Men Wear Skirts, Paint Their Face, and Spit All the Time

Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, is an interesting country - and a little strange

Myanmar is newly opened up to the world, after being closed off for fifty years.  It is just now getting used to newcomers and visitors, so their tourism industry is not fully developed yet.  They lack more than a few modern conveniences, like a functioning bank system, safe water, or safe trains. 

Consequently, it is also unspoiled by the world around them and they have retained most of their traditional ways of life.  It is becoming increasingly rare to visit a place on this planet that has stayed beyond the reach of modern life and gives a glimpse of things the way they used to be. 

Let's take a look at some of the unusual aspects of life in Myanmar/Burma:

All the men wear skirts 

Yep - pretty much every one of the grown men, and most of the boys.  They had some Burmese name for the wrap-around garments, but they looked like skirts to me.  Not sure if I've ever seen this elsewhere.  They appear to be quite comfortable in their everyday life, and seem to be blissfully unaware of the fact that everywhere else in the world, men wear trousers. 

In fact, when we visited a couple of the almost infinite number of pagodas, they made me and Lewis wear them because we were not "properly dressed" to honor the Buddha.  I didn't care for the skirts; they were hot and uncomfortable, and not very easy to get around in.  I doubt this manner of attire will catch on anywhere else but Myanmar.

There are an infinite number of pagodas in the country 

I guess I am repeating this statement because we visited at least a couple dozen shrines in Myanmar/Burma and we didn't even scratch the surface.  There must be thousands of them, everywhere in the country.  Some are incredible and spectacular, and others are merely impressive. 

The biggest and grandest is the one in Yangon (formerly known as Rangoon) which is almost four hundred feet tall and covered in gold.  Really amazing.  The gold here adorns everything, and these large pagoda shrines could only be described as priceless.  In other words I don't know that you could possibly put a monetary value on all that gold, it must be hundreds of millions of dollars.  Yet the country  largely remains poor ... I'm just sayin'. 

They paint their faces - with a powder made from tree bark.

At first we found it was kinda weird, seeing everyone (including the hotel front desk clerk) with a painted face.  Was it some kind of beauty thing or what?  The men did it too.  They explained that it was partially cultural, everyone did it so that made everyone else want to do it.  And also it provided like a sunscreen type of protection from the intense unrelenting hot sun. 

It was hard not to stare at them, and I struggled to get a picture.  The only way to do it was to shove your camera in their face, and I was reluctant to do that, being a polite visitor.  So I would ask them if I could take their picture and they would giggle and run away. 

 

They spit everywhere, all the time. 

Mostly all men, and some women, chew this mixture of betel nut and tobacco, and of course you have to spit regularly to expel the juice.  The evidence is everywhere, on the sidewalks and other surfaces, this bright red spit.  You can't avoid stepping in it, which is a problem when you're walking barefoot all the time (see below) 

I copied this comment from a google search on betel nut:
Heavy users of betel quids reveal their addiction when they smile. Their teeth are stained a reddish-black, dyed from years of chewing potent parcels ... betel leaf; In Myanmar, they're popular with taxi drivers who use them to stay awake on the roads .... Just one of many things to ponder before you go there.

You can't wear shoes in the presence of the Buddha

Whenever we were anywhere (which is everywhere) in the vicinity of the pagodas, shrines, and Buddhas, we had to take our shoes off.  I don't mind this, many countries have "rules" about what you can wear when you near a religious spot.  But Myanmar takes this to the extreme. 

We would often have to walk long distances (I bet we walked more than three miles) in our bare feet.  Sometimes they would take your shoes and it was hard to get them back.  They didn't appear to have high standards in other ways around the Buddha, but shoes had to come off!

And the ground was dirty with dog poop, trash, puddles from the frequent rain - and the ever present red spit.   You really had to watch your step.  We'll be lucky if we didn't pick up some kind of tropical foot disease from the visit. 

Speaking of gold, they pound it into gold leaf

We were treated to a visit of a gold pounding business, where they take a small about of gold and beat it by hand for hours until it becomes flat and thin.  It's impossible to imagine doing this for hours in the Burmese heat!   

When it is sufficiently thin, they cut it into small pieces and put them on a paper so they can be applied to a Buddha or other important religious iconography.   In fact, the guy we were with insisted that Lewis and I take part in this ritual.  It was a "unique" experience, but made more unique by climbing up high and balancing on a small ledge with no railing twenty feet above the concrete below, a little un-nerving. 

Oh well, at least it doesn't cost much there ...

I don't mean to degrade the country, the people were really wonderful, and smiled all the time - and are pretty relaxed and laid back.  They were also very eager to help, the service was pretty good, if somewhat amateur. 

But one notable side affect of a newly opened developing country is that their prices are inexpensive and their currency is not strong, so everything is a bargain.  Prices were low on food, accommodations, and travel.  I mentioned the dreaded train ride in an earlier blog post, but hey, it cost us less than eight bucks a person.   

Our rooms in Mandalay were only $39 a night for a very clean top-notch air conditioned hotel with excellent service (including full breakfast) .  

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Myanmar/Burma is an interesting country.  I would like to come back here some day to visit, before it gets spoiled by the modern world.