I thought Myanmar wasn’t well touristed, but landing in Yangon I saw about only 10 Myanmar nationals go through customs, the rest of the flight were non-nationals. What sort of country has more non-nationals crossing the border than nationals? A poor one I concluded. I was fortunate to be sitting next to one of these nationals, she was married to a Swiss Buddhist man. I was given her telephone and address and asked to visit to her house. This was the first of many invitations I received, some I had to refuse because I just didn’t have time.
The quality of spoken English is much higher here than Thailand or Cambodia. The men wear predominately longyi’s (a big sheet wrapped around the waist which looks just like a skirt) and lots and lots of people wear a brown face paint. I found out later it was a plant extract used as a sunscreen and beauty cream.
Western cultural influence here is either non-existent or very minimal – no Coke (only a little), no Levis, no Britney Spears, no mini skirts, no boy racers. Its a great experience being away from it all. You don’t get this degree of isolation in Thailand or Cambodia. Imported goods are very little and very expensive.
According to my guide book music with English lyrics is banned. A lot of the music I heard was Western tunes put to Burmese lyrics, including Savage Garden, Chilli Peppers and Shaggy.
One of the gross habits the people have is chewing ‘betel nut’. Its supposed to give you a little high. Chewing produces lots of saliva and they just spit it out on the ground. All over Myanmar roads are these little red patches of expelled betel juice. I tried some, it tastes like bad toothpaste.
The people are absolutely genuine, kind, generous people. If I was in the company of a local they would pay for me. And yet they have so little. I spoke to some young children, maybe 10-12yrs old, selling bananas (they should have been in school mind you) and after a few minutes one of them reached up to the bowl of bananas she was carrying on her head and gave me one saying “present”. As soon as one child had given me something the rest rushed to give me their bananas too. Other travelers I spoke to had very similar experiences.
Myanmar is so diverse, the sights but particularly the people. There are people of Indian, Chinese, Nepali descent, and 7 major native ethnicities. Hence the official country name is actually “The Union Of Myanmar”. There were so many interesting faces. So much variety in appearance.
Throughout Myanmar I saw the names of various English movies advertised. One night in Lashio, I paid a visit to one of these underground theaters – a room with a TV and VCD player surrounded by chairs. For a couple of kyat you can watch whatever they’re showing royalty free – Dead Calm, Foreigner, Die Hard 2 and other dated flicks.
Myanmar people are very enthusiatic about temple building, and donate HUGE sums to these religious sites. When building a new temple, temple builders will petition drivers for money on the roadside. I wondered, why do they spend so much money, often any savings they may have, on these temples, while school and hospital facilities are lacking? For these crimes of religious extravagance on the poverty line, I sentence them to a years re-education at the World Bank School of Human Development, located inside the mall, next to McDonald’s.
