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Published: April 9th 2006
Here's the second part on my Burma travels.
Bus travel in Burma
As I mentioned before bus travel in Burma (without even considering the crash) wasn't always that easy. You should know that I had my first 'non European bus experience' on the 'chicken buses' in Guatemala. No denying that those experiences gave me a very solid education in 'adventurous bus rides'. But for the 9 hours 'local bus' (as opposed to big air con bus) ride from Bagan to Kalaw, I wasn't prepared.
I was supposed to be at the bus station at the lovely time of 4.30 am to catch the bus that would leave around 5 am.
Imagine a minibus which size would allow about 20 seats for European standards. They managed however to install 30 seats in there. Leg room was virtually non existent. I actually could not sit with my legs pointed to the front. Unfortunately I could not point them sideways either because that space was taken by another passenger. No use trying to put them underneath the seat in front of me or under my own seat, as our luggage had been stored there. Neither would it be better for me
Kalaw to Inle trek
Guide Teza discussing Burmese language with Sandrine.to have an aisle seat as this precious space had been used to put 6 or 7 extra plastic chairs for more passengers.
I had no choice but to 'sit' with my knees (thank god for the always useful sarong, as knee pads this time) pressed against the seat in front of me and my lower back pressed against the back support of the seat, without actually sitting down.
As we started driving the bus driver kept inviting people to join us to the point where there were people standing in between chairs until every possible square cm was used... and than some more. At 1 point I counted 36 persons sitting plus 10 standing inside, 2 hanging outside through the door and 6 (or more) on the roof. (Remember European standard 20 persons + driver). I was truly asking myself if we would ever get up on a mountain in this.
But we hadn't reached the mountains yet. One not so smart traveller decided he would like to ride on the roof because "it would be a great adventure". The locals were doing all they could to convince him not to do it... The first 10 minutes we
Kalaw to Inle trek
Pao tribe children having breakfast heard some screams (imagine French accent here) "wow theez iz cool", "this rulez". Then it became quiet. 20 minutes later some people at the right side (I was sitting left) got a shower of a bad smelling, sticky substance. You guessed it: the guy got sick and puked from the roof. A fast moving bus and wind did the rest. This was to be the beginning of something one could call a ' puke festival'. First a little boy puked, than his sister, followed by the mother (who tried to clean them up), than the guy sitting next to her, etc. At a certain moment the woman next to me puked into a plastic back and than just fell asleep still holding the plastic bag dangling over my pants.
We finally reached the mountains. Another 3 hours to go. That's when the real madness started. The bus was clearly overloaded so the driver had to gain speed every time he wanted to get on a steep part of the mountain. So this meant going way too fast on the downward parts, having half the bus hang over the cliffs in the curves and just making it to the top
of each steep part.
After 1 hour we passed by a bus they had just towed back on the road. It had gone off the cliff earlier that day. (It actually looked a lot like my bus would one week later). Anyway not such a reassuring sight.
The driver was feeling pretty confident he could pull it off though, trying every possible short cut he saw. Which not only sent some taller people bouncing with their head against the ceiling but also made the bus break down halfway up a steep part. Immediately the second driver jumped out to put some peace of wood under the wheels. No hand breaks (?) on these buses. After several tries it was clear that the motor was not going to work. Great ! about 1.5 hrs from my destination we break down. The driver however still had something up his sleeve. You know that you can sometimes get a car to start while pushing it for a while. That was what he did. Only it's not possible to push the bus up the mountain so instead he would let it run downhill! I saw the guy getting ready to take away the piece
Kalaw to Inle trek
Novice monks love to pose. Check out Mr Cool. of wood and still tried to get out through the window. Too late. A second and a couple of near heart attacks later, the motor was working again and we were no longer going downhill.
It was good to reach my destination, but it took a full day to be able to do something again.
Kalaw-Inle trek
I had been planning to do some trekking in Burma. It had been since North Vietnam since I did. The question was where? I met a couple of Belgian people in Yangon who had strongly recommended the 3 day Kalaw-Inle Hill tribe trek.
When I got to Kalaw I started looking for some one to join me, as most guides only leave when there are two persons. As there are not so many independent travellers around this was not so easy. I checked with Sam, the guy the Belgians advised me and asked him to let me know if he found another solo traveller/ group which I could join. The next day, while I was having lunch, I was approached by Sandrine a French girl who asked if I was still interested in doing the trek. Sure I
was. We checked with Sam and he would send us away the next day with Teza (one of his cousins).
