Football in Mandalay

This came Sunday morning, to both me and Jan.

HELLO!!
hope all is well with both of you. internet access is getting a
little more difficult so i wanted to write before we leave for hsipaw
because i dont think there is any there.

we've just come from the first game of the grand royal cup.. we saw
the myanmar under 23 team play malaysia. they won 1-0 which made
everyone very happy. it was definitely a bit daunting at first when
we walked into the stadium with 1000's of fans hopped up on kat leaves
and betel going crazy. that and all the machine guns/police/army made
for quite a scene. everyone is so nice though that it was no problem.
we were quite a spectacle... only white people in the stadium as far
as i could tell and also very few women there at all. the myanmar
national team plays in 1/2 hour and we could get back into the stadium
to see it if we want but christina doesnt want to which is a bummer. i
might see if i can go in just for the national anthem and beginning
procession which was very cool in the first game. they dont sell
popcorn or peanuts. only cigarettes, sunflower seeds and eggs. yes
eggs. not sure if they were boiled or raw but there was a man walking
around selling them. yukky. it was awesome... i'm so glad we got to
go. you arent supposed to reenter the stadium but a man from the
"ministry of physical education" who was in a very official government
uniform said we could come back. christina asked him if we needed a
ticket or stam p or something and he just laughed and said something
that we took to mean "dont worry... we'll remember you" it was pretty
funny.

we have made friends with a trishaw driver that came to the game wityh
us. i paid for his ticket and he came and stood in line at 0700 to
buy them. he's a very nice guy and his friend may drive us to hsipaw
tomorrow. we were supposed to take the train but it is full for 3 days. something about the government buying all the seats.

we\'re staying in a very nice place in mandalay for 20/night. they
treat us like royalty which is a bit embarrasing. and most of their
workers are under 10 years old which is also disturbing. i think they
are all part of the family but they work way too hard for little kids.
one little boy stands outside of our window in the am and as soon as i
come outside he takes cushions to the chairs/table by the pond and
starts bringing us breakfast. they even bring us our toilet paper on
a serving tray! people are SO polite and very interested in you and
where you are from. they even like americans here.

i better go... next game is starting and i\'m going to see if i can
stand in there for awhile. the stadium is pretty gross. there is red
betel spit all over the place and some parts of the walkway are huge
puddles of mud. they do have a big screen though and the game is
televised so people are watching it all over the country.