Some comparisons - Myanmar tales part 2

I did not expect Myanmar to be so different to Cambodia. By day two I started to take stock - what was so different, and why? Here are some random generalisations of my observations:

Christian believers - deeper. Two things that spring to mind here - Cambodia's church is very young. Almost all the Christians we are among in Cambodia are first-generation believers. Many of the folk we mixed with in Myanmar are third-generation Christians. Further, there are very few Western-based non-government organisations and funding sources in Myanmar. Under very difficult circumstances, believers radically hold on to God. There is not the same temptation to mixed motivations. Cambodia has a high zeal level - in Yangon I saw a higher joy level.

Pagoda kids - the majority people group of Myanmar are the Barma people. They are seriously Buddhist whereas in Cambodia the emerging generation are much more secular Buddhist and token animist. The big moves of God have taken place among the tribal minority peoples, including the Karen, Chin and Kachin. Today, government stats are that Myanmar is 9.7% Christian - Cambodia's stats are 2%.

City layout - spacious! The Brits make room when they design cities. The roads are so much wider; there are parks and open spaces; many houses have a decent block of land. Yangon is much larger than Phnom Penh (approx 5 million vs 1.2 million).

Traffic - no motorbikes! They are outlawed in the city - some fancy reason but the truth will track back to control issues. The masses move by public bus system in Yangon. Phnom Penh does not have a bus system - buses are only for inter-city. Another major difference - order. Yangon drivers stop at red lights, keep in their lane and even use indicators - all very bewildering! Myanmar is drive on the right - but most vehicles on the road have right-hand drive steering wheels ... Everything we travelled in ran on natural gas tanks - even a dog of an old bus ticked along on a dozen old tanks strapped under our seats!

Also - no Toyota Lexus's. A Mitsi Pajero was about the top of the order in a nation where vehicles are so ridiculously expensive that they are never permitted to die. Vehicle imports are strictly controlled (what is not??) and an imported vehicle that is landed for US$3,500 (say a 1995 Toyota Corona) is sold for 45,000,000 kyat (US$45,000.) For a nation where the ordinary person has zero access to a banking system and where the highest 'trusted' denomination note is 1,000 kyat, that is a lot of loot to stuff in a mattress if you want to save for a vehicle!

Postman or military policeman? This was literally the only motorcycle I recall seeing in nine days in Yangon.

The food is most definitely spicier. I wept my way through a 'hot and sour' soup. I never did get to taste the sour - whoever supplied the chillies for this dish should lodge an application with the Guiness Book of Records!

Food - best meal by far was from a street-seller; curry soup samosa vege concoction that was so healthy and tasty that Susie broke her 'I never eat street food' rule. Myanmar is more akin to India food-wise; Cambodia milder like Vietnam.

Upmarket taxi (honestly!) - in our first visit to Myanmar 30 years ago it seemed that every second antique vehicle was a moonlighting taxi. This has been all straightened out now - I did some counting and my figures are the same but now taxis are all licensed. The majority of them have non-working bits (door handles that will not open; windows stuck open or closed) and best of all - monsoon-cooling systems (as in leak like a sieve).

Housing - Phnom Penh has experienced a building boom over the last decade. Thousands and thousands of 'p'teah l'vengs' - blocks of narrow, two or three storey brick homes such as we live in - have gone up for the emerging middle class. By contrast, it appears that Yangon's building boom was in the 1930's with the last maintainance work carried out some time in the '60's. Not the same evidence of slum communities in Yangon. Outer areas - very similar to Cambodia and right thru' Asia with simple wood and bamboo structures.

Typical Yangon housing - eight story apartment blocks with steep, dark stairwells. Note the security screens on the outside which surprised me as Myanmar has a very 'safe' feel and lawlessness often results in headlessness for the perpetrators!

The poor - less visible in Yangon. There does not appear to be a recycling industry, so gone are the thousands of folk we have in Phnom Penh who pull carts or sacks and scavenge in rubbish bags. Very few and very discrete beggars - I got the impression it must be illegal in Myanmar to beg. I think a greater industriousness in Yangon - I did not observe the groups of men gambling over cards like you can see on almost every street corner here.