If only the US were so pedestrian-friendly!

For lunch, I went to the highly-reviewed Rangoon Tea House. On the ~20 minute walk back to the hostel, I had two notable random encounters.

First, a man asked me where I’m from, and, through a combination of gestures and broken English, indicated that he wanted me to take a picture with him. I’m not sure what his motive was, as he didn’t ask me to send him the picture, nor did he try to get money from me afterwards. Perhaps, like so many, he simply wanted to be seen. Therefore, behold:(not sure what my face is doing in this picture. oh well)

Second, I passed a store selling a bunch of pens in different colors (a crafts store, likely). I’ve been looking for sticky notes for a trick I heard of to extend the life of a passport*, so I decided to go in and see if they had any. Sure enough, they did:Note: 350 kyats ≈ 25 cents.
While I was making my purchase, one of the employees asked where I got my hat, and how much it cost. It’s been such a conversation starter since I bought it, as well as keeping the sun off my face. Great use of $4.

*Since some countries require blank pages for visas, it’s best to keep stamps clustered together rather than on separate pages when going to a lot of countries. The trick I learned is to put sticky notes on the pages you don’t want stamped, with a polite note asking officials not to stamp those pages.

Yesterday I had a headache and felt lethargic, so I didn’t get out of the hostel. Today I feel much better, and did a bit of exploring.

Some striking differences from Vietnam: There are very few motorcycles on the roads here, and the writing uses different characters.

I make a point of visiting convenience stores when traveling in other countries, to see how they differ. I bought these snacks at one for about 67 cents.

Time difference from Boston: +11:30

Pictured: my last 5000 Vietnamese dong (~$0.22)

Water puppetry is a North Vietnamese art form dating back to the 11th century, when rice farmers created entertainment in the flooded paddies. I went to a show at Thang Long theater.

The people behind the curtain: