"Meeting Maung-Maung" Response

One of the themes of Iyer's essay is to be grateful for everything you are given in life, and to appreciate the people around you, even if they are strangers. People can learn from each other and better themselves from it. Throughout the essay Maung-Maung mentions how grateful he is, to tourists, to his parents, and to Iyer, for giving him their time and their efforts to help him better his life. This is shown in the statement, "When I finished the essay, Maung-Maung smiled back his gratitude" (Iyer 24). What I liked best about Iyer's language was that he described the place through another person's experiences, it was more about the person then the place it seemed, but the person (Maung-Maung) seemed to best make the travel experience most worth it. "I went flipping through the book. At the very end of the volume, carefully copied out, was a final four page essay, entitled 'My Life'" (Iyer 23). I felt that this showed much more emotion in the experience and clear life lessons that the narrator learned from traveling there. I also liked that he made the travel story more realistic by writing exactly how Maung-Maung may have spoke. He mentions that Maung-Maung is still building up his english, and this shows in his guides dialogue, such as when he says, "I am Buddhist" (Iyer 20).