I've got rat meat stuck in my teeth

1/14-1/16
Instead of heading all the way to Mandalay from Katha I disembarked in a city called kyaukamyaung. In case you are trying to pronounce it it is definitely not phonetic. When I got off the boat a younger guy was there who started talking to me in english. Apparently he was waiting for his english friend who didn't quite make it on the boat. His name was Benjamin, he was with his cousin steven and his uncle midnite? Yea I know what your thinking, even funnier than that is he had to think of it for a moment before he could tell me. Apparently a rather famous name from the sound of it. I got a ride from these guys into a town called swebo where I wanted to catch a bus but couldn't get it till the next day, but it worked out for the better. I was riding with midnite and he had a dash sticker on his moto. Probably 87 percent of burmese are Buddhist, but Benjamin and his family are part fillipino, so they are christian. Yup you gussed it, it was a picture of jesus on midnite's dash, I was kind of surprised but certainly more entertained by its presence.

Driving to shwebo there were a couple of occasions when there was a group of ladies with large silver bowls which they were sifting that had something clinging in them. They were most certainly looking for donations, but there were no monasteries or temples around. Not quite sure what they were collecting money for, but it sounded nice. These kind gents want to show me a little around town so I jump on one of their bikes yet again and we go to what was at one point the kings lake, but is now more like an tiny body of water for irrigation. We go to this one spot where they harvest palm tree sap and turn it into a wine type substance. It is lightly carbonated form the fermentation and maybe a little water is added, but its straight sap. At first we sit in the off limits area (oh no) and then make a quick exit because we hear word that the local general is on his rounds, and the lake is supposedly still a bit of sacred site, at least right next to the bank.

We sit down at the establishment and the guys ask me if i want to try rat. well sure what the hell. gotta do all i can. The one guy who speaks english tells me not to worry, that its clean and from the field. I laugh to myself when I hear this because not a minute earlier did I see a rat run by. Its pretty much like bad beef jerkey. The actual meet wasn't too bad but the parts with skin, yea, not so great. But it certainly didn't kill me.

There was an interesting military presence at this place. Benjamin was in fact quite worried that I was with these guys outside of the city and it was nearing dark. This was a new experience for me as I had been in a similar position many times and with no worries. It surprised me that they were so concerned, they also certainly didn't want me saying that I was from the US. Went to dinner that night, and shwebo is a town that I think gets few visitors because in this restaurant there were about 5 kids working, and they had their eyes glued on me the entire time. Maybe they were interested in my eating procedure. In burma at most establishments you can buy anywhere from 1-5 cigarettes from the counter for your table, also an extreme act of hospitality is displayed in that the people working the restaurant will offer you a light. Well these kids were on it so fast when I pulled out a cigarette. I don't think I have seen better service in all my travels.

The next day I made it to monywa for the solar eclipse of a lifetime. The night before I noticed that there were large barrels being heated by small fires next to the road and that the road was blocked off. On the bus ride to monywa I realized that barrels were being heated to melt tar for paving the road, which was a meticulous hand laying of rocks before the tar was added. Akin to that technology I was awarded with some more tech during the eclipse. The moon didn't completely block the sun because it wasn't close enough to the horizon, but it did last about 10 minutes. So me and some other travellers were on the roof checking it out and burning up our retinas when some burmese dudes came up. They had the genius idea of fuming pieces of broken glass with a candle which made for an excellent filter with which to view the eclipse. Effing smart dudes.

There is a very popular game in burma called chinolon. It is almost exactly like volleyball, except you use every part of your body besides your hands. Often you will see this being played on dirt roads and alleys and on the side of the street and its popular. That night in monywa there was a professional game going on with a ref and stands full of people and even people hanging on the fence around the small court to get a view. These guys were serious professionals launching themselves up in the air and doing scissor kicks to launch the ball across the net. Super sweet.