As Myanmar is getting ready to his new year celebration, the so called water festival that welcomes the 1377 (burmese calendar) with eight days of public holiday, I happen to be in Yangon, the capital...
Yes I happen, because I had planned and booked a bus to another city (Bago), but the bus forgot to drop me off, as everybody else in the bus was heading to Yangon, and when I realised I just said to myself "let's see what happens!!" and took it as a challenge or maybe a sign!!
I hadn't done any homework though, so once at the bus terminal, I just went with the flow, jumped on the crowded public bus number 43 (that is not as straightforward as it sounds because even the numbers here are written in burmese characters!!) direction somewhere by the Sule Pagoda and on arrival (a good hour and half later), started to look for a guesthouse around the area!!
The southern part of Myanmar I have just left is said to be under the political control of the rebels but yet check-points of the police (or some uniformed people) have been very common so far, pretending a copy of the passport and sometimes asking basic questions from me and some cash payments from the bus drivers!
On the (not very comfortable) bus interesting local soap operas are shown, as well as some traditional buddhist chants or good and less good pop music videos, looking around me different people, some holding old fashioned phones with antennas others eating imported chinese mandarines, the guaranteed presence of at least a monk and super cute infants!
The repubblic of the Union of Myanmar is slowly starting to show his complexity, trying to keep up with the 134 different national races, the many mineral resources of his underground, the impressive money coming from the illegal drugs market, the obvious international business speculation and a very controversial military regime..
A very smiley society without a proper identity or maybe just unable to be free and express their true one!
Amongst the odds of this country the obsessed and omnipresent spirituality for their therevada buddhism, with the churches built by the british and some passionate missionary trying to squeeze in, the mosquees and the turbans of a quiet present and lively muslim community and some colourful hindu temples here and there that the indians pretend to have too in their neighborhood!!
On a local magazine I read today an article regarding the arrest for 30 months with hard labour of three people (the bar owner and the two managers, one of whom New Zealander) for posting on a social media a promotional advertisment picture of Buddha wearing headphones!
The highlight of my simple day it was a walk through a night local street turned into a late market where the lights were some tiny candles scattered amongst chicken breasts and amongst fish and prawns displayed as usual on a piece of paper on the floor and inviting bunches of asparagus and cauliflowers; at the end of it a local ice cream shop, a scoop of strawberry for 600 kyats (55 eurocents) that it tasted very "cow", but very natural!!
Yes I happen, because I had planned and booked a bus to another city (Bago), but the bus forgot to drop me off, as everybody else in the bus was heading to Yangon, and when I realised I just said to myself "let's see what happens!!" and took it as a challenge or maybe a sign!!
I hadn't done any homework though, so once at the bus terminal, I just went with the flow, jumped on the crowded public bus number 43 (that is not as straightforward as it sounds because even the numbers here are written in burmese characters!!) direction somewhere by the Sule Pagoda and on arrival (a good hour and half later), started to look for a guesthouse around the area!!
The southern part of Myanmar I have just left is said to be under the political control of the rebels but yet check-points of the police (or some uniformed people) have been very common so far, pretending a copy of the passport and sometimes asking basic questions from me and some cash payments from the bus drivers!
On the (not very comfortable) bus interesting local soap operas are shown, as well as some traditional buddhist chants or good and less good pop music videos, looking around me different people, some holding old fashioned phones with antennas others eating imported chinese mandarines, the guaranteed presence of at least a monk and super cute infants!
The repubblic of the Union of Myanmar is slowly starting to show his complexity, trying to keep up with the 134 different national races, the many mineral resources of his underground, the impressive money coming from the illegal drugs market, the obvious international business speculation and a very controversial military regime..
A very smiley society without a proper identity or maybe just unable to be free and express their true one!
Amongst the odds of this country the obsessed and omnipresent spirituality for their therevada buddhism, with the churches built by the british and some passionate missionary trying to squeeze in, the mosquees and the turbans of a quiet present and lively muslim community and some colourful hindu temples here and there that the indians pretend to have too in their neighborhood!!
On a local magazine I read today an article regarding the arrest for 30 months with hard labour of three people (the bar owner and the two managers, one of whom New Zealander) for posting on a social media a promotional advertisment picture of Buddha wearing headphones!
The highlight of my simple day it was a walk through a night local street turned into a late market where the lights were some tiny candles scattered amongst chicken breasts and amongst fish and prawns displayed as usual on a piece of paper on the floor and inviting bunches of asparagus and cauliflowers; at the end of it a local ice cream shop, a scoop of strawberry for 600 kyats (55 eurocents) that it tasted very "cow", but very natural!!
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