached love finding new types of fish or fruits Namhtunkoo Namhtunkoo, along a muddy, slippery and vegetables that I’ve never seen is spread out mountain path. before. around a couple Along the way we passed people On this, the Putao market didn’t of creeks and its coming out of the jungle with foraged disappoint. The tiny potatoes were biggest buildings roots and herbs, as well as plenty of a kind I’ve previously only seen in heading to Putao on motorbikes. Rakhine State’s Mrauk-U. There was are churches. There were even a few three-wheeled also sharp-headed eel and large, Christianity is motorbikes braving the path, leaving smoked fish. Leaving the market, I strong in Kachin me impressed by the drivers’ resolve. glanced back and caught sight of a In monsoon, the route must be snow-capped mountain peaks; I spent State and impassable. the next 30 minutes snapping hazy churches are far photographs, before returning to more common Eventually the hills eased and we lodge. rode out onto the valley, crossed over than Buddhist a suspension bridge and entered The plan for the day was to visit pagodas or Namhtunkoo. The town is spread Namhtunkoo village, where Putao monasteries. out around a couple of creeks and Trekking House has its own homestay its biggest buildings are churches. bungalow. Visitors normally reach Christianity is strong in Kachin State 14 | Yadanarpon and churches are far more common than That night I was better prepared for the Buddhist pagodas or monasteries.