Images of Yangon

Yangon is a totally marvelous city. Parts of it remind me of pictures I've seen of Cuba. It even has a synagogue overseen by Sammy Samuelson who explained that there are only 20 members today and they are happy to accept new ones.  Pictures of David Ben Gurion and Abba Eban visiting the synagogue in the 1950s hang on the wall.  We were told that they visited Yangon (then Rangoon) because Myanmar (then Burma) was the first country to recognize Israel after it gained independance.The golden Buddha has an interesting story that is explained on the marble plaque next to it.While we were in Yangon, Myanmar got its first ATM.  The U.S. Embassy put out advisory warning on the State Department's STEP program (Smart Travelers Enrollment Program) website (on which we urge all travelers to register their itineraries) urging caution and "rely but verify" when using the ATM.  Having been told that no one accepts credit cards in Myanmar, and not knowing that there would be an (one) ATM in the country, we brought cash to cover expenses.  Only perfectly crisp $100 bills were accepted in the country.  And only those that had been printed after 2006, when a new counterfeit-resistant paper was introduced.Hope everyone is well and avoiding that nasty sounding flu. We'd love to hear from you.Lora and Davidhttp://vimeo.com/57166079