Back in Rangoon

Scary to think that in 28 days I will be beginning a new adventure in Delhi…

I was very happy to arrive back at my friendly guesthouse in Rangoon, and yes, they had a room for me and yes, unlike other guesthouses in Burma, I could have breakfast today as well as tomorrow. So happy – this is after all the “best buffet breakfast in the world”. And it really is pretty good, although part of the deal is having the owner tell you the entire time you’re eating how good the food is, how breakfast is the most important meal of the day, how they have over five hundred recipes and they are always changing the menu, etc, etc.

I was glad to be back in Rangoon although I’m disappointed I didn’t get to spend much time at Inle.

Familiarity is always nice so I pottered around town, visited the markets to buy some final gifts, had chai on the street, and rested while I caught up on this journal.

In the evening I wandered through some food markets where I witnessed catfish jumping out of a steel bowl and slithering down the street. I wasn’t quick enough with my camera so I waited a while but I think they were exhausted. In the middle of the road there are children selling things as well. There was one girl in particular, probably about ten, selling badly undersized fish on two big steel trays. When a big truck came down the street, everyone squeezed to the sides, the fish stayed there and the truck went straight over the top of them - wheels either side. Then she just went back to where she was, hoping for a sale.

Chinatown was hopping tonight with Chinese New Year festivities getting underway and everyone was out with all sorts of noisemakers being sold. I was too tired to wait for the dragon dance rehearsal but it was nice to see some of the action.