When I landed in Yangon, the first thing I noticed were a couple of porters with deep red lips. It didn’t look like lipstick, I wasn’t sure what it was going on. When I spoke to the porter, he smiled and it was hard to hide my disgust, his teeth were stained dark red and they didn’t look at all healthy. He turned from me and spit into the garbage can bright red liquid. Reminded me of chewing tobacco but clearly they weren’t chewing tobacco.
Paan which is a betel leaf, lime and a betel nut. People chew on it for a few minutes and it acts as a stimulant giving them a short burst of energy. It also turns the saliva to a deep red. I noticed when I landed in Yangon the luggage handlers were chewing it and spitting it into a trash can. When I saw the color I knew they weren’t chewing tobacco. It stains the lips bloody red and turns the teeth red and black.
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