In search of a REAL cup of coffee

It's 7 am and you really really need a cup of coffee. The guest house staff says, 'Black coffee or milk coffee'. One of each we say hopefully. Alas, when it comes it is the ubiquitous coffee in a tube; either black instant, or a horror called 3 in 1, coffee, creamer, and sugar. Aaaaaaagh. So we biked all over Mandalay searching for real coffee. We found it in 3 cafes; upscale cafes, for Burmese yuppies. Dark, airconditioned to polar temperatures, usually with booths and poufy chairs, we found JJ's that had coffee presses, City Cafe, that got our vote for the best iced latte and espresso in town, and V Cafe, a brand new place just up the street from our guest house. This last seemed to be run by young men of military bearing ??? All were relatively expensive, $1.50 to $2.50 but ohhhh was it worth it after a long morning session!


Every Burmese tea shop has these: thermos of tea, small cups for same sitting in bowl of water, tissue (bathroom) for napkins, chopsticks, chili sauce, fish sauce.


























Our favorite Shan noodle shop, Pan Cherry's. Hot soup comes with every meal, sometimes spicy, sometimes not.
























Counting bricks of kyat at Pan Cherry's.












Lunch hour at Pan Cherry's.




At our regular greasy spoon.














Street food is everywhere, usually fried, usually good! Fried bananas, fried doughy things.














And then there's the guy with a restaurant on his head!



This little man dispenses toothpicks as he does push-ups. Found at a Thai restaurant.

The Nylon Cafe, across from the Nylon Hotel, has flourescent orange milk shakes. Delicious!