A young mother and son.

One of the many young widows we’ve come across. Widowed by cyclone Nargis from 2008. Her late husband just didn’t return home from work when Nargis showed up. Sure he could have eloped with an exotic mistress, but I’m betting my left testicle Nargis ate him up. Anyhow, she’s only 20, and now has to care for her 2 sons. Thankfully she has her parents and in laws to help, but I suspect others may not be so lucky. The impact of Nargis is really palpable in Burma, even in downtown Yangon. She came to our clinic for a general checkup and was one of the last few patients, hence we had some time for a little chit chat.

Dental – Medical Mission, Yangon, Burma 2010

A group photo on the last day. Dentists, doctors, dental therapists, nurses, medical students, volunteers, translators, local nurses, local dentist, hospital administrators, pet dogs, cats and a Malaysian – me. The poor Malaysian holding the Singapore flag at the top right corner of the photo. Treason.

The new national flag of Burma.

As though changing the name from Burma to Myanmar wasn’t enough, the military junta recently changed the name of the country from Myanmar to the Republic of the Union of Myanmar. And just for kicks, the national flag has been changed too. Ask the locals what the colors of the flag and the white star means, and you’d get confused looks as though you’ve just asked them to tell you the value of pi to the seventy third decimal point. Anyone care to shed some light? Lolly on offer for most convincing answer.

Prominent scarring on a girl's legs

Though unsightly to some, it’s a blessing to us because it indicates healing. Dermatological problems, especially the highly infectious scabies, are really prevalent due to lack of proper hygiene education. There are decent water facilities available, but basic knowledge of simple hygiene was severely lacking. Our interventions last year and follow up by dedicated local nuns made the difference and look how they’ve improved. Credit must go to the local nuns and teachers for maintaining hygiene and eradicating scabies from the orphanage. A lolly and a happy meal for them all.

No, that’s neither a dried pellet of goat shit nor is it a gross collection of belly button lint. That’s a soapy nut, and when boiled, it becomes a soapy goo of washing goodness. Mainly used for cleaning gold, silver or brass. We came across it in a silversmith. It looks like goat shit, but it smells like luo han guo. Unless you’re looking forward to a potential episode or two of projectile diarrhea, I wouldn’t try popping that into your mouth.

The Padaung people, known for their long necks. According to legend, there are various reasons for doing it. One of which was that the Paduang women frequently go to the forests to gather wood, and by having rings around their necks, they would minimize tiger bite injuries to the neck. Another reason was that the Padaung people believed they descended from dragons, hence by having rings around their necks, they would resemble dragons, or giraffes. With the influx of tourists over the years, there’re no prizes for guessing their main source of income now. These girls would affiliate themselves with some shops and pose for pictures. The shop benefits by getting more tourists to patronize their shops and the Padaung women benefit by being paid to do nothing more than sit and smile. I find this concept rather disturbing, for lack of a better description, they’re like animals in a zoo. Fortunately, or unfortunately, whichever way to look at it, putting rings around their necks is now not a necessity for the Padaung women, and in this day and age, many opt not to partake in this tradition for obvious reasons. So they’re a dying breed, better take all the pictures you can. Fun for the whole family, finger licking good.

Briyani, Burmese style. The main difference between this and our local Indian counterpart is the addition of condiments that are supposed to go with the Briyani. Thankfully, achar isn’t one of them. Hate that shit. Anyhow, it seems there are about 5 to 6 different types of condiments to go with it.

Still unable to define what Burmese food really is. Lots of familiar delicacies, with a twist. Cannot complain, good stuff.

That’s a stack of cash to pay for dinner. Burmese kyat (pronounced “chyat”) has large denominations, and slamming a stack of cash down when paying for dinner does give a small satisfaction. Cheap thrill. Much like figuring out the correct answer way before the contestants do when you’re watching wheel of fortune over a tv dinner.

All these large stacks of cash makes the waiter rather proficient in counting cash quickly. Another task added to their job description, or an outlet for a different job perhaps. Unfortunately, cash counting isn’t part of my job description and my math is worse than a retarded monkey with a lobectomy, so all this large amounts of cash with large denominations is a real pain in the ass. I have to take out a large wad of cash when making a payment. So it’s no real surprise that they accept the greenback in Burma too. 1 dollar is equivalent to approximately 880 kyats.