24 hours in Yangon

I've been in Burma for 24 hours now, and it's been sensory overload all the way. Perhaps this is a good precursor for the trip to India in a couple months. Coincidentally, I'd say that about 25% or more of the population is Indian. With that being said, here's an atomic blitz of first impressions in no particular order:
- women as well as men all wear sarongs around their waist called longyi.
- on bus ride from airport to guest house, i hear sccrreeeeeech, as a pickup truck skids to a stop. i look over and there's an old man on the ground who just got hit by the pickup. police gather around and people help pickup the guy off the ground, which as you all now, moving a victim is a paramedic no-no.
- dusty, dirty, roads, possibly worse than cambodia.
- dogs, bicycle rickshaws, raggedy old jeeps rule the streets.
- poverty, poverty, poverty everywhere. third world on steroids except for a few 5 star hotels scattered around for packaged tour groups.
- saw the incredible temple and stupa of shwedagon paya (pagoda) at sunset and when it's lit up at night. incredible golden colors, photos to come in 2 weeks.
- at night, apart from car lights, everything is dark. the streetlights that do exist don't work. looks like a blackout in some places.
- people, mostly women, with white and yellow powderlike painted faces walking the streets. part of their buddhist religion.
- men walking the streets spitting out chewed, red liquid betelnut leaving red bloodlike stains in their mouths.
- preteen boys have an affinity towards singing all the time in a high pitched staccato. have no idea what they're saying.
- barefooted maroon robed monks collecting alms in the dirty streets.
- street stall food with flies buzzing all around. take your pick, salmonella, diarrhea, food poisoning or the three course combo platter.
- street snack: giant, deep fried cockroaches anyone?
- a cripple beggar playing flute through his nose.
- pigeons everywhere like all cities, but yangon has these gigantic black ravens cawing everywhere. perhaps an ominous sign.
- big yellow, run down city hall with makeshift barb-wired sawhorses along the perimeter.
- u.s. embassy surrounded by water filled barrel barricades. no photography allowed, but apparently the half-naked man sitting on the side of the building washing himself with the embassy's exterior water spigot is ok?!?!?
- ohmygod the sun! can someone please turn the volume down!!
- wow, internet works....but is big brother watching.
- yep, smells like third, possibly the fourth world.
- overall, there's a general sadness in people's faces.
- camera - click click click
- senses - tilt tilt tilt
- where is - donde donde donde Dónde está Ché Pelotas?