Life In Myanmar

Myanmar is a country lost in the 20^th century somewhere. Under military rule for 50 years, with no visits from outsiders, Myanmar emerged as a “democracy” just 5 years ago—even thought the military is still elected to the main offices. It’s fascinating, the people are fun and the roads are few and horrendous. They don’t trouble to build a good roadbed, so roads—even new ones—are very bumpy.

Our young adult woman guide picked us up in traditional dress and we assumed it was just to show us what that was. Not so! The majority of people still wear the longyi—a skirt formed by tying a tube of fabric around your waist. If men want to play sports, they bring the front fabric through the legs and hook to the waist in back. In rural areas where there’s no indoor plumbing, there’s a communal washing area and women will pull the longyi up to their armpits and somehow wash underneath. Our guide said that she wears them all the time, except when she goes to a nightclub with friends. Then she wears a mini-skirt and make-up because they would call her an “old lady” in her longyi. Picture 1 shows other young adults dressed in their longyi.

Picture 2 shows lunchtime at the market.  There are 2 interesting things to discuss here. First of all, SE Asia could not survive without plastic chairs—all casual restaurants have them and they’re shipped cheaply from China. Secondly, if you look closely at the woman walking on the left side, you’ll notice that she has large yellow spots on her cheek. Virtually all women and some young girls wear this. One male guide told us he doesn’t wear it in public, but sleeps in it at night. You take the roots, branches or bark of the thanaka tree, grind it and mix with water to form a paste. It’s good for wrinkles and acne, serves a sunscreen and is cool and refreshing. They also think it makes a woman beautiful.

Picture 3 is a “taxi” for locals, who can’t afford the regular taxis. They’re cheap and abundant.

You will find Buddhist monks and nuns everywhere. While in other parts of the world, monks wear saffron robes, in Myanmar, the monks wear burgundy-colored robes and the nuns wear pink. Picture 4 shows a group of nuns looking for donations of food and money in the market.  It used to be that monks did not want their picture taken and would put up their hands. Not so today. Picture 5 shows a young monk taking a Selfie. We even saw them posing for pictures for tourists. Finally, monks start early. Picture 6 shows a group of young monks at a school they attend each day, away from the monastery. Buddhists are supposed to spend at least a week as a monk or num (with head shaven). Children may start as long as they are old enough to repeat and learn the chants from the older monks—some as young as 4 or 5.

Can’t resist the kids. Picture 7 shows a group at the school and Picture 8 shows a group of girls walking to school. Green is the color kids wear to school—not uniform, but generally present in their outfits.

 

Many people have small businesses in their homes. We visited some weavers with hand-operated looms. We also found the woman in picture 9, who was rolling cigars and selling them for $1.

One thing that is still practiced heavily in Myanmar, as in other parts of SE Asia is the chewing of betel nuts. It gives you a buzz and makes your mouth bright red. Picture10 shows betel nuts in the background and betel leaves in the foreground. The way they’re served is shown in Picture11. You spread a betel leaf with a yogurt concoction, lay the betel nut on top, sprinkle herbs and spices on top, roll it up and chew.

The last 4 pictures show rural village life. Picture 12 shows some of the transportation you see: bicycles, motorbikes, horse drawn carts and bicycles with a sidecar.  We stopped in a teashop in a small village that was open air with a lot of plastic chairs. Their cooking is still done over charcoal, as you can see in Picture 13.  Picture 14 is a shot of a street in a small village, with dirt roads and simple buildings. Finally, Picture 15 shows that they do try to cater to tourists. The toilets were pretty cheap!