Tying up the loose ends

Now sitting in my flat in Edinburgh, Scotland, about ten days removed from my journey, I thought this would be the ideal time to reflect on my time in Burma, as well as tie up some loose ends.

In my month there, I traveled countless hundreds of miles through five Burmese states by foot, car, train, airplane, bus, and elephant- to be totally inclusive. I saw more pagodas than I could possibly count, and got thoroughly used to speaking loudly in English with the expectation that no one around me would understand. There were a couple of things I wanted to see but was unable to, but these will forever be overshadowed in my memory by the things I did see. Bagan, Inle Lake, the Shwedagon, Mount Popa: so indescribably, breathtakingly beautiful, thinking of them now makes me miss my time in Burma desperately, and also makes me hungry to do and experience more when opportunity calls.

I tried to post in this blog as much as possible, but I obviously didn’t have the time nor energy to write about everything. For one reason or another the following things were left out of my accounts, but I think that mentioning them is worthwhile in order to paint a more comprehensive picture of the trip and share a bit more before this chapter of my life is closed.  

Scott Market

The Bogyoke Aung San Market was named such in 1948 when Burma gained independence. After over 60 years, its colonial moniker is still widely used (at lease in my experience in Yangon). The market is massive and quite easy to get lost in as there are many stalls that sell similar products, notably textiles. Built in 1926, the colonial architecture is well preserved as are the cobblestone inner streets. This was the first place I visited when I got to Yangon, and I stopped again shortly before leaving to grab some last-minute souvenirs.

SEA Games

The Southeast Asia Games take place every two years, and for the first time in quite a while Myanmar has been deemed stable enough to play host. When in Yangon or any other major city I found it hard to miss the ads for the games, with their inspiring motto of “Green, Clean, and Friendship.” What could be more eloquent? In Naypyidaw I got to see where all the action would take place- a couple of newly built stadiums in the middle of nowhere. All kidding aside the games should provide a good chance for the country to showcase some of the positive change happening presently. I’ll be rooting for the Burmese to win big. 

 Circular Train

The circular train is one of those ‘authentic experience’ types of tourist destinations. It’s a rickety old train that runs in a circle around the city, and I’ve heard it is used by Yangonites to commute into work. The experience is supposed to be authentic because you are taken through places that you would not normally see sticking to a sight-seeing itinerary, getting a glimpse at the conditions in which average Burmese people live. Having already gotten a healthy dose of this elsewhere, I didn’t see anything mind-boggling, and since it was raining for the majority of the ride I didn’t have all that much fun. Nevertheless, it was worth checking out.

8888 Rally

On August 8^th, 1988, key events amidst months of protesting and strikes led the entire ordeal to be names the 8888 Uprising. Notable for bringing Aung San Suu Kyi into the international spotlight, the uprising was an important turning point in Burma’s perpetual struggle for democracy. Low and behold I was in Yangon for the 25^th anniversary of the uprising, and was able to attend an event commemorating occasion. Thousands of people were crammed into a relatively large auditorium, with scores more outside watching via projector screen. You can tell that the country has progressed just by the face that an event like this openly took place.

Bago

Located about an hour outside of Yangon, Bago was the imperial capital of Burma in the 16^th century. Sporting a reconstructed palace, a large, shiny pagoda, and several enormous Buddha statues, Bago was a solid day trip. Also of note was the enormous Burmese python kept drugged out by monks at a nearby monastery for visitors’ viewing pleasure.

National Races Village

For most of Burma’s independence, the government has been embroiled in a bloody civil war with various ethnic groups in the mountainous North of the country, among other places. The violence has mostly subsided at this point, and the government is definitely on a mission to make the various minorities feel included. Enter the National Races Village, a large park on the city’s eastern edge that showcases traditional homes, clothing, and lifestyles of the major minorities that reside in the country. If I didn’t already mention this, the Bamar are the majority group and inspired the British to call the country Burma. The name was changed to Myanmar to reflect the diversity of the country.

Chinatown

Not a whole lot to say about Chinatown. It’s not very big but it’s an excellent place to grab a bite and experience the kind of gritty inner-Yangon atmosphere that I actually came to appreciate and enjoy by the end of my journey. Also, cheap drinks. Enough said.

