That said, Arwen picked up a sacred lamp on her way to travel. The lamp god said, "I can fulfill any wish you have. Ah Wen looked at his rustic appearance, and looked at his companion Momo in a fashionable fashion most fashionable dress, said, I want to become a fashionable person. Lamp God said, can. When it was too late, Man's soul flew out of his physical body?
If Myanmar is the country of pagodas, then Yangon is the capital of pagodas
When I landed in Yangon, Myanmar, it was late at night, and all the big and small stores in the airport were closed, and there was no money exchange store, nor could I find a store selling cell phone cards, and there was only the smallest ten-dollar bill in my pocket, and my cell phone was completely useless at this time.
A local middle-aged man came over with a bundle of kyat and asked me in broken English if I wanted to exchange it. I asked him what the exchange rate was. He compared the exchange rate with me, 100 U.S. dollars for 120,000 kyats. It was more than 10,000 dollars less than the normal market exchange rate! However, if I didn't change it, the driver couldn't even give me the change if I took a taxi. I exchanged 100 dollars with him. I'm not sure how much I'm going to be able to get out of this one, but I'm sure I'll be able to get out of this one, so I'll be able to get out of this one.
That night, I stayed at a vintage luxury yacht hotel on the Yangon River. The hotel was actually converted from a yacht, and the vintage furnishings in the room gave me a sense of being in a different world. The pendulum hanging on the wall, the nautical charts hidden in the mirror, the kerosene lamps used in the last century? All this tells me that I am sailing through a time tunnel at the moment.
The pendulum of destiny is pointing in the direction of freedom
The next morning, the sun shines brightly on the Yangon River, which, at the end of November, is still about as warm as it was in early summer. I ascended from the deck to the top of the yacht and made my way to the hotel's buffet restaurant.
Watching the sunrise over the Yangon River from the upper deck of the yacht
The boy who appeared in front of me was called Jimmy, wearing a red shirt on top, black slim-fit pants underneath, a pair of black sunglasses, a tall, thin man who looked to be about five-feet-ten, with tanned and healthy skin and long, stylish hair. When he saw me, he had a smile on his face and took off his sunglasses, and I saw his deep eyes and two thick, thick black eyebrows, as well as a high, straight nose with studs in both ears, which really dwarfed me in comparison.
He was indeed a very standard fashion model, and if I had been able to open up Yangon and Myanmar as him, what I would have seen and felt would have been very special, I guess!
Maybe it was a coincidence, maybe it was God's will that red and white met, and two lives intersected
Jimmy is very gifted in languages, his English is very good, his pronunciation and vocabulary are very good, and he even hears some simple Chinese. He told me that he had been to a friend's party on this vintage yacht, so everyone in the hotel knew him, and the waiters smiled and nodded to him as we dined. Perhaps to stay in shape, he ate pitifully little, almost a quarter of what I ate. Once he had gone on a diet to lose weight, his stomach had a memory, and since then it had only been able to hold very little food.
While chatting with Jimmy, I logged on to Facebook and checked his account (Jame Iris), and realized that he's still a celebrity on the social network, posting photos and videos with hundreds and thousands of likes and comments each. What is the daily life of a Burmese fashionista like? I'm getting more and more curious about his life.
Photos of Jimmy at a fashion event posted on his Facebook page
The first place Jimmy was taking me to was his home, which is a Muslim neighborhood in Yangon. As it turns out, Jimmy was born into a Muslim family, so of course he's Muslim.
Whenever it's time to worship, Jimmy will put on the clothing of his own ethnicity, and you can probably see a little sadness in his deep eyes
Myanmar has a total population of about 55 million people, with Buddhists accounting for about 90 percent and Muslims accounting for only 4 to 8 percent. Some of the extreme violence in recent years has spread fear and suspicion. Yangon, Myanmar's largest city by far, has largely escaped the violence, but there were skirmishes here in May this year that deepened fears.
