Hello- Minglava!
$1 USD= 13,400 Kyat
(My dollar has gone the farthest in this country.)
Almost every man chews tobacco. Even some women do it too. It turns their teeth a blood red and black color. It’s startling and gross.
The men spit a lot. They make that nasty nasal sound. It has become one of my biggest pet peeves.
All toilets here are squatties. I have learned to love them.
Myanmar has the second highest amount of land mines, after Afghanistan.
Myanmar is the poorest country in Asia.
They are usually always in some type of war. Right now they are in a religious civil war (Buddhists and Muslims) and they currently have a war going on at the boarder of Bangladesh.
Myanmar used to be known as Burma. They got their independence from England in the 80’s and the government changed the countries name. They changed some of the cities names too. The city I have been staying in mostly is called Yangon but it used to be known as Rangoon.
The people speak Burmese and are known as the Burmese people.
Men and women wear long skirts. They also wear modern clothing but the typical Burmese dress is long linen skirts.
(model Todd)
The people put this yellow powder on their faces to protect their skin from the sun. They will put a thin layer all over their face and then do random patterns on top of that. It’s so unique and super cultural.
Peanut butter is HARD to find here. God bless my soul.
They are currently in rainy season. It rains at least 3 times a day. We are thankful for the rain because if it didn’t rain it would be SO HOT.
Buddhism is the biggest religion here. There is a large Buddhist temple in Yangon that claims to have 8 of Buddha’s hairs.
The temples are called Pagodas. They are so interesting. I have never seen anything like them. They are gold, ornate, and EVERYWHERE.
Monks in Burma wear crimson colored garb. In Thailand they wore a marigold color. Not sure what the color difference means.
We lived down the street from two monasteries. The ages of monks range from 4-80+.
I also saw female monks. They wear a light pink color and also have shaved heads.
99 percent of the population in Hakha is Christian.
The yellow powder stuff everyone puts on their face is called Thanaka.
Myanmar was one of my favorite months on the race.
Writing this blog brought back so many good memories
Thanks for reading and following along.
XOXO,
EM
