market

arrived rangoon tonight, and was greeted by my colleague's cousin and friend at the airport. quite nice to have them take me around for the weekend, as a foreigner going solo is of course suspect to outrageous prices, and i am only here the weekend, and do not want to be bothered with trying to navigate around the city on my own.

as i arrived at night, there were no good money changers open for business - mike (cousin) was prepared for this however, and gave me 50000 kyats (pronounced 'jets'), about 50 usd to get me through the evening. it's definitely a change of pace when nobody (minus the large hotels i suppose) accepts a credit card, and your only means of getting money is by already having brought dollars of your own to exchange. once these run out, i'm not sure what the next step is.

at any rate, went out for the night to a quick bite to eat, and a stroll through the night market. this guy really wanted a picture taken once he noticed i had my camera with me.

i can't seem to find words for what has been experienced here in burma in just one night, but hopefully the picture helps to explain - very different conditions here compared to neighbor bangkok, and obviously not for the better. looking at the cars, the buildings, the people, it's definitely a trip back in time. i suppose that's the power of a miltary junta for you.