National Museum

This museum is five stories in height if I remember correctly, and covers many facets of Burmese history. A good number of the exhibits have to do with Burma’s ruling dynasties, and showcase artifacts from the various palaces not carried off by the British or burned by the British or, well you get the idea. The museum also showcases Burmese art and natural history. Most interesting object: a moon rock brought back to earth by one of the Apollo missions, presented to the people of Burma by the Richard Nixon in the name of international cooperation and friendship. What a diplomat.

St. Mary’s Church

This is the largest church in Burma and was completed in 1899. There isn’t anything expecially remarkable about it to my knowledge, it simply stuck out to me as a rare bastion of Christianity in a decidedly Buddhist place. The interior was very pleasant, the tile work unlike anything I’d seen a church before.

Karaweik Palace

Also known as the symbol of Myanmar Beer, a national institution, this ‘palace’ is actually a floating restaurant. I was told that it used to belong to the emperor and has since been rebuilt and refurbished several times, however I could find no evidence for that. Wikipedia says it was built in 1974, but goes into no detail. Maybe the truth is a mix of the two… At any rate I just had to see the image that graces every bottle of Myanma in person.

Traditional Dance

While in Mandalay I got to go to a show of Burmese traditional dance. It’s really hard for me to describe the dancing because I don’t know the terminology for the costumes or the names of the instruments that provided the music, but suffice to say that I really enjoyed it. Music was a mix of wind and procession, the melody provided by this vaguely oboe-looking thing that could have almost sounded like a jazz trumpet if played differently. The dancers wore intricate, brightly colored garments and each dance told a story that was choreographed with the music. This was one of the times I really felt I was getting a glimpse of authentic Burmese culture.

Inya Lake

North of the city, this lake is a great place to take a walk, and is notorious as a destination for young couples attempting to escape the disapproving eyes of their families. What they do is bring an umbrella along, find a nice spot in the grass next to the lake, or near a tree, and huddle up under it to escape any wondering glances. Two umbrellas for maximum privacy, as Anna phrased it.

Taste of North Korea

The restaurant wasn’t actually called that… but yes there is a North Korean restaurant in Yangon with real North Korean women working there. In what I can only imagine is some strange attempt at cultural exchange with other wayward countries, the North Koreans run this place and send women to work there, alternating the staff every couple of years. The workers aren’t allowed to leave the compound or associate with locals, so as to not get any ideas about trying to escape the lovely DPRK. I heard this all second hand so don’t believe any of it. I was there though. The food was ok but overpriced. At 8pm all the waitresses stop and perform songs. The highlight was when they manned instruments for a stirring rendition of John Denver’s Country Roads. Funny thing is, the singer probably really meant it when she pleaded for West Virginia to take her.

With a semester of hard work ahead of me at Edinburgh, I miss my time in Burma. I miss the warm weather, the flip-flops, and the excitement of seeing and doing new things every day. I miss the cheap chewing gum, Myanmar Beer, bootleg dvds, and driving around Yangon with the windows down blasting Burmese hip-hop music. Most of all I miss Anna. This trip was the experience of my life thus far, and I won’t soon forget it.

I want to thank a couple of people who helped me a great deal: Anna’s family, particularly her grandmother for graciously welcoming me into her home, and Anna’s mother for her hospitality as well as arranging all of the travel. Also my mom for unexpectedly fronting half of my plane ticket, and both of my parents for being happy and excited at what I was doing, rather than worried and apprehensive. My biggest thank you goes to Anna, who gave up an entire month of her summer, sacrificing time with her family and friends, to give me the time of my life. I can never repay her for that.

I’m not sure what I’m going to do with this blog from here. I might just end with this post, or rename it something else and go on posting about my experiences in Scotland and elsewhere. At any rate, if you have read this blog and followed me this far, I thank you and hope that you enjoyed sharing Burma with me. Cheers.  

  

The Shwedagon (finally)

I chose to wait until the closing days of my trip to write this post for two reasons. Firstly, a practical reason- it seemed that every time I photographed the Shwedagon, I never came away with the shot I wanted because of the gloomy weather (I entered the pagoda twice during my visit, and made trips to specific vantage points on several occasions), only managing some satisfactory ones yesterday. Secondly, I wanted to end with a bang, because without question the Shwedagon is a big deal.

