The Temperature's Rising!

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Black Market Money

It’s hot, much hotter than Bangkok was, and we’re traipsing around Yangon trying to avoid the holes in the sidewalk while keeping our heads up to find a cheap hotel room. We park our bags in a windowless, bathroomless room but it comes with AC and a free breakfast of eggs and toast. Back on the street touts are pestering us, “Change Money?” echoes in our ear and we put our trust in a fellow of Indian origin with visible cataracts clouding his right eye and making it look bluish white. We take a seat at a tea stall in a crowded alley just off the main street and sip from grungy glasses while he runs off to get us kyat, Myanmar’s national currency. You cannot get kyat before arrival and the best rate is on the black market with crisp, new $100 US notes. A few minutes later the man returned and pulled two bundles of notes out from under his shirt, each two inches thick. We counted bills with no privacy to speak of, made the exchange and I was left with a handbag considerably heavier than when I arrived.

That afternoon we wandered the busy streets of Yangon, climbed a ritzy hotel for a view of the Shwedagon Pagoda (the largest and one of the most holy in Myanmar), visited the market and planned our escape out of the dusty broke down city.

Escaping the city meant a 16 hour “A/C” bus ride from Yangon heading north to Kalaw where we planned to do some trekking. The bus left in the heat of the day, drove through the night and arrived in Kalaw just before sunrise. Mid-afternoon my tolerance was peaking out as the A/C erratically turned on and off by way of a second motor. Opening the window for a breeze provided a few minutes of relief and felt cool as your sweat dried. Once dry however, the wind blowing in felt more like a blow-dryer in you face: hot air on full blast. We’d close the window and the process would repeat every half hour or so. I'd rate that bus ride about a 2/10 but Jarrod didn't think it was that bad.

Powered by Foot: Kalaw to Inle Lake

Our first day out trekking we stopped just outside of Kalaw to visit a cave filled with at least a thousand Buddha statues, big and small, old and new. Locals started putting the shrines in the cave years and years ago to protect them from looting invaders and the tradition continued. Now rich generals and government officials add to the collection, hoping to earn brownie points with Buddha. In the midday heat we stopped for a two hour break for lunch at a remote hilltop restaurant with wide views through valleys and across hill tops. From there we followed the train tracks and arrived at a small village train station 15 minutes before the daily train was due to arrive. Local vendors sold cauliflower, green string beans, sweets, yellow berries and freshly picked flowers to the captive audience passing through. People bellowed out the name of their produce, briskly walking the length of the train looking for a sale. Fifteen minutes later the train rolled out again, the vendors baskets considerably dwindled and a few more locals enjoying a free ride on the roof of the train.

Around dusk we arrived at the village we’d be staying the night at. Accommodation was basic: outhouse style squat toilet, bucket shower with only a palm frond facing the neighbors for privacy (if you can even call that privacy). Jarrod showered in a borrowed bathing suit as the sun went down, I waited until the cover of darkness, but before the full moon rose. We stuffed ourselves at dinner - the food was superb - and then turned in for the night. We slept on woven plastic mats (the upgraded version of grass mats) taking care to point our feet away from the family's shrine to Buddha.

Day two was a long day of walking in heat (low 30s C) and very little shade as we passed by dry fields void of trees and trudged up barren dusty hills. The path crossed three villages where women sat in the shade making bamboo baskets and young children played in the dirt. The men and older children were off working in the fields, likely returning at dusk. Everything is very dry, being hot season, yet bright flowers of red and purple bloom and catch your eye. There is no one else on the trail besides the odd ox-cart or men carrying overloaded baskets of goods between villages. We spent the night at a wooden monastery with two resident monks and eight young monk boys, six of whom were orphans. The monastery was equipped better than the village home; there was a cold bucket shower with cold water hand pumped from a well. But, at least they had stalls for privacy this time! We chatted with other trekkers that were staying the night at the monastery as well and had a delicious dinner complete with many, many cups of black tea.

At 5am it’s still dark outside but we're woken up by the chanting monks in the prayer room just meters away from us. By 6am I pulled myself out of bed and fueled up with a big breakfast of deep-fried french toast and 3-in-1 instant coffee. We only had 12km to go today but within the first hour the soles of our feet started to ache. Trekking in the heat and hard packed ground was starting to take it's toll. But the scenery made up for the pain as we descended down out of the mountains with views of the plains and the gleaming Inle Lake ahead. Arriving at the lake about noon we had a snack and then on to a boat for some sight seeing on Inle Lake. We were shuttled to the typical tourist shops: women making traditional bamboo hats and hand-made paper and the Long-Neck Karen tribe women weaving bags and scarves that were put on display. Down a canal off of the main waterway we requested a stopped in at the Jumping Cat Monastery where the monks have taught resident cats to jump through hoops for treats. Its a new trick I'll have to teach Reggie just after we master walking on a leash.

We stayed an extra day at Inle to rest and also because all the bus tickets to Mandalay were sold out due to an increase in local travelers for the upcoming Water Festival. The following day we roughed it and the trip took, in total, four share pick-up trucks and 16 hours to arrive in Mandalay. It was a challenging day for our cramped knees, sore bums and dirt encrusted faces, but we survived!

The Quick and Dirty About Myanmar aka Burma

There is some controversy about whether to visit Myanmar or not. The country is currently under a military regime which limits freedom of speech, has a poor human rights record and severely inhibits the growth
Yummy Mango
and prosperity of the people and the country as a whole. Nearly half of the governments budget is spent on the military and the 50 million citizens are kept living in fear. Travel for foreigners is limited to the areas the government wants you to see; it excludes many poppy fields, heroin factories and gem mines that are operated under hazardous conditions beyond belief and many more places of hidden secrets.

Currently, democratically elected leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, is under house arrest and has been on and off since 1990 when the military detained her after winning the election. In 1991 she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Sanctions have been placed on Myanmar by 1st world countries (Canada included) but Myanmar is “friends” with China whose government fully supports the Myanmar regime and much trade legal and otherwise is done with China and other neighboring countries. We are told by locals that many many gems and copious amounts of drugs cross the border with China in exchange for cash, cars and who knows what else.

Aung San Suu Kyi told reporters once in the early 1990, "Tourism to Burma is helping to prolong the life of
Scenery Around Inle
one of the most brutal and destructive regimes in the world. Visiting now is tantamount to condoning the regime." It is this statement that keeps most travelers away.

I personally think that the more foreigners that go the less risk of human rights issues and more people at home become informed about the issues at hand. However, if your travelling on a tour bus staying in expensive government run hotels - you might as well STAY HOME! Your money is not going to locals! Forced labour was used to upgrade many tourist spots and upgrade airports, not to mention the US dollar entrance fees to many tourist attractions.

Most locals were very happy to see us offering friendly hello's and more than once we were approached to practice English and they would turn the conversation to Burmese politics (keep in mind if they said anything negative about the government they would likely be jailed) and they wanted to be sure that we understood what the government put them through.

It's an interesting topic and the following sites can provide good reading material.
Burma Campaign
Burma Watch
Irrawaddy Online News

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Photos

Our Monastery
Where we slept on the trek.

Comments

[Tahna]

Nice to see you bloggin again! But you only covered a couple of days - what did you do the other 3 weeks?

[Carrol]

To cover a whole month, you'd be sitting at your computer reading for three hours! More to come, don't worry!