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.  

  

BONUS ROUND: Qatar

So my surprise was that flying with Qatar Airways back to New York, I couldn’t reduce my layover in Qatar to less than 21 hours. Thus, I qualified for a free hotel stay in Doha complete with complimentary transport, meal vouchers, and a visa into the country, giving me a day and night to explore the city.

I got into Doha at about 11am local time. If you are unfamiliar, Qatar is a small peninsular country in the Persian Gulf next to Saudi Arabia, the capital city is Doha, and it’s currently booming. Although the city’s newly constructed skyline is gorgeous, I was frankly unimpressed with Doha and the country in general for a variety of reasons.

To begin, there is simply nothing to do in the city. In a way it was perfect for me because I didn’t have a whole ton of time in the country to begin with, but believe it or not it was actually difficult to find things to see and do to fill this time. The most notable attractions in the city are shopping malls for the newly rich Qataris to blow their money on coveted designer brands. There is the ‘traditional’ Souq (market) Waqif which was little more than a tourist trap, the Corniche walkway that follows the bay and offers views of downtown, and the I.M. Pei designed Museum of Islamic Art, which offers more appeal outside than in. And that’s it. The city really doesn’t have any cultural appeal because most of the people you encounter are Filipinos and Indians imported to do the Qataris' dirty work- I saw very few actual Qataris. On that note, historical sites are almost completely absent; the ones that do exist are from the early 20^th century and either not terribly significant, or rebuilt/restored.

Furthermore, the heat makes it really unbearable to walk around between about 10am and 3pm. An obvious hindrance, the fact that I was prepared for it doesn’t make it any less unpleasant. Doha actually made Yangon feel quite temperate and pleasant. The heat was made all the more frustrating by the fact that the residents of Qatar are absolutely terrible at giving directions. Ask where something is and be prepared to receive vague answer after vague answer until you are hopelessly lost. I encountered this problem when trying to find a currency exchange, and I ended up spending no money in the country simply because I was never successfully directed to one. When I finally stumbled across one while walking around the Souqs after nightfall, they took so long to serve me that I finally just told them to shove off and left.

As I mentioned before, the one good thing about the city is its skyline, and after finding a grassy hill on the edge of the bay opposite downtown, I laid there for a couple of hours taking pictures and enjoying the sunset. By this time the air had cooled off and it was a perfectly nice way to spend an evening stuck midway between Yangon and New York. Additionally, the Qataris really know how to light up their city at night, which I found out later on from the roof of my hotel.

If Qatar seeks to draw more tourists to help fill their abysmal hotel occupancy rate, they should really come up with some more things for those tourists to do. That being said free is free and I’m not complaining. I caught my flight to New York yesterday morning and was back in Providence late last night, jetlagged, phone and laptop batteries depleted, and ready to crash. 

    

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.

Myanmar's mysterious new capital

Over the weekend I finally got to go to Naypyidaw. My desire to go so badly is pretty unique among foreign visitors to Burma. It isn't a tourist destination, and for good reason- there's nothing there for tourists to see really. The ability to say I had been to the mysterious new capital was a strong force behind my visit, and of course there were a few sites of particular interest to me as opposed to most other people, which I'll get to. For a quick background on the city refer to my post titled 'Journey to the North'. 

Anna feeding a tiger

We took a late night bus so as to arrive in Naypyidaw from Yangon early in the morning and leave late that night. One thing that I was determined to see was a statue of three ancient warriors that is part of the complex where the military holds troop reviews once a year. We drove for about half an hour to the  national monument garden, where we thought the statues were, but this proved to be the wrong place so we slated the statues for later in the day and headed to the zoo instead. There were two options in regards to the animals: a safari ride and a traditional walk/ride-through zoo. We opted first for the Safari and then to walk around. I assumed that a Burmese zoo would operate a bit differently than zoos in the states, but I definitely underestimated how fun it would be. Not only did I get to stand inches away from lions and tigers while feeding them slabs of meet though a fence, but I also realized my longtime dream of riding an elephant, after which we watched them do various tricks including playing a soccer match. Far better in my book than trying to spot tigers sleeping from 50 feet away at zoos in the US, although I'm not sure the zoo we visited would exactly conform to US law...

After finishing up at the Zoo it was back to the business of these statues, and this is where it starts to get really interesting. The Burmese government loves to build these large, swooping, brightly colored entryways to significant places. We drove up to one such gate that guarded the grounds where the statues were located, and were told by the guards there to drive to the other gate. There, we were greeted by a civilian guardsman. I waited in the car while Anna and our drivers spoke with this man. They talked for quite a while, then Anna walked back to the car looking frustrated, and informed me that we would not be allowed in. They only opened the grounds for military parades once a year apparently, and even then no civilians were allowed within. This made sense because the only pictures I had seen of the statues online were taken amidst military pomp, and by professional journalists. 

