Two guys started talking to me in a donut shop, and when I told them I was American, they espoused their love of George W. Many people expressed similar views, and I wanted to get to the bottom of it. So I pressed them. Unfortunately, it came down to race and religion. The more talkative guy, who looked relatively wealthy (heavy-set and sporting sun glasses), started giving me this crap about how if Muslims marry "Myanamr women" (as if Muslims aren't Myanmar too), and have Muslim babies, their mosque would support them. When I told him he was full of shit, his friend backed him up and said Muslims also sacrifice cows to Allah. So they hate Muslims and love George W. for picking on a Muslim country. I told them they were very racist and intolerant, and hoped they would go away, but they didn't seem to understand, not even my body language.

Then his friend started talking about how Buddhism is best, because you study other religions, then spend a week meditating, then you can choose which one you want. This sounds great, but I'm willing to bet that most people don't study other religions, become Buddhists because their parents are, and practice Buddhism by throwing "lucky money" at Buddhas (a "lower form" of Budhhism, my friend said). The whole encounter left a bad taste in my mouth. The donuts tasted excellent, though.

SInce I'd rather go to the beach instead of hanging around Yangon until Monday, I checked some travel agencies to see if I could pay them to get the visa for me, like you can in Thailand. Unfortunately, this isn't Thailand, and they all looked at me like I was crazy. Then I realized my stash of passport photos had gone missing. At first this stressed me out, since I paid about $5 for each of them before I left. Turns out this was a total waste of money. There are many camera shops offering this service here. I ended up paying $1.50 for a handful of 12 photos.

Something I ate made me sick again (I should have stuck to my vegetarian diet), and my poop, which had never fully solidified, is now liquid again, and I'm making more trips to the bathroom than I like. This, coupled with the amazingly breathtaking heat outside leaves me not wanting to do much, so I just sat around and read.