5cense

479> Burmese dayz II: Yangon river ∆elta + Dala + Bago

xing th yangon river t' Dala

25 May 2016 | Yangon, Myanmar> ping'd pineal stops u from sleeping normule but dont stop u form dreaming nun .. lucid series wherein we inhairit'd a kingdumb + our 1° order of busynest = forgiving ∀ll debt + commuting th sentences of ∀ll known criminals .. + we open'd th borders t' our countree allowing inny 1 that wantid in .... basickly got rid of inny laws .. allow'd fo free + open trade w/ no government intervention .. sorta socialist but also kinda teapartyish .. tax = an equal 12% percent 4 ∀ll no matter how mush u made .... but had a «use it or lose it» claws so u coont save no money past 1 years $avings .. + also ban'd ownership xcept 4 th land u lived on + things u used on a daily basis .... we'd drift off 4 an hour @ a time + kept adding t' this dreamy legistlature til finally @ 3 am we just got up ..

 

th lake we sleep on (Kandawgyi) .. green w/ algae

> today's 4cast = 100% chance uv severe thunderstorms so we left early .. walk'd 2 downtown Yangon .. around Kandawgyi lake .. thru zooligickle gardens .. danejurous game of frogger @ every intersexion .. not much of intrest downtown .. dentsly pack'd tenement blocks looking like cages .. stop'd @ Sule pagoda .. then down 2 th ferry terminal + cot a ferry cross th Yangon river to Dala ..

typickle apartment bldgs

 

Yangon street scene

 

inside Sule pagoda

 

customs bldg

 

smonking on ferry

> we menshun'd last post how th monks here seem'd sort of angry + corrupt .. well @ Sule pagoda we saw these 2 yung monks lounging around in 1 of them siderooms w/ relics + watnot + 1 laid on his back scratching + fiddling his crotch thru his robe when we see his friend completely flip his robe open exposing his genitals .. fully spred eagle! + his friend flick'd @ his privets + th guy closed his robe but th udder monk flip'd it open again + th monk just lay there w/ his twigs + berries fully exposed 4 ∀ll 2 see .. ¿strange behavior fo monks no? .. dont mean t' slander monks ± buddhism (our fave relidgun if we had to choose 1) .. just an observation .... innyway .. th ferry pack'd + a chaotic stampede gitting off int. a muddy mess of hawkers + rickshaws in Dala .. try'd t' walk around on our own but too menny touts bugging us about giving us a ride here or there so finely we hop'd 1 so udders wd stop .. pick'd a guy w/ wicked snakeskin tattoos up his arms that chew'd betel nut nonstop his teeth red like a vampire .. he took us around th squawlure of Dala in this rickety sidecar rickshaw exposed in th hot sun .. t' a nearby fishing village .. areas evidently destroy'd by th tsunami in 2004 .. dilapitated huts in a swamp .. th sorts of scenes that might appear in th dictionary under malarial (tho oddly mal aria literally means «bad air» not water)

xing th Yangon

 

in Dala looking back @ Yangon

 

ferry seen better dayz

 

spice shop in Dala

 

our rickshaw rider

 

th rode

 

bridge xing

 

fish camp

 

typickle houses

 

living derangement

 

malarial squawlure

 

 

 

stopping 4 a betel nut fix

 

lump of lime

 

 

 

fruit vendor

 

back t' th dock

 

hawking pidgin eggs

 

in th ∆

> on th way back across sat next t' a buddhist monk + talk'd to him for a wile staring @ th muddy Yangon river .. still dwelling on th idea of ∆elta that pervades our Raft Manifest .. far from th Columvia or Mississippi .. + th Yangon ∆elta not nearly as xpansive as th Irrawaddy (Myanmar's main vein) .... back in Yangon chow'd on noodles on th street .. sat @ a table w/ a sailor .. a marinero as he call'd hisself .. talk'd in broken Spanish since he dint speak no english .. ha navegado por todos partes del Amerika sur y España y Italia (in oltre ha parlato un po 'di italiano) .. stuck in Yangon cuz th seas too rough rite now .. then had Thai food fo dinner @ sum place infestid w/ termites + when the termites come sprouting from the ground th geckos have a field day ..