There are some landmarks that have come to define cities- the Eiffel Tower, the St. Louis Arch, Big Ben, the Sydney Opera House, the list goes on. The Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon is one such landmark. At a purported 334 structural feet it dominates the skyline of the city from its hilltop perch, and has done so since 1372 (or perhaps one of the many other dates suggested by legend and researcher alike). When standing next to it and the plethora of miniature pagodas that surround it, sunglasses come in handy even on a cloudy day as the gilded magnificence of whole affair can be a bit blinding at times. Trinidad James would fit right in.

The pagoda not only symbolizes the city, but the entire country as well, and the Buddhist religion that dominates it. With relics of the past four Buddhas encased within its swooping bell-shaped figure, the Pagoda is the most sacred site of worship for some 54 million Burmese Buddhists. It also encapsulates the exotic allure that has brought foreigners here (for better or worse) for the past 500 years. Rudyard Kipling can explain it better than I can-

'There's the old Shway Dagon'  said my companion. 'Confound it!' But it was not a thing to be sworn at. It explained in the first place why we took Rangoon, and in the second why we pushed on to see what more of rich or rare the land held. Up till that sight my uninstructed eyes could not see that the land differed much in appearance from the Sunderbuns, but the golden dome said: 'This is Burma, and it will be quite unlike any land you know about.

It’s been sacked a handful of times, defiled on more than one occasion, used as a British military base in colonial times and as a rallying point for protesters in modern times. In the early 1600s a Portuguese mercenary even attempted to steal the heaviest bell in recorded history from the foot of the pagoda and melt it down to make cannons. He rolled it down the hill, loaded onto a raft, and sailed it down the Yangon River- until it broke the raft with its immense weight and sunk to the bottom of the river, where it remains to this day. It's called the Great Bell of Dhammazedi, the Wikipedia article is a good read. Later on, the British tried to take a slightly less heavy bell, which sunk to the river as well. Somehow the Burmese were able to salvage it from the depths and return it to its rightful place, where paintings now chronicle the whole ordeal. Pictured is the bell in question.  

It can be impressive, imposing, and mysterious at any given time, but more than anything the Shwedagon is beautiful. It was one of the first things I saw in Yangon, and one of the last, just today. You can’t get a feel for it if you see it just once or twice because it changes every time depending on the time of day and the weather, one reason it was so difficult to photograph. In the end I managed to take some shots from about 6 different places, ranging from the top of a tower downtown at sunset to 20 feet away. But like any great landmark, the pictures don’t do it justice, and I know that when I leave here I’ll be better served closing my eyes and imagining what it felt like standing next to it rather than looking at pictures.

Tonight is my last night in Yangon. Anna has already returned to the states and I will join her, if only briefly, from the 1^st to the 7^th September before I leave for Edinburgh and more foreign escapades. I’m not through writing just yet as there are a few more topics I want to touch upon, and a surprise that I’ve not told anyone about, but I will definitely be leaving the country tomorrow morning. For now I aim to relax and enjoy my final evening. 

Driving in Burma

Rollin'

I’ve been driving for about five years now, and I consider myself pretty good at it for my age/experience level. Driving in the U.S. is pretty straightforward, after all. There are lanes that you stay in, turns signals to indicate when turning, speed limits, etc., and for the most part everyone accepts and abides by these rules. I would venture that this is the case in most of the Western world (excluding Providence).

Then you have driving in the Third World. Lanes? Huh? What do you need a turn signal for when you have a horn? And a ‘speed limit’, that’s rich. Fortunately(?) for me, I’ve had the opportunity while in Burma to drive quite a bit actually, in all conditions: large SUV, sedan, motorcycle, left side drive, right side drive, day, night, rain, torrential downpour, and shine. So, let me explain a little about what it’s like for those that will never get the opportunity.

Driving in Burma is a little bit like being in a bumper car ring where everyone is actually trying to get somewhere (different of course) and you’re not allowed to hit anyone. Most laws that you think are essential in the U.S. are either non-existent or ignored on principle. Nobody wears seat belts, if there are speed limits printed in Burmese then everyone ignores them (I haven’t noticed any), and drivers have a tendency to drive straight down the lane marker as opposed to in one lane or the other. Pedestrians here laugh in the face of death and will stroll right into the middle of speeding traffic, hopping from one lane line to the next until they are across and then grinning and joking about how they literally almost got run over. People will park in the most idiotic places, and sometimes the outermost lane will just be consumed completely by ramshackle street vendors and parked cabs. There are also people making u-turns everywhere, contributing to random bumper-to-bumper traffic that disappears as quickly as it materializes. It’s actually a miracle in my opinion that people here do abide by traffic lights (which happen to have little timers on them that tell you how long the light will last, dead useful).

