Sight-seeing @ Yangon
Spending a month in Yangon last year for the post-cyclone support, I took a few photographs and made some observations. It's a beautiful country which I hope I could visit again someday.
There are no coins in the Myanmar Kyat currency. Only paper money is used. They said the cost to produce coins would be more than the monetary value of the coin.
I haven't spotted any motorbikes at all, even the tricycles are the pedal bikes. Later, I learned that the government restricts use of motorbikes as well as import of cars. So on the roads, you would see really old - and I mean OLD - vehicles. You know, those box-type cars and those second-hand buses from Japan. When I ride a taxi, I'm so afraid the doors are going to fall off. Some don't have windows, some you have to open from the outside. And rust... I'm glad I had that tetanus vaccination before I left. On the bright side, probably because of these government restrictions on vehicles and such, the air pollution in Yangon is minimal. For one, my nose doesn't get all blocked up with dust during my strolls.
Although some places aren't spotless clean, I noticed that in dark corners there aren't any foul smell of urine and the likes. I also didn't see any signs that goes 'Bawal Umihi Dito' (No urinating here), or perhaps there are but I don't read Myanmarese. Maybe there's a law on that, I don't know.
Supermarkets. I don't now if I already mentioned this in earlier kwentos, but I observed that US products are few.. I could even use 'rare'. Most stuff on the shelves are made somewhere in Asia (Thailand, Malaysia, China, India) and selected countries like France. Some US brands available are actually made in Asia, but never did I see any made in the west nor in Australia, for that matter. Well, here's one place you could experience what it would be like without the McDonald's and Starbucks culture.
Speaking of coffee.. and tea. Here you don't see clusters of men circling gin or the likes. Instead, you see people of all walks of life sitting in little chairs around a little table with little teapots and little cups. At the same time they drink their tea, they have little chats and seem to enjoy their bonding tea time. This, I noticed, is usually in the afternoons till the evenings. That's a really nice culture. Tea, inarguably, is healthier than alcohol. A colleague working for logistics said that in the Philippines he'd worry about his subordinates getting drunk and all. Here, he'd be spared that worry since you'd never get drunk from tea. Plus, tea is cheaper.
That's it for the moment. So far, the many things I discover here continue to amaze me. There are many things from the local people's way of life that I could reflect on.
Life is a school... and I'm learning something new everyday.
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Fox 12 Good Day Oregon featuring Top Burmese. Burmese Food Delivery and Pickup Restaurant in Portland, Oregon. Visit here to learn more about Top Burmese -
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RIPPED OFF BY 20.000?! Hitchhiking in Myanmar | VLOG | Sofian Worldwide #27
Myanmar 2018: Part two of our trip from Hpa-an to the south of Myanmar to Dawei - hitchhiking! In this video you can see how we made it to our destination, or maybe not?
We spent the night in Thanbyuzayat. The guest house where we stayed overnight was not allowed to accommodate us, because the owner has no license for foreigners. Nevertheless, she offered us a room for 10.000 kyat (about 6€ or 7,5$). Unfortunately, we don't know the name because we were looking for a place to sleep late at night.
We went on with our hitchhiking tour! How did we hitchhike through Myanmar?
From Thanbyuzayat we got a free ride in a car to Ye. That's the way it was supposed to be. The driver, however, asked for 20,000 kyat each at the end of the trip, which shocked us a lot, and we made it very clear to him that this behaviour was inappropriate. (I put it very nicely here:) ) Of course, we didn't pay this amount and just got out of the car.
From Ye a wonderful family took us on their truck. A very slow but also very pleasant ride! After another ride in a small van and a big truck we crossed a national border within Myanmar. We left Mon State and entered the Tanintharyi region. We crossed the border without any problems. We had to show our passport and tell them which city we had as our destination. That's it! Even hitchhiking in a truck was no problem!
Afterwards we arrived in Yapu, respectively were dropped out. It seemed to me that this village has never seen a foreigner before. The children all ran out of their homes, watched us, laughed, waved at us and when we responded, they ran away laughing - a very nice experience! After another ride in a truck we arrived at the destination of today's video, Kaleinaung! We didn't make it to Dawei!
Is there a guest house in Kaleinaung?
Yes! And exactly one, and that has a foreigner's license! :)
It was a really impressive and eventful day in Myanmar! Hitchhiking through Myanmar is really that much fun! We met very nice people and got to know them in a very small space. The people in Myanmar are helpful, except for this one guy, and if you can make it clear to them that you are looking for a free ride, you will have very nice memories!
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