Well, made it back into Thailand after 21 days in Myanmar; so now I have email access again. This post could be a bit long to cover what I did over my trip there and some myanmar thoughts and impressions. I could just write some thoughts here, but I've kind of started using this blog as a journal (I can type much faster...and neater than I can write), so I want to make sure I kind of get the highlights in for me personally as well.
Just some interesting notes and observations from Myanmar first before I go onto what I did.
Bush put a trade embargo on Myanmar in 2003. Bush gave me 600 dollars as a stimulus plan to buy back into the American economy. I took Bush's 600 dollars and spent it in Myanmar...
Some background. Myanmar was controlled by the british until the 50's. Then several military governments have controlled it. in 1988, the people fed up with their declining life conditions and the government took to the streets in protest saying that on 8-8-88, democracy would begin in myanmar. However, the millitary stopped the protests by gunning down thousands of the protesters. In 1990 with the help of Aung San Suu Kyi, the national league for democracy won the first election that had be held in over 30 years. However, the millitary didn't give up power. More protests and more deaths. Aung San was put under house arrest where she still is today. She is the one who has asked the western nation to boycott visiting myanmar. George Bush put a trade embargo on myanmar in 2003 causing all foreign banks in myanmar to close up shop and leave. The EU and japan soon followed with the embargo. Tony blair and the UK as well as the EU called for an official tourism boycott later that year, and the US declared it on the same level as iraq, afghanistan, etc as far as travel goes. Recently there were more protests as you may have heard on the news this year with many of the monks who were peacefully protesting being shot. Then they had the huge cyclone and refused all foreign aid resulting in 80,000 deaths from sickness and starvation. Of course there is a huge debate as to whether one should visit myanmar and you should read up on it before you go. Supporters of the boycott say that if you go, you are supporting the gov't. Those opposed say that if you go and are responsible, little money goes to the gov't (they make most their money from oil, mining, and timber), lots goes to the people, and it's the best way for people to talk to westerners and get information. Every burmese I talked to is against the boycott and those in the tourist industry have been hit quite hard by it. Also if you visit, the government is less likely to be abusing burmese in tourist areas.
true to what people told me, going to burma was trully like stepping back in time 50 years.
--internet is available in yangon and in mandalay, but extremely slow and most sights are blocked including hotmail, cnn, espn, youtube, blogs.
--the government has the ability to read all outgoing emails in myanmar
--all outgoing letters are read as well. I wrote a nasty one about the gov't to my parents, so we'll see if it gets through
--most places only have electricity for about 4 hours a day, unless they are a richer place in which they have a generator.
--you can only visit 18% of the country. The rest is closed off for foreigners. Most likely b/c bad things are happening there.
--they have many friendly monkeys. as one guide said, "we have natural medicines for not shitting, for shitting, and snakebite, but nothing for monkeys. monkey bite is normal"
--the guidebook said, talking politics can get not only you but also the locals you're speaking to in trouble. Some locals told me there are gov't spies all over, so you have to wait for the locals to know it's safe and bring up such subjects before talking.
--myanmar is the only country in SE asia were the majority of the population wear non-western clothes as part of their everyday dress as well as paint there faces
-cell phones are not allowed to be brought into the country by foreigners, not that is matters, as there is no cell providers in myanmar. They have pay phones that are monitored, and as aung san said, "approach the telephone with a prayer"
--rumors are the domestic airplane fleet has not been updated since the 50's, and as a yangon travel agent said, "air routes change in the air, that's how domestic we are"
--they tell you to wash your hands before sleeping so that the rats won't lick your fingers at night
--almost all of the busses and cars are world war II era (mostly japanese, but a few american jeeps). They drive on the right side of the road to protest the original british rule, but all their steering wheels are on the right side as they have japanese cars.
--the official exchange rate of dollars to kyat is 1 dollar =6 kyat. a cheap meal costs 1000 kyat...so what gives. The airport counter gives 400 kyat for 1 dollar, a local banks in yangon give 600 kyat for a dollar, the black market gives about 1100 to 1200 per dollar depending on who you go to. I tried to avoid the sketchy street people and went to the market shops
--the first country I have ever been where the locals liked bush. possibly b/c the news they get is definitely sensored. They said bush is a strong man and makes decisions. True I guess. Though they are all excited about obama too, what little they know
--I watched a news cast (they do have TV as of 3 years now). It was in burmese, but it was quite hilarious. All the stories were about opening new schools, new roads, new factories and showed a smiling happy militarry officer. Definitely an attempt to try and make them look good.
--the people said that the government is very scared of western nations especially america. Goes to show that the government isn't really that strong is they're so scared.
--the people really love americans. The most I would say of the countries. On treks with other nationalaties or when I was travelling with a canadian and a dutch guy for a while, the people would ask in burmese to our guide where we were from. You'd here him say, American, Holland, Canada. And they'd always reply back...ahh, america. felt kind of bad for the others. Asked some of the locals about it, and they said they really respect our country and power is important to them. Unfortunately they don't see many americans any more b/c unlike the other (already more wordly travelling countries of europe), we listened a little more to the boycott. I think it was more of a scare tactic thing though. I think most americans thought we were boycotting out of danger as opposed to financial reasons. So many people including my foreign vaccination doctor, eye doctor, and boss, said "promise me you won't go to myanmar" (I had my fingers crossed). Myanmar was actually the country I felt safest in of anyplace I've travelled besides canada. The people are incredibly nice, they don't appear overly concerned with wealth, thus stealing isn't an issue. And the government goes out of its way to make sure tourists are safe and happy b/c they want good press in the western world. In fact, the lake I went to, a westerner had drowned in, so tourists were no longer allowed to kayak by themselves. The road, unlike most asian countries is very safe b/c there are few cars and speeds are very, very slow. I think the danger would be if you joined in a protest against the government.
