NYE is not very special nor celebrated largely here in Burma just because people dont really consider the month of December as the long holiday giving the fact that there is only 1 official holiday which of course is Christmas. Christmas is not largely celebrated in Burma as the majority of people are predominantly Buddhists.
My family do not celebrate Chistmas simply because they don’t know about it and it is not at all in our traditions and customs. It is really surprising (or unsurprising) to see that people do not celebrate it at all in any way. It was just a public holiday where people stay home or for a few people take a short days trips.
NYE is the same thing for Burmese. As Burmese have their own calendar , they celebrate their new year in April like CRAZY. They are not particularly excited for the year end party or whatever.
Last year NYE , I was on a bus traveling back home from Bagan where I spent 2 days with my brother. It was amazing to see Bagan again since I was there working for half a year in 2012.
This year , another unplanned trip came in last minute. This time to a little town in Upper Burma called Mogoke aka the land of Rubies. It is really famous for its world wide popular precious stones especially rubies. It is said that the ruby on Queen Elizabeth 2’s crown is from Mogok Burma as the country was under British Burma for a long time from 1824 to 1948.
They “said”the rubies from the region were so expensive that one stone could buy a whole nation (region) back in the days.
I have never been to that town. The weather there is moderate all year round. The temperature at night can drop to as low as 4 degree Celcius in December thru February. So I am also excited to feel cold as I am from Yangon , the always hot and hotter region of Burma.
One thing I am really looking forward to is of course FOOD. Mogok food is popular in Yangon. I really want to try some authentic tastes of Mogok. They have got their special noodles and stuff , Shan Style as there are alot of Shan , Lisu , Palaung and Karen living in Mogok.
Would love to write about my journey ahead in Mogok. So excited π¬π¬π¬
Some random thoughts of mine 