The price he asked was ridiculous. As in ridiculously low. For less than 25 euro I would be trekking for 3 days (all food and lodging included). And the food was great. Sam actually sent us away with one guide and one cook (also called Teza). No instant noodles this time. This guy was only preparing local (vegetarian) dishes. Very creative and delicious and a lot. Actually he did all the cooking together with the people of the Hill tribes we visited.
For day one we started at 7.30 am on our walk that would be mostly uphill. I hadn't been sleeping too well the night before and after one hour my stomach was starting to ache. Great I would be ill again to go trekking. It seems I'm cursed to get ill whenever I go on a trek. I've been ill 3 times so far: first a bad food experience on the second day of the trek in Thailand, than I had to skip the first day of trekking in Vietnam and now again a bad food experience.
People who have gone through it know that these 'bad food experiences' not only make your stomach hurt but also give you a headache, suck away all energy and often even give you some nice fever. I didn't have that last thing this time but I felt like I had run out of fuel after 1.5 hours. 1.5 hrs short for the lunch break. I dragged myself up the mountain on sheer will power. Feeling more dead than alive.
The great lunch and a 1/2 hr 'power nap' gave me just enough energy to make the 4 hrs afternoon leg of the 1st day. Luckily it was mostly downhill and flat in the afternoon. I was totally exhausted when we arrived in the Danu tribe village where we would spend the night. After another great (more than you can eat) meal. I skipped the meeting with Village Chief and went to sleep.
12 hrs later I woke up feeling better than ever. I felt like I could run up the mountains the whole day. The human body is a strange thing.
Anyway the whole trek was definitely the highlight so far. It made the 'hill tribe' treks in Thailand
and Vietnam look very pale.
The guide knew so much on each of the 4 tribes and their customs and spoke all their languages.
In the Palaung tribe he explained us the whole concept of marriage. It's a pretty complicated process that takes several years before 2 people are really fully married. I really liked the idea that they have written manuals for the three most important aspects in their lives; birth, marriage and death. Teza showed us the actual books that have a special place in each house. Too bad hardly anyone can read them. During the marriage ceremony, the couple is supposed to read (if they can't, they pretend to read) the manual after which they each go home with their parents again.
You could see that the tribes had not been spoiled by tourism yet; no begging here. It must be said that the guides do everything to keep it that way. Only visiting certain villages on a rotating basis and not allowing any gifts from travellers to the locals, only to the village chief.
Also the hill tribe people (unlike the tribes in Thailand and Vietnam) were really interested in meeting us and talking to
us. One of then had been working on railway tracks in Burma and had heard that in 'England' (they assume the whole of Europe is England) there is a train running under the sea. So we were discussing the Euro tunnel for a while. He also explained me how he was going to be the MC for a wedding the next week. There would be about 1500 guests!!!
I was really interested in finding out how he was going to manage that.
Teza was a great translator and was even able to translate a lot of the word jokes they love so much. The woman of the family was really proud when I told her the curry she served was like eating 'Tiger balm'. The spicier, the better they say.
The trek sometimes was like travelling back in time. The ox carts, the use of buffalos to work the land,etc. We passed by a small train station and the whole place seemed like a scene from 'Once upon a time in the West', complete with the little whirlwind throwing up the dust. I could almost hear 'Harmonica' play his little tune.
The second day we had lunch in
Kalaw to Inle trek
Setting off for the last day at 6 am a monastery. The novice monks had their lunch break also and these guys love to pose for pictures. There are a lot of novice monks (aka Baby monks, +/- 7 years old ) in Burma. The reason is that the monks provide free education, food and lodging to these novices.
They not only get religious/Buddhist education but also languages, math and an even a profession (carpenter, plumber). They get up at 4.30 am each day for breakfast. After that the Monk (1 Monk for +/- 50 novices) teaches till 11.30. After lunch they have a 1 hr break, after which they study before going to sleep at sunset. They are not allowed to eat after 1 pm.
We witnessed the beginning of their afternoon study. One guy is shouting out loud whatever they learned that morning after which 50 novices, rocking back and forward with their eyes closed, repeating out loud what the one guy said.
The last night we slept in a Buddhist monastery. The guests are sleeping in the main prayer hall with the head monk. Cool experience except for the 5 big clocks (superstition) they had in there. These would go off each hour and that
combined with some rats I heard walking around made sure I didn't get a good night sleep. We woke up at 5 am (the monks allowed us to sleep for an extra 1/2 hr) from the morning prayer of the novices.
