Myanmar roadside assistance
Despite literally being in the middle of nowhere in the deadest of night, there was no alarm from the six-person staff or any of the passengers, half of whom seem to be native Myanmas. It was as if flat tires were as noteworthy in the country as making a u-turn.
As soon as the bus rolled to a standstill, the six-person bus staff exited to tend frantically to the tire. Immediately afterwards, about fifteen male passengers including myself also deboarded and walked to the nearest shrub to urinate. It was probably a good time to have a flat. I don't think I'll ever see so many guys taking a leak on the side of the road at the same time.
As I was hydrating some desert shrub with some long scientific name, I stared upwards at the moonless, star-filled sky. We're dead in the middle of nowhere. The only source of light came from the disabled bus, vehicles zooming by approximately once every three minutes and the countless twinkling dots above. This has to be the most exotic place to take a roadside leak.
After about twenty minutes, it became clear the staff was unable to install a new tire. So here's the good part of the story, one that might illustrate an insight into local culture.
One of the staff walked to the edge of the road and waived at an oncoming tour bus. Surprisingly, that bus immediately pulled over. In America, I'm unsure how many cars you must wave at before one would stop to assist. Here, at least tonight and in this instance, the first bus that saw those flailing arms pulled over. That bus had no incentive to help and was probably from a competing bus line. So either we experienced an incredible stroke of new year's fortune or it is commonplace for people in this devoutly Buddhist country to render assistance to strangers.
Our bus staff obtained some piece of tool from this unknown and random savior. Soon, we were ready to be on our way. A few passengers didn’t even seem to be in a particular rush to continue onward as they were contently smoking, chatting, stargazing or enjoying a cup of coffee from the attentive stewardess.
Despite stopping for almost 40 minutes, we arrived in Yangon on-time, at 6:45am. I'm not sure how that's possible, but it's probably not worth trying to find out. I only hope whatever tire tool that got us back on our feet gets returned to its owner.
