It has already been five years since I last left Myanmar, but she has never left me. She crept into my life quietly, got under my skin, and now it is impossible to shake her off. I carry her scent in my memory, her voice in my ears. Every new place I visit, I compare to her – my Myanmar, my travel in Myanmar, the five senses of Myanmar.
I discovered my Myanmar with all my senses, step by step, like new lovers exploring each other. No rush, very attentively. The time for harsh words and irritation would come later; but for now, I inhaled the moisture of humid Myanmar air.
(Photo by Elena Seroshtan)
This article was born from the dust of nostalgia that covered my memories of my days in Myanmar (Burma). When the yearning for the time I lived and worked in this Golden Land grew too big to keep to myself, I decided to start writing a series of memoir essays about my Burma. The country amazed and fascinated me with its sounds, smells, tastes, traditions, and attitude to life. From 2012, when I arrived for the first time, to 2021, when I left it for the last time, many things changed. The country gradually opened to foreigners, welcomed investors, and gave hope to Myanmar people. Then suddenly it was all taken back after the military coup. I had to leave, but not a day has passed without me saying, “Remember when we lived in Burma…?”
The Five Senses of Travel in Myanmar: Smell
(Photo by Elena Seroshtan)
This country smells like a damp, moldy carpet and jasmine flowers, like thanaka powder and betelnut – in that order, the scents revealed themselves to me.
For several years, the floor of Yangon Airport has been covered with the same carpet which, after many rainy seasons, developed a distinct smell of sogginess and mildew. This is the very first scent you inhale.
Next, in the taxi, you will spot the inevitable jasmine flower garland, sold by a young girl from a nearby village to the taxi driver. The jasmine fragrance will surround you. You will see jasmine flowers in the hair of local girls; you will find a jasmine-scented soap in your hotel room; you will enjoy an aromatic cup of jasmine tea.
As your relationship with Myanmar deepens, you’ll encounter other, sometimes less pleasant, odors – like the smell of fermented bamboo or rather questionable aroma of rice tea. This tea tastes amazing and is wonderfully refreshing in hot weather, but it smells like a football player’s old socks. Surprisingly, this smell can quickly become dear to you. You can find this pungent tea at small bus stops, large bus stations, and in local tea shops, where it is served for free for anyone who is thirsty.
There are also the cozy and comforting smells of curry and fried rice with garlic, and the faint, sweet scent of coconut oil from the hair of local girls. Here, even the morning sun has its own smell, and somehow the rain smells different. But local roses have no scent…
(Photo by Elena Seroshtan)
The Five Senses of Travel in Myanmar: Sound
Then, without any warning, Myanmar moves from your nose to your ears. The moment I stepped over the threshold of Yangon Airport for the first time, leaving the smell of the mildew carpet behind, I was immediately hit by a wave of heat and a flood of unfamiliar sounds and noises. I felt like I was drowning in them: porters shouting to taxi drivers, taxi drivers shouting back at porters, endless and seemingly pointless honking, and the unfamiliar cadence of a language I had never heard before.
Then night wraps the country, and you prepare for a peaceful sleep. But even the night in Myanmar has its own unique soundscape. You will fall asleep accompanied by soothing croaking of frogs and the whirring of cicadas, or by annoying sounds of fighting squirrels and mocking laughter of geckos.
(Photo by Elena Seroshtan)
The next sound I discovered during my first morning in Myanmar was the call to morning prayer. You will be woken up at 4 or 5 a.m. by the chant from the nearest temple or pagoda, broadcasted through loudspeakers for everyone in the area to hear—whether they want to or not.
Several years later in Mandalay, I came to recognize the sound of the garbage truck. The announcement to bring your rubbish to the truck sounded like someone saying, “Somebody stole my car”, which always amused the expats. That joke never got old.
During the day, fruitmongers called out to announce fresh fruit for sale, and in the evening, monks walked along the street with a gong, inviting people to make donations.
The final year of my life in Myanmar was defined by the sound of civil disobedience. After the military coup, civilians expressed their anger and disagreement by banging metal utensils against the asphalt. It was a metallic scream of desperation and grief – the sound of fear for the future. Yet, even in these troubled times, noisy Myanmar somehow gifted me an inner silence.
(Photo by Elena Seroshtan)
The Five Senses of Travel in Myanmar: Sight
The moment you enter Yangon, you see a huge, old-fashioned billboard saying, “Welcome to Golden Land”. It won’t take long to prove that the billboard isn’t lying. Golden pagodas and golden temple roofs; gold bracelets on the little ankles of baby girls and gold rings on slim fingers of young women; the golden glow of sunset and sunrise washing the streets of Myanmar’s cities and villages.