--if you go to some of the more off the beaten path areas, but still open to foreigners, the government often has a soldier shadow you.
-The capital as most people know it is Yangon (rangoon); however this year the gov't apparently moved the capital. Most people have no idea where it is, but a few of the more educated told me the vicinity they think it is in. I wonder how many western countries even know the capial has been moved. Speculation as to why the gov't moved the capital ranges from keeping the government away from the people (most likely) to the fact the new area as many caves (good hiding places as bin laden showed in case of an american attack), and that yangon is at sea level and with global warming will be underwater in the years to come.
-the people in myanmar treat you as a guest to their country as opposed to a dollar sign like the thais see you. I was often invited into their houses and even treated to meals at houses and at restaurants.
-other than the obvious block of email, information, etc, it was difficult to see that the people were suffering from a terrible gov't. In the areas I was visiting it just seemed more like a very poor country. However, once you get talking to the people you realize how oppressive the gov't is, and of course we're not even allowed in 80% of the country
-the people are deathly afraid of the gov't and will do anything it says, however.
-a priest I met told me that the gov't has no regard for human life and will kill at anything. They could care less about the average burmese. Interestingly, the catholic priests and some protestant ministers have had the best luck protesting the gov't. The buddhists monks often get shot. I wonder if this is because the major buddhist countries like thailand and china very much support myanmar b/c they make lots of money through trade with them, whereas christianity is alligned more with the western world. It seems like to me if there was a protest where 3000 priests were murdered for peaceful protests, there would be stronger reactions by western countries.
Just some interesting notes and observations from Myanmar first before I go onto what I did.
Bush put a trade embargo on Myanmar in 2003. Bush gave me 600 dollars as a stimulus plan to buy back into the American economy. I took Bush's 600 dollars and spent it in Myanmar...
Some background. Myanmar was controlled by the british until the 50's. Then several military governments have controlled it. in 1988, the people fed up with their declining life conditions and the government took to the streets in protest saying that on 8-8-88, democracy would begin in myanmar. However, the millitary stopped the protests by gunning down thousands of the protesters. In 1990 with the help of Aung San Suu Kyi, the national league for democracy won the first election that had be held in over 30 years. However, the millitary didn't give up power. More protests and more deaths. Aung San was put under house arrest where she still is today. She is the one who has asked the western nation to boycott visiting myanmar. George Bush put a trade embargo on myanmar in 2003 causing all foreign banks in myanmar to close up shop and leave. The EU and japan soon followed with the embargo. Tony blair and the UK as well as the EU called for an official tourism boycott later that year, and the US declared it on the same level as iraq, afghanistan, etc as far as travel goes. Recently there were more protests as you may have heard on the news this year with many of the monks who were peacefully protesting being shot. Then they had the huge cyclone and refused all foreign aid resulting in 80,000 deaths from sickness and starvation. Of course there is a huge debate as to whether one should visit myanmar and you should read up on it before you go. Supporters of the boycott say that if you go, you are supporting the gov't. Those opposed say that if you go and are responsible, little money goes to the gov't (they make most their money from oil, mining, and timber), lots goes to the people, and it's the best way for people to talk to westerners and get information. Every burmese I talked to is against the boycott and those in the tourist industry have been hit quite hard by it. Also if you visit, the government is less likely to be abusing burmese in tourist areas.
true to what people told me, going to burma was trully like stepping back in time 50 years.
--internet is available in yangon and in mandalay, but extremely slow and most sights are blocked including hotmail, cnn, espn, youtube, blogs.
--the government has the ability to read all outgoing emails in myanmar
--all outgoing letters are read as well. I wrote a nasty one about the gov't to my parents, so we'll see if it gets through
--most places only have electricity for about 4 hours a day, unless they are a richer place in which they have a generator.
--you can only visit 18% of the country. The rest is closed off for foreigners. Most likely b/c bad things are happening there.
--they have many friendly monkeys. as one guide said, "we have natural medicines for not shitting, for shitting, and snakebite, but nothing for monkeys. monkey bite is normal"
--the guidebook said, talking politics can get not only you but also the locals you're speaking to in trouble. Some locals told me there are gov't spies all over, so you have to wait for the locals to know it's safe and bring up such subjects before talking.
--myanmar is the only country in SE asia were the majority of the population wear non-western clothes as part of their everyday dress as well as paint there faces
-cell phones are not allowed to be brought into the country by foreigners, not that is matters, as there is no cell providers in myanmar. They have pay phones that are monitored, and as aung san said, "approach the telephone with a prayer"
--rumors are the domestic airplane fleet has not been updated since the 50's, and as a yangon travel agent said, "air routes change in the air, that's how domestic we are"
--they tell you to wash your hands before sleeping so that the rats won't lick your fingers at night
--almost all of the busses and cars are world war II era (mostly japanese, but a few american jeeps). They drive on the right side of the road to protest the original british rule, but all their steering wheels are on the right side as they have japanese cars.
