No matter where you walk in the heat of Yangon there is always cool water for travellers. It's a tradition of old that clay pots were filled with water for thirsty travellers who walked across the countryside for long distances on foot.
This tradition is still alive today and you will find these pots on street corners, outside houses, monastries and pagodas and at railways stations and bus stops. There is never a pot of cool water far away.
Often the water storage pots are not glazed and a pattern is carved on the outside to maximize the surface area. Sediment settles to the bottom and is sometimes filtered through a cloth strainer. Because the pot is not glazed moisture evaporates slowly taking the heat away. The water inside is as cool as it could be from a refrigerator.
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