The Union of Myanmar - formerly Burma

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Hazard Warning: this is a long one! A result of us racing around a huge country, not well known on the tourist trail, and with a great deal to offer - so bear with us - it’s illuminating.

We are up at 3 am to catch our early morning flight (7.15 departure) by Thai Air Asia from the main Bangkok International Airport to Yangon. The cab (booked via the hostel for 390 Bhat) that picks us up gets us there in ½ hour - a bit too early so we could have got an extra ½ hours kip!! . We grab some breakfast at Whittards of Chelsea in the duty free area, which is pretty impressive if you are into designer clothes.

Yangon

The hour and a half flight is ok (so we get here at 8 am local time. Myanmar is ½ behind Thailand). The airport is new clean & smart but basic. The formalities at immigration & customs is pretty quick & helpful - not quite the military Junta we expected given the press coverage of the country in the west. We are met by Din our Myanmar Tour operator - a friendly local born & bred - who has lived through many changes here. He used to be a Geology Lecturer at the University but resigned when the political troubles started. We are driven to our 3 star hotel - Summit Parkview (a Singaporean owned hotel) which is pretty sumptuous compared to our usual hostel living. Nice but not quite us!! Shows how much our lifestyles have adjusted!

For M visiting Myanmar is a boyhood dream come true & an opportunity to see first hand what the situation is rather than impressions based on the western press (our experience in China definitely taught us to see for ourselves & make up our own minds!)

US dollars are the currency to trade in here. The Kyats (1200 to the dollar in Yangong, the best rate in the country) were generally only good for local eateries and stalls. All hotels priced things cheaper in dollars as an incentive to travellers to pay in foreign currency. However, things are relatively cheap here anyway.

Din corrects our understanding that Yangon is the capital city. It used to be but in 2004 the Government established a new capital centre at Nayphidaw - mid way between Yangon and Mandalay (could be a £1M question on Who Wants to be a Millionaire! thinks C) - amazing set of priorities for a country with a host of problems to address. Not for the first time we are left wondering about the efficiency & quality control of Lonely Planet guides as their 2006 version shows the capital as Yangon & has a host of other inaccuracies, an experience that has been repeated in our travels around the world. Tony Wheeler really needs to get this organisational act together!!

We meet Zaw our local guide who takes us off to see the sights of Yangon. The first stop is the Botataung Riverside Pagoda. It’s an impressive Buddhist stupa with all the decorative splendour of such ornate buildings which are places of huge religious & cultural significance in countries such as Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand etc. This stupa however, is quite unique - not only does it have a diamond orb at the top, and hairs believed to be relics of the Lord Buddha from India himself encased in an ivory & diamond casement in the centre of the building - it is actually accessible by people (whereas other stupas are not) & one can walk around it internally in V shaped halls covered in mirrored design work donated by various benefactors. Entry is $2 US each & a charge for a camera which we were let off - we think they are desperate to encourage tourists to come here.

We then go on a walking tour to see the colonial buildings of the city. Clearly lovely buildings that have seen better days - it reminded us of Connaught Place in Delhi in India where they till recently suffered the same problems. Many of the buildings are also vacant & have been left to fall down literally. The old parliament building constructed at the time when democracy was in the air in the ‘80s has never been used & lies decaying.

It’s pretty hot in the sunshine & we move onto see the Sule Pagoda - which is lovely in it’s own right but isn’t the big one which we will see later in the evening. (Myanmar is definitely a country full of temples and pagodas, so the dress order of the day is always mindful of this - slippers as the locals call them (or flip flops as you might say) as we had to take our shoes off very often). We take a trip by the harbour to observe how the real working class & rural poor exist. At this point the skies decide we ought to have a taste of monsoon Myanmar style & it pours down - which is a shame as we could have spent a little longer taking in local life along the river which is the main channel to the delta where the rice fields are.

After a short rest at the Hotel we set off to complete to see the reclining Buddha at Chaukhtatgyi, recently completely rebuilt, and then the highlight of the day, Shwedagon Pagoda at sunset. This is the most revered Pagoda in Myanmar, and all Myanmar Buddhists try to make a visit there at least once in their lives. We can see why; it’s a vast and stunning complex of temples overlooking the city, the main pagoda containing the sacred relics of Buddha is covered in gilt and sparkles & shimmers in the setting sunlight, and around it are many more elaborately decorated stupas and temples. Although very busy it a very peaceful place and we wish we could have spent longer there. Zaw tries to impart all of his knowledge to us but we’re too awestruck to take it all in!

