16 Contextual Understanding of Myanmar fabric with checks, plaids or stripes in any color. 2.9 TANATKHA It is common in Myanmar for many women and children to apply a yellow-white paste, known as tanatkha, on their faces. This is both a cosmetic and practical paste, made every day, by rubbing ground bark with a sprinkle of water. Tanatkha practically acts as a sunscreen. 2.10 RURAL-URBAN DIVIDE IN MYANMAR Myanmar remains largely a rural nation with only 32.6% of the population living in urban areas1. Out of this, 30% of the urban population live in Burma’s two largest cities, Yangon and Mandalay. This rural-urban migration stems from industrialization and increased economic opportunities in urban centers. 2.11 TRANSPORTATION Larger towns in Myanmar offer a variety of modes of transport such as city buses (ka), bicycle rickshaws or trishaws (saiq-ka, for sidecar), horse carts (myint hlei), ox carts, vintage taxis (taxi), more modern little three-wheelers somewhat akin to Thai tuk-tuks (thoun bein, meaning ‘three wheels’), tiny four-wheeled ‘blue taxi’ Mazdas (lei bein, meaning ‘four wheels’) and modern Japanese pick-up trucks (lain ka, meaning ‘line car’). Small towns rely heavily on horse carts and trishaws as the main mode of local transport. 2.12 TYPICAL HOUSEHOLD AND FAMILY STRUCTURE Most Burman live in an extended family setting that often includes parents, parents-in-law, grandparents, and the siblings of a spouse as well as other kin. Nuclear families sometimes live in their own compound, but many related households may live together in their own houses within a larger compound. These individual households may then form extended family units. Among the Burman, it is common for a couple to live with the wife’s family. But they are free to live with the groom’s family or on their own. Bicycle rickshaws 1 Central Intelligence Agency. (2014). Burma: People and Society in The World Factbook. Retreived from the website https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/bm.html

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