The Subtle Pleasures Of Everyday Life In Myanmar.
A vivid insider's account of Myanmar, one of the most inaccessible and mysterious countries in our region.
Former hippy cult figure Peter Olszewski finds himself appointed to the English-language weekly, The Myanmar Times, where he is to train local journalists for eighteen months. In a previous life he was actually deported from the country once known as Burma and given the notorious ruthlessness of the military junta now in power, there is a measure of danger in him accepting the post. Not to mention the risk of them discovering more about his colourful past.
Undaunted, Peter goes native, throwing himself into the daily life of Yangon (once called Rangoon). It's a world of Kafkaesque paranoia, languid diplomats and on-the-make expatriates, super-rich brats (children of the junta) and flamboyant street life. He immerses himself in the world of middle-aged expats with money, including the acquisition of practice wives', and then somehow he falls in love.
This is a compelling narrative about life in modern Myanmar and a vivid insider's account of one of the most inaccessible and mysterious countries in our region.