Because of the large influx of cars to the streets of Yangon over the past few years the city is highly congested at certain points of the day, caused partially by a number of skyways currently under construction that will eventually alleviate some of the traffic. I don’t know about morning rush, but pretty much from 3pm to 8pm you can forget about getting anywhere in the city in a timely fashion. Case in point, Anna and I sat in a cab yesterday for a little over an hour during a trip which would normally take about 10 minutes with less traffic. 

My verdict on driving here is that half the time it’s fun as hell, and the other half it’s pretty much a living hell. Especially around where I’m staying, there are some genuinely nice roads, and with the palm trees and red and white curb paint you start getting that arcade racing vibe pretty quickly… not to mention it’s nice not having to worry about silly laws ruining all the fun. On the other hand, once you get stuck in traffic I’m not going to lie it sucks, especially when it’s hot and you don’t have AC.

The jury is still out on how my experience driving in Burma will affect my driving once I return to U.S. roads… probably negatively. I have successfully avoided being involved in any accidents thus far (aside from being rear-ended at a red light, minor impact no damage) and my reflexes and horn-honking instincts are at an all-time high, but I’m also now used to passing on two-lane streets, forcing my way into lanes, and honking at slower cars to get out of the way. Whatever the eventual effects on my driving, definitely a worthwhile experience and probably some good practice for future travels.

Inle Lake

 I wasn’t expecting to fly domestically in Burma, but soon enough I found myself soaring in an Air Yangon puddle-jumper from Mandalay to Heho Airport just a short drive from Inle Lake. Inle (sometimes Anglicized as Innlay) is a large freshwater lake in the Shan State south of Mandalay, and one of the most popular destinations in the country. Tourists come to enjoy the brilliant scenery and observe the local customs, such as fisherman rowing skinny canoe-like boats holding the oar with only their leg.

It’s really a feat how they do it. The bottom part of the handle closest to the paddle is pinned against the inside of the heel, while the upper handle is leveraged with the outside thigh. A hand on the head of the oar is used when available and not working the net. I didn’t notice if this technique was ever reversed depending on the direction one is rowing so I couldn’t say. As for the scenery, well I’ve seen quite a lot of that on this trip- from the tops of mountains to the depths of valleys and caves, and everywhere in between- but I may have to award Inle the distinction of being the prettiest. After we got settled in at the resort, hopped in a boat, and took to the lake, seeing the mountains from out in the middle of that water just had a certain mystique to it that was to me without equal.

The first day on the lake we spent just kind of meandering about to various places. We first went for lunch at a stilted restaurant that bred a special type of Burmese cat. They took their cats very seriously, allotting them a large playroom and their own private island out back, connected by a bridge that the cats could use at their leisure. We went to a weaving shop and a silversmith, and eventually saw some of the floating vegetable gardens that are apparently accounting for much of the lost surface area of the lake, and by this time it was pouring down rain so we turned to make the hour-long boat trip back to the resort in the deluge. Just before that, however, I got the chance to see several Badaung women that stay at the lake for tourism purposes. The Badaung, of course, are best known for their custom of wearing gold rings around their necks, 24 in total when they reach maturity. This was kind of a watershed travel moment for me as I can remember being a very young and seeing these women on tv, and thinking to myself how strange and exotic that was. I’ve always kind of held that image in my mind, and so to see the real thing with my own eyes was a thrill.

Inle was also interesting for me because of the houses and business located right in the middle of the lake. At times, you feel like you’re in a sort of primitive Venice- there are chunks of land here and there but most of the buildings are on stilts regardless, and you just pull your boat up to the small dock at the side of each place and disembark. There are a surprising number of restaurants and shops, and I even saw an entire stilted hotel smack dab in the middle of the lake.

Back at the resort, I learned once and for all the important lesson that Burmese chefs have absolutely no concept of the terms rare, medium, and well done as we do in America. Well done is wholly pink but crispy on the outside,  medium is dripping with blood, and I won’t venture to guess what the steak would even look like if you dared to order it rare. I refined my strategy to ordering medium-well, then automatically telling them to send it back for more cooking, thus ending up with the perfect steak. Everything else about the resort though was absolutely perfect; our room even came equipped with binoculars and a local bird watching guide. The views, though, were the best, stretching out across the lake and to the mountains on the other side- by far the most beautiful view I’ve ever woken up to.

