Life in Myanmar

I’m adding to this as I go, so sorry if some information is incomplete.

I love Myanmar. The experiences here can be difficult at times, but the people are lovely and even though everything is dirty, there is this wonderful charm about the place. There also seems to be very little information out there as of right now. Below are my observations and hopefully some helpful information.

Clothing
Fashion is fairly conservative. I don’t see short skirts, low cut tops, or exposed shoulders. I myself have stopped wearing most of those things…at least in public. During, the night, this can change, but for the most part…very conservative.

Men wear longyis. This is a long tube of cotton fabric, usually with a plaid print, that they wrap around their waste and tie in a knot. It is a good solution to the intense heat. You will often see men squatted down near the gutters on the busy Pyay Rd. This is how they politely take a pee break.

Since Aung San Suu Kyi entered the limelight, she has brought the female longyi back into popularity. The majority of women wear them. I have 3 myself. They are tied at the waist, but the women are very particular about how they are fit. They are in every color of the rainbow and pattern. There is never too much color. Matching, fitted tops complete the ensemble.

Shoes are not allowed in religious sites and at the school I work in. The floors in these places are fairly clean, so I don’t have a problem with it…except for in the bathrooms.

Transport
Traffic is horrendous. Cars only recently became affordable and now streets are constantly congested. All drive on the right hand side, but most have the steering wheel on the right hand side. Buses still have the door on the left side from when everyone drove on the left side, but now have doors on the right as well.

Crosswalks mean nothing. Cars do not yield to you. Cars even honk at you on the crosswalk or speed up with no intention of swerving. Stoplights are only at major intersections that are still very difficult to cross. Every crossing feels like a game of Frogger.

The buses in Myanmar are pretty wild. There is a man that jumps off the bus at every stop and yells where the bus is going. He shuffles people on trying to keep the bus in motion while loading it to the brim. It is only 100 kyat (10 cents) for a bus with wooden benches and 200 kyat for padded seats (sometimes, but very rarely, I find one iwth air conditioning). You have to hold on for dear life because the drivers go fast and slam on the brakes. Buses regularly break down and you are quickly squeezed onto a new bus. Whenever the bus passes Shwedagon Pagoda, many passengers bow their head in prayer. My morning commute involves riding with monks, cages of sparrows, and many locals staring at me in disbelief. I don’t think many foreigners take the bus. I love the experience on most days.

Scooters are illegal in city limits. Only police drive them. “There are a number of rumours about why motorcycles were banned in Yangon in 2003, as well as mumblings that change is on the horizon. One version about the ban is that a person on a motorbike made a threatening gesture to a military general; another is that a motorbike rider distributed pro-democracy leaflets, and the third is that a general’s son was killed while riding a motorbike. There are no doubt others also.” –By Shwe Yee Saw Myint – Myanmar Times

Communication
Supposedly, government (military) controls internet speed and slows it down when they want. It is faster to use your phone. The cost to install internet is currently $800 plus a $50 administration fee (Nov. 2014). This should be changing soon as more competition enters the market.

The power is not stable, but much better than two years ago. The government sells a significant amount of the electricity it produces to Thailand and China, so that leaves the city with frequent power outages. Most days, they aren’t more than an hour. Sometimes it is much more. Generators are very common and kick on in most establishments. I am not so blessed in my apartment though.

SIM cards were $150 in July 2014, $600 two years ago, and even more a few years before that. As of August 2014, they are only $1.50. MPT sim cards are $7; they are a local company with the best calling service (internet is poor). Oredoo and Telenor (new foreign companies) don’t work outside of the major cities. Oredoo isn’t reliable for phone calls or texts, but the internet is decent. The foreign companies brought faster internet, but it is still painfully slow in comparison to other countries. This information is as of November, 2014.

Before sim cards became affordable, many people would go to these stands with land line phones. They pay to use them. This is Myanmar’s version of a payphone. They still exist, but are probably going to disappear over the next few years.

Miscellaneous

Cleanliness is an issue, simply because of no education about it. Bathrooms are simply hosed down, not cleaned with bleach or disinfectant. This is also an issue with food being cooked. Many places are not sanitary because they don’t know any better. Education is coming…things are changing. Until then, I won’t have a maid because the last one was cleaning the kitchen counters with the floor mats.

Beetle nut is chewed by many men. They spit red on all the streets and sidewalks, so you see it everywhere. The drug gives a very short high. It is sold on the streets at stoplights and at stands throughout town.

