I arrived in Myanmar January 1 and a few days in, I stumbled upon a festival. Thinking it may be New Year celebrations, I soon learned it was Independence Day festivities. The day is filled with games, all mostly soccer matches geared to kids. Down the road to where I was staying, a friend came to get me and told me to bring my camera. She had come across this scene and we started staring in amazement. Asking questions to everyone standing around, we were told that it was a competition to see who could get to the top of the bamboo pole, or the closest to, with the winner taking home the equivalent of $50usd. Now you would think that climbing a bamboo pole is hard enough, but they made it even more difficult. Before each competitor tries his luck someone climbs up a ladder to the top of the pole with a can full of motor oil. He then pours the motor oil down the inside of the bamboo and greases up the outside as well. Ready for the next competitor, each person got to use the wrap to help them up the unstable pole. The pole was put into the ground haphazardly and was held by onlookers intermittently in case of any big wobbles. The large crowd gathered around the pole watching with excited anticipation. With every wobble or small slip the crowd ooo’d and awww’d. It felt like I was watching fireworks! There was heckling from some and others helping “navigate” and encourage them on. In between each competitor I was ushered over to the massive tables of food set up in the street. The ever-friendly people here made me a plate of food and they excitedly watched me eat to see if I liked their food. Feeling obligated to eat at that moment, all I could think was, “oh god, I am going to get food poisoning.” Yangon is not known for their food prep practices and stories abound in the travel community of food poisoning. I ate some of the food, delicious noodles, and put the fear out of my head. I was part way through the food when the last competitor started. I dashed from the table to get in front of the crowd. I was watching in awe of him scurrying up the pole with only a couple slips and rests. It did not look like an easy task but he conquered the pole and arrived at the top with the crowed erupting into applause and cheering. He came down quickly and was able to collect his well-deserved winnings.