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Myanmar Hierarchy, There may not be a King and Queen in Myanmar anymore but there still is a Hierarchy. The Hierarchy in on the
Highways. You see if you want to last long here you must understand it. At home pedestrians have right of way and at the training center
horses do, cars turning right have right of way and trucks stay in the right lanes. No no not in Myanmar! Okay
lets say your walking with your three year old across the street to the market, now the anything motorized will try and avoid you
but not to much effort will be put into it maybe a beep beep but probaly you'll step back and be brushed by their mirror.Okay now your
driving your ox cart to town with your load of rice, everything will avoid you but the largest of trucks they blow their air horns which startle
your ox and now your ox are going in two different directions (bad). So now your with your best girl on your smokey moped, Maybe a helmet
definatly something in one hand say a chicken. Now you have really gone up the food chain, you can out run horse carts,ox carts,pedestrians
a guy pushing a wheel barrow full of cement.However the cars will for no reason swerve behind you and blow the horn when they
could have easily moved over to the left. Hopefully you girlfriend is paying attention and signals for you to swerve right
as the over loaded truck bears down on you.You'll probaly make it home for that peck on the cheek if you listen.
Okay,now for the big time you gotten yourself a car, you know how to drive it because you saw your uncle do it as a kid. In Myanmar
they drive on the right but for the most part cars here are from Japan and the steering wheel is on the right also. So you always
bring a passenger with you to be look out for passing trucks. That doesn't always work because he is probaly only a horse cart
driver and doesn't react with the same speed as a 10 year old Japanese car.Anyway you can't see anthing coming at you untill it's
too late then you just gun it and hope for the best. Even though you are in a car and there for higher then the ox cart,horse cart,
moped and pedestrian you do have to move over for the big trucks with the air horns they rule. We did see many close calls with
small dogs and a child or two but manly we were safe as long as it was smaller then us. Now I like the big truck rules part, because
even though they are also ten year old Japanese trucks and right hand drive they can see over everybody and have air horns aka
king of the highway!
In brief, tailights and headlights sometimes work, but at least in Bagan and Mandalay the roads grow silent with
the coming darkness.Myanmar also has some great ideals that we haven't done yet in the States.The red light timer, great ideal!
The timer counts downs how long until the light changes to the next cycle. Say count down in green numbers until yellow and so forth.
Not many cell phone drivers, people can't afford cell phones so not many are used, I am sure we can come back here in ten years
and that will not be the case but as for now the roads are safer. Traffic Police, well they carry machine guns! Now are you going to
talk crap to him or just pay the ticket and as for road rage not happening on his watch either.Anyway that is my Myanmar Highway
Hierarchy blog next other good ideals.
Want to save water? DOn't have any hot water, I have never showered as fast as I did in Myanmar. Mostly because of the hot
water not being there.SO I figured it out. The water that sat in the pipe all night would warm up a bit, so if you were really fast
then you would get a Myanmar hot shower. Really it wasn't all that bad for the most part my showers were hot but keeping the water
in the shower now that was a trick I never mastered. I don't know why but here the shower curtains (if there is one) don't stretch all the
way across the shower.So when your done the floor is flooded and if you forget to remind your WIfe before she walks into the
now cold pool of water in her socks the morning is shot to hell already.Luckly they provide a drain in the corner of the bathrooms
that you can channel the water towards with some of the remaining towels and the bathrooms all have a raised threshold to keep the water in
the bathroom.Thats great for those midnight bathroom trips.Yeah trips, if your significant other gets up and you suddenly hear cursing
well he/she just whacked their toe on the bathroom thershold for sure. Now these tricky hotels in Myanmar offer breakfast buffets. All you can eat,
however they also have a full length mirror installed in the shower.No not on the wall but in the shower it's self.The only place meaner then that
was a couple of years ago we stayed in the Burg Al Arab in Dubai and they had a king sized mirror above the bed! We soon learned that they would cover the
one in Dubai but there is nothing to do to the one in Myanmar. Yeah you think twice at the buffet after seeing yourself only
moments before naked and in your most vulnerable state. No I don't need a second stack of pancakes thank you.
All n all as I sit next to the pool in Myanmar now evicted from our hotel room I think back of the last week, the dozen of
post card sellers, no thank you. The dozens of times I took off my sandals,come to Myanmar bring easy to remove shoes. The perfect
dollar bills (at least we thought) declined, coming to Myanmar bring the crispest dollars you can find no ATM's here only a
guy in a store refusing your bills only to hand you a weather worn Kyat (Myanmar money) taped and dirty but don't worry nobody looks
twice at their money.I've seen enough Buddas and Pagonas to last a few years and we are heading towards Sri Lanka this trip are there more there? I hope not.
Bye Bye Myanmar! two years ago we had the thoughts of traveling here after visiting Thailands Hell Fire Pass and wondered if traveling
here were possible. Not too many travel blogs recomend it, from Joy and I we do. If anything it's real, authentic for the moment.
Color TV's in thatch huts means that the World is coming to Myanmar get here while there is still time just bring new money as they
don't take credt cards and or have ATM's.Thank God or Budda!
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