Have You Ever...?

Have you ever been on a bus and not being absolutely sure where it is going? I was on a bus heading to see the "Golden Rock" - about 4.5 hours from Yangon/Rangoon. The bus route and number were in Burmese. Nobody on the bus spoke English. All the information on my ticket was in Burmese. All road signs and boards were in Burmese. It was a very frustrating experience. I had no choice but to use the Sun to figure out whether I was at least going in the right general direction!

Then later, I was on a over-crowded open-top truck with 50 people on board. The truck was taking us half-way up a mountain (the other half we had to climb). I couldn't believe the truck was able to climb the steep 45-degree slopes - and that too in heavy rains. I was sitting uncomfortably with my umbrella open; the guy next to me was huddled with a live chicken on his lap. That's what I call roughing it to the max - Burmese-style! It was one krrrazy experience. I'm sure one day I will remember that experience fondly when I'm sitting in my cubicle in front of a computer...

I also watched an Aamir Khan starrer Bollywood movie, Baazi, in a theatre in Rangoon. There are many old Hindi and Tamil movies playing in the theatres of Rangoon. There was even a preview for a year 2000 release movie. There should've been a 'winter storm warning' before entering the theatre. The balcony area had a/c running on full blast. Hell, it was windy in there. I was almost frost-bitten in my t-shirt and shorts.  Feeling numb, I left the theatre before the movie ended to escape the biting cold - and into the 30'C heat outside!

Interestingly, the last row of the theatre were expensive "booths" - for all the privacy-deprived love birds.  One of the booths was occupied by a burkha wearing woman and her boyfriend/husband - never judge a book by its cover!