There are two seasons in Myanmar, hot or rainy. During Monsoon season (June-October), I found myself trudging through water past my knees. With all of the garbage and beetle nut spit, it is not pleasant. The nice thing is that the weather is fairly cool (for Yangon standards)

Myanmar is at its hottest in April and May. This is when Thingyan (New Year’s) is celebrated in their culture. It is a huge water festival. Water is thrown at passing cars and passengers. I have only experienced this in Laos and Thailand. It was really fun.

Banks – CB Bank will open accounts for foreigners. Can open an ATM account in Khet. Free deposits and withdrawals from CB ATMs. 1,000 kyat fee to use other bank’s atms. It is illegal for foreigners to gain interest, so they can’t open a traditional savings account. Can open an account that keeps currency in USD. Must pay 30 cents for every $100 you deposit. Can keep a maximum of $10,000. No fee to take out your USD. Must have your passport to open the account. At CB and some other banks the highest amount you can take out is 300,000 kyat, 3 times a day. So basically, you have to make 3 transactions at the atm to get 900,000 kyat. When I needed lots of cash quick, I dealt with machines constantly being offline or broken. The one at Junction Square seemed the most reliable. Hopefully this problem changes with all of the revolutions of internet entering the country.

Living in Taiwan

I lived in Taiwan for a year. These are the things I learned, observed, and experienced. I hope this is helpful to anyone thinking of moving there.

Food

Before arriving in Taiwan. I had read it was the land of culinary delights with a fusion of many different countries. I loved the food I ate when traveling through China and Japan, so I was excited. Unfortunately, it wasn’t to my liking. The sushi has ham, carrots, brown sugar and other unwanted oddities, none of which are fish. Most things are fried and if they aren’t they still have a very oily quality. Hot pots (boiling broth that you add raw meat, seafood and vegetables) are a specialty, they are lovely, but not something I seek out.

Everything is sweet, the mayonnaise, the bread, the tea. I really missed Hellman’s, which could be bought, but only in bulk at Costco. Yes, they have Costco here and Carrefour (French owned form of Walmart).

Bubble tea (pearl milk) was invented in Taiwan. It is milk tea with round gummies in the bottom. It is served hot or cold and you order how much sugar you want. A fun drink, but it always made me full. There are tea stands everywhere, so this isn’t difficult to find.

Night Markets

In the night markets, you will find fried quails eggs, meat skewers, mango milkshakes, a bit of international food, and too many carts serving deep fried squid. I used to really like squid, but now I have no interest in it. Stinky Tofo (Chow Doe Fu) is very popular and its funky smell is something you will always notice. You either love it or you hate it.  The night markets are also full of games of chance and shopping.    Grocery Stores              Starfruit juice loaded thick with sugar and corn popsicles.  Chicken feet aren’t hard to find in your local grocery store.     Shitake broth cubes, asparagus juice, corn popsicles, and chicken feet. There are many exotic items. Really fun for exploring and experimenting, but frustrating on the nights you want to cook something simple. I often made glass noodles with stir fried vegetables. A small amount of western foods is usually available. In the big cities, it’s easier to find, but not in the small towns. It is usually pasta and spaghetti sauce being the main option.

ComeBest is Taiwan’s answer to Red Bull. Energy in a bottle.

Yes, it says Cerear instead of Cereal.

Produce in Taiwan is amazing and seasonal, so there is always a different selection. Pineapples are grown here and inexpensive. Also, the largest pomegranates I have every seen. Watermelons are yellow or pink on the inside (taste the same). There are many fruit and vegetable stands, so it is easy to buy local produce. I always had my fridge full of fruit and veg.                                                                                                   Fashion

I have never seen a bra hanger before.

This was the most fabulous thing I have ever bought.

I’ve noticed my fashion choices have changed since living here. In Colombia and Spain, I would wear low cut dresses and tops, showing a good amount of cleavage. Here, the women don’t even wear v-necks. Everyone stares at me already for being a foreigner, but I didn’t like the additional stares for wearing something not culturally accepted. All of my low cut tops stayed in the bag or had the addition of an undershirt. 
On the other hand, skirts can never be too short here and it is common to see inappropriate or incorrect phrases (lost in translation) on clothing. 

