Justin Beiber at the Hair Salon

On Friday, December 30^th, we got up and decided to venture into town to attempt to find a hair salon.  We weren’t attempting to do anything serious – actually, rather embarrassingly enough, Suba and I hadn’t washed our hair since our first night in Yangon because it was so cold and there was no way to dry our hair…we didn’t want to chance freezing on an air conditioned bus or outside on a boat on Inle Lake.  Suba said she’d had her hair washed before and although this was all new for me, we headed into town.  We knew we were on an afternoon/night bus back to Yangon that same day, and would arrive early in the morning and go straight to Ei Ei’s friend’s wedding. This was our only opportunity to shower and we wanted to be presentable for the wedding – or at least NOT smell!

My lovely locks couldn't quite compare to the Biebs...

We found a hair salon, and for 2,000 kyat ($2.30 USD) I got a hair massage, had my hair shampooed, conditioned and dried.  While we were in the salon, many of the locals came into the salon to watch Suba and I get our hair done.  At first, I thought it was because we were rich, spoiled, obnoxious tourists, but I learned that all the locals get their hair done at this salon – but they never have foreigners (especially foreigners with blonde hair!).  They turned on a DVD of music videos…and my body cringed when I heard a familiar “Baby, Baby, Baby Ohhhhh” song come on.  I looked up, to see a familiar Canadian kid’s (He is 17 but at the time this video was filmed, was even younger) face on the TV.  Everyone in the hair salon was singing and humming along…including myself.  Everyone in Myanmar LOVES Justin Bieber.  Although one of Ei Ei's cousins did make the horrific mistake of saying, "You are from America?!  My favorite singer is from America - Justin Bieber" (He is from Canada although it is an understandable mistake).  It is amazing for a country that is so protected and sheltered from the outside world, Justin Bieber somehow made it through the protectionist cracks…and onto all of the TVs in Myanmar!

As we got on the 16 hour bus from Inle Lake back to Yangon at 2pm, I couldn’t get his stupid songs out of my head and then smiled at myself.  Who knew Justin Bieber would bridge various cultures and somehow break through the tight government restrictions in Myanmar?!