Dressed in traditional Burmese clothing, Lung Kyi, with an instant sense of grounded fashion, Jimmy takes me through the Muslim-populated neighborhoods where he grew up and walks on a daily basis
The violence is said to be rooted in the legacy of the colonial period. At that time, Indians, many of them Muslims, came to Burma as public officials and military personnel, sowing seeds of resentment in the hearts of some of Burma's ultra-Buddhists.
Jimmy walks the streets of Rangoon, where stupas are almost everywhere, shrouded in golden light
Jimmy and I walk through the Muslim neighborhoods with little curiosity about me, an outsider stranger with a pale complexion, and people go about their business quietly, as usual. It was only when Jimmy greeted his acquaintances that they would cast a glance and nod at me.
Life as usual regardless of yesterday's conflict
Children playing outside Jimmy's house
Jimmy's home
Jimmy finally stopped in front of one of the low houses. The house was unassuming compared to the neighboring buildings, and was divided into two floors, with bedrooms upstairs, a living room downstairs, and a kitchen further in. As soon as we entered, we saw Jimmy's family sitting in the living room watching TV.
Jimmy's family
This was a big family, Jimmy's parents, were divorced, and now living with them was his uncle or uncles, who Jimmy considered his father as well. Living together, there are three sisters and a young niece, I didn't have the heart to ask if these three sisters have the same father as him. In addition, he has a brother who has a family and a sister.
The woman on the right is Jimmy's sister, Mar Lar Sein
Jimmy's mother's eyes are filled with longing and sadness at the mention of her sister Mar Lar Sein. Years ago, Mar Lar Sein and her husband went to Ruili in China's Yunnan province to earn a living. Mar Lar Sein was found by the police to be hiding drugs in her backpack, and she was unable to prove her innocence to the police, so she was sentenced to 19 years in prison.
This reminds me of the story of the heroine in the movie "Methamphetamine," made by Burmese-born Chinese director Zhao Deyin: Three Sisters, who was trafficked to China and then returned to Burma, hoped to save up money to bring her children back to her and live a peaceful life. San Mei finds her cousin and starts dealing methamphetamine. During one of the transactions, San Mei is caught and the man who drove her on a motorcycle escapes. In order to relax his nervousness, he starts experimenting with drugs and eventually goes crazy as a result?
Poster for the movie "Methamphetamine"
Jimmy's family can only contact his sister, Marasheng, by phone, and send basic living expenses to his sister in prison through his brother every month. Not long ago, they learned over the phone that in another year, their sister would be released from prison at the end of her sentence.
Jimmy told me that perhaps because of his sister's affairs, his mother is often in tears and has heart problems, and he has to find a way to earn more money for his mother's treatment.
In order to help us talk to the cab driver, Jimmy asked us to stand aside, and he went up alone to talk to the driver about the price before asking us to get into the car
Bidding farewell to Jimmy's family, I felt very heavy hearted as I walked along the road. I didn't realize that Jimmy, who is so cheerful and sunny and often has a smile on the corner of his lips, has such a miserable life behind him. Except for him and his brother, who are working to earn money, all the other members of Jimmy's family seem to be unemployed, and I can't imagine how hard they have to work financially.
From Jimmy's house, we took a cab and ran along the bridge across the Yangon River toward East Yangon University, the school where Jimmy graduated. The university is about 20 miles from the city, on the outskirts of Yangon.
Strong man selling betel nut, which Burmese people love to chew and is certainly one of Jimmy's favorites
The University of East Yangon is stripped down to the University of Yangon. Officially an independent university since 1920 and soon to celebrate its centenary, Yangon University used to be one of the premier universities in Southeast Asia 50 years ago. General Aung San, the father of Myanmar's nation, U Nu, the first Prime Minister of independent Myanmar, and U Thant, the third Secretary-General of the United Nations, all came from Rangoon University.
The university was closed for several years after the 1988 pro-democracy movement that shocked the world, and reopened in 1991, only to experience unrest again in 1996. This is when the military government concerned completely relocated the University of Yangon from the banks of Swallow Lake and established the University of Eastern Yangon and the University of Western Yangon. A historical university completely lost its vigor and sharpness.