I was a US size 8/10 and I have had no problems finding undergarments and clothes. I was a L or XL here, even though I was an M back home. If you are on the heavier side, shopping can be difficult, but it is still possible. You will find yourself having to buy something that is marked 5 or 6 XL even if that isn’t your size back home. They also charge a bit more for the larger sizes. If you are a female with feet larger than a 42 (size 8 US), it is easier to find shoes in the male section.
Shopping wasn’t a problem at all after 7 months. I lost 35 pounds, so everything fit.

Winters are cold with no heating and tiled floors. Make sure you have slippers and socks to get you through. The socks here are really cute and inexpensive. It is actually a popular gift that I send to friends and family back home. By cold, I mean that it gets down to about 10 degrees C (50 F) at the worst, but you get accustomed to the heat, so you become a baby to cold. Also, riding a scooter sucks the heat out of your body.

Garbage

You have to wait until you here a children’s tune being played on loud speakers. This is the alert that the garbage truck is on your street. You then have to run outside with your garbage bags and chase down the truck to throw your rubbish inside. It comes at the same time on designated days. It sounds like an ice cream truck passing by. I have talked to a few foreigners that chased down the truck, only to be disappointed by the putrid smell of rotting garbage, not an ice cream truck outside.

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They are very into recycling here too, so the same process is repeated for the recycling truck. There are big fines if you are caught not recycling.

The Language Barrier

I always forget to carry my silverware with me.

English is everywhere. Most signs are printed in Traditional Chinese and English. Most labels as well. Arabic numerals are also used by everyone here. It’s easy to get by without speaking Chinese, but why not take advantage of the time here? I loved when the characters finally began making sense. Here is a link if you want some help learning online.

Apartments 

Most are studios with a small fridge and no kitchen. People eat out for almost every meal. This is the norm. It is possible to get an apartment with a kitchen, but most are a bit expensive and multiple rooms. I managed to find a brand new studio with a kitchen. This link is a good place to look for rentals. You will need google chrome to translate.

Scooters

You need to have an International Driver’s License (easily picked up at a AAA in the US) or a Taiwanese Driver’s License to drive a scooter in Taiwan. To get a local driver’s license, you need to have an ARC (Alien Residence Card). There is a written and driving test that you have to pass along with submitting a medical form (filled in by a local doctor) and photos previously taken in a photo shop. Scooters can be rented for around 500 NT a day or bought used for around 10,000 NT.

What look like oven mitts are very popular to have on your scooter. They protect your hands from the cold in the winter and the sun in the summer.

The people are a bit crazy on their scooters, but there is usually a rhyme to the reason. Families of five will pile onto a scooter. Dogs ride with their owners by standing on the footrest.

I don’t know how they train the dogs to ride.

Children bring small stools to sit on the footrest as well.

I’m not kidding, you can buy the chairs from this link. These are fancy ones.

I always saw these small wicker chairs.  This picture comes from this Taiwanese website, where it proclaims the woman as an idiot parent. At least it is looked at as poor judgement.

You never know what types of passengers you will see. I was cut off by a woman driving with one hand because she was cradling her baby in the other arm. I do get upset by the large amount of children that are riding without helmets.

The woman on the red bike has a baby tied to her chest by a piece of cloth.

Can you spot the helmetless child squished between parents?

If you are riding a scooter, make sure you have good health insurance. I have a close friend who was hit by a drunk driver. If you get hit by someone who is poor, you are out of luck. If you are hit by someone with money, you will be paid so that the guilty party can show regret.

Funny Traditions

Taiwanese weddings have a long list of traditions, an even number of cars in the bridal party, bamboo, ham, and sugarcane on the roof of the car to signify a wedding and ward off evil spirits, a fan thrown out the window to symbolize the bride throwing away all of her bad habits, the list goes on. Western culture has plenty of symbolic wedding traditions as well, so I didn’t see these as abnormal. It was funeral traditions that blew me away.

In the more rural areas there are two very odd traditions for funerals. These are more popular with the older generation and are slowly fading away, but can still be seen. The first is that a professional mourner is hired. This person (I believe usually female) is paid to weep for the deceased. This very vocal mourning can last for up to twelve hours. The professional mourner wears a special garment and crawls up the aisle, crying loudly and saying how much the person will be missed, during the funeral. Paying a stranger to weep for my loved one seems so strange, but this is how they show their sorrow.

The second tradition is much stranger. For some male funerals, strippers are hired to dance during the funeral procession and at the gravesite. They have special flower trucks with lights and stripper poles to perform on. They will dance naked if enough money is paid. This is done to please the dead man and his male friends. I couldn’t believe in this modest culture that this was done! I read that it all ties back to when the gangsters of Taiwan moved into the funeral business. They brought the two industries together.

