Myanmar

October 12, 2006
Myanmar…
Our First day in Myanmar (formally known as Burma), we actually docked at 4pm but couldn’t get off of the ship until 8am the next morning. I had signed up for an SAS trip to Bagan (an hour and a half flight from Yangon), so I was ready to go and packed for 4 days at 7:15am. Everyone was worried about malaria meds and bug spray because Myanmar has a lot of mosquitoes carrying disease. We first got on a tour bus that was pretty cramped but decorated nicely for us and we were even given small roses and bags that were embroidered with “Myanmar” on them. The reason that the country’s name was changed is because 60% of the population is Burmese, but they didn’t want the country to be named after the majority of the population, so it was renamed Myanmar so the minority groups weren’t as excluded.
The bus took us to the city of Yangon (about a 45 minute drive) and we toured around for a “City Orientation”. The city was pretty bare, with a few big hotels and buildings but nothing like a clean, metropolitan city that we are used to from home. There were vendors along some of the streets selling exotic looking food, tons of books, and a lot of cheap plastic hair clips (which seemed a little strange). The Burmese people are darker skinned than the Vietnamese but looked similar to them, and were fairly short compared to us. We got a lot more looks and stares, because Myanmar is not a huge tourist destination, and there are actually many countries trying not to support any tourism there to fight against the military regime that runs the country. The people have very little freedom (for example many internet sites are “illegal” to them for use) and there were always members of the military around to watch people and make sure they weren’t doing anything that they weren’t supposed to. We had been warned in pre-port that we should never ask the people about their government or how they felt about their freedoms, because they could be thrown in prison for a merely having a conversation about those topics. It was amazing to be in a place that had such restrictions on individual freedoms, and made me realize how much we take our freedoms in the US for granted.
During the city tour we ran into another SAS group and there was a girl who had passed out and started having a kind of seizure on the sidewalk. People were crowded around her and luckily the doctor from the ship, “Dr. Bob” was in the same group. Her eyes were fluttering and it looked like she couldn’t focus on anything. It was really scary and we found out later that the girl’s doctor had given her a prescription for malaria medication and had written that it was to be taken daily but it was actually a weekly pill. Luckily she was fine, but the overdose of medicine made her sick enough to have to go back to the ship. One highlight of the tour was the city hall which was huge and decorated with gold. Otherwise it wasn’t a very attractive city and it was raining so everyone wanted to get back on thee bus. We headed to the Shwedagon Pagoda (one of the wonders of the world) which has a 76 carat diamond mounted at the very top of it. It was a huge structure covered in gold so we couldn’t actually see the diamond at the top but there were pictures of it to look at and it was amazing. The area that the pagoda was in was a huge tile courtyard with hundreds of small open rooms, shrines, and little pagodas, decorated in mostly white and gold. You have to take your shoes off in these religious places, which can be pretty gross especially after its been raining. We walked around the pagoda for a long time in the unbearable humidity and heat. After taking a ton of pictures we boarded the bus again for the Yangon airport.
The airport was the smallest I have ever seen. It consisted of two big, long rooms, one with a glass counter to buy snacks and candy, and the other room was after the security checkpoint and was filled with seats to wait for our flight. The plane was small but nice, and the flight attendants were extremely friendly. Surprisingly, the was a lot of English spoken by most of the people we met. After our shaky flight we landed in the Bagan airport, which was even smaller. It felt like Hawaii though getting off the plane. There were lush, tropical trees everywhere around the runway and the humidity made it feel like a tropical place. We drove to our hotel through the roads of Bagan, which are actually nicely paved, but there was absolutely nothing around us. Bagan is known for being the land of thousands of pagodas. They are built absolutely everywhere, dotting the countryside and popping up in unexpected places. The pagodas date centuries back and they are hard to describe but most look like little castles with round tops that extend into tall decorated peaks on top. From any one point in Bagan, no matter where, you could see at least ten pagodas. Out hotel was one the River Thande, and we stayed in small bungalows that had a perfect view of the river. The hotel was like a little tucked away resort, and was much nicer than what we expected for Myanmar. There were beautiful gardens, and an amazing pool that was hard to leave to go see more and more pagodas every day. The first night we had a delicious dinner and got settled in the hotel, ready to wake up and explore the next morning. Our dinner was served at the hotel, and a lot of the dishes were a bit strange but the rice and pork (that tasted like cinnamon and cloves), were delicious.
This was a four day, three night trip, but there was a lot of down time because there really isn’t a whole lot to do in Bagan. We went to numerous Pagodas (my favorite was one that we climbed to the top of at sunset), but generally they were all very similar so I’m just going to describe the highlights of the trip because it will be boring to go into every detail. My favorite day we went into a village for a visit and to give donations to the children. We entered the small school within the village where there were first through fourth grade children all in the same class. It was a big wooden schoolroom with benches for desks and no chairs. The kids were adorable. They all had dark green and white uniforms and they sat down singing Burmese songs for us. We watched them for a while, and then sang a few American songs for them and they all smiled and clapped. Semester at Sea has large donations of backpacks, books, and pencils to hand out so we each handed them out to the kids and they all loved their new stuff. I’m sure that these children had never seen backpacks like this in their lives. The village they lived in was tiny and they lived off the land. I was really surprised to see the kids in uniforms. We let them get back to their schooling and wandered around the village to see the Burmese way of life. Many of the people spoke to us in any English that they knew. Some of the women had a little stand set up to sell things that they made. Lacquer ware is a popular craft made in Myanmar, and the women showed us bowls, bracelets, plates and other things that were all made of bamboo and covered in glossy black lacquer, then decorated with bright colored paints. Each item took weeks to make but they would sell them for around a dollar or two each. We bought a few things as souvenirs and they also showed us the traditional longys (pronounced lon-gees) that they wear. Both men and women wear long skirts that are single pieces of decorated fabric wrapped around and tied at the waist. A lot of the guys on our trip bought them and have been wearing them all the time.
