"The last great frontier"

I read a bbc article before I arrived in Myanmar that quoted a cell phone salesman as describing this country as "the last great frontier". He went on to explain that aside from North Korea, it was the only country remaining with an untapped market. Sad that is about to change.

I am happy to have made it to the country before McDonald's and KFC for I had the chance to see something very unusual...an untapped market. People here are trusting of foreigners - we are constantly greeted with "minglabah" and huge smiles and waves. The people love of have their photo taken and practice their English (legitimately). They don't know that we are waiting to pounce and introduce them to fast food, reality tv and credit. (Currently Myanmar is a cash only society - no credit, no ATMs...anything they have they bought outright.)

My first exposure to this country was wandering though the markets of Chinatown in Yangon. Here locals squatted on plastic kids furniture drinking tea while an unfamiliar, and somewhat unpleasant odor wafted through the streets. The noise of a foreign language mixed with the sounds of urban traffic served as a soundtrack to the market scene.

Every street we wandered down brought a new surprise...unusual fruits and sea creatures being served at makeshift 'restaurants' that appear to be furnished by Fisher Price...civilized gentleman drinking tea while trading rubies and sapphires from the mines up north...monks darting between traffic with bags of groceries...after close to 20 hours of flight, it is a lot to take in.

But based on my introduction...I think I'm going to like it here.