Eastern Yangon University entrance, the two of us dressed in this outfit looks quite like college students
The cab stopped at the entrance of the University of Eastern Yangon, I got off, and found that the school's main door is really very simple, and later found that not only the main door is simple, the school inside the building, classrooms, teaching facilities is even more simple.
We were stopped by the security guards at the entrance of the school. It's strange that despite our yellow skin, we are easily recognized as foreigners wherever we go in Myanmar. The guards refused to let us in on the grounds that we were not students at the university. Unless Jimmy could find his professor or the head of the university to vouch for us, he would not let us in.
In comparison, we two yellow men were indeed too white to be easily recognized
So Jimmy had to ask Momo and I to wait at the entrance of the school, while he went in first to communicate with the professors he knew. In between waiting, I noticed a lot of cabs going in and out of the school's gates without the security guards even looking at them. I said to Momo, if I had known we would have just sat in the cab and not come out, let the cab pull us inside the campus and save us a lot of trouble.
Not long after, Jimmy came out on a motorcycle, fearing that we would have to wait for him, and after communicating with a professor at the school, he took a motorcycle and sped out. After getting permission, we entered the campus of the University of East Yangon without any problems.
There is no artificial lake on campus, but rather a naturally occurring pool of water in the woods
If I had to use two words to describe this place, apart from the word "simple" that I have used before, the other word would be "pristine", which makes it slightly desolate.
These are the words I would use to describe this place.
It's been a few years since I met Jimmy, but he's treated me like an old friend
Jimmy hasn't been back to the school for a few years, and it's changed a bit since he was there, with a few new buildings having been built. During our visit, we met a few of his alumni who came over to say hello, who stayed on after graduation and became teachers here.
The main academic building at the University of Eastern Yangon, where we didn't see a lot of students, probably because it was time for a midday break
Jimmy studied geography during his time at the university, and for three years, he had to commute between his home and his school every day, a journey of about 15 miles by bus, which would have taken him three hours. In college, he worked very hard and diligently and made excellent grades, and he was at the top of his class in English.
The East Yangon University building, which is overgrown with weeds
Sunlight pours into the classrooms
Versatile, tall and handsome, Jimmy was naturally an object of admiration for girls at the school. It was there that he met his first love, a girl from the next class in the school who was also a Muslim. One day, when he passed by her, he heard her singing, and was attracted by her singing, he sought the sound of the song and found her. But good times are always so short. After graduating from college, the girl married someone else.
Jimmy's graduation photo
Jimmy, who graduated with honors from the university, did not find his ideal job in Myanmar. He says many Burmese companies don't hire Muslims, and if they do, they pay them far less than other ethnic groups.
Movie: 'Goodbye Wah City'. Gloomy tropics, girl Lian Ching meets teenager Ah Kok, both stowaways trekking from Myanmar to Bangkok
In 2014, in an effort to find a better job, Jimmy managed to get a work visa to Singapore, where he went to work as a waiter in a Western restaurant. During the two years he worked in Singapore, he sent almost all the money he earned to his family living in Yangon to treat his mother's illness.In 2016, his work visa expired and he had to go back to Yangon.
Jimmy's Chinese textbook, he had been to Yunnan to learn Chinese, and was able to communicate simply in Chinese
Have seen a piece of information on the Internet, due to discrimination in employment, many native Burmese Muslim men in order to get a good job, not only to hide their own religion, but also shave off their beards, and the same name as the Burmese, and the daily habits of life and the Buddhists have not been There is not much difference between their daily habits and those of Buddhists.
I started traveling the world because I was tired of my job, but I never thought that in my first stop, Myanmar, I would have the chance to realize how happy I am to be working in certain places, at certain times, for certain people.
Student restaurant in the University of East Yangon
After we got out of the University of East Yangon, we went back to the city and Jimmy took us to a Muslim restaurant. This restaurant is kind of like a Hong Kong teahouse, and apart from being clean and delicious, it is also characterized by being cheap. The pastries and snacks, which were so good that they exploded in place, were so cheap that we were skeptical.