Buddhism is the main religion here; 95% + of the population follow it fervently. We learn a lot about the complexities of the Theravada Buddhist philosophy. It’s more conservative & traditional - practiced in Sri Lanka, Laos, Cambodia & Thailand and quite different to that practiced in Tibet. They believe in celestial beings, heaven & hell, in Nirvana ( the state that ensures you don’t have to be reincarnated), in Nats (guardian spirit beings), in doing good in this life to build up credit or brownie points for the next life (which may be one of the reasons for the countries fate). Traditionally all boys & men are encouraged to spend some time at a Monastery as a novice. All our guides had done for varying lengths of time & it showed. The practice here seems more intense than in Sri Lanka & India where the religion came from. Also it is unlikely that anyone would rise to higher ranks in the army if they were not Buddhist!

That night we dine at a local restaurant, Feel, for some Myanmar food (we’re back in the land of pointing at what we like the look of as the menu doesn’t have any English and trying to decipher the alphabet of the country, which seems to consist of masses of different types of circular forms, is impossible); mutton and pork curries with vegetables and rice with a couple of Myanmar beers all for £8, and get a qtr of whisky at a local store for 70p!! Myanmar is very good value!

Bagan

Another early start as we catch our 1+1/4 hour flight to Bagan by Yangon Airways - and we thought propellers went out with the ark!. Leaving Yangon at 4.30 am for a flight we are surprised by the number of men & women who are out jogging or power walking. Keeping fit is obviously big here. We arrive at 7-45am and it’s already hot. The airport is built in old Burmese style. Thant Zin our guide suggests we start straight away while it’s cool (!!??) so we head off to the village market with all the local folks selling their produce - and trying desperately to persuade us we need to buy lungyi’s (long skirts for men and women) or thanaka face make up (made from ground tree bark). This is a proper market selling everything the community needs. The main street of the town is filled with old motorised tractors, horse or bullock drawn carts and cycle rickshaws. It reminds us of India 10 years ago (and in fact today in some areas) but without the chaos and noise.

Next it’s the temples area. This is absolutely amazing - 3,000 temples scattered about within a 42 sq km area - which we see in all its glory when we finish the day at Shwesandaw Pagoda at sunset which you can climb up for fantastic views.

We visit 7 pagodas; Shwezigon with its gilt dome, Gubyaukgyi with it’s 800 year old beautiful coloured paintings inside, Htilominto which was built by a King chosen by the lean of an umbrella (it‘s a long story!), Khayminka which has steep stairs up to the roof for great views, Ananda, known as the most stunning, with fantastic gilt pagoda and spires and four Buddhas inside carefully crafted so that the faces change as you walk towards them, Dhammayangyi the biggest, which looks impressive despite never being finished, and ending at Shwesandaw for sunset.

The day also includes a visit to a lacquer ware business where we see the process involved in handmade production and the craftsmanship involved - not something we’d appreciated before. Amazing craftsmen ship - all done by hand.

Dinner is taken at our hotel, the Bagan Thande Riverside Hotel, and we eat overlooking the river watching a lightening storm on the other side. The meal is superb - chicken and locally caught fish curries with rice, vegetables and pickle - done extra spicy. (The LP book says the Burmese don’t cook spicy food - not so according to Thant Zin who says they always eat their food with plenty of chillies). River fish is very popular & there is plenty of it given the big rivers that traverse the country from north to south into the delta. The fish is delicious; chunky, moist & largely boneless which is not quite what one would expect from river fish generally.

Mandalay & the ancient cities around

We are up at 5.15 am to get the early morning ½ hour flight from Bagan to Mandalay. After a lovely mixed fruit breakfast & fried vermicelli mix (a Myanmar favourite apparently) we leave for the airport & witness a long line of Monks going on their way for their daily early morning alms collection round. At Mandalay we meet our new guide - Power & driver who start us on the longest days sight seeing tour in history! Visiting the ancient capitals of the Country. The roads in Mandalay are pretty rough & full of pot holes so it’s a fun day out!

