Stamp Collecting

Recently, I received a letter in the mail from Myanmar (formerly called Burma). This will probably be the first and last time I get such an exotic letter, so it was a fun surprise. One of my former students from Macau had traveled there for a trip and sent us a letter.

The letter had four stamps on it, totaling K85, whatever that amount is. The strange thing was, the letter was postmarked November 30th, and I did not receive it until December 30th- one full month later. Usually when I receive letters from China, Hong Kong, or Macau they arrive in 10-14 days.

It gets even stranger though. I had to go to the post office to pick up the letter because it required a signature on it. Not only did I need to leave my signature, but I also had to print my name and address as it was listed on the envelope. Strange. Also, the tracking that required the signature was from Singapore. Signapore is close to Malaysia, not Myanmar. Here you can see the Singapore barcode and below it is "Yangon Division," which is a major city in Myanmar. Confused yet?


Here are some of the stamps below, which clearly are from the "Union of Myanmar."
So how does postal service work in Myanmar? I'm not sure I'll ever be able to figure out the mystery with the Myanmar Postal Service, but that's ok. I'm always up for a new experience and some adventure, and if that means I have to drive to our post office to sign for a letter, that's fine with me.