I had just begun to accept the fact that I would never be allowed in when the conversation with the guard was rekindled. Talking, more talking, and then a phone call. An actual military guy then showed up, more talking, another phone call, the showing of IDs, and before I knew it the gate was being opened and one of the guards was climbing into our car to direct us where to go. I could hardly believe my luck. No civilians were ever allowed in this place we'd been told, and here I am, citizen of the United States of America, having a drive in. No questions were asked about me. I was not acknowledged by the guard in the car nor those at the gate at any point. We drove up to the statues and were told we weren't allowed to take any pictures... so I rolled down the window, pulled out my camera and, with only the pretense of being covert, snapped a few photos. Nothing was said. We drove back, dropped off the guard, and that was that. I'm still kind of at a loss as to what happened exactly, other than the fact that I'm now probably one of very few foreign civilians to lay eyes on this particular corner of Burma. Anna said that she was just really persistent in asking to see the statues, and simply made it happen. If anything, I suppose its proof of a more relaxed atmosphere in the country since the transition to civilian government a few years ago. The statues themselves were smaller than I had expected, but still rather impressive. I saw no obvious reason to keep the grounds closed off. It was just a thirty second drive from the gates to the large tarmac leading up to the statues, and that's all there was; no buildings, vehicles, or anything other than concrete and vegetation. 

The money shot

The outcome of the statue situation put me in a really good mood for the ride to our next destination, the Uppatasanti Pagoda. We stopped at a roadside restaurant on the way, giving me a chance to mull over the layout of Naypyidaw. The entire city, if you can really call it that, was planned out by the military government before the transition of power. I'm not terribly familiar with the design of other planned cities, but I'm going to venture a guess and say that Naypyidaw is fairly unique. It seems to me that the city was designed with solely strategic interests in mind. Case in point- you would expect to see a 20-lane highway in LA maybe... but low and behold there is one in Naypyidaw, wide enough to land a military aircraft, that leads up to the entrance of the parliament complex.  Other wide highways with palm tree-decorated medians stretch to connect a series of large roundabouts. The only significant buildings are hotels, many still under construction, to house the scores of MPs that live in the city when Parliament is in session (to go along with at least 5 golf courses in the outlying areas). One of my first thoughts upon seeing how deserted these miles of highway were was that if given a sports car, I could easily keep myself occupied for a couple of days. On the weekends at least, the roads are hauntingly devoid of other vehicles. It'd be like playing Gran Tourism on time trial mode.

Zoom zoom

Despite Naypyidaw sporting a population of nearly a million people according to the latest numbers, residential areas were few and far between so I can only imagine what preposterous square mileage is considered part of the 'city'. The way everything is designed, I really don't think the government had any intention of Naypyidaw becoming anything resembling a conventional type of city, at least not near the government buildings. The roadways are far more conducive to troop movements and strategic blockades than to apartments and businesses. Still, who knows what could happen now that the military is not strictly controlling policy. 

Roundabout

After lunch we went to check out the aforementioned pagoda. Completed just a few years ago, it is a slightly smaller replica of the Shwdagon (quite on purpose) built onto an impressive hill that gives it an added dose of grandeur. After seeing slightly under a billion pagodas in Burma, I was on the verge of concluding than once you've seen one up-close, you've seen them all. The Uppatasanti, however, surprised me with a really unique and impressive vaunted chamber on the inside, supported by massive columns (unusual for large pagodas, you normally aren't allowed inside). The pagoda's name means 'protection against calamity', some symbolism that parallels the city's practical purpose as a safer more strategic seat of government. There were very few people visiting the pagoda.  

The last thing I saw in Naypyidaw was probaby the most important- Parliament. built onto a slight plateau surrounding by heavy brush and connected to the 20-lane superhighway by two large suspension bridges, the parliament complex is a marvel of subtle defensive design. It being a weekend, I couldn't even gain access to the 'island', despite my connections, as the bridges were closed off. I settled instead for driving around snapping some pictures from a distance at various angles. The whole assortment looks very Xanadu-esque from a distance, with the pointy spires and columns being the most prominent architectural features.  I would have liked to have gone inside and had a look around but it just wan't feasible, so I settled for these shots and we called it a day. 

