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Published: October 16th 2008
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Transport in Myanmar counts as one of the worst on the globe. Therefore the plan was right from the beginning to travel only short distances and few places. The run down taxis in Yangon give the first impression, later the old Japanese government and school buses. Travel speed with buses is around 40-50 km/h and the train manages modest 25 km/h. This can be less on bad roads or minor train lines with the vehicle been filled up to the roof. We took a new express bus to Mandalay, that managed the 250 km distance in fast 6.5 hours and jumped straight onto a shared taxi to reach our final destination Ping U Lin - a former British hillside station. The last travel leg was very fast since the road is part of the famous Burma road system built during Worldwar II. It connects directly to Kuming in China, newly upgraded to tar road by the Chinese with a modern toll system for money collection and return of invest. We arrived almost at sunset and choose some quiet accommodation in a bungalow. We could even reduce the price since the renovation was just finished the same day and it needed open
windows to dry the partially wet paint. It was easily understandable why the British came here. We needed fleeces at chilly 16-20 C in the evening. The city is a network of winding roads along old colonial style villas with a more dread full looking city center of Indian origin. We spent one full day enjoying the green landscape and botanical garden by bicycle. Afternoon rain surprised us in the gardens and we looked lazy out of the spacious former British club. It felt like in times 100 years ago with a huge billiards table next to us as described in the novel Burmese days of George Orwell.
We asked at the guesthouse for transportation to the Shan district capital of Hsipaw and got the usual answer that everything starts at 6 AM. I could not believe this and inquired for more information until the frustrated guest house owner switched to perfect Japanese to clarify faster with Yuki. It turned out that he had lived 10 years in Japan, worked in Yangon and did the guest house as a side business and was at site to supervise renovation.
The next morning we were woken up by the guesthouse
people at 5 am with a full breakfast. Again we experienced the perfect service including a free transfer on two motorbikes to the bus station. Actually the bus was a shared pick up packed to roof with goods and enough space with squeeze in 6 passengers. Leg room zero! Fortunately the whole trip was only 3.5 hours. The landscape changed again and we arrived in a green valley with rice fields and hills around. Hsipaw is a local Shan chieftain in the Shan state. I knew it from a biography written by Inge Sargent, the Austrian wife of the last Shan chief. He disappeared in prison after the military take over. The Shan are more close to Thai people and tradition and one of the many tribes that form the Union of Myanmar. We enjoyed some change in Shan/Chinese cuisine to the Burmese food. The Burmese food is very often several pots of side dishes cooked in the morning and offered as a kind of buffet menu. Unfortunately everything is cold in the evening and also taste does not improve with pots sitting all day outside. We got again a very good guesthouse service since the son of the owner
picked us up from the street and drove us. Basically there is only one guesthouse called Mr. Charles that is suitable and is known by all travelers passing by. Like in Bagan also empty. We spent relaxing days with walks through the rice fields and the city and in the evening of the roof terrace with splendid views over the valley at sunset. The owner told us a little bite of the gown by days of tea and opium trading. Actually the next town is Lashio and afterwards of limits for foreigners. The area is known for the Wa state warlords, not in control of the Burmese army and famous for timber and opium smuggle to China. It felt exciting to know that is was just around the corner.
We felt that it was finally time to leave Myanmar. A country that is historically and from the landscape very interesting, but also exhausting with bad transport and an atmosphere of no hope. The people are depressed after last year’s events and there is very little hope left. The country is systematically run down with everything slowly crumbling down and very limited personal freedom. It reminds me on the Rumania
of Ceaucescu, who had his people freezing and on the edge of starvation. The government is not willing to follow the road of the neighbor nations as Thailand or China with open trade and compromises in international relationships. When asked why, people said what to expect from military generals with a very limited education and background. Additionally there is the complex history of ever fighting tribes over hundreds of years with never a real central power over a long time. A parallel situation may be found in Europe with former Yugoslavia that disintegrated within a short time. This is all a big pity since the people are very friendly, open to learn and to improve. The country is fertile with rice fields, has huge gems mines and sits on one of the biggest gas fields in the world with exports of one billion US$ a year.
Miraculously transport interlinked very well. We had a 7 hour bus trip to Mandalay, walked into a travel agent and purchased on spot flight tickets to Yangon with later connection to Bangkok the same day. We left with the impression of huge modern airport buildings built with the hopes for better times, but
being deserted and empty, serving only few flights a day.
Joerg
One thing I knew about Myanmar that Japanese army tried to conquer during WW2. One book described survival of Japanese armies in extremely hot weather. However, Joerg always told me go to Myanmar; I wondered why he wanted to go to where was very hot weather, and also people lived under strong political pressure. When I saw the beautiful green landscape before landing, I thought it was right choice for us to visit Myanmar.
Every city has nice-designed streets, but quality of roads was horrible. There were tall trees in the middle of the streets. It was beautiful with green leaves and yellowish brown sandy streets. There were lots of water side of the streets; we often found little ponds. The landscape was great after traveling desert and big crowd cities.
Especially Bagan area, I saw lots of pagoda. The shape of pagoda was interesting that was little similar to Thai palace. Many pagodas had big Buddha inside. I wondered whose idea was to make so many Buddha statues and to build pagodas in the small city.
I liked small cities in
Myanmar. I hope I can visit there again in dry season.
Yuki
Practicalities:
Bus Bagan-Mandalay 6000 Kyat
Shared Taxi Mandalay Ping O Lin 7 US$/person
Guesthouse 20 US$
Bus Hsipaw-Mandalay 8000 Kyat
Flight Mandalay-Yangon 78 US$
Flight Yangon-Bangkok with Thai 156 US$
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