One of the local people we met during our time in Bagan was Aye Aye Mar (or we called her Emma). Whilst touring through the spectacular Ananda Pahto, we came across some vendors selling bamboo plates. The plates were made from circled bamboo strips, then lacquered with different colours. Emma was by far, the nicest lady of all the sellers and actually gave us a decent first price. So many vendors we encounter just ask for ridiculously high prices for their goods, and we don't even bother bargaining with them. But Emma was different. Her English was not too bad and we formed a nice rapport with her. It was a fun experience buying from her and we loved the quality of her things, so much so, that we returned to her the next day to buy some more. She even got her husband to deliver the plates to our hotel 4 km away on his motorbike with their son carrying the plates sitting on the back, just so we didn't have to carry them on our bicycles.
I think we spent a total of $17 USD on the plates, and as we were leaving her stall the second time, she called us back and asked us to dinner. How nice is that? We couldn't turn down the offer even though we were supposed to meet other friends for dinner. So, she took us to her friend's restaurant and provided us with an absolute feast of curries and sauces. Check out how many bowls are on the table. Of course, as soon as one bowl was looking low, her friend would top it up, so at the end it looked like we hadn't touched anything! Emma's English was not bad, so we had a good conversation at dinner and then came dessert. Michelle and I absolutely loved a sugary, fudge like substance called jaggery. It was made from plums! So tasty, she actually bought us some to take with us. At the end of dinner, she refused to let us pay and she spent probably about $3USD on us. Considering they don't make much money, this was a huge treat taking us out. She was an absolutely lovely lady, and is typical of the type of amazing people we met in Burma. *Stub
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