I love venturing into third spaces, maybe because they are platforms for interaction between people. I first learnt about this term in Urban Sociology back in University. Coined by Ray Oldenburg, he calls one's "first place" the home and the immediate surroundings. The "second place" is the workplace where people spend their time at, earning their keep and sometimes even spending more time there when work gets increasingly overwhelming and demanding. Third places (or spaces) are the anchors of community life, essentially where people are drawn together. Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon - forever a significant third place in the heart of the city and the locals. Even on weekday afternoons, it is commonplace to see families spending time in the pagodas. It is not just a place for the locals to pray or make their devotions, but also a place for relaxation and respite - sitting down for a meal, chatting amongst themselves or even to escape from the sweltering mid-day heat. Marketplaces in Burma are often bustling with activities coupled with the ongoing traffic - locals crowding at tea shops, buying their groceries and engaging in casual talk with the constant beeping of horns in the background. Weaved through the crowd at Zegyo Market in Mandalay to find myself craving for a bag of juicy tangerines to quench my thirst. He managed a shy grin after I asked if I could take a picture of him.
There are many marketplaces in Burma - some are of larger scale than the others depending on their relative locations in the city and the kind of vendors they attract. One thing is for sure, these marketplaces are truly where many regulars get their daily necessities from.
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