First stop Amarapura (City of Immortality). We go to the Mahaghandayon Monastery, apparently the largest Buddhist monastery in the world where we watch with a bunch of other tourists, nearly 1000 monks of various ages taking their morning & main meal before they set down to meditation for the rest of the day. They’re not permitted to eat after 12 noon. They all queue up & its an impressive spectacle, and they don’t mind being photographed or filmed. It’s very colourful & we learn a lot about their way of life.

There are about 500,000 monks in the country largely supported by the local people - many who can‘t support themselves; monasteries are largely funded by donations and offerings of food from people which they collect daily when they go out with their food bowls. The get curry & rice prepared - the nuns on the other hand only get rice in an uncooked form & then cook it - no sexism here then!

Then it’s off to see a cotton & silkware factory where the conditions are Victorian (Dickensian even) but can’t mask the amazing talents of the weavers.

We then head off to Inwa, crossing the Ayeyarwady river on a small motor boat & then hop onto a Horse & Cart (they are big in Bagan & this part of the world) for a very bumpy ride through some beautiful villages with very friendly smiling folk, to see Bagaya Kyaung, an ancient teak monastery which surprisingly has survived despite the lack of maintenance. We see the primary school kids being indoctrinated by reciting Buddha’s teachings by heart. The area is quite beautiful & green with a feel like pictures we’ve seen of Cambodia. There are temples & stupas of all shapes & sizes which make the area quite magical. M could have quite happily spent all day here taking amazing pictures of people & the area that seems like a place out of time. The area around Mandalay reminds him of villages in India 40 years or so ago with no cars, less motor bikes, less people, & a lot cleaner though with many on bicycles. Even the men dress with Longyis like folk in south India. However, the women are more Chinese in appearance - tending the paddy fields, wearing conical hats & selling produce from baskets of bamboo slung over their shoulders balanced on a long pole either side of her. There are loads of bullock drawn carts tending the fields, and monks walking about in their brownish garb add to the spectacular scenery which is picture postcard perfect.

We next go to the Nanmyin, an ancient watch tower for the king & queen to view their kingdom from on high, which is now “the leaning tower” following various earthquakes. The views from the top are indeed worth making the trip & the steep step climb up to the top. We move onto the Maha Aungmye Bonzan which is a now disused monastery dating back to 1822. It’s picturesque but hot & humid as the day goes on.

Next it’s Sagaing where we visit Sagaing Hill after a brief stop at Kaungmudaw Pagoda where we buy some guavas & water melon (some of the best we’ve tasted anywhere in the world) for lunch. The heat & sunlight makes it difficult for us to even look at the giant white washed stupa! The guys helped themselves to some local fried goodies similar to Indian samosas & bhajjis.

It’s next to Sunuponnya Shen Pagoda which is on the hill & gives some great views of the area & Mandalay in the distance across the river. (Though it has to be said it has the most garish colours - pink, green, yellow and blue but all in the pukey versions!)

We eventually make our way back to the U Bein’s bridge in Amarapura which is 200 years old, made of teak and spans 1.2km. It attracts locals & tourists alike to see the sunset sitting over the very shallow lake where one can go for a boat trip & take in the tranquillity of the place. It’s lovely even if the weather spoils the sunset as dark clouds obscures the main event. Never mind - we did get some great pictures & we can’t win them all anyway!! Finally at 5.40 pm we head for the hotel - we have been sight seeing since 9 am & we’re whacked. So the hotel is a welcome sight where we head off to a shower before dinner.

And what a dinner it turns out to be - on Power’s recommendation when we said we wanted to experience local food - he suggests Shwe Shan - a small place that must thrive only on reputation as it’s not much to look at. It does a Shan buffet for 1500 K per person (ie 70 pence) for eat as much as you like of special ethnic (Shan) food which is awesome, tasty, unbelievable etc etc - you get the picture!!!

