But What If You Just Want Tea?

Tea Shops

One of our favourite things to do in Burma was to sit on teeny plastic stools at a roadside tea shop. There was one on a major intersection in Nyaungshwe, on Inle Lake. We had walked past it many times the previous days, noting to ourselves each time to sit there and people watch from its excellent vantage point. Next time, next time.

On our final day in Nyaungshwe, we decided we would lunch there. Immediately after we chose a table, a boy no older than twelve greeted us and took our orders for coffee. Then all of a sudden, several plates seemed to sail right over to our little table, and loaded it with a terrific mixture of sweet pastries, fried doughs, samosas and moon cakes. Coconut, chick pea and a variety of bean pastes seemed to feature regularly. Rob and I looked at each other with slack jaws. Why hadn't we come here sooner?

Tea shops were particularly plentiful in the big cities. We seemed to always find ourselves under the tarpaulin or umbrella of a tea shop during showers in Yangon. We had just completed an epic train journey from Bagan and didn't particularly feel up for a long walk in search of food. On the same street as our hotel, there were a few tea shops, and we selected one based on the sight of char kway, an elongated fried dough, at one of the tables.

Plates upon plates were brought to us, and crammed onto the tiny table we sat at. The complimentary tea helped the pastries and doughs down, and we had our fill as we huddled under a large umbrella as the afternoon shower played out. There was no hurry. We watched the people around us, completely unfazed by the wet weather, and reflected on our stay in Burma while new and familiar tastes entered our mouths.

Our final day in Burma would be about food.

19th Street

Yangon barbeque on our last night in Burma sounded perfect. We would spend our last kyat on food at the famous 19th street night markets. It was about a block and half long, filled with restaurants showing off their barbeque goods for you to choose. A variety of meats like marinated chicken or Chinese-style pork on skewers, slices of lotus, whole fish, tofu... They were lined up, and the charcoal embers awaited your choice for on-the-spot grilling.

At one of the barbeque stalls, we selected three skewers each... and parted with just about all of our kyat! 19th Street is not a cheap eats place! Every other place we had visited offered whole meals for K1500, K2000 tops. Barbeque skewers at 19th Street cost K1000 to K1500 each. It is definitely worth a visit and tasting, but be prepared to spend a decent amount of kyat for the night.

We were determined to experience it and not be limited by money, and sought out a currency exchange place. After exchanging a measly 10USD to get us by, we spent nearly the lot on a whole fish and several more skewers. Satisfied, we made our way back to the hotel, passing a few tea shops. With our bellies full of barbequed meat, a tea was called for, but... could you even order only tea? Or could you just sit and drink the complimentary tea? Too tired to find out, we slowly continued towards the hotel, taking in the last of our nights in Burma.