The people in Myanmar wore a kind of clay on their faces. It was light yellow colored and our guide explained to us that it was good for the skin. The women in the village took us to their house behind where they were selling things and brought out a smooth wooden block to smash the clay onto and get it wet. Then they used their fingers to paint it on our cheeks and noses. It was a little weird feeling but it was a gesture of kindness so we thanked them and walked around the village with our faces painted. After some time wandering the village we got back on the bus and said goodbye. As we were leaving we realized that a few of the vendors followed our bus on bikes so that they could try and sell us things everywhere we went. We visited another beautiful pagoda with a huge gold Buddha inside. Then we all got to take pony carts for a 20 minute ride out to a large pagoda for sunset. Two or three people could fit in the small carts and they were pulled by skinny and unhappy looking horses. It was a long bumpy ride but the scenery was absolutely beautiful. We could see fields spotted with pagodas in every direction and the rain had cleared up so it was clear as the sun was starting to go down. W got to the big pagoda and climbed up a very small, dark, stone staircase lined with candles in order to get to the top and take in the view. This was my favorite moment in Myanmar. The view was completely surreal. We all stood around speechless looking out over miles of green countryside completely untouched except for the hundreds of pagodas of sprawled out in every direction. Their was mountains in the distance somewhat hidden by a layer of mist and the sun was setting over the fields. We walked around barefoot (shoes weren’t allowed in any of the holy places) on the bricks that made up the top level of the building trying to take pictures and capture just how amazing it was.
Next we took the pony carts back to the buses and headed to an authentic Burmese restaurant. At the restaurant there was a traditional puppet show and we all sat down to watch and enjoy our food. Overall we didn’t really love the food but the coconut rice and spiced pork were amazing. The puppet show was impressive too and lasted the entire time we ate. We went back to the hotel to swim and relax before another day sight seeing in Bagan. The rest of the trip was pretty similar in terms of going to see pagodas and we were supposed to go to Mt. Popa (a mountain with a giant pagoda built at the top and with monkeys everywhere), but there had been an excessive amount of rain in Bagan right around the time we were there so a lot of riverbanks had flooded and roads were closed. One other highlight of the trip was the dinner we had on the last night there. We were bussed out to yet another pagoda, and when we got there it was all decorated and lit up, and there was a huge sign saying “Welcome Semester at Sea Fall 2006”. There were tents and tables and people dressed up beautifully in exotic looking outfits. They welcomed us in and led us to a buffet of food that looked delicious. The only problem was that there were about 10 bugs per every one square foot. There were bugs of every shape and size landing on everything and anything. We doused ourselves with bug spray, but our food was constantly attacked by the disgusting, flying, hopping, jumping insects. The dinner would have been delicious if there hadn’t been so many bugs all over the place. There were 2 other SAS groups who joined us at the big dinner and the local people performed 12 different shows for us of dancing, singing and other talents. It was really amazing to watch and a lot of fun.
Our flight back to Yangon wasn’t until late afternoon the next day but because we basically had nothing left to do we went to the airport pretty early. The Bagan airport was basically one room and had a tiny shop in it selling postcards, t-shirts and lacquer ware. But besides that there was absolutely nothing to do. A few of us wandered down the street to the tiniest restaurant I have ever seen and tried to get some food. We sat on little plastic chairs crowded around a table while the women brought us plates of very strange looking and smelling dishes. We finally decided on rice and peanuts, which was the most normal thing that she mentioned. We were all pretty hungry so cold rice and peanuts ended up being not that bad to eat. This country was probably the worst in terms of my food experiences. We finally got back to Yangon after hours of waiting and another bumpy flight and Sam and I headed to the main hotel in town to stay the night before having to be back to the ship by 2pm the next day. A ton of SAS kids were staying at the Traders Hotel so we found some friends and decided to share the room they had booked. The food there was absolutely amazing, especially after having mostly unsatisfying meals for the past few days. We had a great dinner and then headed to a local bar to have some fun with our friends on our last night in Myanmar. Bars are pretty rare there, but we found one place that was pretty normal and safe, because there was a lot of other SAS kids and foreigners there. After an hour at the bar Sam and I decided to get our stuff from the hotel and take a cab back to the ship because there wasn’t anything else to see in Yangon and sleeping in our own clean beds sounded great. We took a cab back “home” to the ship, satisfied with the time we spent in Myanmar.
One other place in the country that a lot of people went to was called Inle Lake and sounded absolutely incredible. People stayed in floating hotels that were only accessible by boat and said that it was one of their favorite places they had been so far. I really enjoyed Bagan, but we felt a little “Pagoda-ed out” by the end of the four days. I learned a lot about a place I really knew nothing about and I’m so glad that this was a port included in our trip. People say that from the US it is hard to get to Myanmar and to be able to travel there so I’m lucky to have gotten the chance. Hopefully one day I can go back and see Inle Lake and spend more time interacting with the people, because they were some of the most genuine and friendly people that I have met so far.
Sorry this is so so late, I should get India up ASAP because we’re getting off the ship for Egypt tomorrow! Time is flying by and there are less than 6 weeks left and only 4 ports. I’ll have tons of pictures and stories to share with you all when I get home, thanks for checking the blog!