Advertisement
After 6 months in Asia, although we found each country to be unique in their own ways, we were getting used to many aspects of life that seemed universal in this large region of the world. We got very excited about going to Myanmar (more commonly known as Burma) because it is still very traditional and has remained relatively tourist-free due to its isolation.
Visiting the country is a politically-questionable thing to do since the country is run by an oppressive military dictatorship (also known as the 'Junta'😉, which illegally seized power after losing democratic elections. The Junta failed to relinquish control to National League for Democracy (NLD) and placed prolific NLD Secretary Aung San Suu Kyi in 1990 under house-arrest. Aung San Suu Kyi called for a tourism boycott to stop the dictatorship gaining income from their planned 'Visit Myanmar Year', which also is reputed to have used forced labour to build facilities to accommodate tourists. The boycott worked but since this was around 15 years ago, it can be viewed that the boycott has now run its course. Another opinion that could be made is that careful tourism can be of benefit to the people of Myanmar. After
reading guide books and the history of the country, we decided to go but stick to a certain ethos. These being, to avoid as many 'Government Fees' as possible, stay in guesthouses run by local people and eat and buy goods at a spread of local businesses, all so the majority of our money goes to the people of Myanmar, rather than the Government.
We got a flight from Bangkok to Yangon (overland from Thailand to Burma is next to impossible). Getting a taxi from the airport to the main hub of the city was itself an eye opener to how different Myanmar is to the rest of Asia. Many of the cars were old 50's, 60's or 70's models, most of them seeming as if they were on their last legs. Another thing we noticed was that most men wore these long wraparound sarong-like skirts called Longyi. Men wearing such attire in the west would be considered strange but Burmese men pulled them off really elegantly and we quickly got used to it. We decided to try the traditional attire so both bought a Longyi to wear and keep; Adam got a dark blue one while Gabrielle got
a female version with green flowers. We wore them a few times but they were so hot, perhaps because we got thicker 'winter' versions. Another interesting dress code we noticed while walking through the streets, was the yellow powered bark smeared on women's faces, mainly on their cheeks. They drew this substance on in squares or circular patterns. It was ingenious because it worked both as sunscreen and also makeup.
Unfortunately, much of the city and roads were a little rundown, the buildings looking as if they were crumbling and the roads full of potholes and the pavements collapsing in on itself in places. We thought that the Government weren't putting their money towards basic reparations such as these. However, the city was not without its charms. The architecture showed its old British colonial influence, some buildings looking as if they should be in the centre of London. There were long side streets with tall buildings facing each other filled with little balconies to where people live in flats. Many main streets were filled with local people selling food and setting up little market stalls. You'd commonly see groups of people sitting on small chairs, chatting over shared flasks
of tea or huddling over old traditional board games we've never seen before.
When first setting out to explore the city, we were astonished how welcoming many of the local people were towards us. We first thought that we were being a little stared at, but we soon realised it was just from general curiosity. As we walked, many would say hello and asked where we came from. Others would stop us just for a friendly chat, welcoming us to their country and inquiring to what our plans were in Myanmar. We had heard accounts before that the view a lot of locals have is that visitors from other country's were not just seen as tourists, but considered guests. A good example of this was when we were on a busy bus and all the seats were taken, some men instinctively got up to let us sit. Before we could refuse the kind invitation, the ticket man told us to go out and use the front door so we could sit together on the two seats placed next to the driver. We heard a story from another traveller saying that he had asked some local where a place was,
and the guy became really agitated because he didn't have the knowledge to help. So determined he was to aid the traveller, he went out of his way to track someone nearby until he found someone who could help.
Another ingrained part of Myanmar culture are the fabulous Teashops, which we visited quite often in the end. These teashops were more akin to the traditional english pub, since they were places where locals (mainly men) would gather to enjoy a nice cup of tea or coffee, have a chat, read a paper or watch TV. You would pay to have a coffee or burmese (indian) tea but you'll get a continuous free flow of chinese tea from a big jug that would be placed on your table. You'll also get a variety of sweet or savory pastries which you can nibble on to accompany your hot drinks, which were tasty and really cheap too. Football games were often watched at the teashops. We soon found out that many people in Myanmar are obsessed with the Premiership and the Champions League, Manchester United being the most popular team supported.
We went on a walking tour of the city and
went past some fortune tellers/ tarot card readers/astrologists so we decided to have our fortunes read. Adam was told that he would get rich when we was 28, get run over, get blinded by a stone and die at a grand old age of 65. But don't worry guys, Adam got a charm (costing a dollar!) that he has to slap 3 times everyday and say "1,2,3" to reverse his bad destiny. Fortunately, Gabrielle's fortune teller was less of a charlatan. Gabrielle is also going to come into lots of money in her late 20s, live abroad and have 3 bright children. She is also going to get marry once to a childhood sweetheart - Awwww.
The greatest sight of Yangon and arguably Myanmar was Shwedagon Pagoda. An amazing temple that has a dome made of solid gold surrounded by smaller golden painted spires. We wandered around in awe at the beauty of the platform. We spent time washing the Buddha statues in places according to our age for good luck. We then settled down to slowly watch dusk gather. We watched a procession of young children dressed up in traditional clothes walking around the dome in a type
of pilgrimage. We were smiled at by all the little people and many stopped to wave or shake our hands. While waiting and watching all the people go by, we were approached by a group of older students who regularly came to the pagoda every friday night to talk to tourists in order improve their spoken english. We had a long chat (over 2 hours) about everything to do with Myanmar (we had a lot of questions) while also answering their questions about England. As night fell, we went to see the diamond at the top of the spire change colour depending on where you stand. As we moved to different places, the large diamond changed to lots of different hues, those being; sky blue, deep emerald green, a rich amber colour and blood red.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.075s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 11; qc: 49; dbt: 0.038s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Ruby Kidd
non-member comment
Myanmar or Bust....
Interesting little blog with fabulous photos. I am going in December for 3 weeks and can't wait... What an exciting time to visit and a great opportunity to see this magical country/experience their culture.