Travels in the Land of Hunger

MYANMAR (BURMA) & BANGKOK, THAILAND

Going through customs at the airport was quick and easy. I didn't see any armed security guards or military men–in fact I did not see a single firearm during my time in Myanmar. But what did catch my attention as I passed through customs was the face of one of the customs officials who had applied–in a circular motion–a yellow cream to her cheeks. I later learned that most, if not all, Burmese women applied thanaka (a cosmetic paste made from ground bark) to their face and arms;1 a tradition that has continued for over 2,000 years.2

I exited the Yangon International Airport and was instantly approached by a Burmese taxi driver in his early thirties wearing a blue plaid shirt with rolled up sleeves and a dark blue longyi. He took off his sunglasses and offered to drive me to the city center. I asked him how much for the ride. He gave me his price, which I calculated into US dollars and agreed. But he insisted that I look for another tourist to share the ride to cut down the cost. I was pleasantly shocked by his recommendation. In Thailand taxi drivers did their best to cheat me out of my cash. But in Yangon this Burmese taxi driver was trying to help me save money! I told him it was no trouble for me to pay his fare, but he pointed out a young, lone female backpacker with dark brown, shoulder length hair that was walking out of the airport. He said he would wait for me to ask her. Deciding to give it a shot, I ran to catch up with the backpacker who appeared to be in her late twenties, and asked if she wanted to split a cab with me. She agreed and away we went to Yangon.

I formally introduced myself in the taxi. She reciprocated by telling me that her name was Daisy, that she was from the Netherlands, and that she had been traveling for nine months, which made me a backpacking novice compared to her.

The taxi neared the outskirts of the Yangon, and along the sides of the street we saw thirty or more people standing on covered platforms elevated by scaffolds spraying water from garden hoses down at the passing cars, pedestrians, and traffic police; they were celebrating the last day of Thingyan (the Burmese New Year festival), which was similar to the Songkran festival in Thailand with the exception that no one used talcum powder or water guns. The taxi continued slowly as we watched to our right people seated in the back of a blue pick-up truck get heavily doused. Then in an instant a Burmese teenager armed with a garden hose ran up to our taxi and sprayed directly into the driver's open window. Daisy and I could only giggle like children in the attack that left us soaked. The taxi continued further into the capital, and we saw more and more people spraying water from scaffolds while others jumped out of their cars to dump, launch, throw, and catapult buckets of water at other cars and pedestrians.

Everyone was so happy, but to put it in the words of a Frenchmen I met later that day: "Judging by how happy these people are today you would never guess that they are under a military dictatorship."

The taxi driver took me to the May Shan Hotel, which was located just in front of the supposedly 2,500-year-old Sule Pagoda (a 44-meter-high Burmese stupa at the center of Yangon) that served as a rallying point during the 8888 Nationwide Popular Pro-Democracy Protests. Daisy chose to stay at a hostel, but we decided to meet at her hostel in an hour. After I checked into my hotel, dropped my bag in my room, and washed my face I began walking in the direction of Daisy's hostel.

The walk was wonderful. Everyone was smiling at me. I was the only foreigner within several city blocks and everyone looked at me with great curiosity. It was delightful to see so many friendly, curious faces. And beautiful teeth! The Burmese had perfect white teeth, whereas in Japan I regularly saw people who had teeth that looked as if a small explosive device had gone off in their mouths. And then I saw a few Burmese men who had teeth stained red. I later discovered that men, as well as women, in Myanmar often chewed paan, which was a "stimulating, psychoactive preparation of betel leaf combined with areca nut and/or cured tobacco,"3 which had "adverse health effects."4