As
the group weren't allowed to stay onsite, we had to rely
on our very own Burmese bus for transportation everyday.
It was pretty regimental, but I manage to hide in my dreams
with my Sony discman.
Summary of a typical day for me in Myanmar (corny version):
0700 - 0800: Wake up and eat breakfast with everybody in
the group
0800 - 0915: Board bus to Hlaing Thar Yar
0915 - 1200: Work ("Building" houses/"Cementing"
the school floor)
1200 - 1330: Lunch and Siesta
1330 - 1645: More Work (More "Building" houses/"Cementing"
the school floor)
1645 - 1800: Bus back to YMCA, Yangon
1800 - 1900: Free Time (Bathing, Buying Beer Myanmar at
City Mart)
1900 - 2030: Dinner and Last Parade
2030 - 2330: Own Time Own Target (Drank myself silly on
Myanmar Beer)
2330 - 0700: Bed Time
We didn't follow the
same schedule everyday. On some of the days, we would have
breakfast outside on YMCA (e.g. Indian restuarant serving
delicious Masala Thosai or Mohinga at 47th Street). During
weekends, the team will be rehearsing for the Modern Dance
(yeh, let's all croon to the tunes of "Baby, give me
one more time") or the "Journey to the West"
play. We will have culture visits to various parts of Yangon:
The Shwedagon Paya, Kandawgyi (lake with a chinese Tim Sum
resturant), Chinatown (to eat the 200kyats fried rice noodles
at 15th street), a milk tea palour, a beauty salon, ABC
pub (see below) and a local disco. All work and no play
makes Jack a dull boy. Apparently, most of us were Jacks
in the making.
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Are
we back in the 50s of Singapore? Apparently, not. This was
Yangon, 2000. on the overhead bridge along Bogyoke Aung
San Road. The Bogyoke Aung San market should be on the left,
selling all sorts of Touristy artifacts. |
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A typical
building in Yangon (beside YMCA). Pretty colonial, old,
rustic but charming neverthless. |
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An Indian
family selling pancakes. Yangon is filled with street-side
hawkers like these. All you need is a couple of pots, a
stove, stools and lots of guts. I recalled that a piece
of pancake cost only 20 kyats (S$0.10 during 2000). It is
not easy to make a living in Yangon, so it is important
to be resourceful. |
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Another
kind of pro-active street hawker who walks around with their
merchandise (in this case, it's chinese style fried dough
sticks). |
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Teary-eye
child in a classroom. Couldn't recall where the school was
and why she looks sad. Her eyes seems to have a hidden force,
a force that compiles me to go pick her up and tell her
everything is ok. I am a coward, not god. I left her alone.
Wish she would have been better now. |
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Theravada
Buddhism is clearly revered in Myanmar and is filled with
temples. Images of Buddha is everywhere, in the cities or
the villages. The pictures depicts the buddha with 7 disciples.
He was standing on a lotus flower, purity among impurity. |
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The reclining
Buddha. Use the child on the bottom left hand corner as
a scale to get an idea how gigantic it was. |
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The group
attended the wedding reception (see photo of the bride and
groom) in Hlaing Thar Yar. I recall that the groom was the
son of the village head and we bought a electric fan for
the couple. We sat around the reception, drinking an orange
soft drink. |
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11 Dec
00 - Family Visiting Day! We visited the family of one of
the YMCA staff and had a great lunch (think it was less
than USD$2/person). His wife is Karen and they got married
when she was 13! Her neighbour (a Karen doctor) also joined
us. I remember her famous words, "It looks peaceful
outside, but it isn't inside. I fear no one but god alone." |
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This was
probably the culture exchange i was looking for. I remember
a jar of Tiger beer set me back by 1000 kyats (about S$5).
Expensive (a 660ml Myanmar Beer cost 240Kyats in City mart),
but that was my only night out in Yangon. |
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