IT'S THURSDAY, I MUST BE IN YANGON

Inya lake. Very nice and tranquil (not unlike the new-age singer)

I’m on a traveling roll! Four countries in as many weeks, and this one is billed as the most intriguing yet.

It does not disappoint.

Start off with the fact that as you enter Myanmar, you set your watch back by 30 minutes. Not one hour. Thirty Minutes. I honestly was not aware you could do that to time zones (needless to state, I end up mis-programming my VCR back home and miss the last half-hour of Desperate Housewives)

We then go on the by-now-should-be-routine-for-me high-speed motorcade. However, an interesting thing about Myanmar: the cars are right-hand drive, but they travel on the right side of the road. Fortunately, the roads are wide, the motorists are polite, and my armrest heaves a sigh of relief.

Another fun item: our hotel is VERY big on its all-Filipina band. A huge billboard of the group dominates the front lawn and plays-up their pagka-Pinay, their posters monopolize the hotel’s elevators, and you can get them in your room on closed-circuit TV. Apparently, they don’t sing Keys Me.

Anyway, as I go around the country, I’m forced to continuously break out my NFW standard of awesome/beauty (so named after a trip several years ago to Mt. Rainier in Washington State, which was so impossibly beautiful that I distinctly remember just shaking my head and repeatedly muttering “No freaking way. No Freaking WAY!!” Seriously, there was a part of Rainier where a field of flowers, a crystal-clear stream, a rolling meadow, a virgin forest and snow-capped mountaintops all lined-up so PERFECTLY into one natural postcard vista that you’d swear it was art-directed). You’ll see some of my Myanmar NFW moments below and in the succeeding posts, but the pictures won’t do them justice (my constant cameos don’t help either).

There was lots of very serious work too, of course, but the surrounding visuals helped make things more bearable. The good food and great beer also helped. I actually wished I could see more of the place, but soon it was time to head back home.

(and set my watch forward two-and-a-half hours)

PLACE KINDA REMINDS ME OF: Dumaguete, if you squint


Your PhilDel and Embassy staff. The embassy itself has a very charming, old-school feel to it. It's what you'd imagine an embassy would be like in an Agatha Christie novel.


Shwedagon pagoda. A first-ballot NFW beautiful site (also, I like saying "Shwedagon"). The dome is HUGE and the golden glow absolutely mesmerizing (which I blame for my ROOKIE MISTAKE of being-left-behind-by-the-delegation-elevator-so-i-have-to-take-the-stairs; actually, it was also because I mis-timed a bathroom run again and wore dress socks and lace-up shoes to a place where you're required to be barefoot. The smart ones were sockless and wore loafers/sandals (and apparently time their bathroom runs well)


I check out the bling at the Gems museum (the LLDDL would hyperventilate in this place).


Bonus-picture-of-the-PhilDel-meeting-the-SPDC-in-Nay-Pyi-Taw-that's-exactly-like-the-official-photo-in-the-papers-but-I'm-posting-this-one-because-it-came-from-my-camera-so-there