Today we were scheduled to visit a large pagoda in Yangon. Our guide was concerned that we couldn’t go because it was supposed to rain. He wasn’t of us getting wet, but it is considered extremely unlucky to go while raining. When we got there, we, of course, had to take off our shoes. We also bought flowers. You’re supposed to take the flowers and give them as an offering to Buddha in your corner (see discussion below). Once you give the flowers, you are supposed to then bathe Buddha in water. The number of cups of water you pour differs based on who you talk to. Some people said 1 for each year of age, and some said one for success, one for business, and one for each member of the family.

Before we went up to the pagoda, our guide, Myo explained how their version of the zodiac works. There’s a total of eight days in the Myanmar zodiac. I don’t remember all of them, but Wednesday was split into two days, Wednesday morning is an elephant with tusks and Wednesday evening is an elephant without tusks. All of the other days are normal. In order to determine which one you belong to, you have to figure out what day of the week you were born on. So, we all pulled out our phones and scrolled back in the calendar until our day of birth. It turns out I was born on a Wednesday, and since I was born at 6:00 pm, I am an elephant without tusks. Apparently elephants without tusks are extremely powerful and easy to anger, so don’t mess with me, I guess.

We started going around and it was just gorgeous. The pagoda is made of brick and then covered in gold. It’s hot as your walking around but it’s also definitely worth it. We went around and found each of our corners and laid the flowers and poured water. I’m not Buddhist, but it was still cool to see what the local people due to worship.

Later in the afternoon, we went and had our last business visit with Royal HaskoningDHV here in Myanmar. They were really up front about the workings of their company. It was really interesting to see how they do business here in a developing country. There are a lot of opportunities in Myanmar, but it was also interesting to hear about all of the risks since it is a newly developing country. It was also interesting to hear how little control the government has in certain matters. For instance, most companies’ books are entirely unreliable and sketchy. And, almost no one pays income tax in Myanmar. They have a tax structure, but they lack the ability to enforce it. The only people who pay taxes are the ones who choose to do so out of their own will. It was just crazy to see first-hand how different and volatile doing business in a developing economy can be.