Location:   Laos ~ Burma ~ Thailand

Myawaddy

The Road ~ Around Town ~ The Market ~ The Temple

This is where all the traffic is!  Probably 90% of the female population of the town goes through this market every day.  Get your tents, umbrellas, rice mats, whatever you can set up shop with, and take whatever you can find or grow to sell.

The locals always see you and smile really big and give you an excited welcome, until you pull out the camera, and which point they begin laughing and turn their face away!

Typical shop in the isles of the market, set your baskets on the ground, sit on a stool or straw mat, and bring the kids!  The stuff you see on the faces of a lot of the Burmese women is to protect their faces.  It's sort of like sun screen, they say it protects their faces and helps keep them looking younger.

You can get your curry paste, your fish paste...  Notice the green bag:  this is her cash register, that's money in there.  Often times in some rural areas that I've been to elsewhere in Asia they use and old Cookie Tin.  Look at the variety of things she sells here.  Bowls, dish scrubbers, jars of hardware peices...  The colorful bowls with the long handle in the back are scoops for dumping water to flush toilets.

Notice the dirt.  Notice the flies.  Notice the foot.  This is why Neville and I chose the vegetable curry for lunch.

This girl didn't turn away, she just closed her eyes when we asked if we could take a picture of her sandwiches.  This is just a little open-front shop, but if you look at the floor, and the concrete posts, and the rusted tin, this will give you a good idea of what it's like inside many of the homes and shops in Myawaddy.

I bet your wishing you had that red or blue monkey fabric to make yourself a new shirt.

Look how happy that guy is.  This couple came from what's called a hill tribe, they exist all through Asia, and they have been living in small communities in the mountains since before the modern inhabitants came.  There are a large variety of different nations of hill tribes scattered through the mountains.  The thing he's holding up is a Durian, it's a unique fruit that smells like rotting food.  People swear that they taste good though.  The red on their lips is a stain from these 'beetle nuts' that are a common snack in the hill tribes.

I hope you enjoyed your tour of the market.

There is a place in town that shows signs from a day before the military took over Myanmar, a time when Myawaddy was a prosperous boarder town with high hopes and dreams, and a bit of extra money to spend.  Lets take a look at the temple.  (next page)

Myawaddy:  The Road ~ Around Town ~ The Market ~ The Temple

Location:   Laos ~ Burma ~ Thailand

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All Content Copyright Shaun C. Mackey