Myanmar

Friday, 29 April 2005

Just got back this afternoon from a 7 day visit to Myanmar. Some people (I'm fine, MOM) were worried about me traveling to Myanmar, especially by myself, but it was a beautiful place, and it was nice to visit with Seattle friends (Dan, Brian, and Andrea) teaching at the new ILBC, and international school in Yangon, the capital city, talk to them about how living in this country has been, hang out with their coworkers and friends, see my friends teach English to about 60 children and 20 adults on Saturday morning, and visit some of the popular sites in the country, without any tourists! Dan took me to the beautiful Shwedagon Paya (pagoda) in Yangon (where you have to jump around from tile to tile since you can't wear shoes or socks and it's so darn hot), where we saw novice monks in a ceremony. We also went to Kandawgyi Lake, where it was so nice to see families picnicking and enjoying walks along the lake during sunset, with live music playing in the background.

Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, is north of Thailand, just an hour plane ride away, and yet I almost forgot you still get a nice meal and wine since it's an international trip, but that definitely was not the highlight of the trip.

On Monday and Tuesday of this week, I flew to Bagan, an ancient city north of Yangon, where 800 year old temples dot the desert area (and with desert temperatures at this hottest time of year, it was very exhausting!). The first day, I rented a bicycle and ventured around to various temples, scattered from a few yards to a few miles apart, as far as the eye can see. Reminiscent of Angkor Wat in Cambodia, yet totally surreal as I was practically the only tourist wandering around these ancient sites. (I think I saw maybe 5 total foreigners, along with a French package tour bus.) Locals would laugh at me, as the wheels of my bike got stuck in certain parts of the sand, and occasionally some nice local children would take a running start and push me out of the sand to get me going on my journey again. I nearly passed out from the heat in the late afternoon, and so the following day, decided to travel by horsecart instead, a common way to travel in this area. For $6, a driver took me by horsecart to visit the temples I had not seen the day before (and surprisingly I actually saw about half of them on my own the day before!), but again, just like clockwork, around 3 pm, we were both about ready to pass out from the desert heat and soon called it a day. Despite the heat (and it didn't help that the electricity always goes out in Myanmar about 5 times a day, so the air condition didn't really work in the guesthouse), the intricate temples in Bagan were amazing.

Wednesday and Thursday were the highlights of my Southeast Asia adventure so far, as I then flew from Bagan to Heho, and then an hour ride into the Inle Lake area. Inle Lake was THE most beautiful, serene, and peaceful place ever! I journeyed there with a German guy I met at my last guesthouse, so it was nice to split some costs on taxis and a place to stay, as well as just have someone to explore this lovely area with. We took a boat ride for about $6 each around the whole lake, past villages (houses on stilts in the water), people washing clothes, locals transporting things via motor boat or canoe, and the famous Shan fishermen who paddle their boats by wrapping their foot around the paddle and paddling with one leg. The scenery was breathtaking, with the mountains all around, lush green rice paddies around the lake, and the sun reflecting off the water. We stopped at seven places, a lotus leaf silk weaving shop, a blacksmith shop, a cigar making shop, a pagoda in the middle of the lake, a silversmith, a saa paper umbrella making shop, and Nga Phe Chaung Monastery ("Jumping Cat" Monastery).

I only took about 200 pictures it was so beautiful! Thursday, Marco and I walked around the lake (it was a lot cooler here than in Bagan, but we still wanted to avoid the mid-day heat!), through villages and rice paddies, passing water buffalo, locals hard at work, children fishing in the water, or bathing and playing in the lake. Such a lovely place, and although I didn't come at the festival time (which is in October, and is supposed to be spectacular), I could have stayed here for much longer than a couple of days! I definitely got some favorite landscape photos from this part of my journey!

Ate at a local restaurant called Unique Superb, then stumbled about two German tourists who were catching a taxi back to the airport the same day, so I shared the cost with them, and we spent the next few hours talking about their travels around Southeast Asia over the last couple months, my time in Thailand, and the government situation in Myanmar.

Even though some people are still leary about traveling to Myanmar, and the local people definitely are not treated well by the government, the locals were so gracious and kind, and it made my trip to Yangon, Bagan, and Inle all them more memorable.