> start'd to read George Orwell's Burmese Days .. jaded inside acct (in novelized form) of British colonialism in Burma (where Orwell spent time as a police occifer) .. not that far into her .. will comment mo next post may'b ..

26 May > woke up + ran around th lake .. hot + muggy even @ 6 am .. lots of locals doing group tai chi + that weird dancing or just flailing their arms + flogging themselves .. th surface uneven a veritable obstickle corse across docks half th boards loose or missing .. worry'd about tripping + falling sints our sholder still a bit precarious spose we needid t' catch ourself .. then got a taxi t' Bago since taking a bus o train way too long + unrelyable t' make a daytrip of it .... th driver chewed betel nut + slam'd red bull (or th Burmese/Thai equivalent) .. what few teeth he had left dyed red .... he knew 4 words of english .. right + left (which he mix'ed up 90% of the time) + democracy + army .. he point'd out things using these words filling in th rest w/ Burmese + place names .... in theory th drive to Bago takes an hour (50 miles) but takes 1½ hours just t' git out of Yangon .. not an expansive sprawl but few rodes ∀ll bumper t' bumper .. Bago smaller but chaotic also + lots of motorcylces (which they ban'd in yangon) + bicycles + tractors etc. .... made th rounds of pagodas + things to see in Bago (tho we skip'd on watching th popular attraction of th «monks feeding» .. seem'd sort of like a zoo sideshow or sumping .. also skip'd th pagoda w/ the big python in a cage for th same reason) ..

Bago traffic jam

 

Shwemawdaw Paya pagoda

 

bell @ Shwemawdaw Paya pagoda

 

inscription

 

gong

 

Shwemawdaw Paya pagoda

 

 

 

inside anudder pagoda startid 2 git them all cunfuzed

 

 

 

golden palace

 

 

dog day afternoon

 

white elephant

 

reclining Buddha

 

another reclining Buddha (th real 1 .. surrounded by advertisments)

 

temple lost in th trees

 

4-corner Buddha (Kyaik Pun pagoda)

 

randumb airplane on th rodeside nowhere near an airport

> on the way back took a ∆iffrent route .. shorter 2-lane rode .. not pictured = trucks w/ teak logs + water buffalo + mango trees .... they drive on th right-side here but th steering wheels on the right so on 2-lane rodes th person riding shotgun has to say wether clear ± not (signul'd by a thumbs up) .. ¿+ if no passenger? .. driver has to git all th way out into oncoming lane t' see what comes b4 she hits him ..

typickle rodeside scene

 

bldg blocks

 

seemingly abandoned housing development in th middle of nowhere

 

back in Yangon

 

mo rain

 

 

wire worker

> try'd to taxi back out in th rain for dinner t' a popular place some1 @ our hotel sed every1 knows .. but taxi couldn't find it .. no GPS .. cant read no map .. stopping + aksing every1 just driving round in circles finally we just sed take us back t' hotel but he wouldn't .. taxi drivers useless here dont know how t' find innything .. even if u have a map w/ names of streets they cant read even numbers u have to read out loud .. grant'd they have a diffrent script/alphabet but u see english signs everywhere not to mention computers + cellphone displays etc. .. seems we spent 8 hours today just sitting idle in traffic .. not our idea of a good time but a reminder that this = life for many ppl around th planet .. glad we dont have no car back home ..

27 May> mo twist'd economics dreams .. ∀ll in varyus terms like «liquid chicken index» = a true basis on th ground performance .. hard 2 put in words .. not sure why we dreaming lately of bazaar economys + buryacraseas + legul systems ..

 478 <( )> 480 >  မြန်မာစကာ နေ့ ၃: pagoda hopping in Bagan + drifting on th Irrawaddy


5cense

[  (ɔ)om.Postd 2016  derek white  |  calamari archive   ]