Our German friend Jorg whom we met on Mo Ku Surin convinced
us that we really shouldn’t miss going to Myanmar. He argued passionately that
the most wonderful aspects of the country would be dramatically different in
the coming years and certainly by the next time we would have a chance to
return. He had been to Myanmar twelve times.
He shared pictures and stories of his experiences there and graciously offered
us travel advice. We were able to change our flight to Indonesia at no extra
cost and so the decision was final, off to Myanmar! Oh if it was only that
easy! We ended up going to the wrong airport in Bangkok (D’oh!) and found out
the airport we to leave from was 45 minutes to an hour away. Our flight was
scheduled to leave in one hour. We caught the airport shuttle and made it to
the doors of the building at the very minute our flight was supposed to take
off. Our only hope was that the flight was delayed, which it was but only by 5
minutes. We decided to run for it, and run we did with our ridiculously large
bags through security and the airport to our gate which, to our amazed relief,
was still boarding. In general in life, I use the term “Christmas miracle” a
lot. I use it throughout the year whenever something really wonderful and
unlikely happens to us, but this being the 23rd of December; it was a much more
appropriate use of the phrase :)
We flew into Yangon, the former capitol of Myanmar and the
current economic and trading capitol of the country. We had a day to see some
sights around the city prior to jumping on a night bus and heading to Mandalay.
We visited the Shwedagon Pagoda, a site that every Buddhist in Myanmar hopes to
one day visit. It’s famous because it allegedly holds 7 hairs from the Buddha’s
head. However, like many of the temples in Thailand, the pagoda had been
restored with gold plating, gaudy tiles and neon flashing lights which is uninspiring
to say the least. However, we could appreciate the site for other aspects of
its historical significance, as many anti-government protests and speeches took
place there. The most impressive thing about Yangon was our introduction to the people of Myanmar. Even in the city, both the men and women wear the traditional longyi, a long piece of cloth that is tied around the waist somewhat like a sarong. Their faces are often painted with the yellow Thanaka powder and it seemed like the majority had red-stained, broken teeth from the regular use of chewing betel nut.
On Christmas Eve into Christmas day we were on an overnight
bus to Mandalay. The bus was crowded and cold. With a long sleeve shirt, a wool
shirt, a fleece, a jacket, a hat, a scarf, and a blanket on I thought I may freeze to death.
(Felicia, it was ten times colder than Fox Auditorium if you can believe it.)
Needless to say, we didn’t sleep much between shivering and worrying about the
possibility of our fingers and toes falling off.
Christmas morning we arrived in Mandalay. We spent the next
few days visiting sites including the famous U Bein Bridge. We got
On the morning we were scheduled to take a boat to Bagan, I
woke up at 2AM with severe food poisoning. I was so grateful that it hit me
prior to getting on the boat. Tony took care of me as I lay in bed all day,
unable to move. He even brought me flowers from a lady who kindly informed him
they were used for Buddhist offerings. The hotel staff all giggled when they
saw him walk in with the flowers, and later, a giant green coconut to help me rehydrate.
The next day we were able to make the boat trip happen. We
were on the boat to Bagan all day on the 28th of December, Tony’s 40th
birthday. It was very interesting to travel down the river, sneaking glimpses
of the fisherman’s lives and their villages along the way. Many of the
fisherman were living in tents and huts on the shore, washing clothes and
bathing in the river. Often there would not be another dwelling in site, only
sand for miles and miles. Small farms
dotted the countryside as we neared the outskirts of the city.
Bagan was the capital of the Kingdom of Pagan, the region
that is currently Myanmar, from the 9th to 13th centuries. Bagan lies in an
arid plain on the banks of the Irrawaddy River. The area is an archeological
zone with no less than 2,000 scattered temples adorning the horizon. Our
favorite temples were the more obscure smaller temples with narrow dark
stairwells that twisted and turned until we would end up on the top of the
pagoda with another spectacular view that we would often have all to ourselves.
We spent three days riding bicycles around the sandy roads that connect the
temples. One of the days we decided to go a little farther and decided to try
the very popular E-bikes that were available for rent. It was fun but we decided
that we actually preferred the romantic and authentic feeling of riding to and
around the temples by good old fashioned bicycles.
Myanmar has a very strong Buddhist culture. Most of the
people practice Theravada Buddhism.
However, there is also a mix of spirit
worship and Buddhism that is evident in much of the art, architecture, and
religious ceremonies throughout the country. The spirit worship usually
involves worshipping nats, which were originally animistic but evolved into a
spirit that may hold dominion over a place. From our understanding, they are
often the spirits of deceased humans, often former kings. There are 37 of them
altogether. They are considered to have human characteristics and flaws they
exhibited in life and are worshipped, feared and called upon for assistance in
earthly pursuits. I read one story about a nat that was famous for his
indulgence in intoxicants. When the people worship this nat they channel the
spirit by drinking lots of alcohol, smoking cigarettes, and dancing. In the
11th century, King Anawrahta tried to abolish nat worship, but then conceded
that the people would not let the practice go and incorporated it into the
framework of the Buddhist religion.
Cleverly, he borrowed Indra from Hinduism as “the king of the Nats”, and
invoked ancient stories about Indra bowing to the Buddha to set the hierarchy
in place. The effort was very successful. To this day, nats are still actively
worshipped, but the Buddha and the Dharma are the pinnacle of religious thought
among these followers.
After visiting Bagan, we took a bus to Kalaw in the Shan
State. The bus was again very overcrowded with some of the locals even sitting
on plastic chairs down the aisle between the seats. We used Kalaw as our jumping off point for a
trek to Inle Lake. We joined a few other European couples and set off for our
two day, one night trek. We walked in and among Pa-O villages, getting a chance
to witness the simplicity of village life.
The Pa-O are one of the hundred distinct ethnic groups in the country.
They wear long black pants and shirts, and the women also wear colorful turbans
and large earrings. Throughout the trek we witnessed the use of traditional
farming tools and cookware. The scenery was a nice composition of rich
farmland, Shan mountains, and rolling green hills. In a country with thousands of brick/stone
religious structures, the homes were made out of bamboo with thatched roofs and
walls. Many of them were leaning so much it looked as if they would fall down
at any moment, yet they were still inhabited.
Every few years, walls and roofs are completely replaced around existing
foundations, as they don’t hold up very well to the weather.
Early on in our hike it became evident how remote the
village we were visiting really was. We were visiting a small schoolhouse when
one of the two teachers went unconscious in the yard outside. Apparently she
had been unconscious for several minutes before we were called to help.
I could tell her blood pressure was very low from her weak,
thready pulse and her cold extremities, but she was breathing and acyanotic
(not blue). I asked the men to help me move her to one of the two desks, which
consisted of a few pieces of plywood fastened together with a gap down the
middle. I made sure her feet were elevated, checked her pupils using the LCD
screen from our camera, continued checking her respirations and pulse, splashed
water on her, and tried to rouse her any way I could. She was still out. What
to do next?
Nothing, I didn’t have any of my fancy machines, or even a
blood pressure cuff that I am used to having in the intensive care unit. I
realized how dependent I am on these things to be a good nurse. Fortunately,
she woke up after what seemed to be an hour, but really was probably more like 15
to 20 minutes. I was so grateful to not have to do CPR in the middle of the
schoolhouse with all the innocent children’s faces peering through the windows
and doors. I had asked the other teacher to move the kids outside so I could
raise the unconscious teacher’s shirt, but there was no way to actually have
privacy in a building without doors or windows that would close.
After she woke, I tried to assess her level of consciousness
by asking her some orientation questions with our guide translating. His knowledge
of the teacher’s dialect, as well as of English was not very strong. With the broken translation I still could not
determine for sure whether she was oriented or not. She finally remained awake
long enough to take a few sips of juice but she was still very lethargic.
She didn’t want to go to the doctor, and I did my best to
encourage her to seek further care. When I finally felt comfortable enough for
us to leave, a local medical man was rolling up on his motorbike and her mother
was coming to pick her up to take her by motorbike to the nearest doctor, an
hour away.
I wondered what kind of means they would have to do testing.
She had indicated she had had “dizziness” in the past, but to what degree? She
was so young. She looked like she was 18 but in all likelihood she was probably
in her 20s. Later, I tried to ask our guide to check on her by phone to see how
she was doing but he told me “not to worry, she is fine.”
