Expats and sort-off expats

Since a little while I'm a member of the expat google group here in Myanmar. The group was established 2 years ago to share information for the foreigners living in Myanmar. This is a country where lots of things are possible to have/buy but it is,still, very difficult to find out where to go. For example, you might be looking or something relatively easy to find in the west and go to all major retailers and not find it. Then, by chance you might see what you were looking for in a tiny mom-and-pop store where you walked in by chance.

So, the group can be very very useful. Now, there are a lot of members and the questions asked can range from very good to plain dumb. That, of course happens to most groups and forums on the net.

What I find interesting, at least to me it is,  is the sometimes complete lack of local understanding. There is something about 'real' expats that baffles me continuously. The utter lack of regard to costs, the sharing of things that for most people are way out of league, and so on. Luckily those kind of topics don't come up too often but when they do I, for one, often wonder what people were thinking when they posted them.

With the fairly massive influx of 'real' expats at the moment, I think I better get used to seeing posts like that more often.

If I see a really good one again, I will post it here. Saw one the other day and deleted it but there'll be others for sure.

I have internet on my mobile!!!

Not that it is fast or anything...  I tried to read my email yesterday and I got nowhere. But I feel like I have suddenly jumped into the 21st century.

Of course I could use hubby's mobile but somehow that was too often too much trouble especially with the kids around. Now I can check emails at least anytime I want (in theory ;-) )

The next step will be, of course, to have a good working link at home from the computer or laptop so I can post anytime I feel like it. Like the other day when I woke at 12:30 in the morning and didn't really know what to do with myself...

At work the connection speed has been steadily declining and the internet is now almost as gridlocked as the roads in Yangon. The Myanmar schools are on holiday now and I noticed a much improved circulation on the streets but the internet has slowed even more...

So different

The other day I was downtown for the first quiz night in Yangon (that even I know off, there might have been previous attempts). It was a very successful attempt and the bar was full.

For me the most interesting feature of the evening was though the number of foreigners. Most of them fairly young (mid-twenties to early thirties) and I was wondering about what they were doing here.

Then yesterday I was at a workshop from a hardware/software giant and in the hotel there were so many westerners. Again.

Yangon/Myanmar is almost like a treasure chest. The last bastion of golden opportunities. There are masses of 'consultants' and 'specialists' in this country nowadays. People who have been here for a few months consider themselves old-timers and knowledgeable on the culture. On forums this was already a bit the case before especially for tourists with people giving advice who had visited the country years before. Nowadays though it seems like every other person I meet or hear about is here to make their fortune.

It is a fairly unsettling feeling and I wonder how many of them will be here in the next couple of years. If the quiz nights continue (once a month) how many will be able to say in a year's time that they were there during the first one?

More signs of 'progress'

I haven't had much time and, especially energy, to post some more but can't resist now.

There has been some talk amongst the expat community here that it is now possible to get money with a credit card at some ATM's and the other day I even saw an advertisement from a bank to that effect, naming the exact ATM where that was possible. We are heading towards the 21st century.

A fellow expat did mention though that he had tried it a few times and that twice he was charged for the amount he asked for but no money was dispensed. Apparently he is still in sorting things out with his bank. He said it was good to have the option but advised only to use it in an emergency.

This morning I opened the BBC website and what catches my eye, an article on credit card friendly destinations and even Burma was mentioned (still Burma not Myanmar).  On reading the article http://www.bbc.com/travel/blog/20130220-how-credit-card-friendly-is-your-next-destination it appears that Visa is now officially accepted in the country at one place at least. Before there were a few places that accepted credit cards but verification always went via Singapore.

More important for the locals is that it seems that KFC has opened a branch here. A colleague who loves KFC said she would check the place out and report back. If KFC opens, McD shall not be far behind I think. My colleague wrote the word 'progress' between quotes just as I do on this post. Not sure if it is such a wonderful thing now this country is officially open to all the junk food in the world...

I'm a wimp

I have to fess up. I am a total and utter wimp. I never realised it I was until yesterday though.

I'm still doing my Bando lessons and of late it was just me. Having private lessons was great. The teacher made me work of course but that's good for me. The pacing was just right and I enjoyed it. My fellow Bando student has problems with her ankle and a pupil of our teacher was apparently in a meditation center for a week or so.

Yesterday I find that I'm no longer alone. The pupil was back and also another guy who on occasion drops by. He usually has lessons after us but he joined us yesterday. The guys are way ahead of me and the lesson was done most of the time around what I knew and some new stuff. It was a great workout. Lots of different movements and a lot of kicking as well. Great, I thought and loved it.

Then, all of a sudden, at the end of the lesson out come 2 stuffed pads that are used for protection when hitting and kicking. I honestly thought I wouldn't be too bad at it. As I said, I was a total wimp. It is so much harder than it looks to kick such a pad with enough force. You also have to think about flexed feet and where to kick exactly. Anyways, i realised I have a long way to go... Maybe, one day I can kick those pads the way they are supposed to be kicked.

Ridiculous or what?

A colleague of mine has found an affordable house across from our place. Last weekend, he had the key and he and his wife were starting to have a real good look around to see what they needed to do. The house is really cheap for Yangon standards but it meant that some repair work was in order.

Anyway, he is standing outside in  the garden (yes, it even has a garden!) when the owner of next door's plot comes up to him. That owner told him that his plot was for sale for a mere 10 million dollars.

My colleague was still in shock half an hour later when I came back from the errand I'd been on.

Hubby told me that, contrary to what we thought, it didn't even include the whole plot and buildings there but that the land that was for sale was only a third of what we thought it was! Talking about ridiculous prices. For 10 million dollars I'd buy me a nice property somewhere in Europe like a nice chateau or a lovely mansion. I wouldn't spend it on a tiny plot of land in a small street in Yangon.

I cound't resist

 I saw this when I was going home the other day. For me it is still surprising to see Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's picture everywhere. For many years, even her name was not said out loud, with everyone referring to her as 'The Lady" . So seeing her picture on the back of a car is such a huge step forward.

I debated a whole half minute about whether or not I could /should take my camera and record it. Obviously, I couldn't resist.