Streets of Yangon, Burma.

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