The hike continued through a few more villages, in which all
of the people were conscious :) Oh,
except one, a dead monk whose body was being displayed in an ornately decorated
glass case outside of a monastery for one month so that people could come and
pay their respects.
The last village we came to was our favorite. We hiked out
of the way to go and visit and for this reason the village didn’t get many
visitors from the West. They were genuinely interested in meeting us, sharing
their homes, and introducing us to their families. Our guide didn’t speak the
language of the people so we couldn’t really have conversations, but their
curiosity was very sweet and we still found it a very enriching experience.
Inle Lake (pronounced like inlay) was also a wonderful
cultural experience. The lake is beautiful in and of itself but the life
surrounding the lake is really incredible. Around the lake, the tribespeople
live in wooden huts situated on bamboo stilts. The people travel by boat for
everything. You see boats full of produce, livestock, and any kind supply you
could imagine. Inle is in regular use with people bathing, brushing their
teeth, and drinking right from its waters. Around the lake you can see floating
islands of crop fields, or floating gardens. The floating crops and water
hyacinth create a maze of small waterways around the periphery of the lake.
The
Intha fishermen are seen in small wooden boats, using their special technique
of stand-up paddling with one of their legs while using the other to balance on
the stern. This technique allows the fisherman to use their hands for other
things like casting nets
and also allows them to have better visualization
through the more intricate waterways of the lake. The area is also famous for
the Intha fishermen’s use of conical shaped nets.
and also allows them to have better visualization
through the more intricate waterways of the lake. The area is also famous for
the Intha fishermen’s use of conical shaped nets.
I already mentioned that we had mixed emotions about going
to Myanmar. I decided to read more about the history of Myanmar while we were
travelling through the country. Ironically, I tried to purchase different books
on my Kindle while we were in Thailand, but Amazon told me that because of my
country of origin being the U.S.A. I was not authorized to purchase any books
about Myanmar. I found this very strange. I would have expected not to be able
to buy these books while in Myanmar, but why is Amazon censoring my reading
material? Anyway, after much pursuit I found a bookstore in Bangkok where I
found several books about Myanmar, and decided upon The River of Lost Footsteps
by Thant Myint-U. Reading this book greatly enriched my experience in Myanmar
and made me feel better about travelling through the country. Many argue that
to travel in Myanmar is to support the military regime that is their
government. While I understand this point of view and also agree with it in
some respect, I also must agree with Myint-U, who makes a strong argument for
why it is necessary for Myanmar to be opened and exposed to other cultures. He
blames the isolation of Myanmar from the international community for the
persistent hardships; consistent warfare, poverty, dictatorship and oppression,
that the country endures.
“When General Ne Win came to power in 1962, there were
military regimes everywhere in Asia. The difference between the Burmese military
regime and its counterparts in South Korea, Thailand, and Indonesia is not that
the Burmese regime had been any more repressive, but that the others had
trusted in technocrats, presided over long periods of economic growth, and
allowed for the development of civil society. All these things were possible
because these countries were not isolated from the international community, and
because trade and tourism strengthened rather than weakened the hand of those
who eventually demanded political change. If Thailand and Indonesia had been
under U.S. and European sanctions the past twenty years, they would not be
democracies today.”
allowed for the development of civil society. All these things were possible
because these countries were not isolated from the international community, and
because trade and tourism strengthened rather than weakened the hand of those
who eventually demanded political change. If Thailand and Indonesia had been
under U.S. and European sanctions the past twenty years, they would not be
democracies today.” We spent Christmas, Tony’s 40th birthday, our 2nd anniversary, and New Year’s in Myanmar. We decided that we would postpone these celebrations until we made it to Bali where we could lie on a beach and eat better food. Although we had a wonderful experience travelling and learning more about the Burmese culture, Myanmar just didn’t seem like the place to celebrate, particularly because we were suffering from food borne illness during so many of these occasions and could barely eat or drink for several days. Myanmar cuisine is incredibly unique and a little hard to get used to, especially after being sick from it once. Even just walking down the street, there is a permeating stench of fish sauce mixed with oils and strong spices everywhere you go. The odor just adds more to the amazing wonder that is Myanmar, a place that makes you feel like you have really stepped back in time.
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