lonely-planet-myanmar-burma-11-edition

218MANDALAY & AROUND MANDALAYMOUSTACHE BROTHERS – FROM SLAPSTICK TO SATIREIn Myanmar jokes can get you into serious trouble, as the internationally celebrated MoustacheBrothers found out the hard way. In 1996 they performed at an Independence Daycelebration at Aung San Suu Kyi’s Yangon compound, telling politically tinged jokes aboutMyanmar generals. For two of the three ‘brothers’ (Par Par Lay and Lu Zaw), the result wasarrest and seven years’ hard labour. In 1997 several Hollywood comedians (including RobReiner and political comedian Bill Maher) wrote to the government in protest. Meanwhile,the third brother, Lu Maw, kept the Mandalay show going with the help of his wife.After their release in 2002, the reunited Moustache Brothers remained ‘blacklisted’from playing at outside events (marriages, funerals, festivals and so on). However, theyplayed a series of gala performances at home attended – inevitably – by governmentagents with video cameras. The regional commander soon summoned Par Par Lay andtold him not to perform at home anymore. When he got home, some Westerners hadalready gathered for that night’s show, and he and his family imaginatively decided toperform without costumes and makeup. Thus the show went on for the tourists (and the‘KGB’ people – Lu Maw’s nickname for Myanmar’s military intelligence). They explainedthey were merely ‘demonstrating’ a performance, since they couldn’t do a ‘real’ one withoutcostumes. Somehow, it worked.‘They’ve ordered us to stop six times’, Lu Maw told us. ‘It goes in one ear and out theother. That’s our job!’Some costumes have since returned, but the job has become exclusively for foreigners:locals who attended would probably be followed by police, but tourists experience nobacklash. Following the September 2007 demonstrations, Par Par Lay suffered anothermonth in jail, but the shows have never stopped: they’re still performed in a single roomwith just a dozen or so plastic chairs a yard away from the performers.The Show TodayThe only English-speaker, Lu Maw, kneels over an antique microphone stand and usesword-boards to help listeners decipher his thick accent. The hour-long show slithersbetween slapstick, political satire, Myanmar history, traditional dance and how to tie upyour longyi. Plenty of material also highlights the troupe’s notoriety, from Lu Maw’s wifeas cover star of an ageing Lonely Planet guide to a video clip from the film About a Boy,in which Hugh Grant’s character mentions Par Par Lay. Par Par Lay promptly appears onstage wearing handcuffs – a cameo role to which the former troupe leader has been relegatedby his lack of English. The players are undoubtedly courageous, but not all visitorsare bowled over by the show. Some might even agree with Lu Maw’s jocular taunt: ‘Doshow for tourist very easy, just one hour. I rip you off, you are sitting duck’. Some ‘jokes’are little more than smirking insults, wife-baiting or frequently repeated colloquialisms.And it all culminates with a shameless T-shirt sales drive. But love it or loathe it, this is aunique experience and a Mandalay classic.NightlifeMandalay has no nightclubs, so if localssuggest ‘dancing’ they probably mean witnessinga ‘model show’ – a popular localentertainment where young ladies sing toa karaoke-style recorded backing tape accompaniedby the clapping and whoopingof waiters who try to get the mood upbeat.Generally there’s no cover charge beyondbeer and food costs. Examples include LakeView (Map p200 ) beside Kandawgyi Lake andYatanaban Restaurant (Map p 204 ; draughtbeer K800) beside Yatanaban swimming pool,near Mandalay Hill Resort. Both also havekaraoke; model shows start around 7.30pm.7 ShoppingBig shopping malls are mushrooming up on78th St near the train station.Arts & CraftsMandalay is a major crafts centre, and probablythe best place in the country for traditionalpuppets and hand-woven embroideredtapestries. Beware: items may be scuffed upor weathered to look much older than theyare. Handicraft places will generally have to