When we left Kuala Lumpur and flew to Myanmar, we experienced a culture shock once again, a pleasant one - but a shock nonetheless. Having got used to the smooth workings of the successful state of Malaysia, the poverty, low level of development and occasional chaos that is Myanmar were much more what we had expected of Asia in the first place. In spite of its bloody history of military dictatorship, ethnic inequality and oppression of its population, the people were incredibly open and kind and had a smile for everyone (including each other). Whilst writing this, I realise I am echoing something I wrote about two years ago about the people in Cambodia. How extraordinary how both these peoples who have survived oppression, civil war, physical and political abuse, poverty, hunger, living in constant fear of their neighbours and not being able to trust anyone, can have such a cheerful outlook at life, such kind demeanours and helpful characters. The ones of whom one would expect it the least, turn out to be the ones who are the most welcoming and seem to be working the hardest to make something out of their lives.
Of course, Myanmar is not without its problems. They may have had so-called free elections in 2011, Aung San Suu Kyi may have been released from house arrest and Hillary Clinton may have paid an official visit to the country promising an exchange of ambassadors and the relaxation of sanctions, the current 'democratically elected' government still consists of many of the former military generals who made up the dictatorship, the people are still incredibly poor and many parts of the country where minority people live are still off limits to foreign visitors and their populations discriminated against. However, there seems to be reason for hope and it certainly seems local people believe in the possibility.
The first thing one notices when getting out on the streets is the strange traffic situation. The Burmese drive on the right but, as they mostly drive cheap Japanese cars, these cars have the steering wheel on the right side as well. This creates a situation in which drivers have to basically veer all the over to the opposite lane when they wish to overtake, before they are able to see whether their are cars coming towards them on that lane. We did not see a lot of cars accidents, but one did wonder... Another funny fact is the money situation. Hotels and government-run organisations only accept US Dollars, which they have to deposit at a government-run bank. This bank, however, only accepts brand new, crisp, unsoiled, unfolded bills which still smell of the factory they were made in. Any other bills are resolutely yet politely refused. Can you imagine backpacking for a month travelling on bumpy buses and swaying trains, over muddy paths and up and down mountains, in a country where you cannot get money out of ATMs or at banks and trying to keep your Dollar bills in perfect state? Their own money, on the contrary, apparently wasn't of much aesthetic value. Besides needing wads of it, even bills torn into little pieces could still be used when neatly arranged into tiny, bill-shaped plastic bags.
We spent the first couple of days in Yangon and liked it. Even though the city shuts down after 9pm - as indeed does the whole country - it has its own kind of charm with its decaying British colonial architecture, impressive stupas and non-tourist-focused atmosphere. We visited the golden stupas, stood in awe of Shwe Dagon Paya (a 2,000-year-old massive golden stupa, one of the 100 modern wonders of the world according to hillmanwonders.com) and appeased the guardian spirits of the days we were born on. I was born on Wednesday morning, which means my guardian animal is an elephant! Olaf, on the other hand, has to content himself with a guinea pig. The second day we got onto the Circular Train, a slow-moving, bumpy commuter train which took us to a number of sights including a buddha in a glass cage (for it tended to bite strangers) and an enormous lying buddha in some kind of shed.
After Yangon, we went to Mt Kyaiktiyo, on top of which The Golden Rock, a massive gold-plated boulder, balances precariously on a mountain top. This, as is basically every single mountain and hilltop in Myanmar, was obviously a religious site and pilgrims came from all over the country to pay their respects and stand underneath it - not being crushed by the boulders apparently means one is sin-free enough to be allowed to continue one's life. We obviously passed the test, not that there was any doubt of that I am sure. We did get lost on the way back to the trucks and wound up walking all the way back to the village we were staying at.
After Mt Kyaiktiyo, we made a short trip to Bago, which contained some temples and buddhas which were just more of the same and not really worth the stop. The main thing that happened to us was that we both got extremely ill, which made us dislike this town even more. So, on we went on the night bus to Inle Lake, an experience that made a long-lasting impression on at least one of us.
