vaga #3/9 their women
Part IX
I have dedicated this chapter to the women I came across and some of their routines that surprised me. Here in this country, it is the men who speak to you more than they do.
I will start with the story of the first sunscreen in history, I don't remember its name. When I arrived in Mandalay on the day of the Water Festival, almost everyone and especially the women and children had that pale yellowish paste on their faces ..... I told myself it was part of the celebration, but I soon realised that they always wear it, it's a sunscreen .......... great .... so I agreed to use it, in 40-degree heat ...... why not?
It is made from the bark of a tree, who knows the name of the tree … hahaha, they sell it in the markets and here is a video of how they apply it ...
Another thing that caught my attention was the bathrooms, they are always outside next to the roads, here there is no water in the houses, so they have a community well, where they wash clothes and bathe. The women wear a special, thin type of cloth and wash under the cloth for privacy...
I visited an ethnic group near Kalaw, as I said there are about 8 groups in a small area, each one with their own dialect, I went to see this weaver at her house and I included these photos because it is interesting to see how they live, it is rare that tourists have access to them and to get to know how it works, some ethnic groups sleep on the ground, others in hammocks, sometimes in bamboo huts, and sometimes on concrete.
I saw them using a loom that is strapped to the back, They sit on the ground and tie the tarp to a stick, they lean back to make the loom tight, it is common in many places in the world, but with small differences. The good thing about this type of loom is that you can roll it up during the day and it doesn't take up space. This woman insisted on dressing me in her clothes and she put a headdress on me that normally is used for the marriage ceremony ....... hahaha ... I asked her, “now where is the husband?” ...... hahaha
Another impression I had, was seeing many women doing construction work on the roads and others in one of the areas took rubble and stones from the river and crushed them in a mill to make sand. I must have seen about ten of these “construction sites” worked only by women and the last photo is construction in the city.
In this river, on which I sailed for about an hour, you could see women, children, men washing themselves, washing clothes, pots and the occasional little boy bathing happily with his brothers.
Women only jobs: I saw several sheds where they sit and sieve grains into baskets, it is very beautiful because they shake it upwards, many at the same time and it produces a wonderful sound ..... I don't have a video, it would have been too obvious to take one and they would have felt uncomfortable. They do weaving, but most of them are busy with rolling of tobacco.
I did not see child prostitution at all in this country, thank goodness ... but I came across this mural and it is in English, I was dumbstruck, why in English?......
Women's clothes !! what a topic !!! they were beautiful, without exception. Always, always with their two-piece suits that were tight, colourful and all looked exclusive, the design was always refined, nothing cheap looking. The photos of the women below were the receptionists of the 2-star hotel. Each day they were dressed in different clothes, I asked them where the wedding was? I did not take pictures of them every day as I did not want to be disrespectful but I would have done it if I could have ........ The clothes are made everywhere with seamstresses on the sidewalks or small , shed, there is no store to buy them, each one is exclusively made for each woman. And they are all slim and they fit them, both older and younger, perfectly, worthy of a fashion magazine .....
I finish with this woman, I ran into her on a walk in the middle of the field and please !! what beautiful clothes ... !! ... they always put a bouquet of jasmine in their hair as decoration