Burmese Days Part One: The Festival

Mr. T seeking enlightenment

The high point of my entire trip to Burma definitely came the very first day of my stay, and even though I wouldn’t say it was all downhill from there, it definitely didn’t get any better either. It all started when this smoking hot Burmese girl sat next to me in the plane, and I ended up spending the New Year’s water festival with her and her siblings. It was really terrific, as alone I would’ve had no idea where to go! First off, we grabbed a bite to eat at a local eatery way in the outskirts of town. The feast consisted of a variety of dishes, all esthetically about as pleasing as gristle, but all the more interesting otherwise: fish-heads, lambs-brains and the like. Afterward, it was time to join Thingyan, the water-festival, which turned out to be around a hundred times more intense than the Thai Songkran. Within the first few minutes of stepping out of the car, my passport, money and plane-tickets were absolutely soaked despite my so-called water-proof money-belt. Rather than freak out, however, I decided to deal with the problem once I got back to the hotel. That was a good call, since what followed was one hell of a party.

The heart of the festival was basically a street absolutely jam-packed with people and pick-up trucks. Now, when I say “jam-packed”, I mean each pick-up had about thirty people riding in it, with even the roof, bumpers and bonnet occupied, and the people between the pick-ups were squished so tight they could hardly move. This undulating mass of people and cars continued for roughly two kilometers in both directions up the street, so there must’ve been tens of thousands of people there. The street itself was lined with so-called VIP stages, about fifty of them, which were basically huge wooden dance floors with showerheads fitted throughout the roof to keep dancers soaked. The fronts of the stages had hundreds of water hoses installed so that passing pedestrians and pick-up truck occupants could be sprayed with water as they struggled to get by. This may sound malicious and prone to fist-fights breaking out, but was actually very light-hearted and good-natured. As if the normal garden-hoses weren’t enough, some stages actually had real fire-hoses as additional artillery, and while we were walking around somebody even managed to knock my sunglasses off with one. Unfortunately, they were never to be seen again as they sank into the knee-deep muddy water on street we were wading through. Sadly, there would’ve been absolutely no way to keep my camera dry or safe there, so I left it home and consequently have no pictures of the party :( I did, however, get some off the internet, which probably convey the atmosphere better than any desription I could give.

Electro-music was blaring from each stage, and entry apparently cost around 45 dollars apiece. Luckily it turned out we had some connections to one of the VIP stages, so we got in scott free! I am told our stage was run by the “Don King” of Myanmar boxing, which apparently is similar to Thai boxing, expect that head-butting is also allowed. Good old-fashioned wholesome family-entertainment in other words, comparable to a Disney film. Anyway, we whiled away the day on stage drinking, dancing and spraying passers-by with as much water as possible. It was weird and wonderful, and I was sad to see the water eventually run out and the streets begin to clear. Till next year though!

P. S. My favourite Radiohead song by far:

Radiohead - High and Dry

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qFfFVSerQo