Once the bus had finally dropped us off - 2 hours too early in the middle of the night - we had paid far too much for a taxi ride to the village we actually wanted to stay and we had managed to find a hotel with rooms available (praise the Buddha for Nawng Kham The Little Inn!), we spent the next couple of days loving Inle Lake and recovering. Inle Lake is quite high up and therefore cool, stretches from North to South in an idyllic valley and is surrounded by green swampy lands which make it difficult to see where land ends and the lake begins. We took a boat tour on the lake to visit floating gardens and villages on stilts, cycled around it to see local villages and crumbling stupas, did some great souvenir shopping and relaxed in hot springs.
We then quickly went on to Kalaw, a former British hill station renowned for trekking opportunities through the hills and to neighbouring villages. We were lazy, however, and just around town and towards some nearby sights. We had lost some time being ill and could not stay any longer but would have loved to stay another night at our chalet-like hotel with its lovely Nepali owners (fried eggs on chapatis for breakfast!!)
Our next destination was Mandalay, a name evoking more idyllic and romantic images of a 'quintessential Asia' than the dusty, sprawling, modern city deserves. There was an interesting reconstruction of the former royal palace though and we saw some astonishing teak monasteries. Mandalay itself is also the gateway to the former capitals of Amarapura, Innwa and Sagaing, which we visited on day trips to see the world's longest teak bridge and old temples and stupas seemingly forgotten among the fields and heather. Another day trip to Pyin Oo Lwin turned to be less interesting, although the 'Mini-Myanmar' park with its tiny reconstructions of famous national landmarks and their strawberry juice made up for some of it.
Then it was on to Bagan, the temple-studded plain in a bend of the mighty Ayeryawaddy river which is the site of an ancient royal city of great riches. The around 1,000-year-old temples, some of which are in ruins and some of which have been restored and are active places of worship, are exceedingly scenic and great for cycling around, taking breathtakingly gorgeous pictures of sunset and simply baffling just by the number of temples and the wealth this city might once have possessed. It is not surprising that this was also one of the 100 modern wonders of the world which we are collecting and the days we spent cycling around the temples definitely one of the highlights of this trip. It is impossible to describe the beauty of this site in words, just look at the pictures (see link at the end of this post) and you will understand what I mean.
After Bagan, we managed to squeeze in a day at a beach resort in Chaung Tha Beach, a welcome change after trudging through the dust for a couple of weeks, before heading back to Yangon for a final day and taking a plane to Jakarta. I was sad to leave and would love to come back, especially when I realised how little of the country we had actually seen!!
Here's the links to the pictures: https://picasaweb.google.com/115645655489714063238/Myanmar2012?authkey=Gv1sRgCPnB5eq-vMGhtQE
Stay tuned for another update about our weeks on Java!
Of course, Myanmar is not without its problems. They may have had so-called free elections in 2011, Aung San Suu Kyi may have been released from house arrest and Hillary Clinton may have paid an official visit to the country promising an exchange of ambassadors and the relaxation of sanctions, the current 'democratically elected' government still consists of many of the former military generals who made up the dictatorship, the people are still incredibly poor and many parts of the country where minority people live are still off limits to foreign visitors and their populations discriminated against. However, there seems to be reason for hope and it certainly seems local people believe in the possibility.
The first thing one notices when getting out on the streets is the strange traffic situation. The Burmese drive on the right but, as they mostly drive cheap Japanese cars, these cars have the steering wheel on the right side as well. This creates a situation in which drivers have to basically veer all the over to the opposite lane when they wish to overtake, before they are able to see whether their are cars coming towards them on that lane. We did not see a lot of cars accidents, but one did wonder... Another funny fact is the money situation. Hotels and government-run organisations only accept US Dollars, which they have to deposit at a government-run bank. This bank, however, only accepts brand new, crisp, unsoiled, unfolded bills which still smell of the factory they were made in. Any other bills are resolutely yet politely refused. Can you imagine backpacking for a month travelling on bumpy buses and swaying trains, over muddy paths and up and down mountains, in a country where you cannot get money out of ATMs or at banks and trying to keep your Dollar bills in perfect state? Their own money, on the contrary, apparently wasn't of much aesthetic value. Besides needing wads of it, even bills torn into little pieces could still be used when neatly arranged into tiny, bill-shaped plastic bags.
