Although Yangon
is no longer the capital of Burma, it is still the biggest and liveliest
city in the country. One of the things I appreciate most while traveling is to simply wander
around the streets of new places - with local teahouses, food stalls and
restaurants as mandatory stops.
Rumours
have it that Burma is unlike any place you know about, and I had absolutely no
idea what to expect arriving in this mystical country. After a couple of days strolling the
streets of Yangon, I´d say that the city is a fascinating mixture between
different places. It´s lively neighbourhoods, colonial buildings and decaying facades
remind me of the streets of Cuba´s Havana. The small food stalls and the cuisine bring me
back to Vietnam, while the people are as friendly and curious as the
Lao´.
A mix you can´t dislike.
The Burmese, men as well as women,
are often seen in their traditional colourful skirt, the longyi. Women have
their faces smothered in thanakha (traditional make-up), and it seems like
everyone has got their teeth busy chewing kun-ya ("betel nut"), as blood-red juice is
dripping from all mouths. It sure is
a unique sight!
Yangon is
bursting with food vendors, monks, children and businessmen from the early
hours of sunrise till late. When the sun goes down - grill markets, pagodas and
neon lights from flashing shopping malls light up the streets, and it´s a great
opportunity to enjoy some Burmese snack and drink beer with the locals!
Here is a
first taste of amazing Burma, presented through the streets of Yangon:
Get your palms red by this little old man.
Painting chess boards
The areca nut
Kun-ya in the making: areca nut wrapped in betel leaf. Everyone chews!
Street food
Sugarcane juice in the making
By Night
And as the authors of my LP guide book put it:
"This is Burma. It is quite unlike any place you know about" wrote Rudyard Kipling in 1898.
How right he was: more than a century later, Burma remains a world apart.
KLEM
AK
