YANGON // Before arriving in Myanmar, I did what any lazy traveller does and queried Google for “things to do in Yangon”. The results were worrying: either I was going to be looking at a lot of pagodas, shrines and Buddhist temples or I was going to have to find new ways to know the city. Having exhausted two days wandering around the ancient ruins of Bagan, I knew which of the two options was for me -- and it didn’t involve temples. Fortunately, with the help of a Yangon-based Singaporean friend who works for an internet start-up called work.com.mm and who was hospitable enough to let me sleep on her sofa, I was able to learn some of the city's secrets. Here's the alternative guide. 1. Watch locals play 'Chinlone' I read a lengthy article on my flight about Myanmar and the traditional Burmese sport of chinlone, which is a mixture of hacky sack and football freestyling. It involves a ball made from bamboo cane, can be played by anybody and everybody, requires immense amounts of talent and there is no winner. For a demonstration by some guys who would put Cristiano Ronaldo to shame, try this. One of the best places to catch a local game is at the docks close to Bahatoung Pagoda. Head down just before sunset and you’ll witness everybody from monks to construction workers to Burmese businessmen hiking up their longyis and laying down some impressive skills. 2. Browse art at Pansodan Scene If you wander down the bustling Pansodan Street until you get close to Maha Bandula Road, you might just find one of the city’s most creative hubs. I say ‘might’ because, such is the lack of signage, the chances are you’ll walk right past. It’s upstairs at No144 and for the eagle-eyed, there is a small chalkboard on the street outside. Inside, when I visited at least, was a hive of activity with artworks, music and video production all going on simultaneously. Order a coffee, browse the walls and try not to blow your holiday budget with a spontaneous purchase. If you manage all three, you will have done better than me. 3. Eat Myanmar Hand-Noodles Anyone who knows me even a little will be aware that when it comes to sampling strange local dishes, I’m always game. Every morning in Yangon, the streets are peppered with weather-beaten women selling bowls of cold but spicy noodles. The women throw the noodles and a plethora of mystery powders and oils into a bowl and mix it all up using only their bare hands. No wooden spoons, no disposable plastic gloves, no health and safety measures. Once finished, she dips her hands into a bucket of murky water, dries them on an old rag and prepares her next bowl. It’s not pleasant to watch — but they are surprisingly pleasant to eat. And, incredibly, no after-effects. 4. Train 'Lethwei' at Thut Ti gym This place really deserves a blog post all of its own, or better yet a four-page spread in a magazine (Hey editors: contact me here). Located on a dark street on the outskirts of town and behind a corrugated iron fence sits Thut Ti gym — which is less of a gym and more of a rundown garden with a homemade boxing ring, some apparatus reminiscent of medieval torture and a swarm of mosquitoes. Here on the concrete, Lone Chaw — a legend of Burmese boxing — trains locals and clued-up foreigners in the art of lethwei, a combat sport similar to Muay Thai, but involving bare-knuckles and headbutts. Sign up for an hour-long session and prepare for pain. 5. Chew on a Betel Nut A controversial inclusion on this list, the mind-altering betel nut is omnipresent in Yangon. Made and sold on the street by independent vendors, it provides a quick high equivalent to six cups of coffee. It is also addictive, carcinogenic and ruins your teeth. First a betel leaf is painted with slaked lime, a white liquid that looks like icing sugar but is actually a bleaching powder most commonly found in plasters and cements. Next, some perfumed tobacco is sprinkled on and the chopped nut is added. Everything is then wrapped up in the leaf and chewed vigorously, but not swallowed. If you want to do as the locals do, you should then spit your blood-red saliva on the road, leaving an ugly stain on the pavement. 6. Slurp Mojitos in China Town Visit 19th Street on any given evening and you will find a narrow, smokey alley filled with local people sat in plastic seats enjoying cheap and cheerful food. All manner of meats, fish, noodles, tofu and vegetables are available and when I visited, every restaurant was thronging. There is one, however, that famously offers 800 kyat ($0.60) mojitos — although they deliver to any of the establishments on the street. If you’re feeling particularly brave, or have built up some mojito-infused Dutch courage, you could also try crunching on a fried grasshopper, a common snack among Yangon citizens. 