The next day we got an early start and headed three hours to Pindaya Cave, which can only be described as a giant cavern high up in a mountain that is stuffed to the gills with golden Buddha statues. Half tourist destination, half Buddhist pilgrimage site, the cave is definitely something to see, and offers spooky legends about tunnels to Bagan and giant spiders. The cave goes fairly deep into the mountain with several cavernous chambers linked together, and the statues, which are all donated by various people and entities, are placed haphazardly everywhere imaginable. Once the novelty of the statues wears off it ceases to amaze, but I was still glad I went.

For the final day in Inle we had a guide take us to a Shan historical site on the lake with Pagodas up to 600 years old (if I remember correctly). The site was flanked by an impossibly long sheltered walkway and a newer main pagoda, and apparently access to outsiders was only recently granted by the Shan people. The pagodas were relatively small, with brickwork similar to that in Bagan, but the design was definitely unique to anything else I had seen. Some had been restored, while others remained in their crumbling, weathered state, which I rather liked. There wasn’t much time to do anything else that day as our flight left in the afternoon. After a lunch of pizza at an improbably located Italian restaurant (complete with a founding story tracing its roots back to a Roman chef’s visit ten years ago), we boated back to the resort and then drove to the airport. On the plane I could tell we were approaching Yangon due to the increasingly gray, overcast clouds, and sure enough we touched down to a typically wet and gloomy Yangon evening. 

The (Monkey) King and I on Mount Popa

Due to a brief illness and unreliable internet access I’ve been unable to update this blog for the past few days, but now those problems are behind me so it’s time to get cracking again.

For my last day in Bagan, I made the two hour trip to the famed and revered Mout Popa. Mount Popa is a bit of a misnomer, because when most people, Burmese and foreigners alike, refer to the mountain, nine times out of ten they are referring to this:

  

Yea. That is the Popa Taungkalat monastery. Unbelievably picturesque and dramatic when viewed from any angle, the monastery sits atop an outcropping of the actual mountain. Anyone can go to the top, but there is no elevator and the view is not for the faint of heart. Although I was beginning to feel quite sick by the time we arrived at the base of the monastery, there was no way I was going to let that impede my experience having come so far to see it. Ultimately, the climb was tiring but not so horrible, and I reached the top without incident, save for some encounters with the monkeys.

 Before I go on, I’ll speak a bit on the monkeys. They are Macaques, and there are a lot of them. Making the climb up the monastery steps, you really get the feeling that you are inside an old Travel Channel documentary (before it turned into Food Network 2). We arrived early in the morning, before most of the European tourists had had their tea or croissants or whatever they do, so it was just us and the locals for the most part. The monkeys are everywhere, jumping around, begging for food, and in some cases grabbing onto you or trying to steal your belongings. It’s really an eclectic environment, but also an authentic experience to be sure.

Once I reached the top, I took a moment just to gather myself and enjoy the view before exploring the summit. There really isn’t much to see at the top, just the usual Buddha statues and collection boxes; the best part is the gorgeous scenery visible in all directions. The monkeys become fewer and farther between the higher you get, and at the top I found only one. He was large and looked old, and I theorized that perhaps only one monkey out of the lot of them gets the honor to sit at the top, and this particular monkey was the king. I had a chat with him about how I had figured this out, and then we posed for a picture together.

Back in Bagan, there were still a couple of things I had yet to examine. I took a closer look at the still-intact portions of the old city walls, and also toured the reconstructed version of the palace. Night was beginning to fall, so Anna and I took a pleasant ride in one of the many horse carts that weave through the monument zone, followed by a self-guided tour of some of the large pagodas that are lit up at night. It was an excellent way to spend my final night in Bagan, and satisfied that I had made the most of my stay I began looking forward to my trip to Mandalay the  next day.

2 Months Away

In two months time I will have already touched down in Yangon and begun my month-long visit to Burma. Check back in the coming weeks for more information on my trip, and throughout the month of August for photos and accounts of the places I visit. You can also subscribe to this blog to get email updates every time I publish a new post, simply click the 'subscribe' button on the sidebar and follow the instructions.