travels with an unlikely aunt: Myanmar. A few things I know so far

a stupa in Bagan with the Irrawaddy River in the background

Monasteries in Burma are not quiet places. The hotel in Bagan is close to a monastery and I now have their routine down. They wake at about 3 in the morning and do a bit of chanting. At 7 they turn on a tape of a woman singing that goes on for about two hours. Then they have a monk talking for about an hour. Then they break for a late breakfast. At about 12 midday they do some more chanting. Then in the evening the same lady sings for another couple of hours and then the monk will grab the microphone and do some more talking until about 9.30.

Monks and their loudspeaker on the move.

It doesn’t make much sense but this is what I have gathered so far about monasteries.

Boys have two chances to be monks. When they are 9 and when they are 20. The families want them to become monks because it is good “ merit” for the family.

Merit is a big word with Burmese Buddhists.

If they join in the later time period and they are married and/or have children; they have to ask the permission from their wives.

Girls can also be nuns at 9 and 20. They wear pink. Monks have more prestige than them. So the girls have a hard time.

The minimum amount of time you can join the monastery for is 9 days.

The problem if you stay in when you are 9 for longer than 9 days and change your mind, is that you only learn about the Buddha’s teachings and you won’t know how to make a living in the world.

You have to shave your head.

You can only eat until 12 midday.

And Monasteries like loudspeakers and ladies singing and they don’t want people around them to sleep.

the household stall

the cleaning stall

rice. lots of rice

dogs, dogs, dogs.

Markets in Burma sell clothes and underwear and fish and noodles and umbrellas and meat and vegetables. All in the same place. All at the same time.

Dogs are everywhere. Sad things. Lying under trees. On the sides of roads. Hunting, hunting for food. Lots of puppies. All of them look similar. All thin. Makes me want to bring a mobile van with a team of vets and some sedatives and a pair of scissors and get those dogs neutered.

Nobody mistreats them. They just can’t put them above the needs of the people.

Our guide, Lae has a mother who has rescued 30 cats and 10 dogs.

But I think she might be a rarity.

the snack stall

The dried fish stall

I'm honestly not quite sure, but I think it is beans and paste

The egg and lime corner

I couldn’t eat easily in restaurants without Lae .

Because of the meat and because of the chillis.

Myanmar restaurants where there are tourists have vast menus with pages of Thai and Chinese dishes on them.

But Myanmar food is all around steamed rice. With a compulsory dish of green leaves around a bowl of spicy green fish sauce.

I have eaten pickled tea leaf salad, which I loved.

And soya paste salad, which I did not.

I have drunk papaya juice and green tea and Myanmar beer.

Lae took us to a place where the list was just one page. A list of meat and fish curries. “Don’t worry” she said. “This is true Myanmar cooking. There are side dishes.”

So along with what she called the compulsory dish came the most delicious collections of small bowls.

Corn, green tomato, green papaya, rosewell leaves, pumpkin, tofu, aubergine, dried beans…..

myanmar traditional supper

myanmar dessert.

flower seller on his motorbike on the way to the market

The only flowers I have seen for sale are chrysanthemums. They are not sold for the kitchen table but as offerings to the Buddha image.

the flower market
As I mentioned before, it is rare to see people in Myanmar in western clothes. Even fishermen in the middle of the Lake, and schoolchildren, and women working on repairing roads all wear the long skirts.

porters at the dock

women making chickpea pancakes.

Most Myanmar men chew something called the betel nut. They eat it wrapped in a green leaf which has been smeared with lime. It is their version of chewing tobacco. They chew and chew and then they spit red stuff. And their teeth are red. And seemingly it eventually rots their teeth. It is not attractive. To me.

these are the leaves that are spread with lime that have betel nuts crushed in them These are the people who sell them.

People eat fish soup for breakfast. They put noodles into it. And green chilli. The other choices are fried rice, fried noodles, papaya, yoghurt, and baked beans.

Myanmar was the name of the country before the British came in and drank gin and tonics at five o’clock. There are 137 different ethnic people in Myanmar. The Burmese are the largest group. So I am officially giving up the joke of MFKAB:- Myanmar formerly known as Burma.