Travel the World - Week 8

This is the eighth week in my Travel the World personal challenge. Each week I am randomly choosing one country (there are 195 countries in the world) and doing a little research on that country. I then select one tidbit of information about the country as inspiration for the card I make.

This week's country is...

Myanmar

Myanmar (pronounced MEE’-an-mar) is a country in southeast Asia that shares borders with China, India, Laos, Bangladesh and Thailand. It was formerly known as Burma.

With a total area of 261,970 square miles, Myanmar is the largest country in mainland Southeast Asia, and the 40th-largest in the world. It is somewhat smaller than Texas and slightly larger than Afghanistan.

Myanmar is one of the few countries in the world that has a half-hour time zone. The time in Myanmar is 30 minutes different than neighboring Thailand.

The country’s literacy rate is 83 percent, the median age is 27.9 years and the average life expectancy is 57 years.

Myanmar is one of only three countries in the world that has not adopted the metric system of measurement.  The other two holdouts are Liberia and the United States. 

Temples and pagodas found throughout Myanmar were built during the 12th and 13th centuries.

Major credit cards are not always accepted in Myanmar, and there are few ATMs, so visitors need to bring plenty of U.S. dollars. The higher the denomination, the better the exchange rate. 

There are no coins in the Myanmar currency.

Both men and women in Myanmar use a yellow paste from the bark of the Thanakha tree as a cosmetic. Applied to the face, it is an effective sunscreen that also tightens the skin and prevents oiliness.

Rice is the major agricultural product in Myanmar.

A typical meal in Myanmar includes steamed rice, fish, meat, vegetables and soup served at the same time.  Locals use their fingertips to mold rice into a small ball and then mix it with various dishes.

Chewing betel nut is a national pastime. Small street stalls sell the palm-sized green leaves filled with betel nut, spices and sometimes a pinch of tobacco, then folded and popped in the mouth and chewed.

A Buddhist monastery sits atop a volcanic plug rising 558 feet above the slope of Mount Popa, the volcano on which it stands. 

Small children often wear holy thread around their neck or wrist for protection from bad spirits or spells.

Chinlone — a combination of sport and dance team sport with no opposing team  — is the traditional sport of Myanmar. The focus is on how beautifully one plays the game. Any number of players form a circle and keep the chinlone as long as possible in the air by kicking it soccer-style from player to player, using any body part except the hands.

The traditional Burmese dress is the longyi, a wraparound skirt worn by men and women. Men tie theirs in the front and women fold the cloth over and secure it at the side.

Myanmar is comprised of many different ethnic groups or tribes, each with their own unique traditions and practices. One particular practice is to "ugly-fy" their women to make them less appealing in order to prevent the neighboring tribesmen from stealing them! For example, in the Northern Chin states, women used to have their faces tattooed, but this practice became illegal and was banned in the 1960s. The women of the Kayan tribe in East Myanmar wear brass neck coils around their necks from a young age to elongate their necks. Over the years, the weight of the brass pushes their collar bone down, compressing their rib cage, thus becoming "long necked women."

When the locals in Myanmar want to get a waiter’s attention, they make a kissing sound, usually two or three short kisses. It’s the sort of sound you might make if calling a cat.

Fishermen in Myanmar are famous for fishing on one leg. The local Intha people developed the unusual technique over centuries to enable fishing and rowing at the same time. Standing allows the fishermen to see through the reeds that lie just beneath the surface in the shallow waters of the lake. 

I decided to let this Myanmar fact be the inspiration for this week's card... Myanmar is home of the biggest book in the world. The book has 1460 pages, measuring 3.51 feet wide, 5.1 inches thick, and 5.01 feet tall!

Thanks for stopping by my blog today!

Stamp Set: Unity Part of the Story stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black Ink and colored with Copic Markers

Papers: Recollections Tan and 110# White and SU Chocolate Chip CS, AMuse Studio Polka Dot DP and other DP from my scrap file

Embellishments: Brads and Crocheted Flower from unknown vendors