The next day is, thankfully, much more leisurely. We even get to lie in until 7.00am and have a very civilised breakfast. M tries the local speciality Mohinger which is a fish based soup served with vermicelli and spices, egg and coriander. (It’s much nicer than it sounds). We start with a one hour boat ride upriver to Mingun. This is great as we get to see all the families living along the riverside and making temporary homes on the islands in the river during the wet season. They use bamboo to make, houses with intricate bamboo weave walls & roofs - many on stilts to overcome the monsoon floods, rafts or platforms to live on. People are trading off their bicycles, kids are playing with kites, and local fishermen are hard at work.

First stop is the Mingun Pagoda - or at least the earthquake damaged 50M high base of the pagoda which was to have reached 150M; it didn’t get finished due to a bad premonition. Not of great interest in itself, however, it gives great views from the top across the river and over the surrounding countryside. The only distraction is the ruck of young guys eager to help you up a one inch step in exchange for a “well earned” tip! It’s difficult to try & ignore the various children & young people who try & eke out a living from tourists, particularly when they try & sell you stuff that is either impractical, useless or of poor quality. It did get a bit tedious & tiring at time especially in the heat & humidity. What is great, however, is their line in patter - starting with hello where do you come from? What is your name?, you are very beautiful/handsome. Then, you can take a picture with me, followed by please make me lucky - buy something from me. A lot of them are pretty cute kids as well - who obviously don’t go to school - so it takes some toughness or humour to overcome this as it happens everywhere you stop. We got the hang of it by starting the process by saying, is this a present for me? I’m a guest in your country so that would be nice. It is understandable however, given the level of poverty & the significant dependence by local people on tourism which has dropped by 80% in the last 2 years - they put it down to the protests a year ago & the recent cyclone. However, the government appears to consider tourism as a side issue & isn’t interested in promoting it. Unfortunately many children have taken to begging for pens, sweets & money, which doesn’t bode well for the future generation.

We then go to the Mingun Bell - the 2nd biggest in the world, that was intended to serve the pagoda (it’s quite impressive for a bell) - and Myatheinton pagoda, white stucco and quite different with 7 terraces edged with wave-like walls and the delicate blue trim to the sikhara and spires. The back to the boat via the most incredible art shop owned by Zaw Min. He paints fantastic watercolours, oils and acrylics of local life and we really could have been tempted. He has his works being shown in Lyon, France by a Frenchman who clearly was impressed with his talent. His stuff would definitely sell in London.

Back in Mandalay we decide to add to our itinerary and visit Mahamuni pagoda. This is supposed to be the physical embodiment of Buddha and every day male devotees queue up to add layers of gold leaf in hope of improving their karma. The result is a very bloated and distorted Buddha. There is a definite division on based on gender as only Monks & men are allowed into the inner chamber where the important Buddha statues are, while nuns & women have to stay outside. Not sure the Buddha actually would go along with this today!!! M gets to don a longyi to go in while C loiters disconsolately (poor dear)! We also go to a gold leaf making business which seems to require either huge amounts of strength for hammering the leaf or incredible delicacy of touch & the patience of a Saint in packing the leaves for sale. Seeing how much the gold leaf costs we deduce that ‘the Buddha’ is really worth a lot!

Power suggests we take a tea break. Brilliant. We visit a local tea shop as they call them - but are actually small scale restaurants which serve free hot green tea in a flask on the table & are considered to be an extension of the home (the lounge as Power described it) where one would entertain guests & discuss business & politics etc. They are everywhere & usually very crowded. We have some lovely soup - Kya Zan Hin (chicken and fish stock with corn). Then it’s on to the Mandalay Royal Palace - a complete reproduction completed in 1996 after the original dating from 1861 was bombed in WW2. It’s interesting to see how, or at least in what, the Monarchy lived.

Then it’s off to Shwenandaw Kyaung, a monastery - part of the Royal Palace complex - that is original. It was previously the living quarters of the King in Amarapura and along with the rest of the original Palace was relocated by the new King but rebuilt as a monastery. It’s pretty stunning with elaborate carvings all coated in gold leaf (now largely faded). Just as we are about to leave the heavens open so it looks like we won’t get a sunset tonight either.

