Giant Robot Store and GR2 News

Photographer Olaf Schuelke has collected some awesome images of young punx in Myanmar for Roads & Kingdoms. Myanmar has spent the last few years redefining itself, and reaching out to countries like Mongolia for neighborly advice on how to best weather a major economic and political transition. Last year’s host for the World Economic Forum on East Asia, Myanmar is on a fast-track to adapting to globalization, for better or for worse. These kids are doing alright though, even if they’ve latched on to Hot Topic on trucker speed. They’ll mellow out and start broadening their punk horizons soon enough. Burmese emo is right around the corner… Get the full scoop and see more great images here.
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It was known as Burma at one time for you old schoolers, but this is a land attached to Thailand on one border and might be your retirement home. Yes, for you sex tourists, this could be the next “untapped” market. The land prices are going up including rental office space. What was once a few thousand a year is now nearing regular pricing. Homes are going up as well. There’s one hitch. You need to be the right ethnicity to own land, namely a Myanmar native. From Reuters: “”The government has clearly stated they will not allow foreigners to own land,” said a real estate executive who gave his name as Myo, adding it could take several years for laws to be passed to allow the ownership of apartments.” (Reuters – Myanmar)
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“For decades, Myanmar, also known as Burma, has tried to keep its people isolated from the outside world and its dangerous ideas about freedom.” It’s summer, it’s hot, and it’s Southeast Asia. You’d think pretty girls in short skirts would be a no-brainer. Well, not in Myanmar, where the western-culture-phobic government is fighting and losing a battle to keep control over the influx of fashionable western-style clothing the country’s young women are determined to wear. It seems Myanmar’s conservative military rulers remain very uncomfortable with the shorter, cooler hemlines of western female clothing. They still vigorously insist that women wear the beautiful but very modest longyi, a traditional Burmese garment which hangs from the waist to the feet. Well, even though the longyi is still mandatory in schools and government offices, Myanmar’s generals may have encouraged the fashion shift themselves when they left their wives and daughters to dress as they liked in Yangon (Rangoon) when the country’s capital moved to Naypyidaw in 2006. Of course, the availability of South Korean dramas on the internet and satellite TV, and an influx of western business investment, have contributed to this fashion rebellion. And a form of non-violent rebellion it is, which is good to see in a country of such beauty and history which has been so repressively ruled for so long. (L.A. Times – Myanmar Fashion Rebellion)
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