After running around Naypyidaw, I had the pleasure of talking with Anna's grandfather, who is a member of the upper house of parliament (Amyotha Hluttaw) and the chairman of the International Relations Committee, among other posts. We spoke at length about Myanmar's economic and defense strategy within the framework of ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), as well as its relationship with neighbor China and of course the U.S., followed by a more general conversation about present global issues. It was a fantastic opportunity discussing IR with someone who actually makes and influences policy in a country such as this, and I learned some useful information about how the government here works. 

We had a little time before our bus back to Yangon, so we stopped at a fountain park before making our way to the bus depot. The buses we traveled on were much the same as the ones I've used in the U.S., but for their insistence to pipe loud Burmese music videos over the loudspeaker the entire time (the other passengers evidently enjoying this entertainment.) Every video was the same- a couple, wondering around in a park, maybe an argument, a reconciliation, more aimless wondering, bad lip syncing, etc. The bus took six hours to get back to Yangon, and once home I slept like a rock. 

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 Golden Palace City

 In 1857 the Burmese King Mindon moved the kingdom's capital to Mandalay to fulfill a prophecy. An enormous 1020 acre palace-city was constructed, walls built around it, and moats dug around those to to create a grandiose abode fit for royalty. As it so happened, Mandalay proved to be the final stop for Burmese royalty, as the northern territories were finally captured by the British in 1885 and the royal family exiled. During World War II the Japanese used the palace grounds as a supply depot, and it was subsequently bombed and burned to the ground by allied planes. Thanks to the plans commissioned over 40 years earlier by Lord Curzon, Viceroy of India, a detailed reconstruction of the palace was possible in a city that over a million people now call home.

Inside the Palace walls the compound was rather barren and a bit unkempt, it being off-season for tourists in Mandalay. The picture you see above I took from the watch tower, which provided an excellent place to examine the palace buildings as a whole. Down below, you can walk into most of the buildings, and believe it or not you still have to take your shoes off in the throne rooms despite the current lack of Burmese royalty wandering about or the actual authenticity of the structure itself. Toward the back of the complex there was a little museum displaying some very intricate and appealing effects salvaged from the original palace, including a bed frame made entirely from glass.

As far as salvaged buildings go, there is one, but it isn’t within the palace walls. It’s called the Shwenandaw Monastery and is movable and made entirely out of intricately carved wood. Each piece of the structure can be disassembled and reassembled, allowing for its mobility. Mindon’s son Thibaw moved the structure sometime before the fall of Mandalay and there it resides today. The woodwork, when examined up close, is impeccable, and the structure has weathered remarkably well, possibly due to its teak material. Every piece has its place, and the joints are all flush but visible, testimony to the building’s claim. According to Wikipedia, King Mindon actually died in this building, but I can neither confirm nor deny that.

Something else that resides in Mandalay, that you may find surprising, is the world’s largest book. When I was told this I imagined some enormous Buddhist text with pages as large as rooms being turned by a battalion of faithful monks. What I found instead was this:

The world’s largest book is actually a collection of 729 stone tablets, each individual tablet surrounded by its own white stupa. The space taken up by this elaborate show of dedication could probably easily house a couple million regular volumes, but instead is reserved for just this one, the subject of which is of course Buddhist scripture.

Mandalay is one of those exotic sounding places that you probably won’t ever find yourself in unless you make a real effort to get there. I heard it was cleaner than Yangon, and I’d have to agree, although just as congested due to the swarms of motorbikes (which have been banned in Yangon). I actually had the displeasure of seeing someone dead on the street after an accident, and with the way people drive in Burma I’d imagine similar incidents are pretty frequent.

The final thing I saw on my first of two days in Mandalay was the U Bein Bridge, longest teak bridge in the world (lots of teak in Burma). The bridge stretches 1.2 kilometers and is one of the more popular destinations in the city. The pictures I’d seen of the bridge looked a lot nicer than the real thing, but the weather was a little gloomy so I’ll give it a pass, it was an enjoyable walk across.

My second day in Mandalay was pretty uneventful. We took a day trip to outdoor gardens and a waterfall but honestly I was too sick to enjoy it much. The real treat was in the evening. We drove up the large hill that overlooks the city and surrounding countryside, fittingly called Mandalay Hill, and the view from the top was really breathtaking. I was feeling much better by this time and so could actually enjoy the scenery. The city was on one side with the palace and world's largest book plainly visible, and on the other side stretched rice paddies and more distant hills that were just catching the setting sun at the time of our visit. This trip has really been testing my ability to fittingly describe great scenery, so just take a look at the pictures and judge for yourself.  

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.