November 11,2000

Yangon Myanmar

I find the Yangon sidewalk markets interesting. Like many other Asian sites I can find locally grown fruits and vegetables, clothes - probably lifted from the Salvation Army, the assortment of odd books and magazines, the palm reader, the mechanics, the hardware salesman, etc. But the Burmese market also includes such interesting vendors as the live snake and scorpion salesman. Scorpions are allowed to crawl over rocks, but the snakes are usually confined to jars. The sidewalk tattoo artist clearly makes his own designs and was last seen drawing some indecipherable sketch and writing "sex pistol" on the leg of a young man. (The boy gave me a big thumbs up and repeated "sex pistol, yeah!" ) The toe cleaners own a collection of tiny, dirty instruments, but their customers appear to be quite satisfied. And on every street two or three cigar rollers use a variety of leaves and glue to wrap a special Burmese class of smoke. I've even seen a few old ladies enjoying these cigars. I read that the government stopped importing beetlenut, but many people still seem to chew it. And they spit red juice everywhere. I suppose it must have been worse before, but the streets are still covered with it. It looks like blood or perhaps red paint. And the chewer's teeth are stained with the juice too. The nut and cigars must be great because so many people do it. I have to admit I'm a little tempted.