As our hopes of the rain stopping fade we make a dash for it and then on to Kuthodaw Pagoda, known as the worlds biggest stone book. It contains 729 stone slabs on which are engraved all the words doctrines and canons of Buddha. Each one of them is encased in a small temple like buiding. Apparently it would take 8 years to read if you sat and read for 8 hours a day! Then the final stop of the day - Mandalay Hill for the glorious sunset - not! Hey ho. It was still good to see the views.

And so back to the hotel - having said goodbye to Power - to find no electricity in the room! Ad hoc power cuts are a way of life here - they have no load sharing programme like India, Nepal or South Africa. After several calls (M is very less than impressed with this place) we have light (though still no air-con) and head off for dinner at Shwe Shan again. Although the food is as good they decide to charge us more for some reason which doesn’t impress. Never mind. We look forward to moving on to Inle Lake in Shan State tomorrow morning.

Inle Lake

It’s another early morning flight but the next three days are much more leisurely and, after the first day, even quite relaxing. We’re met at Heho airport by Nay Aung Win (Win to us) and Mr Tin, the driver and take 2.5 hours to drive the 40 miles to Pindaya (the roads are not a Myanmar strongpoint - especially by the end of the rainy season). Pindaya is famous for its limestone caves filled with 8,000 Buddha images. It’s a bit of a cheat really, there are only 4,000 Buddha statues, the rest are images carved on friezes or set into the walls.

The countryside in Myanmar is magical & takes one back into a time long forgotten in this modern era. Rolling hills with cultivated fields; this is very fertile countryside & there is an abundance of fresh fruit & vegetables everywhere - fruit such as guavas, papaya, watermelon etc & a whole variety & colour of vegetables fresh from the fields. The scenery is added to by the colourful turbans in colourful towelling material to help with the heat & perspiration worn by the Pao people as they travel around on bullock drawn carts. Like most countries it has regional identities & cultures such as the Shan in the centre & the Pao, reflected in the food, dress, products & lifestyle.

We persuade Win that local food, rather than tourist restaurants is more up our street. Reluctantly & slightly bemused, he agrees & so we head off to a local market for some lunch - Mohinger that is delicious and served with a crispy corn based biscuit crumbled in it and lots of green tea. US$1 for 3 of us! We can’t resist buying a few snacks too - samosas and a sweet cake made from rice flour with jaggery - like a sticky toffee biscuit, very yum.

Then we retrace our steps back (on the roller coaster for a road) past the airport and on for a further hour to Nyaung Shwe, the jetty town for Inle Lake. It rains quite heavily for most of the journey and Mr Tin does a great job avoiding craters, big puddles and lorries, coaches, motorbikes and carts and the occasional herd of cattle along the largely single track roads; the driving style of most seems to be generally across two lanes, weaving in and out of traffic, they don’t use the horn much but flash a lot. Night driving is usually done with no lights on - amazingly with no accidents that we saw!

Nyaung Shwe looks like a nice town with lots of guesthouses, tearooms and shops. However, we are booked in to the Inle Paradise Resort on the lake itself. This involves a 30 mins boat ride in an open boat (brollies provided for heat & rain - but fortunately the rain stops & the sun is kind). Although we’re a bit concerned about being a captive audience, the prices aren’t too bad (although they only do Chinese food - probably the worst cooking of such lovely cuisine in M‘s view, they need a new chef or he needs re training fast!) and we have a great room looking on to the lake. Very peaceful - other than the constant hum of the motor powered boats! We order what we think will be a light meal (hot and sour fish & chicken with cashews with vegetables) - it’s huge and unfortunately pretty tasteless. We decide to go for simple grilled fish dishes tomorrow which hopefully they can‘t balls up.

We are fortunate to be here during one of Myanmar’s great annual festivals - the Phaung Daw Festival, at which four solid gold Buddha’s are transported to villages across the lake on a huge golden barge. The festival marks the end of the 3 months of lent when the Buddha left earth to go to the celestial pastures & returned on the full moon day in October, when they celebrate with a festival of lights (like Diwali for the Hindus). The procession is preceded by boats from each village rowed in the traditional local style - the men stand up and row using their legs (looks really uncomfortable actually). It’s very colourful - and noisy on some of the boats - and as this is one of the main holy days all families are out, mainly on small boats or on the decks on the side of their over the water houses with platters of gifts to offer to the Buddha. As the procession moves through a scrummage occurs amongst the following boats all eager to get a good viewing place. It’s like the M25 on a Friday evening!

