maun: a city that smells like old bread and adventure
i just woke up to the sound of chickens squawking outside my tiny hostel room. the air was thick with that 83% humidity you can taste like a bad memory. it’s 24.14 here, which is basically a gentle yawn from the sun. i checked earlier and it’s...there right now. hope you like that kind of thing.
maun isn’t the kind of place where you pack a suitcase and expect a five-star experience. it’s more like a chaotic love letter from the earth. last week, i heard through a cracked window that some guy at the market was selling mangoes that had been in a fridge for three years. i didn’t ask. i just grabbed one and crunched it while staring at the sky. it was weirdly sweet.
someone told me that the mountain behind the city is actually a giant rock with a footprint in it. i don’t know if that’s true. i did see a guy in a Cowboys hoodie pointing at it and saying something about aliens. he was probably lying. or maybe he was a prophet. who knows?
the neighbors here are loud in a good way. last night, a group of students from the local university started a conga line through the alley outside my door. they were playing a song on a stolen smartphone speaker. i joined. it was awful but fun. if you’re feeling like a lazy mess, the nearest town is a 45-minute drive or whatever. don’t tell anyone i said that.
i took a photo of the main market last week. it’s a chaotic mess of colors and smells.
. another one showed a sunset over the river.
. and there’s this weird concrete statue of a man holding a flag that looks like it was made by a 12-year-old.
.
i heard that the local café is so bad that even the rats avoid it. i tried it anyway. the coffee was like drinking melted tires. but the owner gave me a hug and said,
‘you’re brave, friend. brave enough to taste failure’
. i don’t know if that’s a compliment or a warning.
someone else told me that the radio in the town square plays the same 1980s rock song on loop. i went there one day and danced to it like it was 1999. no one judged me. maybe because everyone was too busy arguing about whether the song was actually from 1987 or 1993.
if you’re into weird stuff, check out the abandoned train station. it’s covered in graffiti that looks like it was done by a group of people who lost a bet. i took a photo of a vandalized mural of a dancing elephant. tripadvisor has a review that says it’s haunted by the ghost of a conductor. i didn’t believe it but i left a tip anyway.
has a yelp page for the market. it’s mostly 1-star reviews. one person wrote, ‘i came here for spices and got a lecture about colonialism’. another said, ‘the vendor kept trying to sell me a bag of rocks’. maybe it’s authentic.
i wrote this all while sipping a suspiciously strong tea. the temperature didn’t change. it was like the air had decided to hold its breath. if you’re coming here, bring a jacket. and a sense of humor. you’ll probably get lost. and that’s okay. maun isn’t about maps. it’s about the moments when you realize the world is more chaotic than you thought.
is a forum where people post random advice. one thread said, ‘if you touch the statue, it’ll whisper your deepest regrets’. i didn’t touch it. but i did whisper a question to it. it didn’t answer.
this place is messy. it’s loud. it’s not polite. and that’s why i love it. sometimes, the best travel stories aren’t about perfect photos or five-star reviews. they’re about the moments when you’re surrounded by chaos and you realize you’re exactly where you’re supposed to be.
p.s. if you’re a vintage clothes picker, the local thrift store is a goldmine. i found a 1970s denim jacket for $3. it smelled like mothballs and regret. but it looked amazing. unsplash has more pics if you want to see the jacket in action.
tags: travel, maun, human, vibe, messy