Wanna Be Snobbery: Myanmar - From Dirt to Diamonds, First Class All the Way

Later that afternoon we hopped a ferry from Yangon to the town across the river called Dalla. For local residents, the fare is 10 Kyat (about 1 cent) for the one-way ride, but for us foreigners it's 100 times that. One first class fare for the ride across the river is one American dollar. Crisp bills only, no wrinkles allowed. They are very picky about that.

Along the way down the ramp, we ran into the betel nut guy who demonstrated how he the assembles the little packets that everyone chews (and the reason they have such bad teeth). It's sort of like nicotine, gives you a little rush. Won't kill you like cigarettes but will certainly rot your teeth pretty good. Examples of that later.

Relaxing in our first class section of the ferry.

Reaching the other side of the river, it was a different world. Only one paved road down the middle, motorcycles allowed, and a great view into the day to day life.

Drinking water is only available once a day for a two hour span of time. They have to fill up at a community pump and then walk these heavy sloshing buckets back to their home.

The kids ran out to greet us, all smiles.

We got stuck in the ferry terminal for a bit while we waited for some VIPs to walk through. Hot and crowded, but it gave us time to watch the crowd.

Our last stop of the day was the Shwedagon Pagoda. Built around 2500 years ago, it enshrines relics of the past four Buddhas, most famously the eight hairs of Gautama, one of the historical buddhas. It's covered in gold plates, and it's top "bud" is tipped with 5448 diamonds and 2317 rubies, including the very top which is tipped with a 76 carat diamond. Sparkly!

Outside was a group of men playing a game with a rattan ball, sort of like hacky sack.

On the way up are the requisite shops selling religious articles you can use as souvenirs or offerings.

It really is spectacular.

It was very peaceful, even with all the kids running around. If you look close, you can see that these twins had the powder on their faces in Micky Mouse shapes. Even with US sanctions, Disney has found it's way to Myanmar.