July in Rangoon

 5/6/13 Rangoon - In Latha Street there is a Chinese cafe with excellent steamed buns, spicy meat filling or sweet red bean paste. It's in one of the shophouses, the whole ground floor is open with lots of tables and cast iron columns at the front.  They have put in a mezzanine floor, and the orders are sent whizzing down a string on bulldog clips to the cashier. We arrived about half past five, and went to sit inside as all the tables on the pavement were full. Then it started to rain and went on for about an hour, I have never seen such torrents. The boss is Chinese from Yunnan, his folks crossed the border during the Cultural Revolution. Two men came to sit next to us, both Chinese speakers. One short and fat in red and white Hawaiian style shirt, big diamond rings and huge wodge of money, the other thin with dyed hair and no front teeth. After some chat about who are you, how old etc etc, they paid for our coffee and buns and drove us home. Lots of consultations about where we are staying, we didn't have the address in Burmese, boss called in,  neighbouring table interpreted the map, general agreement reached. We set off in an airconditioned car, along Strand Road, past the Strand Hotel and the Post Office. Streets all flooded, shoes off to reach the pavement.