Art, Remodeling, & the King & Queen of Norway

The apartment walls have been calling for some artwork, so Taiei (my roommate) and I ventured out to try and figure out the art scene in Yangon (which is actually pretty sophisticated). After going to two of the better known galleries, we felt that we had a good handle on the more well-known artists and their styles.

Pansodan Gallery was our first stop:

We then went to Nawaday Tharlar Gallery, which seemed like a great hub for the creative arts in general:

We found an artist named Tamalar, which we both really liked. We even got to meet him!

We were pretty excited about these two pieces (unfortunately each one is $1,000):

We also found this one by a different artist, which we thought was cool (unfortunately it was priced at $700):

Although art can be looked at as an investment, I don’t think we have the risk tolerance (or the energy) to fully understand the market and make the investment.

HOWEVER, we did do some remodeling to the apartment. We decided to take a white wall in the kitchen and turn it into a huge chalkboard!

Before:

After:

We are supposed to let it cure for a few days, but we are excited to try it out! Luckily Taiei used to work for a painter when he was in high school in Japan.

Here is the wall in progress:

We have also been trying to clean the apartment. It was hilarious (and a bit scary) the other day watching Taiei  try to clean the window in our living room (three floors up!).

Here’s the view down:

Nerves of steel!

On the work front, Proximity had a booth at a Green Energy event that was scheduled around a visit by the king and queen of Norway. The king gave a speech in the morning at Yangon University.

Here’s the building from the outside:

This appears to be the school’s crest (“With Truth and Loyalty”):

In the afternoon, we went over to the event to help set up and man the booth. The Proximity Media team did a great job designing and displaying the info:

Here are a few pictures of me speaking with the king of Norway about rural electrification:

Here’s a picture of the Proximity Energy Team!

Things continue to go well on the food front.

Here is another meal made by my Thai friend’s mother and aunt (the main dish is called khao soi):

I also went to a Japanese restaurant with Taiei the other day. I took a leap of faith eating both raw fish and raw vegetables. Fortunately I was fine!

That’s all for today. I hope everyone is well!