We would head off early anyway to avoid the midday heat so 1 hr later we were walking again until we reached the Inle lake. Checking out q deadly scorpion like animal en route. On the lake we took a boat to the town where our guesthouse was.
Inle Lake
Inle Lake is a pretty magic and impressive place. It's huge and surrounded by mountains on all sides. To get on the lake the boats have to go through a maze of small canals with houses on poles. There are fishermen on small boats and bathing buffalos all around. It sometimes felt like jungle scenes the way you see them in theme parks.
I did a one day boat tour with 7 other people from the guesthouse, visiting the lake, some markets and a lot of workshops (emphasis on 'shop'). Some of them were actually interesting as we saw how the local handicrafts are
being made. We saw a ring being made from scratch. One of us actually bought the ring. The weaver place made me feel bad. Exactly how I imagined a sweatshop would be like. The black smith reminded me of that Euro techno sh*t. Four guys hitting a piece of metal with huge hammers. Just a lot of noise with some rhythm in there.
Last stop was the 'Jumping cat monastery'. For over 40 years monks have taught cats to jump through hoops and they are now a major tourist attraction. Monks do get bored also, I guess. One can't be praying/meditating all the time.
On the way back we went for a swim while the sun was setting and the boat drivers were singing 'the Inle song' (and something that should be 'Hotel California'). We had to wait till sunset to get back as we hadn't paid the government entrance fee. We left before the office opened at 7 am and got back in the dark.
The place we were staying (Queen Inn) is probably the best hotel I ever stayed in. The location beside the river was great, the atmosphere fantastic, the food delicious and the staff outstanding.
Inle lake
Stylish taxi that brought Harv and Kim to our guesthouse. Together with the great surroundings I really felt like I had discovered paradise... (I was paying only 4 Usd/night for my room+ breakfast+dinner).
I met a lot of really cool people there too. Harvey and Kim the 'Kiwis' that would later take the bus back with me, Karen and Caz (Swiss and English girls) and Stefan and Amon (Dutch and Israeli guys travelling together). I loved the conversations these last 2 would have. Stefan: "My favourite country in the world? Malaysia, Israelis can't get in". The reaction of a German guy: "if I said something like that it's war!"
I decided to stay at Inle longer than planned and ditched my plan to go to the 'Balancing golden rock stupa' (aka Disneyland Burma). I basically spend my time cruising through town and reading on the terrace of the hotel while I was being served free tea and fruit salad.
After 2.5 months I also managed to finish the 1st vocabulary chapter of the 'Basic Japanese' book I got for Xmas. I had a great time trying to use my new language skills on an unexpecting Japanese traveller.
After 2 days I was feeling like some action again. So
I did a 1/2 day trek in the country side. It was the closest I've been to heaven.
Final thoughts on Burma
Even considering the tragic end, the three weeks in Burma were definitely the best so far. The people are (even for SEA standards) exceptionally friendly and welcoming. For a lot of them, travellers are the only window on the world, in a country dominated by censorship and propaganda.
If anyone of you is still looking for a holiday destination, you should look into this.
If you want something completely different, this is your place. You won't see any of the names/brands (Coca Cola, etc) that will give you that strange familiar feeling in the most remote place on earth.
One can easily travel the country avoiding funding the regime too much... And if you are willing to spend a little bit more than me (or you travel with 3-4 people) you can avoid the not so safe night buses or inconvenient local buses by arranging a taxi and driver (for almost no money).
Due to the fall in independent tourism the people really need travellers more than ever. Not only for their
Inle lake
Fisher man using traditional 'leg rowing' technique. Not using a traditional fishing technique though, judging from his load. Also note that he's wearing a Longyi (skirt) income but also as a source of information and protection (no human rights violations while travellers are watching). Several people (oa The Moustache brothers) asked me to pass that message back home.
It has been more than 2.5 weeks since I left Burma for Thailand. But I will report on that some time later.
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Kim & Harv
non-member comment
Hi
Hey, how are you? Just checked out your website very cool, fantastic photos, and we get a mention too, very nice! We are now in Hikkaduwa, Sri Lanka, lazying on the beach. Been here almost two weeks (can't seem get it together to move on to the next beach, which is only 45 minutes away). Anyway found some good restuarants and a nice place to stay (though nothing as good as Queen Inn), good music to listen to and lightining storms to watch at night. Now off to try out surfing this afternoon. Keep travelling safe!