vaga#3/2 surreal country
PART II
!!! WELCOME !!!!
In the Burmese language, the BLACK symbol does not have a misspelling, it is complete, the BLUE of the cover I could not get completely correct, but I put it in any way, it looks beautiful. Writing that fascinates me, circles, semi-circles, balls on circles, curved lines and at right angles and it is hard to know when they are upside down ...... hahaha
According to Peter, if someone greets you with the left hand facing forward on the right or they are returning something, it means that he is showing you, that he does not hide a knife in the other hand, ancient cultures that are maintained and not only in Myanmar.
women faces
These are facts that I have learned about the country. Myanmar, Birmania and Burma, are the same names given for one country. The new name, Myanmar, comes from 1989 when the military strengthened the dictatorship after a time of strong protests against the regime. The United Nations only recognised the name in 2012, but many countries did not and continue to call it Burma. The military repression has been appalling and 4 years ago they resumed what they call "the road to democracy." The dictatorship comes from 1962, the longest in recent times. Chile has had an ambassador supporting the new era for a month now.
The Burmese refer to the Bamar people as the most important group in the region. There are 135 recognised ethnic groups. !!!! plop! !!!!!! For an ethnic group to be recognised as such it has to have its own dialect. !!! 135 dialects !!! what madness !!! Only in 1961 was there any attempt to unite the country between its ethnic groups. But until today, I wrote this in 2018, it has still not been achieved, and there are many small civil wars (several still very violent) in the territory for its administration of natural resources. Another extremely serious conflict is the expulsion of Muslims. I am telling you about this because you do not know much about this country that has been closed to the world until a decade ago and this is what I will share with you.
This is the country that I thought was a hallucination, I took more than 2 thousand photos in 25 days, ....... I have never taken so many photos ... ... the closest was 800 in 3 months in Vietnam ... ... nothing like it in every way of the word. But I have no intention of going back there, not like Vietnam. You have to have thick skin to travel in those parts the way I did. Do not worry though, there are booked tourist trips you can book and I do recommend it because it is an extraordinary place for its thousands of pagodas and half a million monks.
SURREAL COUNTRY.
The country is out of this world, it is unusual and fun because they mix all the measurements up and have others of their own, I will give you many examples as I go through the chapters. First of all, before getting off the plane, a 28-day visa, Who gives a visa for 28 days,? They are usually 15, 30 or more ... ... but 28? Then, getting off the plane the time; half an hour out of date from the rest of the world. Its most important city is Rangun, Rangoon, Yangon. A country with 3 names and 3 ways of calling its main city and they are all still used.
We continue with the measurements
FUR
FUR is a unique measurement in this world and they use it in short distances on roads. Then they also work in miles and kilometres arbitrarily, I did not understand when using one or the other. I saw the street signs from the bus where anyone of them can appear, sometimes the typical green road sign appears in FUR (the word FUR is always written in Burmese, which they explained to me) miles and kilometres are in English, but the concrete monoliths on the side of the road that marks the distance of 10 km by 10 km are in kilometres. Discussing this with a guide was interesting because they go from miles to kilometres to FUR in their heads with natural agility. !!! Cool!!! I say it, that I have battled going from miles to km. when I lived in the US. Until today, it is a country with 3 names, 3 names for its Capital and 3 measurements of the distance, in addition, the measure of " 1 Gaig " is equal to 91 cm.
SURREAL COUNTRY
I'm going to tell an anecdote that contributes to the subject
I went to visit a cloth weaving workshop, weaving is an integral part of the country. I was there for a while and I saw the miserable conditions in which they work making wonderful fabrics. I am passionate about all textile crafts and I always support it.
fully identified ..... !!! not true children !!!
When I spoke with the owner, I wanted to know if I could have my designs made, just out of curiosity. Communication in English was very difficult though, so she called her sister on the phone to talk to me, she was supposed to know more English. The truth is that she was worse than her, I did not understand her at all, and because at least being face to face with the owner we could communicate with each other through signs and drawings. I took the photo of the information she gave me to remember the prices, and then I went over it calmly.
Once I had the chance to study it, I realised something surprising. The length of the fabric in meters, 10 meters and then the width, in inches, 62 ”or 48”.
!!! nobody can !!!, they mix everything up ... what a mess.
That day I was carrying the fabric backpack that I had brought from Guatemala, I saw her eyes pop out when she saw it, I showed it to her, she called two assistants, understanding the reaction, I took my things from it and asked them why they don't do some like that, for sale, it would be no problem, I felt very happy that I could contribute something to them, which for me is very significant because of the great admiration I have for textile artisans. They did not know this type of fabric backpacks existed. They began to take photos of it, and they all spoke excitedly among themselves, they turned it around again,…. where the stitching goes, the cord, the shape ……. .until it was time to take their measurements …… ... I laughed to myself, length in meters, width in inches …… ..hahaha the shape is practically square …… .hahahaha
Absolutely everything moves in threes ...... without any qualms.
I'll finish with the photo of the sun, which I'll talk about because it's very special, Mandalay