We then spend a couple of hours taking in the local sights on the lake including the Phaung Daw U monastery where the gold Buddhas are from and Nga Phe Chaung Monastery (the 5 Sided Monastery) made from teak in the 1800’s and filled with elaborate Buddha statues. It’s also known as Jumping Cat Monastery as one of the Monks trained the local cats to jump through hoops! We don’t get to see this marvel as most of the cats have died. We also visit various craft workshops of the mainly Intha people that live on the lake - silk weaving looms using the fibre out of water lilies (unique to Inle Lake apparently), paper and parasols made from mulberry wood, a traditional blacksmith, silversmith and a cheroot rolling factory. C tries one as it has tamarind wood in so she thinks it may taste nice - big mistake she says!! Yuck. Villages on the lake tend to be built in clusters around folks with the same skills set - blacksmiths, silversmiths etc. Houses on the lake, which are all private, cost twice as much to build as elsewhere because of the need to build them on poles which have to be renewed every 3 - 5 years.

On the way back to the hotel we pass the floating gardens of Kela where tomatoes are grown on floating islands held in place by bamboo stakes. The government has recently imposed restrictions on the growth of the floating garden as the lake has substantially reduced in size over the centuries and they are concerned about it becoming unsustainable. The reduction in size has coincided with a massive burst in the local population living - or more importantly - dying on the lake. Traditionally the Intha would bury their dead in the lake - using bamboo poles to keep the bodies in place. They have now been persuaded to use a specially created cemetery instead to avoid the water becoming toxic.

Dinner is a great improvement on yesterday; simply grilled river and lake fish - although we still couldn’t get them to cook the vegetables without oyster sauce and they tried to give is some packet crisps rather than chips with the fish! We can’t fault the attentiveness of the service though which is excellent (other than perhaps the barman trying to chat to us with a mouth full of pan - a rolled betel leaf packed with tobacco and herbs which produces a red liquid spat out periodically with great gusto!).

Our final morning on Inle Lake is spent lazing around on the water! We hoped to see an authentic floating market, unlike the one we saw near Bangkok, but as yesterday was a holiday the market isn’t operating other than a few baoats with souvenirs - they hold onto your motorised boat trying to sell you something - gliding along then eventually let go to row back. As we cruise we see the local primary and high schools. Primary education is free and supposed to be compulsory although we saw many youngsters that didn’t attend - touting for business with the tourists instead. High school has to be paid for although the cost is low and books etc are subsidised. Most locals aspire to moving & working in Singapore not the US, Oz or the UK, where a lot of young people go to study if their families can afford it.

We also pass the local hospital. The three main killers in this country are malaria, tuberculosis and HIV, especially amongst the poor who can’t afford to pay for treatments. There is no backstop provision other than a few NGO’s. Apparently a by-product of global warming is the increased incidence of Dengue fever - which had been virtually eliminated - and which is now the main killer of children. Ironically, coincidentally we see the updated version of Al Gore’s film, An Inconvenient Truth, on cable TV while we were in Myanmar.

We finish with one last pagoda visit - Shwe Inn Thein, which is a site of around 1,000 largely derelict pagodas but with some fantastic decorative stucco and plasterwork. Work has started to renovate them but we preferred the crumbling and overgrown one’s. Then it’s back to Nyaung Shwe to meet Mr Tin for the drive back to the airport.

We stop for lunch at a truck stop and have some local chicken curry with rice and soup - £1-50 for 4 of us! Pretty good too. Unfortunately deforestation of the teak forests is a real problem for the country & it’s environmental impact is only now being recognised - perhaps too late. Everyday we can see lorry loads (or overloads in their case) of felled mature teak trunks being transported to Singapore & Thailand to be made into exclusive furniture.

Unfortunately our flight is delayed by 1.5 hours so we don’t get back to Yangon until 7-30pm but a couple of cold beers soon sorts us out. (What we’ve noticed as we are jetting around the country in a mad rush is how much time we spend in airports just waiting! The thing that sustained us is the latest Nigel Slater book “Eating for England” which is a delightful, light hearted read about the British culinary scene past & present - a gift from Mum & Pete - thanks guys).