--the official exchange rate of dollars to kyat is 1 dollar =6 kyat. a cheap meal costs 1000 kyat...so what gives. The airport counter gives 400 kyat for 1 dollar, a local banks in yangon give 600 kyat for a dollar, the black market gives about 1100 to 1200 per dollar depending on who you go to. I tried to avoid the sketchy street people and went to the market shops
--the first country I have ever been where the locals liked bush. possibly b/c the news they get is definitely sensored. They said bush is a strong man and makes decisions. True I guess. Though they are all excited about obama too, what little they know
--I watched a news cast (they do have TV as of 3 years now). It was in burmese, but it was quite hilarious. All the stories were about opening new schools, new roads, new factories and showed a smiling happy militarry officer. Definitely an attempt to try and make them look good.
--the people said that the government is very scared of western nations especially america. Goes to show that the government isn't really that strong is they're so scared.
--the people really love americans. The most I would say of the countries. On treks with other nationalaties or when I was travelling with a canadian and a dutch guy for a while, the people would ask in burmese to our guide where we were from. You'd here him say, American, Holland, Canada. And they'd always reply back...ahh, america. felt kind of bad for the others. Asked some of the locals about it, and they said they really respect our country and power is important to them. Unfortunately they don't see many americans any more b/c unlike the other (already more wordly travelling countries of europe), we listened a little more to the boycott. I think it was more of a scare tactic thing though. I think most americans thought we were boycotting out of danger as opposed to financial reasons. So many people including my foreign vaccination doctor, eye doctor, and boss, said "promise me you won't go to myanmar" (I had my fingers crossed). Myanmar was actually the country I felt safest in of anyplace I've travelled besides canada. The people are incredibly nice, they don't appear overly concerned with wealth, thus stealing isn't an issue. And the government goes out of its way to make sure tourists are safe and happy b/c they want good press in the western world. In fact, the lake I went to, a westerner had drowned in, so tourists were no longer allowed to kayak by themselves. The road, unlike most asian countries is very safe b/c there are few cars and speeds are very, very slow. I think the danger would be if you joined in a protest against the government.
--if you go to some of the more off the beaten path areas, but still open to foreigners, the government often has a soldier shadow you.
-The capital as most people know it is Yangon (rangoon); however this year the gov't apparently moved the capital. Most people have no idea where it is, but a few of the more educated told me the vicinity they think it is in. I wonder how many western countries even know the capial has been moved. Speculation as to why the gov't moved the capital ranges from keeping the government away from the people (most likely) to the fact the new area as many caves (good hiding places as bin laden showed in case of an american attack), and that yangon is at sea level and with global warming will be underwater in the years to come.
-the people in myanmar treat you as a guest to their country as opposed to a dollar sign like the thais see you. I was often invited into their houses and even treated to meals at houses and at restaurants.
-other than the obvious block of email, information, etc, it was difficult to see that the people were suffering from a terrible gov't. In the areas I was visiting it just seemed more like a very poor country. However, once you get talking to the people you realize how oppressive the gov't is, and of course we're not even allowed in 80% of the country
-the people are deathly afraid of the gov't and will do anything it says, however.
-a priest I met told me that the gov't has no regard for human life and will kill at anything. They could care less about the average burmese. Interestingly, the catholic priests and some protestant ministers have had the best luck protesting the gov't. The buddhists monks often get shot. I wonder if this is because the major buddhist countries like thailand and china very much support myanmar b/c they make lots of money through trade with them, whereas christianity is alligned more with the western world. It seems like to me if there was a protest where 3000 priests were murdered for peaceful protests, there would be stronger reactions by western countries.
-the people either shower in the street from water they pump from wells or in the rivers or lakes
-at night the cities are nearly completely dark on the streets due to no electricity.
-the major ways the people get around is via walking, biking, ox cart, or horse cart
-the government only allows any person, taxi, bus, or the like to get 1 litre of gasoline a day, which means they buy it from a black market: people selling petrol from various waterbottles on the side of the road
-because of the trade embargo, american and western products such as coca cola and sprite are incredibly expensive as they are smuggled in.
-many movies are illegal in myanmar, including the newest rambo. If the locals watch this, they will get 5 years in a myanmar prison.
-on the roads, especially off the main tourists roads, there are outpost checks almost every 15 miles for both locals (ids) and tourists (passports)
-many movies are illegal in myanmar, including the newest rambo. If the locals watch this, they will get 5 years in a myanmar prison.
-on the roads, especially off the main tourists roads, there are outpost checks almost every 15 miles for both locals (ids) and tourists (passports)
Most powerful quote of my time there: "When is america going to help us. We have suffered enough. They help bring freedom to iraq and fought for democracy in other asian countries like korea and vietnam. All we want is a chance at freedom. America is are only chance"
-a monk
I had no answer for him, but likely b/c myanmar is not very important to us unfortunately for them (no oil, etc), and I think we are scared of what the world would think if we attempted another war in SE asia for democracy.
