2nd day in Burma

I'm in Burma (Myanmar)!!!!!!! Ahhhh!!

I arrived last night and this place is definitely a culture shock! Luckily I bought the Myanmar Lonely Planet (Trinh, you're gonna kill me because I didn't bother to get the extremely cheap version in Vietnam so it costed me 1700BAHTS at the airport!- but it is sooooooooooooooo worth it coz I go everywhere with it-it's a must! I had to transit for 5hrs at Bangkok Airport before getting to Myanmar and I I managed to spend over $100USD! I bought this lovely MAC eyeshadow kit for just under $45 and i love it!!!- not that I will wear it here in Myanmar though. A little expensive but I just couldn't resist! Can you believe Cosmopolitan magazine costed me 545BAHTS which is approx. $13?!!! Sheesh! I bought it coz I was extremely happy to see something in English and I've been missing these magazines badly!!

Well, I am staying at a Guesthouse (PYIN OO LWIN GUESTHOUSE II, RANGON) as introduced by Terry and the place has JUST the basic neccessities with a very much needed air con. It is on level 3 and it is such a walk! I felt sorry for the boy downstairs who helped lug my 30kg luggage up those stairs.. i gave him 1000KHATS as a tip (which is a lot- enough for a very decent meal) since I had no change on me and the poor boy deserved something for that great effort. There is no TV in the room so i will be able to get some reading done (I am lugging around 3 x Lord of The Rings and am determined to read it all on my trip!)

Everyone here wears this "sarong/skirt-like" piece called a Longyi with any type of shirt.... even the men! Apparently it is one (or the only) asian country that doesn't conform to western-style clothing. So you can imagine me in any sort of pants is out of the ordinary! The weather is extremely hot over here and the longyi actually relieves people from such heat. I might just get one tomorrow..... I've been sweating profusely here in my long pants (tailored in Vietnam for hot weathers) and short sleeved t-shirts. I have so many singlets but only wear it in my room because no one here wears it outside... not even in such heat! It's apparently regarded inappropriate and too revealing. So I'm ok with it... i'll just sweat away here in Burma and let the world see my shiny face everyday. There are fans in many restaurants but I don't know why they don't turn them on!

Oh, the other interesting thing is their sunscreen. It is a combination of sunscreen, moisturiser and perfume. It is a light soft-yellow colour paste called Thanakha and some of the women (and men) apply it to their face and it is very noticeable (think of geishas, but only it is yellow paste and much lighte). Some apply it to their whole face whilst others apply it in a more interesting way and only on their cheeks. The most unusual I've seen are people who have it in a round circle shape (up to 4cm diameter!) just on the cheeks- it is as though they lightly stamped the paste on either side of their cheeks with a sponge or something- very unusual, i might just give it a go hehe

I have been cautioned not to smile too much when I'm travelling on my own from people back home so I haven't done much of that here. But today, when i thought it was "OK" to smile and say thankyou to a sales assistant who helped me when I was in a supermarket, she then followed me abit in the store before coming up to me to say "you're beautful".... followed by "I love you" whilst holding onto my arm! What the?!! I was so shocked I didn't know how to respond but to kind of nod and HALF-smile and quickly got what I needed and went to the check-out desk. Ugh!

SO Burma is a 1/2hr behind Vietnam which means its 3 1/2hrs behind Australia. I called my relos in Vietnam so that they can know I'm safe (my grandpa got a little angry with me before when I didn't call him to let him know I was fine on my Vietnam tour) and it costed me $3USD/min! Sheesh!

Oh yes, one more thing... I met one of Terry's friend named Naing at his gem/stone jewellery store to exchange some money and we've organised for me to go with his family to two orphanages tomorrow. Him and his family come to these orphanages with food once every two weeks and he says the children here are ecstatic to see them even when their car just pulls into the place! I'm so excited!!! I've bought quite abit of children's books back home (and some kindly donated from Keo, thank you mr!) so I'll bring a few first tomorrow and distribute it out. I'm also forking out $50USD tomorrow to buy a large batch of small pudding cakes (almost 700 in total!) and bananas (with the help from Naing) to split amongst the two orphanages. At each hold approx. 120 children and I will check out both places before deciding where and what I would like to do over here. I am so excited and am so happy to have met a family who does this sort of work in their own time that I could just cry! Seriously! Tomorrow is a day that I've been dreaming of... wow!

Well it is now 6:15pm and I'm gonna have Indian tonight (I see Burmese people as a cross between Thai and Indian) at Golden Chetty just down the road before checking out the Sule Paya Pagoda. I hope they have a picture menu coz there is one dish I just love to eat and I hope they have it! (I should've wrote the name down when I ate with you and Nina, Terry!)

The sun has set so I'm now happy to leave this air-conned Internet Cafe..

=)

Oh by the way, due to security reasons over here Hotmail, Msn and Yahoo cannot be accessed...ugh