On the Road (back) to Mandalay

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So, where were we when we were last chatting? That’s right, I was about to take off from Chiang Rai for the Thai border town of Mae Sai, so I could cross into Tachileik in Burma and fly on to Mandalay. I was due to meet my agent in Tachileik at 10.30am next day and instead of taking the hot and dusty early morning local bus as planned, I ended up leaving the night before and taking the ex-Bangkok Green Bus, with its aircon and far fewer stops en route. I must be getting soft! One interesting incident at Chiang Rai bus terminal was that on the dot of 6pm, everybody stood up to pay homage to the king and sing the national anthem. Somehow I can’t see this taking off in Oz!

I reached the Mae Sai bus terminal (about 5km out of town) around 8pm in pouring rain, and with only the one tuk-tuk there offering me the outrageous price of 3 bucks to take me to the border, I considered my negotiating position and reckoned it wasn’t strong and so I took up his kind offer. My stay at the supposedly flash Wang Thong Hotel, literally metres from the border crossing, was pretty underwhelming, but at least the aircon worked, even if the hot showers in the morning didn’t. Breakfast was interesting - basically comprised about 20 staff, while I was the only guest eating there!

Just by way of background on Tachileik, this is a typical border town that has set itself up as a cheap shopper's paradise (mainly with fake clothes, watches etc) for Thai people, not unlike the relationship between Shenzhen in China and the folks in Hong Kong. Thai people can cross the border for the day without passport or visa, and Westerners can only get a day visa, for which they must hand in their passport and only get it back on their way out. Furthermore, they are not allowed to venture outside of Tachileik, not that there is anything of significance outside the city limits. In order for me to fly from Tachileik to Mandalay, I had to not only apply for a 28 day visa in advance from Canberra, but apply in advance direct from Burma for a “Permission Certificate (PC)” to make this flight, which cost me the exorbitant sum of USD50 (I’d love to know how that sum gets split up between the various Burmese officials!).

Anyway, it would appear that westerners doing this are few and far between, as when I reached the border, the Burmese immigration wanted to hold my passport and only restrict me to a day visit, when out of the blue appeared the lovely Ms Aye, who asked “Are you Mr Neil?” From then on, Ms Aye took total control, and I was whisked through in 5 minutes, given an hour to do some shopping (which resulted in the solitary purchase of 12 pairs of undies for 3 bucks - I worked out it was cheaper to wear and then toss them than to get them laundered!), before being taken for the 30 minute ride to the airport in a taxi that I think stalled more times than I took breaths. Of interest, Ms Aye took 25 copies of my PC and a couple of other documents, giving me 5 of these copies (which I still have!).

Tachileik airport is an eye-opener, and reminds me of a couple of airports I’ve used in regional China and Uzbekistan. Everything in the airport was manual, from check-in to baggage handling and loading, and there was lots of paperwork involved - they must have copied their procedures from India! Ms Aye handed 5 copies of my PC to the Chief Customs lady, and about another 5 copies to various Police, Immigration, and even a Nurse who was on site to check we didn’t have swine flu! I’ve still got my 5 copies. Fortunately the flight was without incident and the plane was in fact quite comfortable. I sat in the exit aisle row for the extra leg room, but they didn’t see any need to give me the standard safety spiel. Fortunately the weather was very clear for the flight, and the plane flew low, giving a great view of the Burmese countryside, especially in the mountains where the occasional hilltribe village popped up, along with some terraced paddy fields.

And so, at last, to Mandalay. I should point out at this stage that the purpose of the trip here was twofold - firstly, as a conduit to the two locations I really wanted to visit, Bagan and Inle Lake, and secondly, to research a potential English teaching opportunity for sometime in the future, so my visit was very short. With respect the latter, I had an introduction to a privately owned school called Phaung Daw Oo, which has 7,000 students, and has no charges at all, offering education to any underprivileged child in the area. It is funded purely on overseas donations, naturally encouraging any volunteer teachers, and runs on the smell of an oily rag - can you believe an annual operating budget of only USD120,000! This covers the costs of 190 local teachers (do your sums on these alone!), text books, stationery, utilities, admin costs etc. Furthermore, it has 1,000 people who live permanently on site, including 700 young novice monks, 100 orphans, 100 from ethnic minority groups, and a further 100 kids they took in 2 years ago when they were orphaned by Cyclone Nargis. The kids stay in dorms, not what you and I might visualise, but sleep on mats about 20 to a room no bigger than the average western lounge room. I’ve got to say that it is a bit like visiting the burns unit at a children’s hospital - seeing this certainly makes you appreciate a little more what you have in life!

So what were the general impressions of Mandalay itself? Given that it is 36 years since I was last here (with a pack on my back!), any points of comparison are pretty vague. But I was surprised at the volume of traffic around the central city area, albeit very much bicycles, motor bikes and cars in descending order. Given minimal traffic lights, and thus breaks in traffic, it is a bit like Vietnam, where you take your life in your hands and just cross at a steady pace and hope the traffic avoids you. Walking the streets away from the main drag at night is also a challenge - they have no footpaths, no street lighting, the bikes have no lights, and can come at you in either direction. But somehow, they manage through all this!

The other thing that surprised me was the still very primitive nature of the place. I wasn’t expecting Singapore, but I thought it might have compared with Laos or at least Bangladesh, but to my mind is well behind both of those. I could not find a restaurant anywhere near my hotel, noone knew where tourist information was, and I got the shock of my life when I ventured up the well-known Mandalay Hill early in the morning (to beat the heat, as the day ended up 42 degC!), not only did I not have to beat off any hawkers, but in fact I couldn’t find any. I can only assume that as Burma’s second city, it focuses on commercial activities (?), as it certainly doesn’t appear to cater for the tourist. It will be interesting to see what differences the next two more tourism-oriented locations show up.

Given my agenda here, not many photos I'm afraid. I’m sorry the volume of blurb outnumbers the photos, but I suspect that will be reversed at the next two sites. Stay patient here!

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Comments

[Lorna Coochiroff]

Don't I know a song called "On the Road to Mandalay"?