ANOTHER HERMIT KINGDOM: MYANMAR
Myanmar | Sunday, December 13, 2015 | 27 photos
Bit early to say, but this will likely be the most unique country on our entire trip! Closed to the world for over 50 years by a military dictatorship, it has finally opened to tourism in the past few years. Don't wait to discover this untouched jewel and their warm welcoming people! But before McDonald's and Starbucks arrive. ;-) You'll never meet more genuine people not yet "contaminated" by capitalism which will likely take hold in a few years whence forth they'll look at tourists like dollar signs. Seriously, most don't even know what bargaining is! They simply do most things out of generosity.
INDIA VS THAILAND
After already seeing India and Thailand, Myanmar truly is the transition between India and South East Asia. As in India; men where long skirts and spit and chew tobacco. As in Thailand; people physically look South East Asian, people eat noodles and women walk with parasols to protect themselves from the sun.
BUDDHISM
Even more than Thailand (where monks have special seats in the subway along with the elderly and pregnant women), Buddhism is everywhere in Myanmar. Take a road trip and golden pagodas dot EVERY horizon. Wander Rangoon, every 1-2 blocks you see a temple. Monks? They're everywhere!! Boys, girls, old men, fat, skinny, etc. Btw, female monks wear pink and also shave their heads. We took buses with them, we saw them taking selfies and checking their Facebook, and we saw them going house to house in the morning asking for rice.
NEXT COUNTRY
Next we bus back again across the border to see northern Thailand. Stay tuned!
