Tap tap on my shoulder.
“Hi! You remember me?”

I’m in Bangkok airport, in transit to Yangon and we are about to sit on the plane when this guy show up in front of me.
Paul, you were the last person I could imagine meeting at this moment.

Let me explain you: we were in the same high school a long time ago (we are old now, it was a long time ago), we didn’t speak to each other’s for few years (because life… You know), we were so far away from home, going to a not-that-much-touristic place (should I remind you that Myanmar is not the first country you’ll think about going when you want to visit South East Asia?) and more crazy than anything, we were in the same flight. This is a lot of coincidences right?

We arrived at the airport and shared a taxi to the center.
First thing we saw was few taxi drivers waiting for new customers leaning on their car, fierce attitude, thin and tall, wearing longyi and chewing this strange nuts that give them a red mouth. I was definitely in Myanmar.
Remember what I said about serendipity? Life brings you what you need? Well my credit card didn’t worked at the airport and my 20 dollars bill couldn’t be exchange because of a small tiny crisp. I would have been fucked up (language Margot!) without Paul. I would have stayed in the airport or maybe ended up in jail or something. Ok it’s a bit dramatic but who knows…

It was late when we arrived in our hostel but we had so much things to tell each other and because Paul was taking another plane to Bagan the next day, we were not sure to be able to meet again anytime soon, we had to meet that night or never. We walked for ages in search of a good fresh beer to share. Nothing. A ghost town. Yangon, the former capital was empty.
Actually that’s not the truth, it was full of rats.

In front of a closing bar who looked more like a grocery shop than a pub, we have been nicely told to come back to our hostel because we couldn’t stay outside at night because of the curfew. A bit scared we just had a Myanmar tea in the street on some plastic chairs before heading back to our hostel.

Few things that I’ve learned that night:
1. The tea here is served very strong and with this thick sweet concentrated milk. A bit surprising at first but so lovable in the end.
2. The curfew was a real thing. After 9pm, don’t expect to go out. You better chill in your hostel or know some places to go as there is just nothing opened, even in Yangon. The government was actually fed up with the student riots so they decided to change the location of the capital. Maybe Yangon was a bit more rigid on some rules because of that. Revolutions or rebellions start usually because of the intellectuals no? I could definetely feel that Myanmar has been a dictature for a long time.
3. Paul is still a really nice and cool guy.
4. Plastic chairs and tables in the street are everywhere in South East Asia but I’ve never seen so many of them than in Myanmar.
5. Fashion is something so different than everywhere else. Because of the influence of the countries around, this is a big mix of everything that is simply fantastic to observe. The guys colored their hair in Red, they are all wearing Longyi with or a death metal band tee-shirt or a smart shirt. The sarong are not so much colorful but nobody is wearing pajama in the street.
6. From that moment, I knew I will be safe in Myanmar. I was waiting outside at 1am waiting for Philip who was working at my hostel to open the gate for me and I’ve been offered to call the hostel by three random guys walking in the street. They were simply respectful and not waiting for anything in exchange.

Oh Myanmar, I love you…