Peeking Beneath a Monk's Robes

Eric:
Ever wonder what a monk wears under his robes?  Your questions answered here!  Walking beside a monastery the other day, I came across an unoccupied collection of monk robes. 

A few steps further along, their presumptive owners [yes, monks do "own" their robes, I checked] were doing battle on a makeshift football pitch.

Becoming one with the ball

That's it, there's no story here, I just thought it made a cool picture.  Note the makeshift stick goal to the right of the photo.


Now if you're as culturally insensitive as me, then your first reaction at viewing the image below is "SKATEPARK!", but in fact the monument is a somber reminder of a couple of tragic events.

This is the Tomb of the Martyrs, where the remains of Burma independence hero Aung San and six cabinet members, all of whom were gunned down in a coup in 1947 are interred.  It also contains an assortment of other remains.  The wife of Burma’s last king, a famous nationalist writer, former UN Secretary-General U Thant, and Aung San Suu Kyi’s mother. 

Following the democracy uprising of 1988, fearing that a gathering there could spark further unrest, the tomb has only been open to the public one day a year, July 19 - the national  holiday commemorating the date of Aung San's assassination.  In 2013 however, the regime apparently decided that allowing access to Southeast Asia's coolest skatepark might not actually destabilize the government, so they transferred control of grounds to local authorities and it is now open to the public year round.  I'm not sure that word of this opening has gotten out because the day I was there, I didn't see another soul.  In fact even the guards who are supposed to collect the entrance fee (300 Kyat [about 30 cents] for locals, USD $3 for foreigners) were nowhere to be seen.  Only some fresh flowers indicated that there had been at least one other visitor that day.

 

Originally, there was a much grander and more traditional structure on the site, but it was bombed by North Korean commandoes in a 1983 assassination attempt on visiting South Korean president Chun Doo-Hwan.

President Hwan’s motorcade was delayed and narrowly escaped the blast, but 19 others were killed, and 48 seriously injured, including several top South Korean government officials.  Though North Korea never acknowledged responsibility for the attack, one of the commandoes was captured alive and confessed details of the mission.

 

Fresh flowers with an inscription in Korean placed at the base of the monument the day I visited

The bombing resulted in a break in diplomatic relations between Burma and N. Korea from 1983 until 2007, though a covert relationship has been revealed to have been established as far back as 2002.  The cooperation included North Korean arms sales and later, technical assistance to the military junta in establishing a network of secret underground tunnels in the newly built Myanmar capitol city Nay Pyi Taw.  The tunnels are believed to have been built to provide regime officials a place to hole up in the event of a general uprising.   I’m not sure if the government has ever officially acknowledged existence of these tunnels, but there are some videos on YouTube (which of course I cannot see because there is not enough bandwidth here!).


In other news...

The following notice posted in the Myanmar Times a few days ago:


Really?  Who knew I was living in the global epicenter of counterfeit Spam?

Today I was tasked by Rossana with getting one of her high-heeled shoes repaired while she was at work.  Today I also discovered that there are no shoe repair businesses in Yangon.  Seriously, the Yellow Pages jump directly from "Shoes" to "Slippers".  Upon reflection, I should not have been too surprised at this.  Except for the most formal occasions, just about the entire population wears flip flops.  Still, I've been to enough bars/nightclubs packed with mini-skirted, high heeled party girls to believe that with the quality of Yangon's sidewalks, they must blow out a heel now and again.


Help Wanted:  Heel Technician



An internet search yielded no help, but a question I posted to one of the local online bulletin boards got a quick, though rather imprecise response "downtown".  Undeterred, I headed downtown.  I started my quest at sort of ground zero for downtown, Sule Pagoda.  Not the biggest, oldest, or prettiest of Yangon's pagodas, it's still the chief landmark of the downtown area.

 

At this distance you don't notice the cellular phone shops, currency exchange bureaus, and travel agencies that make up the base of the pagoda

Before I could start asking for directions, I encountered this Public Mobile Urination Room.  A bemused street vendor seeing me take this photo translated the notice by the door (and I quote), "Room for peeing - do not poo".  It didn't occur to me at the time, but this unit must have a live attendant somewhere.  There are no coins in Myanmar currency any more, so somebody must have the job of collecting the 100 Kyat toll (about 10 cents).  I wonder if they get a commission?

 

Do you think this is really mobile?  Do they drive it around town to different locations?

Heading first towards Chinatown I passed a lot of repair shops.  Fan repair, computer repair, umbrella repair, electric motor repair, watch repair, even these guys, who I'm not really sure what they were doing - something involving poles and coconut husks:

 

 

  

After asking many, many people - few of whom understood English, and fewer of whom knew what shoe repair was, I was finally directed by the betel-nut vendor below to a nearby street and assured that I couldn't miss the shoe repair guy. 

 

How to prepare betel nut.  First you smear white lime paste on the betel vine leaf and then sprinkle an assortment of cloves, aniseed, and/or cardamom, then the betel nut.  For some, you top it all off with  alcohol marinated tobacco.  Then roll it up and pop into your mouth and chew.  And spit, often.  Red spit.  Slightly narcotic, it supposedly inhibits appetite and helps rid you of parasites. 

 



Oh, and it also turns your teeth and gums red
Photo credit:  ladventures.com



 

Of course I did miss him.  Several times.  Eventually, a street vendor who duplicates keys just about escorted me to the right spot.  That's him below in the white ball cap in front of his um, workbench.

 

I don't understand how I could have missed him

 

Nonetheless, he seemed to know what  he was doing, did the repair on the spot, and the total repair bill came to 500 Kyat (about 50 cents). 

Note the truck tire that he is seated on while he braces Rossana's shoe between his feet

And he didn't even ask me what I was doing with a pair of high heels.