Myanmar (Burma)
Mingalaba,Having completed our list of countries a full month earlier than expected, we were faced with the happy dilemma of filling our final weeks with something we hadn't originally planned. We had different ideas about how to spend this time; I was for returning to the Togian islands for a month of skin-diving and sun-soaked nappy-naps in the hammocks next to the water. Tatyana was up for some wandering around Bangladesh. Since we're not very good at hanging around (though I could have tried really hard), we eventually kicked the beach idea and focused on places we had not yet been. With an additional week or two, we would have had enough time to hit both Bangladesh and Myanmar, but two weeks in each seemed like a little bit of theft from both, so we had to pick one. Seeing as how Bangladesh is charging an arm and a leg for visas, and getting there would require some transit through the sweaty armpit of India--Kolkata--we instead cast our eyes to Myanmar.
There is a lot of static out there about travel to Myanmar, but we both tend toward the need to see things for ourselves. The upshot is that there are very few tourists about the country, and most of those who do visit are on a package tour, meaning one can travel many parts of the country free of all those annoying little things that come with big-box tourism. The food is a let-down on the whole, a bland showing of really oily curries, but fortunately saved by really tasty noodle and soup dishes from the Shan state, as well as an abundance of Indian food. Transportation is well organized, though really rough
(and particularly dusty) in many areas, as the government has invested precious few dollars in highways outside the main north-south artery. Guesthouses are just fine, typically running $8-10 for a double; most include breakfast (the ubiquitous eggs-and-toast routine) and some put on a real spread of shan-style breakfast dishes on request. People are extremely friendly, as we have found to be the case throughout asia, and were very enthusiastic in initiating small talk ("small" being anything unrelated to politics, which is a very dangerous subject in Myanmar). Burmese people are well educated, and 98% literate, and many speak English well enough to converse. The sights were amazing -more temples here than the rest of asia combined, it seems (and the first we've seen of buddhist nuns en masse). And more gold and jewels than I've ever seen. Gold is everywhere, covering buddhas, temples, landmarks... you can even buy gold to eat in Myanmar... no k
idding. If it looks like gold, it's gold. If it looks like thousands of rubies and diamonds, it's thousands of rubies and diamonds. If it looks like the biggest emerald in the world... well... try to get off a picture before the big guy tackles you... And at Bagan, thousands and thousands of ancient temples, one after another, stretching as far as the eye can see.
We flew into Yangon (formerly "Rangoon", and before that, "Dagon") Nov 1st and our first impression of the country came on the taxi ride from the airport to our first guesthouse, when we immediately noticed that there are next to NO newER cars in Myanmar. Every once in a great while, you'll spot something made after 1980 (even eyed a few brand-spankin-newbies), but 99.9 percent of the cars on the road are ancient -especially the taxis, all of which long ago lost the use of their doorhandles, and doorlocks... After checking in, we took a walk around the corner, where we spotted a newly-deceased fella lying in a thick puddle of his own brain matter. We weren't sure what to make of it, seeing as how we were the only ones who appeared to be taking any notice of him. I'm happy to say now that that was the only dead body we saw in Myanmar. After a few days of sightseeing, we spent an evening at Shwedagon Paya, the most famous religious
From Yangon we took an overnight bus to Mandalay, where we spent several days touring the various sights around the ancient city. Buddhists in Myanmar like to do their part in spreading the bling, so most regular folks are in the habit of ponying up now and then for a sheet of gold leaf, which they affix to their favorite buddhas around the country. Some buddhas are more popular than others, and one enormous buddha in particular that we came across had a six-inch layer of gold covering its entire surface. In fact, it no longer looked like a buddha, and resembled a giant solid gold Stay-Puff Marshmallow Man. Some buddhas are solid jade, some are solid gold, others are crusted head to foot in precious stones, and many of these are right out in the open, where anyone foolish enough to tempt karma could make off with a small fortune. Really cool to see all this up close.
