Hello from Myanmar!

1/26/08 (Saturday)

Hello from Myanmar! My flight arrived on time, and I was the first one off the aircraft. The crowd at the airport was huge. I thought most of the town must be there to meet me, (ha ha) but apparently it was only due to several aircraft arriving at the same time. It is a good thing that I’m tall as that made it easier to be spotted. I always knew there must be some reason to be thankful for being tall.

After leaving the airport, we stopped at one of Myanmar’s super markets called Oceans. It is in sort of a non-descript building with plain painted walls and looks like a very old run down Wal-Mart. We bought meats and other goodies there before going to (daughter) Tamara’s apartment. The apartment is nice with a lot of teak, and of course a lot of deco articles from her travels. I have a separate bedroom and bath here. It’s nice and certainly is more than adequate for my stay. She obviously spent some time putting together everything that I would need to make my stay comfortable.

That afternoon after I had unpacked, we had lunch at a place called J’s which is right on Inya Lake here in Yangon. After lunch we went for a foot massage (my first). We both enjoyed a very thorough massage which included arm, neck and back massage along with very tasty lemon grass tea. The total fee for both of us, including tips, was 11,000 Kyat which is equivalent to about $9.00 US. I could get used to that.

Later on in the evening, we went to the Indian Republic Day Celebration which was held at the Indian Ambassador’s residence. The home is huge and is white Colonial style. All varieties of Indian food were served. In attendance were a lot of the Myanmar high level people, with lots of military brass from different countries. The women in attendance wore gorgeous native Indian-style gowns that were made primarily of silk with lots of sequins and other lovely decorative items.

After the evenings’ festivities, I went back to Tamara’s apartment and to bed. I was exhausted. It was the first sleep I had since leaving San Francisco. The flights I had going to Myanmar were fairly comfortable but there were several small children sitting nearby who were not happy and fussed and cried a lot so there wasn’t much sleep for me, even with my noise canceling earphones.

1/27/08 (Sunday)

After a quick breakfast, we were joined by Tamara’s maid, her driver, and a friend called Kyi Kyi. Our task was to go to the market in the downtown area of China Town and buy meats, veggies, and flowers for a meal Kyi Kyi was to cook for us. It was to be a cooking lesson in Burmese food. Included in our meal were mutton, prawns, butter fish, native corn, rice, winged bean salad, fruits, and several sweets made with nuts and sesame seeds which aren’t always available but are now due to the Chinese New Year celebrations. I have many snapshots of the market which I will share whenever I can figure out how to do it. Kyi Kyi is a quilter and showed us the quilts she makes all by hand, and sells for around $200 each. Each one is totally hand sewn appliqués and quilting and I must say her work is lovely.

My initial impression of Yangon is the large contrast between the more affluent and the poor. Many of the buildings and outdoor areas have seen better days and are in need of paint and maintenance and just regular care. You can readily see the British influence which was here for many years. Foreigners can enjoy a very easy life here because the cost of living is so very low. Most of them have a maid, cook, driver, etc. I could get used to this!