Yangon/Rangoon

I am so excited to be here. It's really so different from anywhere I've been and I think most people traveling here can't help but feel privileged to see things now before they inevitably change. Men still wear the traditional longyi, women and children wear yellow paste, thanaka, on their cheeks and noses as a form of makeup/sun protection. The sidewalks are a mess. I don't think I've seen a smooth one yet. And there's not so much as a 7-11 in the way of chain stores.

This morning I made my way through the center of town, taking a picture of decaying colonial architecture. Then this afternoon I went to Shwadegon Pagoda. I had a guide take me around. Burmese people are Buddhist but also believe in astrology (which they received from Hindu Brahmanism, Wikipedia tells me). My guide had a little astrology book and looked up my birthday (a Thursday, meaning Jupiter is my planetary BFF or something). He said this meant my life is changing right now and would get better when I'm 31. Me thinking: right, four years to get rich and famous, sounds good. Then he asked for my boyfriend's birthday. And he told me James is way luckier than me and his life is going to be awesome until he's 42. After that he needs to be careful, because Saturn comes around and stirs shit up. (Or something). James, I resent your sign superiority. 

My cab driver on the way to the pagoda told me he used to be a sailor and so he's been to Alaska, Long Beach, New Orleans and several other American cities. He told me it's easy to get a girlfriend in America, especially in a club. 

I have two more full days in Yangon then I take a night bus south. I'm less worried about finding accommodation because I was talking to the person at the hotel today and he said everyone is in the same situation as me -- we all have the same guide book, call the same places and thus those places book up, but now there are a lot of new places not in the guidebooks. Plus he says every day a lot of people book and then don't show up, which is a headache for the hotels. So while things are confusing, I don't think I'll be left out in the cold (erm, heat).

Pictures will have to wait, perhaps until I'm out of country.