My jetset life: January 2020

In the beginning of 2019, a letter came to our mailbox in Copenhagen, containing an invitation to Ragni and Kaung Htet Aung’s wedding in Myanmar. We were so excited, and immediately knew that we would make the trip to experience this. Knowing little about Myanmar beforehand, we started doing some brief research. During CPH DOX in March (the documentary festival of Copenhagen) we saw the movie “Scener fra et militærdiktatur” (On the inside of a military dictatorship), which gave us a good introduction to the history of Myanmar and its current political situation.

As the trip came closer, we also started reading travel blogs with tips and info about south east Asia, but even though preparations are king, we still had no idea what was expecting us in this newly opened country. On the plane from Oslo to Bangkok, I was thinking about all the things I still had to learn about Myanmar, the things that can only be learned by traveling there, and by being in contact with the locals. The sounds, the smells, and the little details within the culture, that you pick up along the way. I would like to sum up some of those little details that I explored on our 10 day trip to Myanmar.

"Everyone" chews on a little red nut called Betel, which makes their teeth and spit red, and they spit it on the ground so that there are little red spots everywhere on the pavements.

The traditional "Longyi" is both for men and women. But we soon found out that the way of wearing it is quite different, as the men's Longyi is tied in a front knot and is called paso, and the women fold it on the side and call it tamein. Our boys found out the hard way on the day of Ragni and Kaung Htet's wedding, as they had folded the Longyi the female way, and the locals kept pointing and laughing at them. Luckily, Kaung Htet was there to help, and carefully made sure the boys were dressed appropriately.

Everyone has an iphone or smartphone. We were quite fascinated with how they could walk around with their phone in the sides of the longyi without them falling down and breaking.

The locals wear a kind of make-up, thanakha, which is used for both sunblock and aesthetic reasons. The yellow-gold paste is used differently, but I noticed that both men and women use it. Therefore I have a theory that the beauty ideals of men and women are quite similar in Myanmar; men and women both wear the Longyi, and both genders wear the thanakha.

If they ask of you want your food "spicy", you are already in trouble. Each time I got asked if I wanted the dish "spicy", and made it very clear that I am not good at eating spicy food, I got a dish so hot I could barely handle the spices. The times I did not get this question, there was no problem. So when they ask "spicy?", the dish is already quite spicy and they just want to know on what level to finish the dish.

Sunbathing in Myanmar was quite chill, as we had the pool and the beach to ourselves most of the time. Different parts of the world have different beauty ideals, and one quite distinct one is tan. As we Scandis wanted to take advantage of the sun and get a little color, the Asian hotel guests were not as enthusiastic. Our hotel in Ngwe Saung also hosted guests from China and Myanmar, but none of those guests joined us by the pool before late afternoon, when the sun was about to set. White skin as a beauty ideal was also made clear when I saw this beauty product in a store:

Even though the Burmese people don’t speak a lot of English, we managed to communicate, thanks to their warm hearts and welcoming spirits. The burmese also had such beautiful smiles, and lovely laughs, which quickly turned a stranger into a friend. Being a blonde Scandi girl raging 187cm above the ground, I also made it as a popular photo object with many locals.

I would like to thank Ragni and Kaung Htet for letting us participate on their big day. We had such a great trip to Myanmar, and are so happy to have learned more about Kaung Htet's home country and culture. We will always remember your special day, and always have Myanmar in our hearts!

At last a little recap of the journey with some of Knut's best shots: