TEMPERATURES in Yangon have reached record levels in the past few weeks, and while most of us are indoors sitting by a fan, some people are outside sweating through the day.

Trishaw driving seems like hard work at the best of times, so when temperatures start to soar, you can bet trishaw drivers are feeling the heat more than most.

“It is terrible. I get twice as tired in this heat. If I go out too much I’m going to end up in the mortuary,” said Ko Tin Htay, a Yangon trishaw driver.

“The sun is hotter in Yangon than in upper Myanmar,” he continued. “I can’t stand this heat; it’s too hot!”

But Ko Tin Htay, 38, has little choice because like many of his friends, he has a family to feed and bills to pay.

Ko Tin Htay comes from North Oakkalar township. Everyday he leaves his house at 9 o’clock and steps out into the sun to earn his living.

When he was in his village in Mandalay division, he would spend the hottest part of the day safe under the shade of a tree. Now he hops on his trishaw and takes Yangon residents and visitors wherever they need to go, for about K2000 a day.

U Myo Hlaing, an old man from Insein township, rises early to ride his trishaw because he wants to pay for his grandchildren to go to school.

“I was left with my three grandchildren when my son and my daughter-in-law died,” he said. “So now I ride a trishaw so that I can give my grandchildren an education.”

But the heat is getting too much for U Myo Hlaing, who spends some of the day resting under the Pansodan bridge.

“I need to look after myself. I am old and I don’t want to die yet,” he said.
Myanmar’s health department also recognises that people should take care of themselves while temperatures are up, and last month the department aired recommendations for everyone to stay out of the sun and keep their fluid levels up.

But apart from wearing loose clothing and maybe a hat, the trishaw drivers have to brave the heat – sometimes during the hottest part of the day – in order to do their job.

Ko Tin Htay said he and his friends end up covered in sweat after each trip, and in a bid to cool down they relax together while waiting for the next customer to come along.

Under the shade of a tree, Ko Tin Htay and his friends discuss the heat and bargain with potential customers.

Leaning back in the passenger seats of their trishaws, they discuss a variety of different topics. They talk about their social lives and they analyse the economic situation.

But more than anything they talk about the heat, the health warnings and the much anticipated coming of the rain.