YANGON – While a green Myanmar is not a surprise, I was a bit surprised that a buzzling city would have so much greenery (atleast going by many cities in India where greenery is vanishing). Its lush everywhere, not just in some parts of the city. And the rain only added to the beauty. Very friendly people, as a first timer I was reminded of Thailand. The Burmese equivalent of Sawadika is mingalaba, used both for hello and goodbye. Just a little less musical. The ‘thanaka’ (traditional Burmese cosmetic paste made from ground bark) is used widely, I would have thought working women may not prefer to wear it to office. But surprise, many women employees from the govt that attended a training hosted by us came with the paste applied on their cheeks. Mostly it is a perfect round, occasionally the shape of a leaf. I have seen petite women in South East Asia, but in Myanmar they are ‘petite petite’, with a delicate waistline that will put the sexiest of mannequins to shame. The traditional attire is not a rarity, most women wear the longyi, and in such lovely colors and designs. Yes, it’s just a variation of the Indian lungi. But the mean wear the typical lungi that I am familiar with in India, with a rounded knot in the center. It also doubles up as formal, most government employees and many men I saw on the road wore the longyi. There are nice boutiques that custom make longyi for women, next time next time!
Rain or shine, rather I should say even if no rain nor shine, everyone carries an umbrella during the rainy reason. It’s not the fancy flimsy foldable ones, but the sturdy long ones with a curved handle. The surprise element of this trip for me was that people carry lunch to office in the 2 or 3 level traditional ‘tiffin carrier’!!! In Chennai, I have not seen one in ages - they are long gone into the paran (attic), and have given way to smarter lunch containers (called Tupperware!). Many in Chennai would be embarrassed to carry this to office, but not them. Road side eateries are common, and there are vendors at every traffic signal. Mind you, the signals are long so there is sufficient time to buy the flowers and paan! You drive around downtown, and you can instantly identify the Tamil women, because of the bindi and the features. I did not get a chance to try, but a colleague told me that the idlis from the many chettiar shops in downtown are famous. It was interesting to drive past the Kali Amman temple, a gurudwara, Arya Samaj temple and the Thambara Reddiar school! The school though no longer functions as a school apparently. Sighting monks is not a rarity, but I saw lady monks for the first time. They wear pink robes. Due to the heavy rains, I was just happy walking round the Kandawgyi lake and visiting the Shwedagon pagoda, rest of the sightseeing will have to wait. The pagoda is lit up all night, and is imposing. I was excited to see so many monks in the pagoda, but was amused that they were doing exactly the same thing as everyone else – taking pictures on their mobile!
NAYPYIDAW – By the way, this is the capital if you did not know (I did not know). A city built from scratch. Built for the future I guess, with segregated zones for offices, residences and hotels. Has 20 lane roads (10 on one side), but you can see very few people and very few cars in the city! There is no shortage of space, so the hotels are mostly sprawled out. Its ok if you are on holiday, but on work it’s not very comfortable with buildings spread out. Didn’t see much of the city except for the Hilton and the Auditor General’s office. But the hotel is definitely worth staying over the weekend, could combine it with a 3.5 hr drive to Mandalay. I was a bit paranoid (no surprise there) as it was constantly raining, and we were flying in small aircraft (ATR 72?). It’s the only thing that makes me uncomfortable, everything about travel is okay except for the flights! But as the aircraft flies low, one can see the green fields below. Such a beautiful sight.
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