Yangoon

Capital city, full of colonial archicture and the huge Shwedagon Pagoda. Lots of pictures of street vendors.

This is a typical bus in Yangon, except it's usually a lot more crowded.  Often men are hanging 2 or 3 deep off the back.These fans have Buddhist doctrine written on them.


These are some of the many street vendors you can see everywhere in Yangon.  This woman is selling vegetables for curry.Fish for sale on the street.  Notice this old woman smoking a cheroot, or Burmese cigar.  You can also see the scale she used to weigh her fish in the red plastic basket.


More sidewalk vendors.This trishaw boy hangs out at the entrance to a food market, hoping someone will hire him to take them home with their purchases.


Peeled and spiced (with chili, I believe) pomelo for sale.  A pomelo is like a very large grapefruit, but a little less tart.Selling a glutinous rice/coconut snack on the street.


These boys are playing a game very much like the Italian Boccia.  They threw a large stone out, then tried to throw smaller stones as close to it as possible.  They were betting--you can see the folded up bills in their hands.  I threw one, and did pretty well.A movie theatre, looks like it was build in the 20's.  I think it's an Indian movie, there were a lot of those playing.  A substantial minority of Burmese have an Indian heritage, and speak Hindi.


There's so much rain in Yangon!  Some buildings were covered with moss and weeds growing out of cracks in the buildings.Government-sponsored billboards like this were posted in all major cities.  This has "dictatorship" written all over it.


Fried shrimp for sale.  The frying was done right there on the street.These three boys hung around me and wanted to be my "guides".  The one in the middle is of Indian heritage, you can tell because he's very dark skinned.


This woman is selling betel nut, which is chewed for a slight high.  It's sold wrapped in a leaf, with a coating of lime.  It makes your teeth really red, and the sidewalks are full of brick-red stains where people have spit the juice.  Notice also the woman has yellow thanaka paste on her face.I met Angela when trying to figure out what the white paste packaged with the betel nuts was.  (It's lime).  She learned English in a convent school as a little girl, and speaks it very well.  This is Angela and me, having lunch at a restaurant in Bogyoke market.


This is part of our lunch.  You dip greens in some hot sauce.  The bowl with a spoon is a desert, with coconut jelly and some other stuff.  Tasty.Pomegranates.  I bought some, but didn't like them very much.


These were a treat!  Lotus flower seeds.  I bought a small package for 50 kyat (about 12 cents).  The seed is about the size of a blueberry, and you pop the husk off, and eat the inside.  Very tasty!Frying and selling eggs on the street.


A little roadside teashop.  The chairs look tiny to western eyes, like they're meant for children, but everyone uses them, and just squats down really low.This is the computer setup at the Yoma Hotel, where I was able to send email.  Notice the fitted green velvet computer covers.


Water, available on the street.  People set up these water stations as a public service, to gain merit (in the Buddhist sense).A rice and oil shop


Notice that the numbering system on this bus is not the standard Arabic numerals that we're used to, but rather the Burmese numbering system.  It made it very difficult to catch buses, read prices, etc.A pickup, with seats inside, is also used as a bus..


A cold water seller.Another little street-side restaurant.


Pirated software for sale.  Notice the Office 2000 package.Shwedagon Pagoda.  Lots of people hang out around the temple, resting. chatting, and praying.


Buddha statues at the Shwedagon Pagoda.  The glass cases are for donations.People resting in Shwedagon.  Notice the pictures close to the ceiling. They represent episodes in the life of Buddha.


This is at Shwedagon Pagoda, a Buddhist temple, but it's actually a nat, or spirit shrine.  People pray for specific things here, and then lift a rock.  If the rock feels light to them, their wish has been granted.Intricate wood carving at Swedagon Pagoda.


I hired Tutu as my guide in Shewedagon.  He ended up being my guide throughout most of Burma.The actual stupa, centerpiece of Shwedagon.  Too bad it wasn't sunny!


These girls work at the temple, earning about 200 kyat, or $.50, a day.People come from all over Burma to worship at Shwedagon.


Another nat shrine.  Notice in the bottom right corner......there's cigarettes stuck in the tray.  This spirit is very fond of cigarettes, apparently, so to please it, they light cigarettes and stick them there.


Pouring water over this Buddha as an act of religious devotion.  Depending on what day of the week you were born on, you use different shrines.  Also, Wednesday morning and Wednesday afternoon are separated out into different shrines as well--I don't know why.A brick walkway outside the temple.  Along this walkway were restaurants, places where the monks lived, and small workshops.


A guava seller on the street.Bamboo shoots for sale in an evening market.  The red ones have been dyed.


The sticks you see below are pounded and used as shampoo.  The plastic bags filled with brown liquid is the pre-pounded version.Get your chickens, fresh!


The seafood section. Some of the women were shy and didn't want to look while their picture was taken.  However, when I showed them the picture using the playback feature on my digital camera, they were very interested!Mushrooms


Fresh shrimp for sale.Gambling on the street


This is the apartment of a friend of Tutu, my guide.  The barrel of water in the back is for bathing--you stand in the concrete basin on the left, and pour water over you from the barrel.An old art deco style chest of drawers, probably worth lots.


Tutu's friend's father, listening to the Voice of America on the radio in Burmese.A fake TV.  Apparently these were common, and were put in for decoration. The family also had a real TV, though.


Tutu's friend and I.  I'm headed back to the hotel, in a trishaw.A closeup of the trishaw and driver at the hotel.


I bought some mangosteens on the street.  They're my absolute favorite fruit here.  The taste is hard to describe, but oh-so-good!The view from my hotel.


Tutu in a teahouse.  Notice the plates with snacks on them in plastic bags.  These are so the flies don't settle on them.  The snacks stay out until somebody eats them.A monk going begging.  They wear their robes a special way when they beg, rolled up around the neck. Also, when they beg they don't use umbrellas, only their fan.


Astrologer row in Yangon, with rows of palm readers and astrologers.The train runs right along the astrologer's shops.


I have my fortune told for the first time by the fortune-teller that Tutu consults.A shop outside a temple, where you can buy gilded coconuts and bananas to give as offerings.


Nat worship.Buddhist nuns, begging on the street.


Schoolchildren in the standard green/white costume.Here I'm having a very civilized "high tea" at the Strand, a fancy renovated old hotel.  Rooms are $400 a night, but only 2 out of 32 are occupied.


Little girls playing a guessing game with custard-apple seeds on the street.  They grab a handful, and try to guess whether the number of seeds is odd or even.This game is similar to pool--the players try to knock the chips into the corner holes.


A public phone in Yangon.