My trip:
day 1: flew into yangon after spending the night on the freezing marble floor of the bangkok airport. Met a french canadian and a "regular" canadian (actually harvard grad and ski bum at aspen for two years "it's like never neverland in aspen, I love it. Screw a harvard degree, I'm staying in aspen" on the plane. They napped out most of the afternoon. I walked around yangon and got a nice tour of several places by an aspiring teacher monk. I got to visit several of the master monks at his monastery and was invited to teach english the next day, but I had to decline as I was leaving
day 2: changed money at the black market and then bus tickets for the overnight bus trip that day. It left at 2pm and got into mandalay at 8am. On the busses they stop every 2 hours, even in the night, play chanting monks or karaoke the whole time. pretty interesting. On the bus we had 1 flat tire and 1 engine repair
day 3: arrived in mandalay at 8 in the morning. Taylor (the canadian) and I took a tour of 3 of the old cities surrounding mandalay. We did it in this cool tiny japanes pickup truck type thing. Visited Amarapura (worlds longest teak bridge), Sagaing (sagaing hill), Inwa/Ava (leaning tower), and of course lots of temples
day 4: biked around mandalay with taylor. He got kind of tired and went to take a nap, so it gave me more freedom to go farther and see more things I wanted to. Just a tiny bit on the outskirts of mandalay and I was already in villages and villages that obviously didn't see many white folk. I was buying something at one village, some fruit, and all the kids and women came to just kind of stare and point at me. In the outskirts it could smell quite terrible as they really had no sewage or anything like that and trash everywhere, but is was very unique to see this part of the city. In the city where there was more traffic, biking was quite fun. You just kind of weaved in and out of traffic as traffic was a mess. The city was set up in a grid like system by the briths with perpendicular avenues and streets (like manhattan), so there are lots and lots of 4 way intersections. But there are no stop signs or street lights. Basically what you do as a car or cyclist is just head right through without so much as slowing. You would think this would lead to lots and lots of accidents, but rather I never saw one, and not really any close calls either. Seems like the opposite of murphy's law applies here. At night we went to watch the moustache brothers. They are a group of 3 brothers who used to perform for the burmese, but they got in trouble for making jokes about the government and have been jailed 3 times. They are now under house arrest and can only perform to tourists in their house and their jokes have been considerably cut down (one of note: the huge tsunami wave that destroyed the thailand coast right next to myanmar, failed to even touch myanmar. the conclusion: the government has already destroyed myanmar enough, no need for a wave). They are very proud of a refrence to them by hugh grant in about a boy, where it mentions you can be jailed in myanmar for making jokes about the gov't.
day5: slow boat to bagan on the ayerwaddy river. took about 14 hours, but very cool. The stops at local villages along the way to let villagers on and off were fun and always a good way to get fresh food. I napped it out a bit on the deck with the locals
day 6: first time I have been sick in asia. A bit of the runs and a feeling of puking, but it only lasted until about 1pm. But b/c I was sick in the morning, instead of renting bikes, taylor and I took a horse cart around to view the temples. the cart was very comfortable and I was thankful for that, but after our lunch stop I was feeling much better, especially after I bought a $1.50 can of sprite, as momma would have liked. I later learned they have a ripoff version for 25 cents. watched a gorgeous sunset from one of the temples.
day 7: taylor was sick, but he just wanted to stay in bed, so I was able to go explore on bike the huge temple complex of bagan. There are about 4000 temples in a 42sq km radius. It's really quite amazing to see the whole valley full of temples from atop some of the taller temples. I enjoyed being by myself b/c I could bike fast and far and see almost the whole area in the day. Taylor is a bit more lazy and slow, so I wouldn't have been able to do it with him if he had been there. watched the sunset from the famous sunset pagoda
day 8: taylor was still a bit sick, but we got up early to watch the sunrise from a pagoda. Taylor went back to the room so I biked a bit more, then he came out for the afternoon. We found a nice deserted temple and read atop it and waited for the sunset. There are hardly any tourists in bagan even though it's a world famous site. Definitely way more temples than tourists, so you can always find a nice temple to yourself. Got a flat tire at the last temple, so I had to bike the 10km back home on the dusty road with a flat on a too small single speed bike. quite difficult.
day 9: bus to kalaw. leave at an annoying 3:30 am. Arrive around 4pm
day 10: Started a trek to Inle lake from kalaw with Harri the guide, Taylor, a german couple, and paulina a russian american (using her russian passport to get into myanmar). Stayed with a nice family at a cool little hilltribe village. Tons and tons of delicious food!!! walking along the way was nice as well watching the different types of tribes at work in the fields and on the trail. The night was completely freezing however. The terrain and vegetation was very similar to new mexico in the santa fe area.
day 11: trek to a monastery through lots of old "primitive" villages. Spent the night at monastery. Went to bed at 9pm to monks chanting and woke up at 4am to monks chanting.