We spent the first couple of days in Yangon and liked it. Even though the city shuts down after 9pm - as indeed does the whole country - it has its own kind of charm with its decaying British colonial architecture, impressive stupas and non-tourist-focused atmosphere. We visited the golden stupas, stood in awe of Shwe Dagon Paya (a 2,000-year-old massive golden stupa, one of the 100 modern wonders of the world according to hillmanwonders.com) and appeased the guardian spirits of the days we were born on. I was born on Wednesday morning, which means my guardian animal is an elephant! Olaf, on the other hand, has to content himself with a guinea pig. The second day we got onto the Circular Train, a slow-moving, bumpy commuter train which took us to a number of sights including a buddha in a glass cage (for it tended to bite strangers) and an enormous lying buddha in some kind of shed.
After Yangon, we went to Mt Kyaiktiyo, on top of which The Golden Rock, a massive gold-plated boulder, balances precariously on a mountain top. This, as is basically every single mountain and hilltop in Myanmar, was obviously a religious site and pilgrims came from all over the country to pay their respects and stand underneath it - not being crushed by the boulders apparently means one is sin-free enough to be allowed to continue one's life. We obviously passed the test, not that there was any doubt of that I am sure. We did get lost on the way back to the trucks and wound up walking all the way back to the village we were staying at.
After Mt Kyaiktiyo, we made a short trip to Bago, which contained some temples and buddhas which were just more of the same and not really worth the stop. The main thing that happened to us was that we both got extremely ill, which made us dislike this town even more. So, on we went on the night bus to Inle Lake, an experience that made a long-lasting impression on at least one of us.
Once the bus had finally dropped us off - 2 hours too early in the middle of the night - we had paid far too much for a taxi ride to the village we actually wanted to stay and we had managed to find a hotel with rooms available (praise the Buddha for Nawng Kham The Little Inn!), we spent the next couple of days loving Inle Lake and recovering. Inle Lake is quite high up and therefore cool, stretches from North to South in an idyllic valley and is surrounded by green swampy lands which make it difficult to see where land ends and the lake begins. We took a boat tour on the lake to visit floating gardens and villages on stilts, cycled around it to see local villages and crumbling stupas, did some great souvenir shopping and relaxed in hot springs.
We then quickly went on to Kalaw, a former British hill station renowned for trekking opportunities through the hills and to neighbouring villages. We were lazy, however, and just around town and towards some nearby sights. We had lost some time being ill and could not stay any longer but would have loved to stay another night at our chalet-like hotel with its lovely Nepali owners (fried eggs on chapatis for breakfast!!)
Our next destination was Mandalay, a name evoking more idyllic and romantic images of a 'quintessential Asia' than the dusty, sprawling, modern city deserves. There was an interesting reconstruction of the former royal palace though and we saw some astonishing teak monasteries. Mandalay itself is also the gateway to the former capitals of Amarapura, Innwa and Sagaing, which we visited on day trips to see the world's longest teak bridge and old temples and stupas seemingly forgotten among the fields and heather. Another day trip to Pyin Oo Lwin turned to be less interesting, although the 'Mini-Myanmar' park with its tiny reconstructions of famous national landmarks and their strawberry juice made up for some of it.
Then it was on to Bagan, the temple-studded plain in a bend of the mighty Ayeryawaddy river which is the site of an ancient royal city of great riches. The around 1,000-year-old temples, some of which are in ruins and some of which have been restored and are active places of worship, are exceedingly scenic and great for cycling around, taking breathtakingly gorgeous pictures of sunset and simply baffling just by the number of temples and the wealth this city might once have possessed. It is not surprising that this was also one of the 100 modern wonders of the world which we are collecting and the days we spent cycling around the temples definitely one of the highlights of this trip. It is impossible to describe the beauty of this site in words, just look at the pictures (see link at the end of this post) and you will understand what I mean.
After Bagan, we managed to squeeze in a day at a beach resort in Chaung Tha Beach, a welcome change after trudging through the dust for a couple of weeks, before heading back to Yangon for a final day and taking a plane to Jakarta. I was sad to leave and would love to come back, especially when I realised how little of the country we had actually seen!!
Here's the links to the pictures: https://picasaweb.google.com/115645655489714063238/Myanmar2012?authkey=Gv1sRgCPnB5eq-vMGhtQE
Stay tuned for another update about our weeks on Java!
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