We spent a day touring around the ancient capital of Amarapura, which boasts the longest teak bridge in the world. As usually happens with us, a young monk found us and insisted that we allow him to show us around. It makes for good English practice (which he spoke very well for only his fourth month of English training). We feel so fortunate to have made friends with monks on this trip;
TB
We flew into Yangon (formerly "Rangoon", and before that, "Dagon") Nov 1st and our first impression of the country came on the taxi ride from the airport to our first guesthouse, when we immediately noticed that there are next to NO newER cars in Myanmar. Every once in a great while, you'll spot something made after 1980 (even eyed a few brand-spankin-newbies), but 99.9 percent of the cars on the road are ancient -especially the taxis, all of which long ago lost the use of their doorhandles, and doorlocks... After checking in, we took a walk around the corner, where we spotted a newly-deceased fella lying in a thick puddle of his own brain matter. We weren't sure what to make of it, seeing as how we were the only ones who appeared to be taking any notice of him. I'm happy to say now that that was the only dead body we saw in Myanmar. After a few days of sightseeing, we spent an evening at Shwedagon Paya, the most famous religious
in all of Myanmar. Shwedagon Paya is an enormous Shrine completely covered in... you guessed it... gold. A monk toured us around the facility for a few hours for what was simply an amazing evening. Posted at the top of the Paya is a golden sphere with 4,351 diamonds (totalling 1,800 carats), at the very top of which sits a single 76-carat diamond, which reflects ambient light at night, like a bright shining star. There is a somewhat blurry picture of this among Tatyana's pics, but you'll get the idea.
From Yangon we took an overnight bus to Mandalay, where we spent several days touring the various sights around the ancient city. Buddhists in Myanmar like to do their part in spreading the bling, so most regular folks are in the habit of ponying up now and then for a sheet of gold leaf, which they affix to their favorite buddhas around the country. Some buddhas are more popular than others, and one enormous buddha in particular that we came across had a six-inch layer of gold covering its entire surface. In fact, it no longer looked like a buddha, and resembled a giant solid gold Stay-Puff Marshmallow Man. Some buddhas are solid jade, some are solid gold, others are crusted head to foot in precious stones, and many of these are right out in the open, where anyone foolish enough to tempt karma could make off with a small fortune. Really cool to see all this up close.
We spent a day touring around the ancient capital of Amarapura, which boasts the longest teak bridge in the world. As usually happens with us, a young monk found us and insisted that we allow him to show us around. It makes for good English practice (which he spoke very well for only his fourth month of English training). We feel so fortunate to have made friends with monks on this trip;
they make great (free) tour guides, and it always amazes me how much perspective they have -even the really young ones (.....there is no spoon...). For some reason they always seem to pick us out of the crowd, and I'm certain it is because we don't do the invasive things typical of most tourists... like sticking cameras in their faces. Argghhh, Tommy Bahama tourists make me sick! And why is it anyway that a trip to somewhere other than Europe requires one to dress up like Steve Erwin or Crocodile Dundee??? Posers!!!
We spent the next week bouncing around a string of mountain towns, wandering through little villages and doing our best to avoid Burmese curry. Fortunately, a cold glass of beer goes for 50 cents, which makes up for most everything else. One morning we picked our way through some back-alleys to locate a small cheroot factory, which was simply a workshop in a woman's house. Her neighbors rooted her out (I think she was on the john) and she gave us a rolling demonstration and lit up a few fresh fatties for us. Really good. Cheroot is a mixture of tobacco,
We spent the next week bouncing around a string of mountain towns, wandering through little villages and doing our best to avoid Burmese curry. Fortunately, a cold glass of beer goes for 50 cents, which makes up for most everything else. One morning we picked our way through some back-alleys to locate a small cheroot factory, which was simply a workshop in a woman's house. Her neighbors rooted her out (I think she was on the john) and she gave us a rolling demonstration and lit up a few fresh fatties for us. Really good. Cheroot is a mixture of tobacco,
tree bark, sugar cane, and spices, remotely resembling a cigar. And at one penny a piece, we picked up a few bricks to sneak through airport security. And of course, everywhere we went, temples... lots of them. We were taking an early train one day (the usual... lots of vomiting, crates upon CRATES of live chickens, twice as many bodies as seats, Tatyana giving me that look) and as the sun came up the skyline lit fire with the reflection from hundreds of gold-topped payas along the mountain ridges. It is like nothing I've ever seen. Even in the poor remote rural areas of the country... gold. Incredible.
We spent a few days touring the payas at Bagan. There are temples of all shapes and sizes, some a thousand years old, some much older, some made of stone, most of brick, many topped with... wait for it... gold. We did the first day on bikes, which was great because we could wander out into the plains in search of our own little treasures... the second day we hired a horse cart to take us to some of the more remote locations which are difficult on bikes because of the sand.
We spent a few days touring the payas at Bagan. There are temples of all shapes and sizes, some a thousand years old, some much older, some made of stone, most of brick, many topped with... wait for it... gold. We did the first day on bikes, which was great because we could wander out into the plains in search of our own little treasures... the second day we hired a horse cart to take us to some of the more remote locations which are difficult on bikes because of the sand.
