Myanmar - Learning and Discovery

Myanmar has an ancient and diverse history that continues to influence the lifestyle today. You see the prevalence of the old culture even in the big cities like Yangon with the open street markets and ancient pagodas trying to blend in with new high rise buildings and modern technology. Then in Bagan the ancient religious temples and pagodas dominate the landscape in which farmers continue to work the fields with brahma teams pulling plows and wagons and manual labor is a daily way of life.

Here are some of my personal observations of life in Myanmar.

Shops and vendors- There are literally thousands of independent vendors that sell a wide range of goods from small snack bags of potato chips and cokes to mattresses. Food stands, both fresh and prepared ready to eat, are dominate. They set up along the streets, alleyways and in flea market style shopping areas. Families trying to eek out a living. It is a hard life requiring hours of work 7 days a week. As I have shared with you, there are small cooking stations along the road where food is prepared to be sold the next day.

Monks life - I guess I was surprised the most with understanding the monks and their living style. I always thought it was an extreme religious devotion and that they lived a secluded, tranquil and meditative life. Boy was I wrong. They go out into the community almost everyday seeking donations to support the monastery and to provide themselves with their needed items to survive. The community feels that it is their responsibility, and honor, to provide that support. Also an observation that I wasn't expecting was you would see monks walking or sitting around with cell phones and tablets. There is the learning and religious studies that they do daily as well.

Donations -  Huge donation areas are set up for people to bring items and cash to support the monks and the monasteries. Money trees (where people tie on money) are everywhere. There is no threat of theft of the money or any of the items. Also, they would play loud music at the donation sites and if they were going down the street for collections to let people know where they are located.

A truck taking collected donations to a monastery.

Money tree frames ready to be taken back out into the community.

People - the people were extremely friendly and even though they had very little they always wanted to share what they had and welcome us into their homes. They are hard workers and many struggle to make enough each day to survive.

The Street Culture - It was a little overwhelming at times with all the pungent smells of the markets, loud  music playing, people constantly shouting like a carnival barker, and motorcycles whizzing through very crowded areas tooting their horns. Same with regular traffic, they continuously are blowing their horns at each other. You see a wide range of transportation used from bicycles, tricycles, motorcycles, small trucks, big trucks and buses. Babies were being carried on motorcycles with no protection, people were crammed into the backs of trucks with their belonging thrown on top. 

Beauty of the Buildings  - The number of ancient buildings was staggering. It is hard to imagine what sacrifices the people have made over the years to build such beautiful temples and pagodas that stand as a testament to their religious devotion.

Myanmar was a wonderful experience and very enlightening.