Leftovers

Eric,
Initially, I'd intended to include several of the photos below at the end of the Time Travel update posted earlier in the week, but Rossana rightly pointed out that post was already pretty long.  So here is a separate post of somewhat random, leftover photos from past weeks that for the most part don't have a story behind them, I just think they're interesting scenes from around town (or Bagan in a couple cases).

The reclining Buddha at Chauk Htat Gyi Pagoda.  This photo doesn't do it justice, this bad boy is HUGE!   65 meters (213 feet) from head to toe. 

 Interestingly, it's not even the largest reclining Buddha in Myanmar.   

Bare soles of the reclining Buddha's feet. According to my brother's Hardy Boys books, those toe prints are "whorl pattern".



Young boy contemplates the reclining Buddha in the company
of one of the many resident pagoda cats.

 Elsewhere...



Streetside boardgame winner raking in the chips.

Neighborhood "recyclers" pose in front of an alleyway
heaped chest deep with trash.

Effective way to prevent your bicycle from being stolen while you nap.

Going out in style.  A hearse belonging to the Free Funeral Service Society.
Organization founded by a prominent local film director provides free funeral services to the poor. 

Holders for prayer candles at Shwedagon Pagoda.
Light from the candles represents the light of Buddha's teachings.



Inscriptions on the trunk of a palm tree at Shwedagon Pagoda.



Artsy shot of Shwedagon Pagoda in twilight.

Workers shell and sort nuts on a downtown sidewalk.

Phone booth, Yangon style.  You pay the girl money
and she lets you use the phone.

An assortment of forceps for sale at a local open air market. 
I wonder if this is where Marcus Welby shops?

Not long after we moved here, Rossana and I spent a weekend in Bagan, an ancient city in northern Myanmar that is sometimes referred to as the religious capital of the country.  Between the 11th and 13th centuries, it's estimated that there were over 10,000 pagodas erected, of which approximately 2,200 remain today.  It's a pretty remarkable place and one that I suspect will be overrun by tourists in the very near future.  For now though, visitors are free to climb about the pagodas pretty much as they please.

Tourists line the steps and terraces of a pagoda to observe sunset.

Looking out from one pagoda towards its neighbor.

Bagan is also renown for producing exquisite laquerware.

Workers in a laquer workshop.

Sun setting against the face of a several pagodas.

Going Undercover

Eric:

One of our first weeks in Yangon I made a reconnaissance trip to check out what was available in the local supermarket.  While there, I tried to snap a couple photos of the soft drink aisle for Rossana [for those not acquainted with her, she works for a tiny beverage manufacturer who shall remain nameless], as she is always curious about brand placement on the supermarket shelves.  Before I could take my first photo, a uniformed guard did a dash that would have shamed OJ Simpson across the store to stop me from taking the picture.  Not wanting to risk supermarket jail, I let the subject drop.  Until now…

Beverage aisle money shot.



In general, supermarkets here aren’t all that different in look and feel than most any other country (at least those that have supermarkets).  Cashiers at the front, produce along one side, meat at the back, aisles that are too narrow for the volume of shopping carts, you get the idea. 

It takes a bit of planning and luck to go grocery shopping though.  While all markets surely carry the Burmese staples all the time (100 varieties of fish paste, noodles for soup, various organs and meat pieces from an array of swimming/crawling/scampering species, a few common vegetables, and beer), when it comes to consumer products and international foods, it’s kind of like visiting a Costco, there is a decent assortment available, but you never really know what it will be. 

Just a few of the many kinds of fish paste on offer in the deli section



More deli counter treats - unidentified fried meat things.



I will see an item on the shelves for months, and then (naturally) as soon as I plan a menu around it – it’s nowhere to be found.  Depending on the item, I can sometimes locate the needed ingredient at another market, but more often I suspect that they’re all buying from the same few wholesalers – so when the distributor runs out of lamb, nobody has any until the next boat from New Zealand docks. 

My ship has come in.





Actually, meat is the thing I’m most dissatisfied with here.  Even the supermarkets that cater heavily to the expat community have a poor selection of fresh (or frozen) meat.  Beef quality is quite poor, and nobody seems to offer anything that resembles a decent steak or roast.  Several supermarkets have no fresh meat or seafood, just a small freezer section, often limited to frozen fish and processed meals.  

The entire selection of fresh meat available at one of the good supermarkets.



Frozen fish (and what looks like it might be a pork chop lower left).

One of the nicer things about most Yangon supermarkets is that no matter what time of day or night you shop, every single cashier position is staffed.

Are you listening Kroger?
 

Another oddity I notice is an inordinate amount of floor/shelf space and staff dedicated to beauty products.  This is always the widest aisle in the supermarket and there will be a staff member positioned every few feet who sidles up to you the second you stop to look at an item.  Actually, this is a practice in most retail shops as well.  As soon as you walk in, a clerk will follow hopefully at your heels the entire time you are in their store.  Sort of like having your very own not so subtle stalker.   



Nivea products, holster not included.

Beauty product aisle wider than some Yangon streets.



Certain items have to be paid for separately – sometimes.  Wine for instance.  Sometimes I have to pay for it in the wine section, sometimes I can just take it to the main register.  I've not been able to figure out the pattern here.    

The good wines...

 

And the Myanmar equivalent of MD20 20

Checkout is a bit different as all transactions are handled in cash, and the largest note used is the equivalent of a $5 bill (there is a bill that is roughly equivalent to a $10 bill in circulation, but you almost never see them).  It’s not uncommon to see someone paying for a $100+ grocery bill in the equivalent of $1 bills.   All of which have to be counted at least three times.  The yuppie expat market that I frequent has four checkout lanes reserved for customers who bring their own shopping bags.  An innovation that unfortunately doesn't seem to be catching on.  When I bring my own shopping bags into other stores, the clerks always giggle at me.

Rather tired produce at one of the smaller supermarkets.

 

Dragon Fruit - Rossana's favorite.

 

This celery has amassed more frequent flyer miles than I have.



Some more supermarket porn:



Thai script - many of the consumer products available are manufactured in Thailand.



 

Have I mentioned how much cooking oil is used here?

Although civil liberties haven't quite made their way to Myanmar, Hallmark Holidays certainly have.  Happy Valentines Day.

Of course for the majority of locals, their shopping isn’t done at the supermarket at all.  They purchase most everything at the various open air markets around town.  Prices are lower, but unfortunately, health standards at these markets are also pretty low and the number of flies are pretty high.  While I will buy vegetables at these markets, I can’t bring myself to trust their fish or meats.

Some street market pics: 


Butcher counter - chicken and pork.



Please, just one drumstick!

Chicken with freakishly large feet.

Although there are several large open air markets set up in dedicated spaces, these photos are all taken in the various "unorganized" markets that spring up daily throughout the city along the sidewalks and edges of traffic. 

 

Many of these photos I took back in October at the end of rainy season.  Now that the rains have gone, the flies are worse - and we aren't even into the hot months yet.

 



Sharing space with traffic on a busy thoroughfare.

Whole Foods beta version.



I'm happy to report a correction to a previous post.  In the "Colonial Decay" post back in November, I wrote that the building in the photo below had fallen victim to redevelopers and was now a hole in the ground.  I was right about the hole, but the building lives on around the corner from where I'd thought it was - for now at least.

Parting shot:

Feels like we're in Selma, circa 1963.

In fairness, I think the sign directs you to a western style toilet, vs. the local squat type.  But I didn't care to find out.

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.