Advertisement
Published: February 14th 2009
Edit Blog Post
Besides aged reclining chairs which kept coming unattached and juddering across the floor- occasionally rotating 180 degrees and trying not to play accidental footsie with the two monks opposite us, the night train to Bagan was perfect, you arrive early in the morning thus saving a night's accommodation and after check-in you are ready to explore the vast plain of temples ( at its peak some 4446 sites). We hired a horse and cart for the day - the advantage being that the driver knows his way around plus some quiet spots, but we found in following days that hiring bikes gives more autonomy. Bagan rightly attracts a lot of tourists, particularly the big tour groups and as ever this means that you get a lot of fortune seekers trying to sell their amazing art. There are also a lot of small children who know a few words that they use to ask for stuff. Besides the usual pen, sweets, there was a surprise: shampoo??!
On the first day seeking refuge from gangs of marauding kids used to rich French tour groups (bon bon? stylo?) in a small place called Myinkaba, between Old and New Bagan we walked into a lovely
vegetarian restaurant for a refreshment. Things immediately looked up as we got talking to the chef and her son- the boy's English was amazing and he was very clever. We felt really welcome and promised to come back the next day for lunch and maybe a game of football with the 12 year old. We kept our promise and the next day had more great chats and some great food. The father was there as well this time and after lunch the family took us by surprise by inviting us to the restaurant that evening. It was a fairly typical Burmese story of helping each other out. A chef friend of theirs who specialised in Chinese food had recently been laid off by the hotel he worked in - to help him out they had hired him to give them weekly Chinese cookery lessons. We were invited to come back and share in these Chinese delights. The evening was a great success even though the kid had cheated his way to football victory (according to Eric). We again were humbled by the strength and hospitality of the Burmese. Not only did we have great food but they were just very
happy to talk and when we left they plied us with gifts. The trip back that night on our bikes took us along beautifully lit temples. We surprised them the next day by having lunch (and insisting to pay this time!) and a new football for the boy (it was the old ball's fault that Eric lost!) along with a photo we had developed from the previous evening of them standing proudly outside their restaurant, which took pride of place on their wall.
That evening it was back to the south by bus. The plan was to go to Kyaktiyo via Bago (a bit north of Yangon) but somehow we missed our stop and ended up in Yangon around 4.30 am. We were both convinced we were in Bago and keen to get a lift to the centre. Whenever we talked to anyone, be it a shop owner or taxi driver, on how to get to the centre of Bago there was confusion and it took about 15 mins to work out we were in fact in Yangon not Bago! As we had agreed to join in on an english class the next day we decided to just stay in
Yangon and take it easy.
The class was great, a real mishmash of people, young and old, monks and university students, Muslim and Buddhist. And joining us on stage were three English guys who looked like a boy band looking for inspiration abroad....After an intense Q& A session with the 5 foreigners on a stage we all spread out to face more questions ranging from very funny to really difficult without nary a flinch...”Do you love your husband? What is your definition of love? Why does England make it so hard for us to get visas? What do you think of the different management styles and tactics of Arsene Wenger and Alex Ferguson? (this one to Zoe who of course cruised it...)..
We were sad to leave them and not cheered up much by the knowledge that we were leaving Myanmar the next morning early. That evening back in the hotel we had one more encounter to remember and that was the hotel's manager. The menu stated that prices can change anytime due to inflation. Eric asked the manager what a typical level of inflation was and this man took all the time in the world to talk to us
about the history, current situation - he had a fascinating past and had lived in London for a while - and he eventually also answered the question on inflation. A good indicator of this was the fact that when he was a teenager (now early forties) one longyi (skirt) was less than one Kyat, also one dollar equalled about 6 Kyat. A longyi now was around 3000 Kyat with the dollar at around 1200 Kyat. Oh and as we went to bed he handed us a framed photo of the hotel for remembrance...to add to our treasure trove of gifts from the Burmese.
we knew that Myanmar was a beautiful country with many amazing natural and spiritual places but we were amazed by the warmth and generosity of the Burmese people. We left with so much - conversations about Buddhism, meditation, about respect and society, about money, marriage, consumerism, inflation and the merits of Burmese cuisine and culture. Loads of laughs - many on us and an enormous respect for the people. We'd decided before we went to never raise the political situation in conversations for fear of causing problems for people but it was often raised by those
we spoke to. Whether it was a sporadic conversation held in quiet moments on a long journey, a snatched word over a handshake goodbye or a whispered talk, we met people whose human rights, whose freedom of travel, talk and belief are being brutally suppressed, along with their access to decent jobs, health care and education.
We were told of people being taken off the streets or at night to jail, of members of families rotting in prisons or having been shot, of visits by the police and long interrogations, post and communications being monitored, businesses being arbitrarily closed or relocated on the wishes of an army official. We were occasionally followed by snoops and spies. And we had a very depressing conversation with an advisor to the UN who believed it was time for the world to educate the generals in financial management in order to help alleviate the poverty of the people. His realpolitik argument was that Myanmar won't ever get the democracy it is crying out for so the world might as well accept the generals, who, in his opinion are just trying to keep the country together but lack financial and economic nous.
And sometimes we
had very funny crossed wires. 'Is it a busy year for you?'asked Eric of one youngish hostel worker. 'Hmmm still busy but last year and '88 were busier' he replied. Clearly not talking about tourism as Eric's question was intended but of active years for democracy fighters.
Like Malawi - which couldn't be more different apart from endemic corruption- Myanmar caught us somehow and we very much hope to be back in a couple of years. In the meantime we continue to think of our friends there and the people and hope for change. (oh and Zoe continues to listen to the Burmese pop music a friend helped her choose - much to Eric's horror - R Zarni rocks! ).
Advertisement
Tot: 0.118s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 11; qc: 71; dbt: 0.0714s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb