slapphead_otool

Im looking at working for a year in Rangoon, or Yangon as they now seem to call it.

Sadly my plans for three years in Jakarta fell by the wayside, and after the events of the last couple of years I will have to take my wife with me this time.

Does anyone have any current or recent experience of living and working in Rangoon? I believe prices are skyrocketing, decent accommodation is scarce public transport is poor etc.

Anyone have any comments?

nonthaburi

No recent experience but I spent some time there in 2001 and I loved it . Very friendly place , pretty run down but with a certain charm . Virtually impossible to get lost too because of the grid system so it didn't matter how many you had had ! I have heard that rents are pretty high now . It did seem to shut early too . At the time I was there it was 10 beers for a dollar , hope it still is !!

Paracletus

I'd be curious to see this thread develop. Began my own search just this month to investigate opportunities in Burma, or Myanmar. Looks to be slightly off the map for now though. Are you heading there for ADB related work or something else, if you don't mind me asking? I'm in architecture myself, and I suppose my field could be moving if there were to be some decent sized projects coming online. Been able to locate a few international firms with a presence there so far..so perhaps a bit early still.

slapphead_otool

Hi Paracletus, yes it was regarding work with ADB, but I got overlooked for the gig, which in some ways was good news, in other ways bad. ADB have me earmarked as a Pacific specialist, and desperately want to send me to God forsaken atolls or semi war zones like PNG and the Solomon Islands. I am desperate to get back to big Asian cities like Jakarta, Manila and Bangkok.

The problem is that these asian counties are no longer really third world in many respects - they have booming economies and are doing better than the donor countries. They also have local educated workforces these days - good MBAs, and PhDs abound. This means fewer and fewer of the old 3 year gigs guzzling Chang/Bintang/San Miguel with your arm around a pretty girl. ;(

RedDragon2008

What sort of work do you specifically do

slapphead_otool

From my linked in:

or the last 2 years I been working for the Asian Development Bank as a consultant, initially providing advice on financial knowledge management and dissemination technology, systems and processes in the bank head office in Manila. Since June 2011 as Program Manager for the Pacific region Subregional Audit Support Program. I am responsible for the improvement of auditing skills by developing a common methodology, process and format, and also advising, guiding and assisting in the conduct of key financial and performance audits.

I studied economics at Sydney University, before obtaining an MBA at the Australian Graduate School of Management. I have an Advanced Diploma in Data and Systems Analysis from Oxford University.

I am a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute, a Member of the Institute of Analytics Professionals of Australia, and an advisory member of the Governing Board of the Pacific Association of Supreme Auditing Institutions. I was an approved business consultant under the Australian Federal Government National Industry Extension Scheme.

I am a former army officer, a graduate of the Royal Military College Duntroon and of the Australian Army Command and Staff College. I served in finance and logistics areas, before becoming a staff officer. I am close to qualifying as a Management Accountant through the Chartered Institute of Management Accounting accelerated program.

I worked in the management information and business Intelligence area for over 12 years, with clients in the telecommunications, finance and banking and operational management areas.

My work has included capex models, Budgeting and Forecasting, Operational Planning, Basel II capital adequacy and liquidity compliance and reporting, HRM analytics, and corporate governance reporting and monitoring.

Before that I was a mechanical engineer.

bakedbean

Crikey Slapphead and I thought you just sat around in bars (joking of course)

slapphead_otool

Not so far off the truth - especially in the days pre cable TV and internet.

I am sure many people on here will remember the expat days of living in foreign countries where there was either no TV, no worthwhile TV, or it was in an unfathomable language. Days of listening to the cricket or the football results on the BBC world service, and reading week old newspapers.

In those days going to a bar was an opportunity to talk to other expats, hear the latest news and gossip, obtain and dish out sympathy and advice, get drunk in reasonable safety and get laid with absolutely no safety whatsoever.

These days BE has replaced many of these functions. (Apart from getting drunk and laid)...

To be honest I think I preferred those days.

slapphead_otool

I remember the time honoured joke of a guy with a Thai "girl" he had just met in a bar, as "she" fumbled under the table:

Guy: You do that very well
"Girl": I get lots of practice, I have one of my own.

bakedbean

Ha yes....

Paracletus

Drinking whilst chatting to friends online is not like drinking alone. And who knows, opportunities to meet ladies online as well for those interested.

But yes, I sort of miss the life of living in some god forsaken place with an unfathomable language. Perhaps yearning for my childhood memories of growing up in a warzone, or the largest part of my teenage years in Manila. Life in Europe is just not what its all cracked up to be.

I really liked your blog, had a read through it. I know plenty of people who'd happily go to these places.

slapphead_otool

Strange that you should post this, I was thinking exactly the same in the shower this morning. Having a beer in front of the keyboard is not too unlike standing in a bar chatting to someone. and you are right re meeting ladies online too....

Now I am curious, which war zone? Fully agree on the sentiments.

My father was a military man in the days when the British Army still "travelled the world and met interesting people". My mother refused to go, and so I didn't get the chance to visit HK, Singapore, Aden, Cyprus, Malta, Malaya etc. Even worse my father would come home with interesting stories about life there. I guess that was the genesis of my wanderlust.

Which blog?????

I have several, I hope it wasnt the "bargirls I have known" one

I have some photos here:
http://wearytraveller.blogspot.com.au

Paracletus

I've had global drinking sessions on skype, beautiful thing with good friends I see much too infrequently.

I spent my youth in Mozambique, 84-90 during their civil war. Didn't quite know what to make of it as I was only just turned 5 or so. It started wonderfully, got detained at the airport for 24 hours as illegals and told to go back to south africa, even though we just got off a flight from Lisbon. It wasn't a very busy airport, especially not on the LH front. I later got used to my teacher smacking my fellow mozambiquan and other african class mates in the head, it worried my mother to the extent she offered to come in and read with us to make sure I wasn't battered by the teacher.

But anyway, used to watch the fighting in the suburbs from the roof terrace, and had the first experience of murder by the front door at age 7. Two army patrols that both thought each other were rebels I guess..same uniform, no radio, and fully loaded AK 47's. On an other occasion, our neighbours landcruiser was stolen. He got it back, I found him washing out the blood from the ensuing shoot out with police, don't think he got compensation for the bullet holes in his seat. I now laugh when people tell me how scared they are of crime in the UK, and even more so, in Norway, where I currently reside. I do still have a fear of kicking garbage and such on the streets incase there should be a landmine. Irrational fears really. And yes, I do sort of miss going to the supermarket not quite knowing what you'll find, if anything. I think I've also become way too dependent on electricity, internet and telephones. Such luxuries..though my friends here and in the UK always get baffled when I share no knowledge of kids tv programming with them..or how many years I've been going to bars when they were still hanging out in street corners and the occasional parent free house.

Sad thing, my great grandfather had been to Lourenço Marque as a sailor in the glory of the colonial days. The city itself was still quite a beautifully laid out place, alot of great colonial architecture, and so much potential. Some of my friends from those days have been back, as well as my parents, and they have come back singing praise. But one side of me feels quite done with Africa after my last stint in Kenya which i left in 2001. I'd much more prefer SEA now. I've tried ME, but it really grated with me..and I almost managed to bag a caribbean gig last year..but it's not easy finding someone willing to employ two people. But our search goes on.

In the Philippines, I went to school with a lot of the filipino rich kids who'd have their grandmothers kidnapped a handful of times as well. Thinking back at it, I'm surprised I never got into any real trouble there..walking around late at night in what I was convinced by the elders was a VERY dangerous city, and not always in a fit state to take care of myself.

I clicked on one you had in your profile info. I shall try to find the bar girls you have known.
http://eulogyfortheliving.blogspot.com.au/

bakedbean

(only joking )