Mingalabar! First Impressions

This blog will be sort of a tag team effort between Rossana and Eric chronicling our experiences and impressions of life in Yangon, Myanmar (Rangoon, Burma to those of you from the Commonwealth). 

We left Atlanta a week ago.  The house, the cars, scooter, bicycles, most of the furniture and 11 years of accumulated candle holders sold... Life reduced to luggage looks pretty much like this (give or take a couple more bags):

 

Rossana:

The 22 hour journey half way across the world was just what we needed after the stress of the last few weeks in Atlanta and we arrived in Yangon tired but refreshed.  And everything has been going rather smoothly (visa on arrival - check; pick up all luggage - check; driver meeting us at the arrivals of Yangon airport - check; room at Park Royal Hotel - check; sleep after almost 30 hours awake -. impossible). 

 

If I had to say what I saw on the 30 minute drive from the airport to the hotel in just a few words they would be: cars are right hand drive and they drive on the right hand side of the road and with permanent high beams on, lots of stray dogs roaming the streets at night, kids playing football (the rest of the world version not the American one) in the middle of the street sharing with the dogs and the cars that never, ever stop for pedestrians, the golden pagodas that are visible from every side, the decaying buildings, a remnant of British colonial days... 

 

At the hotel and in many other places there is a strong patchouli scent.  Incense, the offering to the gods.  Or perhaps it's just a way to mask the damp which with the high humidity it's an almost impossible task. 

 

A week later, after an intense 4 days at the office despite the jet lag, I was able to join Eric for a couple of days playing tourist: he is already home here, having been roaming the streets since Tuesday.  It's been raining pretty much non-stop this week end; but reportedly we're approaching the end of the rainy season.

 

About the weather and the humidity:  I am finding it pretty much impossible to control my hair.  It's so humid even when it doesn't rain that my head is covered in frizz all the time.  I've given up trying to tame it, it'll be my new look.  However, it hasn't been as hot as I expected although that might be because I've being chauffeured in an air conditioned car from an air conditioned hotel to an air conditioned office to an air conditioned restaurant. 

 

About the roads, the traffic and the driving: the market for imported cars opened up about a year ago and it seems that there was no time to get the roads prepared for the huge influx of vehicles and traffic is pretty bad.  Drivers here rule.  If you are a pedestrian or a bicyclist you have no right of way, if you're crossing the road, never hesitate (it's the advice we were given) or you'll die.  There are no enforced safety rules: buses (tainat? not sure yet how to spell this) are pick up trucks with a tarp on top to cover from the rain and are supposed to seat about 8 people.  But this is a common sight:

 

  

About the look of the city: most buildings are old and unkempt with the exception of a few government buildings, upscale hotels and a few new office towers.  But many speak of a glorious past, before the country closed itself to the rest of the world for about 60 years. 

 

 

They're decaying and sorry looking but could be restored to their former glory with a bit of investment.  And I suspect it will happen sooner rather than later. 

 

 

Yangon is a work-in-progress, under construction. 

 

  

About the food: it's awesome.  There is a lot of variety in town and quite a few nice restaurants.  Perlita, my boss, tells me that when she moved here a year ago, there were only two good restaurants.  In such a short time a lot has already changed: in a week I have already had many good meals. 

  

And I've liked almost everything.  Almost, because I couldn't eat more than 3 spoonfuls of mohinga, the national dish, a fish soup with noodles.  Maybe it'll grow on me.  But if not, there'll be plenty of other things for me to eat. 

  

  

About the people: they're always smiling.  They look very young and probably are: the average age here is below 30.  Nearly everyone wears longyi, a wrap around skirt that men tie in a big knot at the waist and women wear wrapped around (although I hear the women's longyi is really just a long skirt).  You can actually buy the material at the market and have them make it for you right there.  The women wear thanaka, a yellow paste made from grinding bark mixed with water.  Some men wear it as well, particularly it seems those who work outdoors - construction workers, stevedores, etc.  It reportedly cools you down and protects you from the sun.  I suspect I will soon be wearing it too. The photo below shows a woman wearing thanaka but it is worth noticing that she is manning a phone booth... There are plenty of these at street corners.

 

 

The photo below I took at the Shwe Dagon Pagoda on Saturday evening.  This family was just sitting in one of the temples.  It's quite common to see families hanging around by the Buddha. Some are praying but most seem to just be there to spend time together. 

 

 

 

I'll have to write a separate post about the Shwe Dagon Pagoda.  It's the main attraction here in Yangon and visible from many view points across the city.  It's glorious and made of gold. 

 

 

As I near the end of the first week, I reflect on where I am and how I arrived here.  Thinking about the change felt overwhelming and a bit scary despite the excitement of the adventure.  But now that I'm here I feel like I'm home.  Even if we are still in a hotel room and living out of our suitcases...

 

 

Eric:

Who knew that there were vineyards in Myanmar?  Even more surprising is that the wine they produce is actually pretty decent.  Needless to say, these wineries are nowhere near Yangon, whose climate much better suited for producing rice for sake. 

 

I'd done a good bit of internet research before our move, and I have to say that Yangon is pretty much living up to the hype - for better or worse.  Based on a very limited one week.. the people are great, the food is great, and the cost of living (aside from housing) is criminally cheap.  But... the weather is pretty miserable, the traffic is really miserable, the sidewalks are as dangerous as the roadways (I envision a whole separate post [read "rant"] on Yangon's death trap sidewalks).  But, the thing that may have me doubling up on my blood pressure medicine is the internet speed - or lack thereof.  I'm convinced I could write a novel faster than I could download one here.  To belabor this point, the image below shows some recent upload/download speeds that I recorded in Yangon, Atlanta, and San Francisco recently.  I guess I owe the people at Comcast an apology for all the nasty things I've said about their service over the years.

 

 

A few other random observations for the week..

 

The train whistles here sound like French Horns. 

 

Don't even think about carrying your umbrella into a supermarket or many department stores - there will be someone at the entrance to check it for you. 

 

When leasing a house or apartment, you pay the ENTIRE term of the lease in advance (suspect this may a requirement only of foreigners - at least I hope so).  

 

I'd read how safe it is here, and it's gotta be true.  Because it's a cash economy, you see people on the street casually displaying huge, ginormous wads of cash.  Even taking the exchange rate (about 1000 to $1) into account, I'd never walk around with that kind of cash in the US.  I've also read about how you have to pay for most larger purchases in USD.  No checks, no credit cards, no bank transfers - just crisp, unblemished, uncreased, pristine dollars.  Until you see someone giving  your dollar bill closer scrutiny than my last colonoscopy, it's hard to really comprehend it.  I'd go on about this, but the following link says it far better than I would:  http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2013/05/10/182309623/why-almost-no-one-in-myanmar-wanted-my-money  

 

Every city has something that it specializes in pedaling to tourists.  In Istanbul it's carpets,  in San Diego it's tattoos, in Florence it's leather, in Mexico it's silver, in Marrakesh it's hashish, in Bangkok it's young girls/boys, in Paris its those little replicas of the Eiffel Tower.  Here in Yangon, its changing money.  Walk within a couple blocks of any tourist attraction or major hotel and you're approached every couple yards by someone offering to change money for you.  I guess this is how you unload your "tainted" dollars.