We made a point of watching the sunset each evening, from different places. It was really nice. The only drawback was the occasional tour group, which could roll up to "your" temple (of the thousands) at any time in a 40-seat a.c. bus and unload its Tommy Bahama drones for picture time. Nothing like watching a brilliant sunset to the tune of 40 shutters. And what's with the guy that sets his camera to take three quick-fire shots every time he presses the button... to "take care of that nasty hand shake of mine, right Jerry? Har Har Har..." RETARD!!!!!!!! Photography tour groups are the WORST!
After Bagan we sprinted through nine hours of uphill, unpaved road to reach lower Shan state. We arrived covered in a centimeter each of dust and grit... for some reason they like to drive with the bus doors open. Well worth the trip though (once we hacked out the last of the dirt-boogies); the clean, fresh air and good Shan-style food made for a very pleasant week. We spent five days exploring the Inle Lake area, where we were amazed by the untold acres and acres of
After Bagan we sprinted through nine hours of uphill, unpaved road to reach lower Shan state. We arrived covered in a centimeter each of dust and grit... for some reason they like to drive with the bus doors open. Well worth the trip though (once we hacked out the last of the dirt-boogies); the clean, fresh air and good Shan-style food made for a very pleasant week. We spent five days exploring the Inle Lake area, where we were amazed by the untold acres and acres of
"floating gardens", where locals grow vegetables ON the lake. Check out the pics for that.
We took a final bus trip back to Yangon to spend a few days loading up on Indian and Shan food before flying out, WITH our cigars and a few other choice items.
We spent the last few days in Bangkok, getting fitted for new suits, taking a bomber vegetarian Thai cooking class, and shopping the local malls and bazars for new clothes (since our clothes are in shreds and don't fit us anymore). I now have a size 30 waist, and Tatyana slipped into a size 26. She popped out of the first dressing room and screamed "do you see how good my butt looks in these pants?!!!" At the bazars you can pick up just about anything on the cheap. If you ever wondered where jeans go to die, it's asia. Except that in asia they are revived and sent back into action, at the local bazars. And jeans are BIG in Thailand. Asians like to throw all sorts of patches and logos and other junk on their jeans, so it can be difficult to find a regular pair of jeans, but with over 8,000 stalls at the Chatuchak weekend market, we found everything we needed. So I regret that you will not get to see my pants, which ripped the FIRST time a month into this trip (GAP - crap), and then consecutively every few weeks after -those are staying in Bangkok, where perhaps someone will throw a New Kids on the Block patch and some graffiti on them and sell them for top dollar at the market. Tatyana also got a "cut and color" in Bangkok... something about highlights and lowlights and something called a "swoosh", but all I know is it cost only $30 and she looks like a new girl. Tomorrow we take off for Macau, then on to Hong Kong and home... See the previous note from Tatyana for the first half of pics from Myanmar... we'll have the rest up as soon as we can. More in a few days.
We took a final bus trip back to Yangon to spend a few days loading up on Indian and Shan food before flying out, WITH our cigars and a few other choice items.
We spent the last few days in Bangkok, getting fitted for new suits, taking a bomber vegetarian Thai cooking class, and shopping the local malls and bazars for new clothes (since our clothes are in shreds and don't fit us anymore). I now have a size 30 waist, and Tatyana slipped into a size 26. She popped out of the first dressing room and screamed "do you see how good my butt looks in these pants?!!!" At the bazars you can pick up just about anything on the cheap. If you ever wondered where jeans go to die, it's asia. Except that in asia they are revived and sent back into action, at the local bazars. And jeans are BIG in Thailand. Asians like to throw all sorts of patches and logos and other junk on their jeans, so it can be difficult to find a regular pair of jeans, but with over 8,000 stalls at the Chatuchak weekend market, we found everything we needed. So I regret that you will not get to see my pants, which ripped the FIRST time a month into this trip (GAP - crap), and then consecutively every few weeks after -those are staying in Bangkok, where perhaps someone will throw a New Kids on the Block patch and some graffiti on them and sell them for top dollar at the market. Tatyana also got a "cut and color" in Bangkok... something about highlights and lowlights and something called a "swoosh", but all I know is it cost only $30 and she looks like a new girl. Tomorrow we take off for Macau, then on to Hong Kong and home... See the previous note from Tatyana for the first half of pics from Myanmar... we'll have the rest up as soon as we can. More in a few days.
Photos:
TB
Holy crap! I can't believe you guys come home this week! Time really flew by. The pictures are amazing. When you come back, think of checking out Mandalay restaurant on California and 6th. It's really good.
ReplyDeleteSee you guys soon!
What's the story behind the "...there is no spoon..." comment?
ReplyDelete