7. Dance with the locals at Club Pioneer Wandering around Yangon is a bit like going back in time. The city is largely unpolluted by western consumerism, the people are still curious of foreigners, and everyone appears to be conservative, respectful and in bed by the time the country’s 11pm curfew arrives. In many ways it is the direct opposite of its Thai neighbour, Bangkok. At least that’s what I thought before I visited Club Pioneer. Attached to a hotel and thus immune to the curfew, the nightclub is a symbol for a modern Myanmar: Young men with spiky haircuts dance to blaring beats while local women in tiny skirts and high heels stand on the sides. A genuine eye-opener. 8. Visit Shwedagon Pagoda OK, so I said I wasn’t visiting any more temples or pagodas, but you cannot come to Yangon and not go to Shwedagon. The 110-metre golden stupa seems to be visible from almost anywhere in the city, which is probably courtesy of a governmental law forbidding nearby buildings from being taller than their most sacred structure. The pagoda itself is covered in hundreds of gold plates and the tip is encrusted with more than 4,000 diamonds. The main temple is also surrounded by hundreds of gold stupas and statues. Local citizens display impressive devotion by visiting regularly, although a cynic might suggest the lure of free-wifi is an additional incentive. ISWAS.
0 Comments
YANGON // Having managed only a few hours of sleep before catching Air Asia’s red-eye flight from Bangkok to Yangon, and then immediately taking an 10-hour bus north to Bagan, much of my first day in Myanmar (formerly Burma) passed in a haze appropriated more to sleep deprivation than the common Asian issues of smog, fog or Sumatran smoke. Three of my initial, eternal impressions can be found below:
...Post-ScriptYANGON // It’s been six days since I arrived in Myanmar, so I now feel better positioned to comment on the place and whether my initial impressions were accurate insights. Certainly the longyi continues to look like a bath towel and the billboards for Coca-Cola and Ooredoo remain positioned along the roadside. The traffic, however, may not be quite as bad as first thought.
Yes, the roads are busy and the city could benefit from a few extra lanes, but ironically sorting out the pavements would likely have a more positive effect on traffic flow. As it stands, it is arguably safer — not to mention easier — to walk on the road than it is to walk along the pavement. Sure, such actions add to the traffic, but it also saves the local hospital from what would otherwise undoubtedly be a conveyor belt of broken ankles, legs, wrists and arms. Do you remember the 1980s video game Paperboy? The sidewalk is like a real-life version, complete with open sewers, mangy dogs and wet cement just waiting to catch you out. Yesterday, I had to duck and jump simultaneously in order to avoid a low-hanging electrical cable and a deep, dark pothole. My friend Lynette has lived in Yangon for six weeks and works for an internet-based start-up called work.com.mm, which is aiming to make it easier for Myanmar's youths to find jobs. When I first arrived she spoke about how much of the Myanmar population don’t understand the internet; they think Facebook is the internet. “Ask them to search for something and they search on Facebook,” she said. I was dismissive of such a claim until, having bought a painting from a local gallery, the curator asked for my email address. I provided a Yahoo account to which she then asked whether it would work with gmail. I said it would and so, to clarify, she repeated my email address but switched the @yahoo.co.uk for @gmail.com, inventing for me an entirely new address. There are several examples of such misunderstandings; of a population that is running before properly grasping how to walk; a society that has fast-forwarded two decades in the space of two years. As recently as 2010, foreigners had to physically leave the country in order to withdraw money because there were no ATMs and not too many years earlier it was prohibited to even publish the word 'internet'. Nowadays, the internet and money are here, construction work is omnipresent and local establishments are trying to meet western expectations -- sometimes too much so. The other day I went to a dirty old tea house that had brand new urinal cakes in the gents. Not only that, but the cleaner had put a urinal cake in the sink too. ISWAS. |
Gary MeenaghanSports scribbler. Pedant with prose. Alliteration addict. Omnivore. Archives
July 2016
Categories
All
|