After a good night sleep – which we really needed due to the flight – we were ready to make an early start and visit the small villages near Yangon. The local people in the villages were very welcoming and very eager to show us how they live. One of the local women took us to her house and introduced us to a local habit. In Myanmar it is very common for people to have a yellow ‘substance’ on their faces. This substance is made from the root of a tree and is said to be good for the skin and protects you from the sun. They showed us how to make this and we were given the opportunity to try it out ourselves!

Even though communication between us and the local villagers was really tough, they seemed to really enjoy meeting us. They put in their best effort to make us feel comfortable in their village. Whenever they thought that someone was hot, they tried to help us cool down by handing us an umbrella or to wave at us with a small fan. After a while we discovered that taking pictures – we photographing them and they photographing us – was a great and exciting way to communicate and interact with them.

To summarize this day: we really experienced the friendly and generous culture of Myanmar. Most of the people in Myanmar have a smile on their face, which is very nice to see. Also, when visiting the Shwedagon Pagoda, one of the highlights of Yangon, at night, a kind Buddhist monk walked up to us and offered to walk us around the temple, giving us interesting information.

All in all, today was an exciting day with a lot of new impressions. We look forward to move on to Nyaung Shwe tomorrow to have some more adventures!

Authors: Britt, Francis, Julia, Natasja, Tiara