boys in burma.

As we were walking around Yangon our last day in Burma, we were approached by this young lad- maybe 10 or so years old. We were on our way to the Castle Internet cafe, just about a tenth of a mile from our guesthouse. He walked with us the whole way, mostly by my side, talking in Burmese. I think he was asking questions. Every statement he made was accented with hand motions- like the hands pillow, the tummy rubbing, and the keyboard typing motions that go along with tiredness, hunger, and Internet use. Experience has led me to believe that locals who follow you around usually want your money- so Cody and I basically ignored him , then waved goodbye as we entered the cafe.

Several hours later, after some shopping at the local market, which was kind of like a labyrinth of textiles and jewelry, we left our guesthouse again for some food. As we crossed the street, we were joined the little boy from earlier. I told him we needed food-despite my earlier claim of being ill and not able to eat, a failed attempt to thwart his presence- and his "services", whatever they might be, were not needed. HE tried diverting us to another restaurant, but we persisted and finally made it three blocks up the street to our favorite Indian restaurant in Yangon. Again, we waved goodbye as we ordered our biriani. Mysterious boy faded into the night.

After dinner and one last stint at the Internet cafe, we walked back towards our guest house. The pagoda- Sule Paya, mentioned earlier by Dr. Cody- was still opened so we decided to pay one last homage to the Buddha for safe travels and what not. After the shoe keeper incident, Cody kneeled at the first large golden image. I decided to explore a bit first- there were many images so i wanted to pray at JUST the right one. And then he appeared- the omnipresent boy who would follow me everywhere. He followed me around the temple. HE kneeled with me when i prayed and kept tapping on my knee. He wanted to hole my shoes. And then we had to go. HE extended his hand and said the first English word i had heard from him- friend. IT was beautiful. Poetic. That's Burma in a nutshell.

when we got back to the guest house i promptly scrubbed my hands.