Yellow is the next color of this vibrant country. As April begins, the streets of Myanmar are painted bright yellow with padauk flowers – a symbol of the Myanmar New Year. And it is the color of thanaka – a powder made of the Thanaka tree, which local people use to protect their skin from the relentless sun.
(Photo by Elena Seroshtan)
Green is another defining color. Myanmar is so lush and green that, when you look at the big cities from above, it is difficult to guess that there is a city hidden beneath these leaves. Green is also the color of the public school uniform.
And we must not forget the pink and saffron colors of Buddhist monks’ robes. Pink is for girls and women, while saffron is for boys and men. These colors are symbols of respect. Everyone who wears them represents Buddha on Earth. Every morning and late evening, you can see pink and saffron streams moving humbly and obediently along the streets. Saffron color also has a strong association with Saffron Revolution, when even the serene and compassionate monks had had enough. So, it is a color of bravery and courage too.
Before the 2020 elections, the towns were painted red – the color of Aung San Suu Kyi’s party, a color of hope. Every shop sold all possible items of clothes in red.
But gray also has its place. During the monsoon season, the sky, heavy with dark clouds, turns leaden gray, suppressing all other colors and leaving a weight on your chest, stealing away hope and joy. Yet when the rain passes with all its troubles, the country will be green and golden once again. There is hope.
(Photo by Elena Seroshtan)
The Five Senses of Travel in Myanmar: Taste
Just as you always remember the taste of your first kiss, you remember the first time you try new food in a new country. How did Myanmar taste for me?
The Spicy Taste is the most obvious one – exactly what you might expect from a Southeast Asian country. Spicy meat, spicy soup, even spicy fruit. One of their favorite snacks is green mango marinated in chili pepper with salt and sugar. The dishes are often so laden with spices that I had to ask for less spicy food… although sometimes, it didn’t work. Most of the time my request was silently ignored.
But sweet taste, however, may surprise you. There’s the natural sweetness of mango and papaya. But there is another kind of sweetness: the generous addition of sugar to dough, regardless of its purpose. It could be pizza dough or dumplings dough. You can even find lots of sugar in local mayonnaise and sausages, as well. They simply prefer sugar as a preservative agent.
Then there are unique flavors you can find only in Myanmar like tea leaf salad, mohinga fish soup, papaya salad with fish sauce, or Shan noodles. All these dishes have a very rich and unforgettable taste. Once you’ve tried them, they stay with you forever. And again, here’s my advice: don’t look too closely at the ingredients or cooking process. Remember, when it comes to eating in Myanmar, ignorance is bliss.
But the pearl in my collection of tastes, which surprised me the most, is umami or monosodium glutamate. You can buy glutamate right alongside the salt and spices in stores. Our cook always placed a little bowl of it in the middle of the table, just in case we thought our dishes needed an extra sprinkle.
In Myanmar, every meal is an adventure—a journey through flavors that challenge, surprise, and sometimes even shock you.
(Photo by Elena Seroshtan)
The Five Senses of Travel in Myanmar: Touch
Remember when you wanted to touch the person you liked for the first time? But don’t! Do not touch!
First and foremost, do not touch a Buddhist monk—not even the hem of their robes. It is entirely unacceptable and deeply disrespectful. Refrain from touching bushes and trees, too; you never know what might be lurking there. Once, I mindlessly brushed my hand against a bush, and a rather annoyed snake hissed at me.
Avoid patting children on the head as well. In Myanmar, the head is considered the most sacred part of the body, and touching it can be seen as intrusive.
(Photo by Elena Seroshtan)
Yet there are things you can touch.
You can feel the warmth of teak wood in nearly every Myanmar home, and the coolness of the marble in almost every pagoda or temple. No matter how hot the sun blazes, the white marble remains cool, offering a refreshing relief for your bare feet after walking on scorching ground.
If you try thanaka, the cooling paste will leave a velvety sensation on your skin, soaking up moisture—a welcome comfort in the humid heat.
During the Thingyan Water Festival, however, even thanaka won’t save you; your clothes will stay soaked as water flies from every direction.
But perhaps the most profound touch is the intangible one—a soul-to-soul connection. The warmth and openness of the people will touch your heart. They are people content with what they have, fully present in the moment, joyful in the here and now.
(Photo by Elena Seroshtan)
For More:
- On our site: A Hill Tribe Trek in Eastern Myanmar
- On our site: We love Southeast Asia: read more of our articles!
-All photos by Elena Seroshtan.