Day12: Finish up the trek to inle lake. Drank and ate a ginormous coconut at the lake! From the lake to a boat to Nuangshwe on the other side of the lake. Took a sunset traditional canoe ride in the canals with taylor and paulina
Day 13: Taylor had to leave in the morning to make his way back to yangon for his flight (on traveling with Taylor: He was a nice guy, a bit lazy, and a bit negative at times. It was both a good thing and a not so good thing travelling with him. It was great to share costs of taxis, tours, hotels, boats with him which saved me quite a lot of money. Also nice to have someone to talk to, to share my amazement of the country, to discuss it's politics, etc with. Nice to have someone to eat with. Nice to have someone to deal with transport worries, logistics, etc. The not so good part was he slowed me down a bit. Not tons, but mainly during exploration stuff. He'd rather sit and drink while I wanted to do and see. Also we had different restraunt style tastes. Me cheap and local, him more expensive and westernish. In the end I think I was mostly happy I travelled with him as there were hardly any tourists and I would have been by myself most of the time, but it was nice when I did get back on my own. The reason I travelled with him so long is we met up on the taxi from the airport to yangon and shared a room. The thing about myanmar is since there is only a bit open for foreigners and almost a designed imposed tourist tract by the gov't, you can just say, hey I'm splitting and going this way to this place, see ya later.)
-Did a tour of inle lake with paulina on a longtail boat. Inle is quite cool b/c its a big town built on this lake with stilted buildings and floating gardens. We toured the market, floating gardens, weaving areas, blacksmiths, silver smiths, cigar makers (and of course tried a banana flavored one), long neck karen tribes (the ones featured in national geographic with the gold rings around their necks and stretched necks), jumping cat monastery (had cats that jumped through hoops). The fishers out netting fish had a unique style of rowing. They kept one foot on the boat, both hands on their nets, and rowed with their other foot using a thing paddle. quite the feet...err...feat. The boats and fisherman were beautiful sillouhetted against the rising and setting sun. Sometimes in the lake you'd see waterbuffalo swimming around. Inle lake reminded me of how the aztec capital of tenochtitlan must have been like. I remember learning about them in present day mexico city with the lake, floating gardens and all that...and even the terrain around here was like mexico.
Day 14: There was floating market on this day of the week, so Paulina and I took a longtail to it. Then I explored a bit of nuangshwe and it's market before taking a pickup to schwaungu junction and then hiring a car back to kalaw. Back at kalaw, I had my favorite drink yet, strawberry's ala kalaw at sam's restaraunt. His family and their little boy is also so amazing and they loved practicing english with me.
Day 15: Started a 2 day/1night trek in the kalaw area with guide rambo (harri's brother) and a dutch guy named phil. In many of the villages along the way, the locals would invite us in for tea and fruit. We stayed at a nepalese' house in a village high on a hill. They had amazing chapati and curry, delicious fruits, and very friendly cats
Day 16: The nepalese family gave me chai...and more chai...and more chai. I love it so much, especially the real stuff. We visited the house of a shaman (medicine man). He gave me some powder for my recent bee sting. Back in kalaw I went to a man's house who made local wine from grapes, plums, and grapefruits. A very nice man, and had actually met pope john paul. Probably a great experience for both of them, even for the pope to meet a burmese man. I bought a bottle of grape wine for $1.20. It was 750mL and bottle in an old myanmar rum bottle. The man gave me a present of a second bottle of plum wine and invited me for dinner.
Day 17: The family at the golden lilly guesthouse where I stayed and trekked with (brothers Rambo, Harri, Tony, and aunt and mom: all sieks (sp?)) were incredibly nice, knowledgeable, and welcoming. I had tipped both brothers for the treks (something the europeans and aussies despise americans for doing, but I thought they did a great job), and I also spent a lot of time talking with them b/c I thought they were great. When I left they gave me a going away gift of a ruby from the mine where their father works. Very generous of them! This day started a string of days of helacious travel, but perhaps the best times I had in myanmar. The plan as of that morning, the 26th of jan was to bus to meiktilla, catch the night bus there to pyay and then a quick bus to thandwe which is near Ngpali beach and be at the beach midday of the 27th. I would then have the rest of the 27th, most of the 28th (the last bus back to yangon leaves at 3pm) to hang at the beach. I would take the overnight bus on the 28th and arrive in yangon early on the 29th for my flight early on the 30th. But travel in myanmar is not like america...or europe...or even thailand. The roads are all single laned with patchings of pavement on them, but mostly ruts and dust. I waited at the bus stop in kalaw at 9 for the 9:30 bus. It didn't show until 11. Arrived in Meiktilla a mere 80 miles away at 3:30pm. It went over a beautiful but incredibly bumpy pass. The bus to pyay from meiktilla was supposed to pass through at 5:30pm. So I read my book and waited. The first bus (of 3 that come by), came at 6:30. It was scared to take a foreigner, so it wanted 3x too much money, so the woman who helps with the bus tickets, said no, we'd wait for the next one. The next one absolutely wouldn't take a foreigner. The last one broke down halfway there so a new bus had to be sent. It arrive around 10:30pm. In the meantime I had eaten with a very nice burmese man having curry and lots of la'pezi (the yummy tea with milk and sugar...in burma chinese/burmese