Introduction to Myanmar, in Yangoon

What an amazing country. Where they drive right handed vehicles on the right side of the road. Where men wear skirts. Where people put white chalky paint on their faces (some sort of religious symbol). Where there are no ATMS, 7-11's, or Starbucks. A mainstream band called AC IC paints the billboards and despite the evident poverty they advertise for Cannon, Rolex, and Timex. Where broken down American cars come to die (with their left sidedness). This place is foreign in every sense of the word. And I love it. The food is incredible, although the street food looks dodgy. The internet is slow, despite what I heard, and cold bottled water is a rarity. I'm traveling with Michael, an Australian I met in Bangkok at the beginning of my trip. We are on a tight budget because we brought in all the USD that would last us. The food is cheap though, luckily, and we've been able to walk everywhere in the old capital of Yangoon, where I am now. Yangoon is dirty and crowded but amazing. Everyone smiles at us. If they're not smiling they're staring and when we say hello ("Minga laba") they always say hi back. We've been approached frequently by people who seem to have no other goal than to practice English. Today someone told me he LOVES Obama. And they are so helpful it's amazing. We went to two temples today, one with a massive reclining Buddha, bigger than the one in Bangkok which attracts hoards of tourists. Today was Buddha day, a holiday, and at the second temple, Shwedago Pagoda, there were thousands of people gathered to cleanse Buddha statues with holy water. The Lonely Planet describes this temple as, if you were to see only one in all of SE Asia, it should be it. And with the billions that there are - that's saying something. It was a $5 entrance fee for foreigners only (prices here are usually quoted in USD, except food). The temple was huge. And beautiful. Google it if you can, I don't know how to begin describing it. 365 feet tall, gold, emerald, turquoise, some diamonds, rubies, thousands of Buddha statues. You could walk around that place for hours. Which I would've had it not been mobbed with people. But it was so crowded and hot that I spent about an hour there and continued on. We've been walking everywhere, not able to afford taxi's, and the walk home was brutally long. But rewarding. We spent the afternoon hiding in the AC because I have never been hotter in my life. I ate fried noodles with vegetables for dinner and we're currently sitting at a bizarre doughnut shop that offers wifi. Not many places do. Tomorrow we're talking a 15+ hr bus ride to Inle Lake up north. Then we'll make a loop to Mandalay, Bagan, and some small towns around there. None of these names mean anything to you but they are beautiful places. Bagan has over 2,000 temples. Mandalay is the second largest city (?) and Inle Lake is a beautiful lake surrounded by mountains. Im really excited. Not sure how often I'll be able to write, but this country is amazingly safe. Ive never felt safer, even though we're in a big city. The people are just too friendly. When Michael and I get separated on the street someone will stop him and point to me, to show him where I am. Its happened twice now, and even though we were never lost, it is a kind, heart warming gesture. People stare and take photos, but they've seen very few white people and it must be exciting. It is certainly exciting to be here.