Half an hour time zone away lies Myanmar

Next door to Bangladesh is Myanmar, but the difference between the two countries is striking.  One thing I thought "unusual" was that their time zone is one-half hour earlier.  (I hadn’t encountered a half-hour time zone before that I recalled.)

When we arrived late afternoon on January 2, a long-time friend of ours, Lan Tran, met us at the airport in Yangon.  Several years ago, she moved from Minnesota, and we had recently reconnected only to discover that she had (surprise number 1) become a Buddhist nun in (surprise number 2) Myanmar.  So, we emailed back and forth that we were coming.  And, she and a fellow nun were waiting for us at the airport. 

We put our suitcases in the car, and drove toward our hotel.  Right away we could tell one other difference with Bangladesh - the traffic was slower paced and no one used their horn!  (I don’t think you can drive a vehicle in Bangladesh without a horn.  You beep to say “I'm behind you.”  You honk to say “I’m passing.”  Or, you blow your horn continuously just for the fun of it.)  By comparison, Myanmar traffic sounded almost eerily silent.

Point to what you want

First things first for us.  We dropped off our bags at our hotel and headed out for food!  Lan took us to a restaurant with typical Myanmar food.  We didn't recognize any names on the menu, but one thing made it easier.  We went up to the counter and just pointed at the food we wanted. 

Lan and her friend chose to not eat dinner with us as they eat only two meals a day - breakfast and lunch - as part of their Buddhist discipline.  I did have to smile, though, as both of them had ice cream cones with us at the end of our meal!

Our food...

... and drink!

Everyone's happy!