Muslim restaurant in Yangon
Now, Jimmy doesn't have a serious job, the fashion industry is not really hot in Myanmar, so being a fashion netizen doesn't bring him much stable income, but it doesn't affect his love of life at all.
Jimmy, who likes to take selfies
Jimmy has a dream in his heart to become an entertainer. God gave him a good skin and a rare talent. He had a natural sensitivity to fashion and art, and he loved singing and dancing. Even if he lives in the dust, he still wants to absorb nutrients in the dust to grow into a tropical plant, so that he can live a decent and dignified life, and perhaps fashion has given him this dignity. He made me realize that fashion is not just a luxury for the rich, even for those who live in poverty, they can still rely on him for strength and redemption.
We sat down on the grass at Mahabandhuara Square. In this downtown park, people of all shapes and sizes gather here, of all colors, classes, races and creeds, from all over the world, to ****enjoy this little green space. Jimmy lay down on the grass, looking at the blue sky, this day, for us each other is a dream, after the dream woke up, I will continue on the road, his life will be back on track. Maybe, this day's intersection may have changed us a little bit.
The same sky, the same dream
In the square, we met a few children, Jimmy told me, they are homeless children, they take the park as a home, and every day there, no matter when you go, you can see these children there. I was impressed by one of the boys whose face was covered with Thanakha (neem) powder. Jimmy asked me if I had any change on me and when I said yes, he took the change from me and went to buy a bunch of balloons and gave them to the boy. The boy took the balloons and had a smile on his face.
Jimmy said it was the cleanest dressed he had ever seen the boy on a day, every time he used to come over, he was dirty, and some days, not even dressed.
The boy had a smile on his face as he held the balloon
Jimmy and the little boy
We were about to leave the square when I suddenly saw a woman sitting on the edge of the square, sadly crying and wiping her tears, while next to her, another woman was saying something, perhaps words of consolation, or words of hopelessness, or words of equal sadness. Jimmy said the woman who was crying was the mother of the little boy, who begs with her child near the square every day.
The next day, as we passed through the neighborhood, we saw the woman and the little boy again; they had changed places and I hardly recognized them. When Jimmy pointed them out to me, I couldn't quickly identify them either.
We were walking through the lobby of a five-star hotel
Through the crowds, through the bustle or the desolation, through the brightness or the darkness, Myanmar seemed to fade into clarity in my mind's eye, and then momentarily blur. It is the land of the Buddha and the land of the poles, a corner forgotten by time.
I hope that Jimmy will one day realize his dream, and that the boy, too, will one day have a home to go back to.
Jimmy
I gave Jimmy an idea, he speaks English and Chinese so well, I can introduce my friend who is going to travel to Yangon to him, and he will be the guide, so he can earn some money.
If you are about to travel to Yangon and need guide services, you can search for JameIris on Facebook or contact me by private message in the background.
This article was photographed by Momo, who traveled with her on the first leg of her trip to Myanmar
Momo and her little boy
The first leg of her trip to Myanmar is now over, and the second leg of her trip to Cambodia has already been released in advance on the WeChat Group of "Follow Aven Around the World," with stops in Shenzhen, Phnom Penh, and Cambodia, on December 8 and December 14, respectively. -The second leg of the Cambodia trip has been released in advance on the "Follow Wen to Global" weibo group. The winner of this free trip is "Da Meng", a user who signed up through the Simplified Book platform. I'm looking forward to traveling to Cambodia with Dameng.
I'll be waiting for you at the next stop. If you are interested in traveling with me, you can sign up via private message in the background. I've divided the trip into different stops, and at each stop I'll offer a free travel spot. I'll cover the round-trip airfare, food, and lodging, and you'll be responsible for taking photos and documenting our travels. The only criteria I use to select people is fun and companionship. If you are traveling with interesting people, the journey will not be boring and dull.
I'm here for you