The Weird Little Town That Time Forgot

you ever stumble into a place and immediately feel like you’ve stepped into someone else’s dream? that’s what happened when i rolled into this dot on the map. i’d been chasing a rumor about a hidden noodle shop and ended up in a town where the main street doubles as a cat runway and the local mechanic also moonlights as a tarot reader.

i just checked and it’s 21.9°c there right now, feels more like 22.37°c if you’re standing in the sun. humidity’s sitting at 85%, so your hair will have opinions. pressure’s 1012-whatever that means-but it’s the kind of air that makes you want to sit outside with something cold and eavesdrop on strangers.

if you get bored, mandalay and yangon are just a short drive away, but honestly, i’d stay here. the whole place feels like a secret.

i heard from a woman selling betel nut that the best coffee in town is at a place called "morning confusion"-apparently they burn the beans on purpose for flavor. sounded like drunk advice to me, but i tried it anyway. it was weird. i loved it.

someone told me that the noodle shop i was looking for doesn’t exist-it’s just a story locals tell tourists to see if they’ll keep searching. well, joke’s on them, because i found it. or at least, i found a woman who claimed to be the noodle shop. she served me soup out of a bucket and charged me in riddles.

*the post office is also the town’s only bar after 6pm. the library is a converted bus that only opens when the driver feels like it. the clock tower* doesn’t tell time-it tells fortunes. (i asked it when i’d leave and it said “never.” thanks, clock tower.)

check out tripadvisor for more weird towns like this one, or yelp if you want to find a place that actually has a menu and a health rating.

this isn’t a place you visit. it’s a place that visits you. and if you’re lucky, it won’t let you leave.

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