From Mandalay airport we proceeded to a local market where we were able to get our first glimpse of life in Myanmar. My first impression was how clean the markets appear to be. Having spent some time in the Carribean, I sometimes hesitate to venture too deep as the smell can sometimes be a little overwhelming, but the markets in Myanmar are not at all like that.
Short of the dried fish stalls, they were truly cleaner and far less smelly than many British open markets and much nicer than the fruit market in Boston's Faneuil Hall where I found the mess and rotting fruit pretty disgusting.
(click on images for a closer look)
Not entirely sure what's being sold here, but I assume it's a drinks cart and a case of medicinal remedies.
The markets offer all manner of things - from handcrafts to medicines, from t-shirts to tomatoes. Usually the front of the markets offer the handcrafts and sometimes the stall-holders can get a little aggressive with tourists - especially as there are so few of us. At this market I saw very few non-locals other than ourselves, so we were sold quite hard. Opium pipes, puppets, Buddha images and wooden carved objects were common here as were a variety of interesting mechanical devices, knives and other paraphanalia that I'll describe later.
From there we went to Mahagandaryone Monestary where we watched its 1000 monks collecting their morning alms. In Myanmar, I was told, it is compulsary for all young men to become a monk at least once in their lives. This can last for as little as 5 to 10 days and therefore, becoming a monk is not a life-long commitment. In fact, some of the people I spoke to said they had entered the monestary many times in their lives, sometimes simply as a break from the stresses of life. Living in a monastary is free, but of course it is an austure life where eating after noon is not allowed, heads must be shaved and shoes can not be worn when collecting alms or within the monastery. Again, the monastery is an important part of Myanmar society that I'll describe later as we passed through rather a lot of them!
Technically, monks aren't allowed to collect alms directly from women (nor are they able to touch them), but clearly this is a malleable rule. The monks also collect their alms in age order, so the littlest ones are at the end, but there is always plenty for everyone. The meal is mainly of rice, with a little meat and veg thrown in and they then take them to a communal dining hall where they eat.