And so, we get to the end of our Myanmar scramble with an early flight back to Bangkok. We packed way too much in and are completely Pagoda’d out. We booked the tour because of the lack of time on our hands & the lack of good information about independent travel here. Whilst going on such a trip brings some certainty & comfort the down side is the inflexibility if you want to stay somewhere longer, and the question of getting your mindset into the local cost of things which has a bearing on the level of tips you give the guides, drivers etc. It’s been fascinating though; Myanmar is a beautiful country and despite it’s rich natural resources the majority of the people are incredibly poor. Yet they invest a great proportion of their incomes in their faith and the need to do good in this life for the benefit of the next life. In the final analysis, regarding the question or not to come, we think we made the right decision, we saw the country largely unspoiled by developed tourism which we are sure will happen & change the face of the country which is quite magical - even with it’s political difficulties. So it’s off back to Bangkok courtesy of Asia Air & then to the islands of Southern Thailand in the Andaman sea & the Gulf of Thailand ………………..see you there!

Some General observations on Myanmar

There’s a whole host of information that we gathered as we chatted to local people - it’s an ex British colony and many people can speak some English.

The role of the monasteries & monks in the country & recent protests is intriguing. The whole political system is in a delicate state - the army in control, the monks as independents as they have a special & privileged position. The academics & intelligencia are largely frustrated because of the lack of true democracy as they see it. However, the generals would point to the fact that there are 135 ethnic groups each with their own agenda & regional or independent vision, so the only way to hold the country together is to have a military dictatorship. It’s the reason the country name was changed from Burma to Myanmar. Burma recognised or stood for the largest group, the Bamars only, & various states wished to break away as independent countries.

There seems to be a lot of respect for Ms Aung San Suu Kyi who has been under house arrest on and off for 13 years. Her children are apparently in the UK & she is free to leave - exactly what the government would like, but she stays as a symbol of the hope for a democratic & changed political scene. The Govt have however, adopted a new constitution for the nation & have promised elections in 2010. How much of this is window dressing for international consumption & how much will happen is yet to be played out. However, local folks aren’t holding their breathe - they seem largely resigned to the situation & sceptical about the army’s intentions. However, for the first time rather than government appointee, local town & village leaders are going through a form of elective process - maybe there is hope.

In the context of recent global events, it seems to us a bit rich for the west to berate countries such as Myanmar yet support others with equally if not worse human rights records & lacking any open political system - a few Middle Eastern & African countries come to mind.

The global financial crisis that has been raging with market turmoil every day also draws comment as (along with many developing countries) people question the position of the west who have tended to claim the moral high ground about accountability & transparency - not quite the doctrine practised by the banking & investment community in reality it seems!!! It begs the question about who has more corruption to deal with - certainly in the west it seems to be more sophisticated than in developing countries but no less perverse & destructive.

Myanmar’s main trading partners are China - who have a large influence here, it’s their old motor bikes that folks drive around on & their old tractors that provide transportation for the farmers etc - Russia & the ASEAN countries. The Russians train the army & the IT technicians who have blocked Hotmail & Yahoo in the country - though some enterprising guys have developed a software to overcome this - rare though. However, this seems to be at odds with the fact that CNN & the BBC world service are freely available in the country - even at the airport.

68% of the population lives in rural areas which don’t have basic amenities viz electricity, sanitation, water supply etc. The countries roads & general infrastructure needs major investment & this is being encouraged via leases to the private sector of 30 to 50 years for road construction & maintenance - they then charge a toll. Tolls on most roads are common as is paying to enter a town or region.

The nation is rich in natural resources such as gas, oil, gems, rice, teak which they export - yet according to the UN only 1% of the governments profit per annum is spent on the local poor. There is a local view that cocaine/drugs generally fuels the corruption in government. The UN has various presences here including a Development Fund & UNICEF. Surprisingly there is a US & British Consulate here as well even though the governments of these countries discourage visitors!!! Not sure this is the right policy - engagement works every time as history shows.

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Comments

[Ni NI Lwin]

very nice
I felf sad, and kind ok miss Burma when I look to these pics. I felt like I want to go back to Myanmar. Any way Thanks for sharing.