New week, new “let’s-pretend-to-be-creative” ideas!
Yup, that’s what I do…thank goodness not to earn a living. I would very likely be living in the streets 😂 Week 40 of 2019 and I have decided to focus for the coming months on the city in which I have been living for almost 2 years now..WHAAAAM! Aaaaand you’re already thinking; “Damn this is gonna be super interesting!” or “Here goes another newbie pretending to make something less boring”. You be the judge. I’m hiding behind the screen in the meantime with zero fucks given 🤓
Ok, you’d expect that I’d know the ins and outs of my daily surroundings by now, yet every time I step out and consciously decide to not look at my phone (because yes we all warm taxi seats with our asses while we swipe swipe swipe up and down, if your an Instagram user like me, or left and right, if you’re a Tinder user, like *You!* 😈) I find something cool. Seriously guys, you may cram your neck in all its humanly possible ways, you will always see something new. Crazy, right?
No. The real crazy ass part is that all this cool stuff that I see is most of the time between the same two points; my apartment and my workplace. You can take a cab at different times of the day and you will see different people (or things) going about their day. Dawn, murder of crows flying in beautiful orderly chaos (don’t ask me what this means 🙏🏾). Sunrise, locals setting up shop in the streets, others going to the market. Early morning, tea shops buzzing with life, tea floating around and local donuts on all tables for breakfast. Mid morning, foreigners waiting for taxis on the roadside with that face we’ve all had at least once in our life “I’m sooooo late, my boss is gonna kill me!!!” - one of my favourites, fyi, ask my girlfriend, she can vouch for that…with a punch in my throat. Babe, if you read this, think of our amazing sex and forgive me 😘
Late morning, me getting out of bed 😆ok no, getting her out of it 😛I’m so not getting laid for the next 3 days…😭 by this time I’m usually tackling the second meeting of the day. Noon, a guy riding a tricycle carrying a block of ice from the maker to whoever needs it and no it does melt. It’s Myanmar ice! Early afternoon, nap time for workers after their lunch break. This one is everywhere and anywhere…ouf! I’m gonna spam photos like crazy! Mid afternoon, roads full of buses filled with kids leaving school. Late afternoon, kids playing in the streets with tires and sticks and dogs. Early evening, downtown China town bustling with activity, food, laughter, people, life. Mid evening, Teashops full of half-drunk people chanting vigorously in support of their national hero Aung La N Sang as he kicks his opponents ass in an MMA fight. Late evening, drunk and humorous locals in a street corner playing guitar and singing their favourite songs heartily and they are good. A bit later in the night, equally drunk people pretending to be Adele in KTVs (karaoke clubs/bars). Usually they rock the Justin Bieber ones best 🤪Coincidence?
Basically just a lot of bull$#!* to say that I love this city…to my own surprise. I used to hate it. I liked the simple village lifestyle more. Still prefer it. At least I don’t dislike this one anymore. No matter where you are, if you look close enough, you will find something for you.
As hard as it was to choose a photo for this post because it is so general, I went for one of my favourites from Yangon. There is a fascinating story behind it but that’ll be for another time. Right now, I have simply decided to share it with you because it was one of those moments that made me realize how fortunate I was to be living here and to see the change happening around me. It’s a simple frame and yet there is so much going on in it; the expressions, the colours, what is happening and where, the swing, the setting sun’s light, the mess in the scene which I love because it cannot be hidden (or cropped) and just adds life to it…f/2.8 and ISO 400 because it was quite dark and 1/320s shutter to freeze the kids swinging… Life in Yangon, I love it! I hope you do too, through my eyes.
Till next week,
R