lonely-planet-myanmar-burma-11-edition

368DIRECTORY A–Zminute to phone North America.You’ll usually be asked topay in US dollars. In March2011, the authorities bannedSkype and other internetbasedcall services at internetcafes, as the lower ratescharged for such calls wasimpacting the revenue madeat government call centres.To call Myanmar fromabroad, dial your country’sinternational access code,then %95 (Myanmar’s countrycode), the area code (minusthe ‘0’), and the five- orsix-digit number. Area codesare listed below town headingsthroughout the book.Mobile PhonesMobile phone numbers beginwith %09. There’s no internationalroaming in Myanmar,so in most cases your mobile(cell) phone will be uselesshere. You’ll see a lot of themin use, though. This is aserious status symbol, consideringthe SIM card aloneofficially costs K1.5 million(around $1685) and muchmore on the black market.For a short period in 2010it was possible to buy a prepaidSIM card for a GSMphone with $20 of credit(expiring in a month); theywere provided by a Tay Zacompany. During our researchin 2011 these were notavailable, although $50 cards(with credit expiring in threemonths) were widely on salefor use in CDMA phones. Youcan find a CDMA 450 phonefor as little as $50 in Yangon.TimeThe local Myanmar StandardTime (MST) is 6½ hoursahead of Greenwich MeanTime (GMT/UTC). Whencoming in from Thailand,turn your watch back half anhour; coming from India, putyour watch forward an hour.The 24-hour clock is oftenused for train times.ToiletsToilets, when you need themmost (at bus stops or offthe highway), are often attheir worst. Apart from mostguesthouses, hotels andupscale restaurants, squattoilets are the norm. Most ofthese are located down a dirtpath behind a house. Usuallynext to the toilet is a cementreservoir filled with water, anda plastic bowl lying nearby.This has two functions: as aflush and for people to cleantheir nether regions while stillsquatting over the toilet. Toiletpaper is available at shops allover the country, but not oftenat toilets. Some places chargea nominal fee to use the toilet.Note that, other than attop-end hotels, the plumbingin flush, sit-down toilets isnot equipped to flush paper.Usually there’s a small wastebasket nearby to depositused toilet paper.It’s perfectly acceptablefor men (less so for women)to go behind a tree or bush(or at the roadside) whennature calls.Note that buses andsmaller boats usually don’thave toilets.TouristInformationGovernment-operated MyanmarTravels & Tours (MTT;http://myanmartravelsandtours.com) is part of the MinistryLIVING ON MYANMAR TIMEChances are that your bus or train will roll in late, but much of Myanmar actually doeswork on a different time system. Buddhists use an eight-day week in which Thursday toTuesday conform to the Western calendar but Wednesday is divided into two 12-hourdays. Midnight to noon is ‘Bohdahu’ (the day Buddha was born), while noon to midnightis ‘Yahu’ (Rahu, a Hindu god/planet). However, it’s rare that the week’s unique structurecauses any communication problems.The traditional Myanmar calendar features 12 28-day lunar months that run out ofsync with the months of the solar Gregorian calendar. To stay in sync with the solaryear, Myanmar inserts a second Waso lunar month every few years – somewhat like theleap-year day added to the Gregorian February. The lunar months of Myanmar are Tagu,March/April; Kason, April/May; Nayon, May/June; Waso, June/July; Wagaung, July/August; Tawthalin, August/September; Thadingyut, September/October; Tazaungmon,October/November; Nadaw, November/December; Pyatho, December/January; Tabodwe,January/February; Tabaung, February/March.Traditionally, Burmese kings subscribed to various year counts. The main one in currentuse, the thekkayit, begins in April and is 638 years behind the Christian year count.Therefore, the Christian year of 2011 is equivalent to the thekkayit of 1373. If an ancienttemple you see sounds way too old, it may be because locals are using the thekkayit.Another calendar in use follows the Buddhist era (BE), as used in Thailand, whichcounts from 543 BC, the date that Buddha achieved nibbana. Hence AD 2011 is 2554 BE.