A short walk from the Balu Chaung River in the modest city of Loikaw is an eye-catching cafe displaying walls of astronauts drinking milkshakes and giraffes in the desert.
Since it opened in November, 2019, Mario Juice and Snack Bar has become a trendy meeting place for young people in the Kayah state capital, partly thanks to the talent of 19-year-old painter Thet Thet Soe.
She talked with the cafe’s owner, Sai Khant Shine, about introducing some unique art to the city and then spent six days painting its walls; her favourite is the NASA-inspired astronauts and space shuttles.
There are two or three youth cafes in Loikaw, said Sai Khant Shine, but “there is not cafe like us that has big murals.”
“I wanted to open a cafe that was popular with young people, somewhere for them to chill,” he told Myanmar Mix.
For Thet Thet Soe, a painter and university student from nearby Demoso town, the project was as much about convincing her parents to support her endeavour than pleasing customers.
YouTube tutorials taught her how to draw, but her mother and father thought it was a waste of time.
“The hardest thing was that I couldn’t afford the paints and brushes and I couldn’t ask my parents to buy them because they didn’t support my painting,” she said.
Eventually she saved enough money to buy drawing materials and attracted some clients, including the cafe—that’s when her parents came round to the idea.
“I didn't dream about being an artist when I was a child,” she added. “But now I’ve big dream to become a professional painter.”
The food isn’t bad either. The cafe serves Thai salads, curries and a popular mala xiang guo—a Chinese stir-fry hot pot—as well as milkshakes and coffee.
Next time you visit Loikaw to see Taung Kwe Pagoda, Seven Stages Lake, and its other attractions, be sure to drop by Mario’s and admire Thet Thet Soe’s work too.
Address: Kanbaung Street, Daw Oo Khu Quater, Loikaw (near the University of Loikaw), Kayah (Karenni) state
Contact: +95 977 713 3266
Open: 9am to 9pm every day