tea is given for free at every place for an unlimited amount, but for a little money you can get chai like la'pezi). The restaraunt was showing iron man, which we watched for a bit until power was cut. Well because the bus from meiktilla left at 10:30 instead of 5:30, I arrived at 8am and thus missed the 6am bus to tangou. The next bus to tangou wouldn't leave until 5:30pm and apparently took 12 hours and didn't go directly to thandwe, so I was a bit perplexed. I thought about just spending the night in pyay and going back to yangon in the morning. But I don't give up easily on things and asked around and found out a tourist bus from yangon passes through pyay quickly on a passport check bridge and I could maybe get a seat there and go direct to thandwe and the the beach. At this point I was pretty exhausted from a crammed overnight bus. I was incredibly dirty. There is no A/C so the windows are open and hordes of dust comes in, so much you get covered in cm's of it and your lungs ache. I started walking around pyay to check out the river and some sights. A nice boy came up to practice english and we walked around together. On top of a hill with a pagoda some monks invited me in for tea and biscuits. It was a great town, no other tourists, and my guess is hardly any tourists ever visit b/c it's kind of in the middle of nowhere and most people go direct from yangon and by pass it when going to the beach. All the locals loved to look at me, smile at me, and just kind of stare in amusement, and often would come up to squeeze my biceps. Apparently they all think I'm very strong in myanmar (I can assure you I am not, I have not swum or done any arm things for a while...I can only imagine what they would think of conrands huge cannons he carries around!) After that we were on the way walking to the boys house to get his bicycle so he could bike me to the bus station to see if there were any way of getting advanced tickets when I stumbled upon a catholic church. I always like to take a look when I see one to see when mass is b/c you hardly see any in asia. As I was looking at the church 3 very jolly priests came running over greeting me. An italian man was with him from a church in italy who was helping this church as kind of a sister church and was here helping to build stuff or something. They were getting ready to go out for some errands, but they welcomed me into their quarters and gave me a towel and a place to shower, which was great, b/c I was basically brown with dust. After the shower I headed out to check out the major pagoda there up on a hill. As I was beginning the descent back down, I saw two men running up the stairs. It was two of the priests, and they had driven their moto to the bus station and ended up getting me a ticket that would get me to thandwe quicker, but it left sooner than the one I was going to be on. They wouldn't let me pay for the ticket, which was 10 dollars (quite expensive for the burmese) The poor guys had run around town up up the temple to find me. It was easy tracking me down though since I was the only foreigner in the town, minus the italian missionary guy, and as the priests are well dressed, the locals they asked feared they were the police, so they were quick to give info. The priests drove me back to the church to get my stuff and then to the bus station, which was nice since it was 3km out. Of course, as is the case in myanmar, the bus was very late. The priests bought me dinner and then got three pitchers of beer, one for each of us. Imagine that some of the most I've drank on this trip was with two priests!! The bus finally showed up several hours late and I hopped on board. Right before I left one of the priests ran up with 3 liters of water and some snacks for my journey. Just incredibly nice men! I kept expecting them to make like a donation pitch or something, but none at all, just being very kind to a tired traveller.
The road from Pyay to Tangou is very windy, through some jungle and over a mountain pass. If this tells you anything about it, it's 97 miles between the two towns, but it took 13, yes 1-3 hours to get there. I'm most certain I could bike there quicker!! Lonely planet says this about the route. "Only the heartiest travellers travel to/from here by bus. From Yangon, the ride goes over the mountains to Tangou. The 18-20 hour route between tangou and yangon via pyayhas the reputation of being the hardest, bounciest, most stomach churning trip in myanmar. One traveller from Switzerland said, 'it was worse than training camp for the swiss army' One local complained about bags of dried fish filling the aisles and floors and left it: 'my daughter will vomit all night'. the busses hand out vomit bags. The roughest part, between taungou and pyay, winds mercilessly in the arakan mountains at night, when most passengers close up the windows for the cold keeping the fish stench contained" And this is talking about the ride from yangon to tangou which is flat to pyay, I had just come over 2 mountain passes the day before. So I guess I can now be considered a hardy traveller. I didn't get sick on the bus, though lots of people did throw up, in fact I even read a bit. I guess i'm just used to mtn passes from CO. But believe me, I've had my days of vomitting on winding roads. I still feel sorry for the poor guy in the big thompson canyon where Jake O'dell, Byron Dill, and myself used to make frequent stops to puke on the way to early morning swimmeats on loveland and ft. collins when we were mere otters. The bus was incredibly uncomfortable, and I got little sleep. The bus was filled with cargo, so the distance from the seat to the "floor" the sacks of vegetables or fish or whatever was only 6 inches, and sitting like that my knees were slammed against the seat in front of me. It was definitely a grinding ride. And of course we had to stop continually for passport checks, the bus broke down once and had two flats. Which means I of course got into tangou much later than expected. I got in at 8am.
