The night before heading to ThaBarWa, I got acquainted with Warren. From UK, he was revisiting Myanmar after 10 years. He actually got a surprising experience here where he met someone who he met 10 years ago. Apparently she put on more weight and her English got worse. That tells a lot how the society had developed.
I met also Alfie again in Yangon. He got tired somehow and was not up to do much. He went on a tinder date and met someone who wanted to learn English. Instead of agreeing he declined the offer but asked her out since she looked very beautiful. This surprised me as well since this is actually a very good way to convey interest. The formal me maybe would have said yes to be teacher and see whether she is the one later.
When I said hi to warren again I also got to meet Eoin, an irish guy where his name is pronounced ‘Owen’. Lolz. He works as an english teacher in Bangkok and he was discussing intense political topics with Warren. It was easy conversation with both of them drinking some beers.
I also got to know Brianne from the States. I believe Alfie was talking to her and I got into the conversation as well. The intial impression was that she is not paying much attention to the converstaion sometimes and when you are talking or when others are talking. The next morning, we actually got on the train together around yangon. And at the same time it was water festival and it was really crowded. So I was holding her shoulders to walk her through the crowd. Surprisingly she grabbed my hand. Did not expect that. On the train ride we talked more and apparently she was with an older guy (40, and she is 23) depsite her being friends being against it. She said that she is just more attracted to older guys. Also afterwards, she would sometimes just look out of the window and not continue the topic out of a sudden. We played the cube game as well but I don’t remember her picture anymore. But somewhere in her past I think she had some issues and now, she is rather more self centered with her own thoughts and would not care too much about the others. Back at the hostel, we partet our ways.
We also talked a bit with the hostel owner. He mentioned that this year, there are way less tourists coming because of the negative news in the media. He thought that even many people are against a government not respecting human rights, others should still visit the country because the money otherwise is received by no one. I can understand his point of view but of courrse his primary interest is to get some business going. For the people it is not easy to do anything against the government. And if you rely on tourism, then you should do that. For me, travelling does not depend very much on the political situation (of course, if your own safety in endangered then rather not). In different environments, people behave differently and it is also interesting to see how people think and behave in different situations. That tells a bit about the culture and attitude as well. Myanmar people are very patriotistic and do want to become better and the political constraints are cornering them.
The water festival itself is quite crazy and people are dancing as they do not care. That surprised me as well. In a buddhist country I would not have expected people being able to let go that easily.
There were also some Swiss guys in the hostel and I made some initial notes about them, but now, it does not seem important anymore …
At the breakfast table, there was also another German girl travelling on her own. She did not engage in the conversations i guess because of the english. But after she seemed very calm and essy to talk to. Unfortunately I did not have more time to talk to her.
And finally some pictures on the circle train
And the water festival
Oh and i got asked by a japanese woman whether i am japanese in japanese. The worst part of the story, i understood it xD
Me, in Medellín, learned spanish for a week
