"Isolated old world" a Rangoon Travel Page by akikonomu

1) Buddhism - the extent of the devoutness and faith of the Buddhist followers is in such great magnitude you would be unwittingly touched. Temples, shrines, monastries and pagodas dot the town of Yangon and the people's offerings of their personal properties to temple building (especially the Shwedagon) would make you shake your head in wonder. Considering that the mean monthly wages are around US$60, the temples around town are all well maintained and many have massive numbers of Buddha statues or huge statues in their grounds. To the devout Buddhist, their sacrifice of material wealth for their religion is natural, and perhaps it is also this detachment from material wealth that will make their lives simpler and happier.

If there was one thing you could never have difficulties finding in Yangon, that's monks and nuns. You'd just need to stand at a spot for a few minutes at any one time and one will pass you by. Monks and nuns who are receiving alms would usually go around barefooted and only use a fan to sheltar themselves from the sun or rain - that distinguishes them from any passing monk.

There are also separate hospitals in Yangon for monks and nuns who could receive free treatment until they fully recover from their ailments. It is also common for poor families to send their children to a monastary for basic education, all thanks to the goodwill of the monks who in turn are supported by the devout followers.

If you go to Bogyoke Aung San (Scott market), you'd find many goldsmiths in the market with very bare security features. Our guide explained that true Buddhist followers do not covet other people's wealth, hence the general feeling that no one will rob the goldsmiths. Another reason could be the severity of punishing criminals, hence low crime rates against these goldsmiths.

2) The military junta - a sensitive political issue shunned by the common man. Families of the military would receive special benefits such as free housing or health care.

In the midst of isolating Myanmar from the rest of the world, many situations arise.

Telecommunications: cell phones are totally useless for making international calls, so leave them at home of you're travelling to Myanmar. The locals could only own cell phones at high prices (around US$3,000) and with some luck (balloting of rights). Otherwise, you had to be some really important person.

Gems: Myanmar is famed for production of jade, rubies and sapphires. However, there are restrictions for bringing them out of the country. You would need supporting receipts, or risk having them confiscated at customs. Of course, there will be other creative and not so creative methods of bringing them out of the country, but this hinges on your luck and the mood of the custom officers.

Trade and Natural resources: As the rest of the world opens up to the international market place, Myanmar seems to remain in its own controlled environment. Blissful or not, it's hard to say but it's a haven for naturalists. Food production relies minimally on unnatural methods of control such as pesticide or genetic engineering. The rice in Myanmar is exceptionally fragrant, which made me view our daily staple in another light. As Myanmar stretches over many latitudes with high potential for production of most daily needs (food, clothes, furniture), there is hardly any need for imported goods (except perhaps for natural fuels). As the world copes with rising fuel costs, in Yangon, electricity is rationed - for instance, electricity is only available in the morning of one day and afternoon of the next - so don't be surprised that airconditioners don't seem to function and lights are only turned on in the aisles of the department store you visit.

3) Fun things we did in Yangon

Eat our way through Chinatown. The roadside food were all clean and tasty (so perhaps it is true that the foods are mostly natural products with minimal interference from chemicals and preservatives). Even our guide was appalled (and laughed) by the amount of food we munched on just by our walking through the few streets in Chinatown - beancurd in ginger syrup, flour pancakes with peanut and icing sugar, fried yellow bean snack, durian, seacoconut sugar-dumplings, sitdown hawker stall selling pig's innards cooked in broth (innards include intestines, stomach, tongue, heart, blood, meat - you name it, you've got it).

Burmese fortune telling - the fortune teller would tell your character and luck from your handwriting and birth date and give some advise to improve your luck / avert bad luck.

Makeup like local girls - on the streets of Yangon, you would notice that most ladies have these two patches of yellow blusher across their cheeks. This is considered make up for local women. The blusher is actually the ground yellow powder from tree bark known as Thanakkah. The tree is only found in extremely dry and hot areas and the ground powder is believed to have sunscreen, smoothening properties with Vitamin E. It is an integral part of their dowry.