Here is a link to National Geographic’s coverage on the topic.

Healthcare 

The healthcare in Taiwan is fantastic. The only problem is that sometimes there can be a bit of a language barrier. For my occasional appointments, everything was wonderful. You get a card for the national insurance, but you should also purchase some extra insurance. Through my employer it was an extra $20 USD a month.

To make an appointment, you need to go to the hospital and register (only for your first time). At the information desk there is usually someone who can assist you in English. They will then make an appointment for you in the correct department. You are given a number and and a room number. They will tell you whether it is morning or afternoon. The lower your number is, the sooner you will be seen when the doctor’s office opens. You can gauge when to arrive at the hospital by that. You go to the room of your appointment and there is a large computer screen on the door with lists of numbered names. You stick your card into the slot and BOOM!, you are all checked in. No paperwork, nothing. You wait for your number to be called. If you have missed your number, they will double back to it shortly.

After you see the doctor, you pay a small amount for your visit at the check out counter. Then you go to the pharmacy in the hospital with your papers and your prescriptions are waiting (for free). I loved that part. Everything is done right in the hospital and so easy.

For more serious matters, things get a bit complicated. I had a friend hit by a drunk driver. Follow the link to read about how different things are when you have to stay in the hospital.

Dental care is also excellent and very inexpensive. Without insurance, it is around $20 USD, with insurance, it is $3 for a tooth cleaning.

Holidays

 After traveling, I realized Americans work very hard with very little holiday. I didn’t realize how spoiled we were until living in Taiwan. Thanksgiving is on a Thursday every year and normally, we get that day and Friday off. If Independence Day falls on a Thursday, again we will get the Friday off. It’s like this for many of our holidays.

If a holiday is only on a Thursday and not the Friday in Taiwan, they are gracious enough to let you have the four day weekend. Here is the catch. You have to work on the Saturday before the holiday. All businesses that are normally Monday to Friday will be open on that Saturday to ‘make up’ for the work missed. This includes banks and schools as well, so students and teachers have a six day week. It is brutal. It took all of the fun away from a four day weekend.

The best part was while the foreigners complained about how outrageous it was to make people go to school on a Saturday, the locals told us it was so kind of the government to allow them to make up the day. Totally different perspectives.

Lottery

To encourage businesses to print receipts, the government developed a lottery system. Every receipt has a number printed at the top. Every two months, numbers are announced and you can win up to $332,000 USD. There are a variety of smaller prizes for matching fewer numbers. It is very wise to save your receipts and check the website every few months to see if you have won. The prizes can be paid out at the local 7Elevens.

Drinking water

The tap water is safe in that it won’t give you any immediate illness. Long term however, it is not recommended to drink. There are metal deposits that can be harmful. It is best to stick to bottled water, but you need to research your water. Some Taiwan bottled water is filled from the tap, so you need to be very careful which brand you select.

Earthquakes and Typhoons

On June 3rd, 2013, I experienced my first earthquake. I was sitting on my couch in my pajamas on a Sunday afternoon, when a rumbling began. I thought it was a large truck passing by, but then, my apartment began to shake. I ran to the door frame of my front door in terror. I then began to fear that the building would collapse, so I ran for my bathrobe. Just as I was about to tear down the stairwell, the shaking stopped. I was shaking and the building was still swaying. The earthquake was a 6.5 on the Richter Scale. The epicenter was in the nearby town of Nantou (30 miles away). Damage was minimal, but my new apartment had many new cracks in the drywall. By October, I was used to the shaking and able to not look like a terrified mess in front of my students when there was a big quake during school hours on Halloween. 

Buildings in Taiwan are made to deal with the earthquakes. The island has thousands per year, but you only feel a handful of them. This link lists all the earthquakes for the day, month, or year. The saying I have heard is: the higher up you are in a building, the more you will feel the earthquake.

There were two large typhoons during my stay as well. I lived on the West coast of Taiwan and the strength of the storms weren’t as strong on this side. Lots of wind, lots of rain, and no work. Very similar to my experience with hurricanes in Florida.

Taiwan is an easy place to live. It is safe, the people are very friendly, and there is plenty of teaching work for foreigners. A year was enough for me, but I could easily have stayed longer if there was more dating variety. For male foreigners, it is a dating paradise. For many female foreigners, it is a lonely island.