March | 2017 | toothpicnations

Bagan

Food markets in Asia are always vibrant, colourful and stimulating. In Myanmar, we visited several village and town food markets, and I thoroughly enjoyed the experiences. Aside from food like fish, meat, vegetables, eggs, chilies and dried herbs, we also saw some unusual stuff like the addictive betel leaves and thanaka wood (its powder is used as a natural sunscreen).

I have no doubt that the produce being sold at these markets are fresh, but the stalls’ hygiene was a concern for us and so we didn’t make any purchase aside from the Burmese-style doughnuts recommended by our guide. The fried dough was filled with freshly shredded coconut, which was surprisingly light and delicious.

Yummy Burmese-style fried doughnut

Village food market

Town food market

Inle Lake food market

Mandalay & Yangon

If you planning to visit Myanmar, then don’t forget to include a trip to the food market. Not only food markets reveal the country’s food culture, they are also fantastic places for people-watching, and they act as stimuli that can enhance our senses. Enjoy!

A young girl in Bagan

When I travel, what interests me most is not the sights but the people. I enjoy take photographs of people, especially children. Myanmar is a diverse country with 135 distinct ethnic groups, so not only does the scenery changes as you travel around, but the ethnicities of the people you encounter are likely to differ too. And like most countries, the friendliest people we met were in villages and not in the touristy areas or somewhere recommended by the guidebooks.

Since 89% of the population is Buddhists, it is easy to spot monks and nuns walking along the streets or conducting alms arounds. Our visit to a nunnery was fascinating, but the joyous moment happened when we encountered a group of young nuns and monks playing at The National Kandawgyi Botanical Gardens. They were incredibly cute and funny, and watching them trying to do somersaults or outdo each other was the highlight of our day.

Children