Random Errands

Everything I wanted to see and do was checked off on my list which made today a random errand
day. I spent the morning sleeping in and doing some blog work. Afterwards I secured my
ticket to Cologne, Germany at the Gare du Nord train station and decided to check in at the
Gare de Lyon station to see if my lost bag had been left there. It turns out it hadn't, but
at least I tried my best to get it back. I feel slightly better that I at least have A scarf
instead of none.

By the time I reached the hostel again it was time to eat. To keep things simple I stopped at
the grocery store and picked up a random smattering of foods: chocolate pudding, berry yogurt
and a carrot. I also polished off some bread I had left over with a bit of Nutella. It was
all quite yummy and served its purpose.

I've had some postcards from S France hanging around in my bag that needed mailed.
Fortunately the post office was nearby. Inside however, there were no instructions and the
lady I asked about what to do spoke only French and pointed across a busy room indicating
where I was to go. I guessed what she meant and hopped into a line with people who appeared
to have envelopes and such to mail. I pulled out the last stamps I had bought in France to
show the guy who was trying to help me. He looked at them like I found them on Mars, but
checked with his co-workers to see if they were in stock. He returned saying he was sorry
they didn't have them. When I said I needed to mail postcards to the US, he seemed to have a
solution for that. Eventually I got the stamps I needed. It's strange having the old lick
and stick stamps again. Like stepping back in time!

On the way to the post office I noticed another grocery store. Another errand I was
attempting to complete was to find some saucisson sausage to bring back home. This market was
much better than the first one I entered. They had a larger selection on most things. I
found a small chunk of saucisson and picked up some mint tea bags for future enjoyment. All
that was left was to eat dinner and to decide on evening entertainment. I was in the mood for
a movie and the hostel had advertised a theater that showed movies in the "version origional."
None of the English movies sounded good. There was, however, one playing in French which I'd
seen posters for all over France and figured I would have to watch it later on when I returned
to the US. I figured why not just see it now?? One for Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec please. The show was 1.5 hours away, so I found a restaurant just S of the hostel offering salads. [Notice the PA license plate on the wall!] I thought it was time for some veggies. I had a HUGE salad with shrimp, salmon and mayo on dried bread, tomatoes, egg and two dressings--one a mustard and one a ketchup base. It took longer than I thought to find the restaurant, so I had a brisk walk back to the theater. The theater was really nice with stadium seating and comfy chairs. Just like in the US they run pre-show entertainment music (sorry no trivia!) and commercials with the previews. Looks like some good shows are coming out in the future. The movie was really good. I thought it would be more of a kid movie as it was billed like a cross of Night At The Museum and The Mummy except with a female lead character. I was puzzled when only adults walked into the theater. Naturally the movie was classically French--i.e. brief nudity and a quizzically grotesque twist to the plot (think Edgar Allan Poe/Alfred Hitchcock rather than gorey). I still enjoyed the movie even without subtitles. It would be nice to have them though to enjoy the dialogue more. You could tell from the movie context that some jokes went by without my knowing the full reason for why they were funny. Great way to spend the evening.

Not The Usual Suspects

At a random moment I spotted a place on the map the group is unlikely to go for our study trips: the Shukhinthar Amusement Park and Bowling. Jackie thought this sounded like fun so we took a taxi for 5000 Kyat (chet, roughly $5). The park appeared abandoned with rusty equipment and only the people running the park walking around. We found the water park and there were about 12 teenage boys swimming who shouted "Hello" at the two of us as we walked through. Since most of the society here is quite conservative, I wondered if women are allowed to swim and show that much skin.

We asked a couple people where the bowling was and they said on the next street. Thinking it was still in the park, we wandered some more. We finally saw it through a fence and realized it was separate from where we were. Next door was a very modern bowling alley. We rented shoes and bought socks. Each game was ~$1.30. The scoring monitors above us were all manually entered so we had a girl sitting at the desk keeping track and typing in the scores for us while we played. She also clapped for us when we did well.

From bowling we decided to head downtown for lunch and to walk around. We were dropped off at the Trader's Hotel where we stepped inside to cool off. Much to our delight we found a case inside with loaves of fresh bread and cheesecake. We were mesmerized by the bread and decided to purchase some before we headed back to the hotel. Across the street was the Sky Bistro which Linn had gone to with some people she met here. Their food was fairly inexpensive for a fancy restaurant on the 20th floor. We had an excellent view of the entire surrounding area of Yangon as well as the Shwe Dagon Pagoda. Each of us ordered a dish to share. It turned out the servings were enough to feed 2 people each, so we had enough food to last us for lunch and dinner.

Next to the Sky Bistro was a movie theater with a show in an hour from when we finished lunch. Thinking it would be something we would never do with the group and would also be air conditioned, we got tickets for ~$1.60 each to X-Men Origins: Wolverine. The movie was pretty good and we stayed nice and cool. It was interesting to note that they show the flag and play part of their anthem (I think?) before the movie starts. Everyone stood up. Most people also ate crunchy snacks and a few took phone calls during the movie. The ushers also checked for tickets with two boys in front of us, so I missed a few minutes of the movie. It was fascinating to see how people acted and that most wore western styled clothes.

Tomorrow we will split into pairs and visit local churches for worship.