Day 18: From tangou to thandwe (the town of Ngpali beach) takes 4 hours by bus and the next bus was supposed to leave at 10, which meant best case scenario I get in at 2, giving me an hour to catch the bus back to yangon, not exactly much time for swimming and enjoying the beach. So I shelled out some extra cash to take a moto, especially since I figured the bus would be late anyways in which case I'd miss my bus to yangon and thus flight to bangkok. The moto guy said he could get me there by 10:30. Semi joking, but not, really, just knowing how transport is here, I said that if I wasn't to the beach by 11, he wouldn't get paid. Apparently he actually understood it, and was followed was 3 hours of the most exciting, scary six flags thrill ride...except that it was real. I had my large backpack on, holding onto the back of this motorbike. I often found myself completely airborn on the bike, just barely holding on as we went over potholes, elevated bridges, etc. Thank God my backpack has a suspension sytem that works with the body or I would have had trouble staying on witht he backpacks inertia too. The first 30 minutes was very scary, and my hands hurt they clenched so tight, but after a while I settled in, remembered to just flow with the bike like mountain biking, and it became a much more relaxing ride. We nearly made it by 11 and we would have if he hadn't gotten in trouble for being outside his zone without ID (a costly 5 dollar fine on a 16 dollar motorbike ride), but I still paid him. It was a bit past 11 and I was all excited to hit the famed pristine and empy Npali beach, but I decided first to book my bus ticket for 3 with a guesthouse before going swimming. Well all 3 companies were booked solid for 3pm. I was beginning to worry now. I told them I'd sit on the floor, on the top, whatever b/c I needed to go to get to yangon in time. It was past the time you could reschedule an air asia flight, so I would have had to pay an expensive 200 bucks to book a new flight. After asking some help from the locals nearby I was able to secure a spot in the aisle of a local bus. Unfortuanately it left at 12:30pm, so by the time I got it all sorted out, I had only 5 minutes on the beach. It was gorgeous and empty though, and I wished I could have stayed as the thailand beaches I hear are crazy full of people. And what was nearly as bad was I was about to embark back to yangon via the same road through pyay for my THIRD overnight bus in a row. So I must have looked something fierce to the locals. Covered in dust, smelly, not having slept for several nights as I was on completely uncomfortable overnight busses (even the nice busses headrests come up to about my lower shoulder so it's difficult to sleep b/c you can't but your head back. In the aisles, they set up these tiny seats which reach about midback height. I sat next to a very nice man from pyay. He was actually a baptist minister but had grown up in the family business of catching elephants. Now, however, there are hardly any elephants, and he wants to work in something environmental related as well as ministering. On overnight busses you make several stops for food and snacks and bathrooms. I only had the equivalent of 4 dollars in kyat left as I hadn't expected the expensive moto ride, and you're basically forced to guess how much kyat you need early in the trip when you're at the blackmarket, b/c rates elsewhere are terrible, and if you have extra kyat, there's nothing you can do with it, no way to get dollars back. But 4 would be plenty b/c guesthouses and taxis in yangon take dollars. But b/c of that I just got a very small snack, so I'd have money to eat the next day. The minister questioned this, and I told him why. And against my protesting, he bought me a huge meal and some tea, and then as he got off the bus for his stop in pyay (I was going on to yangon on the same bus), he dropped the equivalent of 18 dollars in my lap in kyat and ran off before I could give it to him. Yet another amazing individual from myanmar. The new guy I sat next to was also very nice and helped me get the local price for a taxi when we finally got to the yangon bus station.
Day 19: Finally after 20 hours we reached yangon. There were two other westerners on the bus, Johnny and Helen from the UK and we shared a taxi. They were splurging on a nicer hotel with hot water and electricity after their travels in myanmar. When I got into yangon I took a quick shower, but then went out to explore the city and eat some fresh fruit. explored china town and the infamous shwedagon pagoda. There was a movie, eagle eye, playing at the theater that night, so I caught the late showing (only 80 cents) with the wine I had left over and a myanmar beer with the last of my kyats and relaxed in my last night in myanmar
Day 20: flew to BKK. Flight was quite delayed as it was very foggy and they probably have limited radar at the airport. It's a huge airport, but only a few flights a day come in and out.
Day 21: I was there 21 days, so I must have missed one somewhere...oh well!
So final impressions of Myanmar: incredibly difficult transportation, especially compared to thailand; scenery and activities not near as good as thailand, but the people and the culture were amazing!! The people were so genuine and caring. And it was great to see what SE asia was like 50 or 60 years ago. Because of all that...I loved it there...and the difficult transport I think made it better b/c it gave me a better chance to meet and experience the people of myanmar and bond with the very few foreigners there.
The road from Pyay to Tangou is very windy, through some jungle and over a mountain pass. If this tells you anything about it, it's 97 miles between the two towns, but it took 13, yes 1-3 hours to get there. I'm most certain I could bike there quicker!! Lonely planet says this about the route. "Only the heartiest travellers travel to/from here by bus. From Yangon, the ride goes over the mountains to Tangou. The 18-20 hour route between tangou and yangon via pyayhas the reputation of being the hardest, bounciest, most stomach churning trip in myanmar. One traveller from Switzerland said, 'it was worse than training camp for the swiss army' One local complained about bags of dried fish filling the aisles and floors and left it: 'my daughter will vomit all night'. the busses hand out vomit bags. The roughest part, between taungou and pyay, winds mercilessly in the arakan mountains at night, when most passengers close up the windows for the cold keeping the fish stench contained" And this is talking about the ride from yangon to tangou which is flat to pyay, I had just come over 2 mountain passes the day before. So I guess I can now be considered a hardy traveller. I didn't get sick on the bus, though lots of people did throw up, in fact I even read a bit. I guess i'm just used to mtn passes from CO. But believe me, I've had my days of vomitting on winding roads. I still feel sorry for the poor guy in the big thompson canyon where Jake O'dell, Byron Dill, and myself used to make frequent stops to puke on the way to early morning swimmeats on loveland and ft. collins when we were mere otters. The bus was incredibly uncomfortable, and I got little sleep. The bus was filled with cargo, so the distance from the seat to the "floor" the sacks of vegetables or fish or whatever was only 6 inches, and sitting like that my knees were slammed against the seat in front of me. It was definitely a grinding ride. And of course we had to stop continually for passport checks, the bus broke down once and had two flats. Which means I of course got into tangou much later than expected. I got in at 8am.
