Season of Yangon Yangon (Rangoon)

... are beautiful. This one little girl had a very unique haircut (something that you would have seen in ancient China of 1000AD), and boy did she have a beautiful smile. The worship service was a typical one in Myanmar. The children are present during the entire service, including the sermon. They are expecting to listen too and understand but to do as they are encouraged to do biblical. As I wrote in one of my previous emails, these children do not get split apart ...

... all the money you intend to use during your stay with you in US dollars. And the dollars have to be new and crispy – no one accepts your note if it isn’t in a tiptop condition. Be also aware that your mobile phone won’t work here and getting a local sim card is next to impossible. Finally, like in every country with a poor infrastructure, moving around overland can take many painful hours in a bus (flying is also possible though) and the places ...

... created and sculpted slowly over the past month using the 100's of tiny tiny cultural experiences i encountered each and every everyday........this in itself is impossible to write about.<br>On there own these tiny cultural experiences are insignificant ................but experiencing them every hour of every day for nearly a month ..........and thats what we in the backpacking world call "Getting a feel for a country"<br><br>And we definately got a feel for Myanmar. ..........we ...

... to be bare feet. In the middle of the day this is torturous since the flooring of the pagoda is tiles. Even when you just walk on the white parts, it's still hot! Another downturn would be the kids who try to sell you bags to put your shoes in. i bought them though, and gave them fruit and some money. These kids were so young, some maybe younger than 5, and I'm horribly weak. Morally I don't really know whether to buy them or not buy ...

... garlic and black pepper pork. We toured the temple (Paya) that was downtown, Sule Paya. Girls and ladies were trying to sell us sparrows (you release them for luck) and a man was trying to sell us postcards. Entrance for foreigners was $4 USD. The girls at the entrance watched our shoes for a donation. This golden Paya is 2000 years old. The Zedi (same as a Thai Chedi) contains the hair of the Buddha. The chedi is 46 meters high and is surrounded by small buildings ...

... ten thousand temples in attempts to make merit with the gods. Nearly two thousand still remain today.<br><br>While one of the goals is to try to visit every single one of them, we tend for a more eclectic view of the area. Our first morning out walking took us to a festival which would go on for at least a month. The festival, of course, included a huge market scene in the alley ways leading up to the grandest temple in the valley, The Ananda Pagoda. <br><br>"Hey ...

... t avoid you. You have to walk in the street because the sidewalks are too crowded with people and hawkers. Therefore, you are either fighting the traffic of the people as you trudge down the street. There are some great deals in Yangon; movies are 80 cents, internet 33 cents/hr(60 cent/hr when the generator is on), postage for postcards 2.5cents and tons of fresh fruit for less than a quarter. It feels good knowing we can get out of here tomorrow. We are looking forward to Vietnam.

... 10 and a guy had a dirty tatty old $10 bill. When it was refused he claimed it was the only money he had on him and that is was this or nothing - so grudgingly it was accepted. Update on Mr Charles's Guest house (Hspiaw) - I continued to hear unpleasant things about his actions and anyone thinking visiting his place should read the following link, and then make your own mind up, before paying a visit - http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/t hread.jspa?threadID=1274326

... To me, the most interesting and exciting part of traveling is meeting both locals and other people on the road; without that, it's difficult to get the most out of one's travel experiences. So after a month in Thailand I appreciated the change. Another major--perhaps the most noticeable--impact of Myanmar's relative insularity is the way that cultural traditions have been maintained there. From the instant we stepped off the plane, it became evident. About 90 ...

... was one of our entry permits. I had foolishly saved a few dollars and provided the Myanmar embassy with homemade, passport-size photos with our visa application. Retreiving our entry documents while in the customs line, we discovered to our horror that the heat &amp; humidity of Bangkok had melted my ink-jet photos affixed to the visas tucked in our money-belts. <br><br>Nervously, we handed over everything else to the entry officials and waited ...