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59 twice. Smooch the sky to order some fermented tea leaf salad or mohinga, which are thin rice noodles topped with crispy fried vegetables and lentils served in a fishy broth, respectively. Or you can try fried, pounded spar- row with fried locust and a pig ear sal- ad. Wash it down with some Myanmar beer, a surprisingly tasty beverage. There’s a zedi for every horizon Over 10,000 religious structures — zedis, stupas, shrines and monaster- ies — in varying states of upkeep are located within the Bagan Archeological Zone alone, an area measuring a scant 13 km by 8 km. Spending a leisurely day on a bicycle, you can easily visit dozens of religious sites and have the majority of them all to yourself. There are monks — everywhere Myanmar is teeming with ‘em. Ap- proximately 500,000 bald monks, each swathed in their maroon robes, pro- ceed through cities and villages each morning collecting offerings from the karma-building public. Also common are processions of more rambunctious, school-aged monks-in-training, as well as female monks (also shaved bald) cloaked in pink. The vows monks take dictate that they are allowed just four possessions aside from their robes: an alms bowl, a needle, a razor, and a wa- ter strainer. The myanmar boTTle opener An oversized popsicle stick with a screw on the end. No-nonsense, inge- nious practicality. folks Take pilgrimages To see a rock The Golden Rock of Mount Kyaiktiyo is one of the holiest sites in Myanmar and the final destination of the coun- try’s most popular pilgrimage. The glimmering, golden rock sits perched atop a mountain cliff. What keeps the Golden Rock from tumbling down into oblivion? A strategically placed coun- terweight consisting of one single holy Buddha hair. you geT To sTroll barefooT in pigeon shiT Long-held Burmese religious cus- toms dictate an absolute ban on foot- wear, including socks, within any of its holy sites, but the removal of grime — particularly pigeon droppings — does not warrant nearly as stringent a following. Even in the slippery, bat guano-streaked Buddha caves, this tradition is not to be taken lightly. Bring napkins. and legiTimaTely human-powered ferris wheels?! An awestruck Anthony Bourdain stumbled upon this feat of determina- tion, and when I saw it I was likewise impressed. In lieu of using electrical power to rotate a Ferris wheel, the weight and momentum of children per- ilously hanging, kicking and swinging from its superstructure keeps the big wheel spinning.