Day 18: From tangou to thandwe (the town of Ngpali beach) takes 4 hours by bus and the next bus was supposed to leave at 10, which meant best case scenario I get in at 2, giving me an hour to catch the bus back to yangon, not exactly much time for swimming and enjoying the beach. So I shelled out some extra cash to take a moto, especially since I figured the bus would be late anyways in which case I'd miss my bus to yangon and thus flight to bangkok. The moto guy said he could get me there by 10:30. Semi joking, but not, really, just knowing how transport is here, I said that if I wasn't to the beach by 11, he wouldn't get paid. Apparently he actually understood it, and was followed was 3 hours of the most exciting, scary six flags thrill ride...except that it was real. I had my large backpack on, holding onto the back of this motorbike. I often found myself completely airborn on the bike, just barely holding on as we went over potholes, elevated bridges, etc. Thank God my backpack has a suspension sytem that works with the body or I would have had trouble staying on witht he backpacks inertia too. The first 30 minutes was very scary, and my hands hurt they clenched so tight, but after a while I settled in, remembered to just flow with the bike like mountain biking, and it became a much more relaxing ride. We nearly made it by 11 and we would have if he hadn't gotten in trouble for being outside his zone without ID (a costly 5 dollar fine on a 16 dollar motorbike ride), but I still paid him. It was a bit past 11 and I was all excited to hit the famed pristine and empy Npali beach, but I decided first to book my bus ticket for 3 with a guesthouse before going swimming. Well all 3 companies were booked solid for 3pm. I was beginning to worry now. I told them I'd sit on the floor, on the top, whatever b/c I needed to go to get to yangon in time. It was past the time you could reschedule an air asia flight, so I would have had to pay an expensive 200 bucks to book a new flight. After asking some help from the locals nearby I was able to secure a spot in the aisle of a local bus. Unfortuanately it left at 12:30pm, so by the time I got it all sorted out, I had only 5 minutes on the beach. It was gorgeous and empty though, and I wished I could have stayed as the thailand beaches I hear are crazy full of people. And what was nearly as bad was I was about to embark back to yangon via the same road through pyay for my THIRD overnight bus in a row. So I must have looked something fierce to the locals. Covered in dust, smelly, not having slept for several nights as I was on completely uncomfortable overnight busses (even the nice busses headrests come up to about my lower shoulder so it's difficult to sleep b/c you can't but your head back. In the aisles, they set up these tiny seats which reach about midback height. I sat next to a very nice man from pyay. He was actually a baptist minister but had grown up in the family business of catching elephants. Now, however, there are hardly any elephants, and he wants to work in something environmental related as well as ministering. On overnight busses you make several stops for food and snacks and bathrooms. I only had the equivalent of 4 dollars in kyat left as I hadn't expected the expensive moto ride, and you're basically forced to guess how much kyat you need early in the trip when you're at the blackmarket, b/c rates elsewhere are terrible, and if you have extra kyat, there's nothing you can do with it, no way to get dollars back. But 4 would be plenty b/c guesthouses and taxis in yangon take dollars. But b/c of that I just got a very small snack, so I'd have money to eat the next day. The minister questioned this, and I told him why. And against my protesting, he bought me a huge meal and some tea, and then as he got off the bus for his stop in pyay (I was going on to yangon on the same bus), he dropped the equivalent of 18 dollars in my lap in kyat and ran off before I could give it to him. Yet another amazing individual from myanmar. The new guy I sat next to was also very nice and helped me get the local price for a taxi when we finally got to the yangon bus station.
Day 19: Finally after 20 hours we reached yangon. There were two other westerners on the bus, Johnny and Helen from the UK and we shared a taxi. They were splurging on a nicer hotel with hot water and electricity after their travels in myanmar. When I got into yangon I took a quick shower, but then went out to explore the city and eat some fresh fruit. explored china town and the infamous shwedagon pagoda. There was a movie, eagle eye, playing at the theater that night, so I caught the late showing (only 80 cents) with the wine I had left over and a myanmar beer with the last of my kyats and relaxed in my last night in myanmar
Day 20: flew to BKK. Flight was quite delayed as it was very foggy and they probably have limited radar at the airport. It's a huge airport, but only a few flights a day come in and out.
Day 21: I was there 21 days, so I must have missed one somewhere...oh well!
So final impressions of Myanmar: incredibly difficult transportation, especially compared to thailand; scenery and activities not near as good as thailand, but the people and the culture were amazing!! The people were so genuine and caring. And it was great to see what SE asia was like 50 or 60 years ago. Because of all that...I loved it there...and the difficult transport I think made it better b/c it gave me a better chance to meet and experience the people of myanmar and bond with the very few foreigners there.
