Longyi

When the team brought me to the local wholesale market, I had a sudden whimsical thought that I got to have a longyi ( the traditional Myanmar costume, normally seen as maxi dress) for my own.

It was a massive market with quite depressing ventilation system. There were all local people buying clothes and ready-made garments. It was not surprising to have drawn many curious eyes in the market with our strange look and conversation in English. One of the teammates told me that most of the local girls also get their wedding longyi in this market. So I was thinking, this market is the most important place they must at least visit once in their life time.

All longyi here is supposed to be taylor-made. Thus under the assistance of the local team, I picked a cloth and took it to the taylor in the market. Taylor had me measured and explained the different cutting of longyi. After all, within less then 15 min, the Taylor gave me my very first and maybe only piece of Myanmar longyi.

Dressing like that, I attended all the business agendas in the rest of the day. Although it's quite odd that I had to walk in way smaller paces, my longyi actually brought me the genuine experience of local culture, which may look funny but seriously overwhelming.