Dear Family and
Friends,
The details of my old age are quite inconsequential. Winters in Rangoon, sailing on the Irriwaddy, hiking up Mandalay Hill.... Pretty standard stuff. (With apologies to Austin).
My plans for this
trip were quite hastily and casually made. Not having visited before, I booked a short trip to Myanmar. I have now spent one furious week
there, trying to see in seven days a country that deserves at least one month.
The Burmans, who
now constitute about two thirds of all the peoples in Myanmar, originally came
to this area from Tibet some 1,500 years ago. When Europeans first came to the area they found an
advanced, wealthy, and educated populace.
Bordering India as they were, it may have been inevitable that the
British chomped them off into their empire in three bites in the 1800's. Myanmar had vast wealth in its teak
forests, extensive gems, and it is one of the few places in the world where
crude oil flowed freely to the surface.
With the last bite in 1885 the British took over all of Myanmar and
exiled the last king, Thibaw Min, to India. But the Burmese were apparently the most troublesome of all
the peoples they governed and Myanmar had the highest crime rate in the British
Empire. Cheap (slave?) labour was
brought in from India to exploit the natural resources and to plant rice and
rubber trees. To stimulate trade,
Chinese were also encouraged to immigrate.
As with many S.E.
Asia countries, the Second World War was seen as an opportunity to gain
independence. Bogyoke Aung San
lead a group that formed a government at its end, but in 1947 he and most of
his cabinet were assassinated. Independence
did come in 1948. (However,
unification has proved to be difficult; today breakaway ethnic groups are still
fighting the central government. The
most difficult are the fierce and warlike Wa who control the heroin poppy and
drug production in the Golden Triangle.).
The current
military regime came to power in a 1962 coup, and lead by General Ne Win, they
immediately launched the 'Burmese way to Socialism'. Nationalizing everything, including small retail shops, the
new policies ground the economy to a halt. Attempts were made to exclude all foreign influences. The outcome has been one of the lowest
standards of living in all Asia. To
me it appears as impoverished as Cambodia. The regime remains as one of the most brutal and despotic in
S.E. Asia. All dissent is
rigorously suppressed and the jails are apparently full of political prisoners.
Public unrest in
the late 1980's resulted in an estimated 3,000 deaths but new elections were
finally held in 1989. The
opposition won a resounding victory when it coalesced around Aung San Suu Kyi,
the daughter of national hero Bogyoke Aung San. It was a victory the regime promptly refused to accept. Placed under house arrest, Suu Kyi's
steely resolve and natural grace focused considerable international pressure on
the regime. Suu Kyi was awarded
the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 and the regime has slowly made some concessions. She was released from house arrest in
1995 but her activities are severely limited. She remains the most popular person in Myanmar today. By law the people are prevented from
speaking to foreigners about the government or politics. But the government is hated. Most people do not speak much English,
but many, including the thousands of Buddhist Monks, seem to know at least two
English words, "f***ing government".
Considerable
controversy still surrounds the question of travel to Myanmar. Those opposed to travel argue that
going to Myanmar supports, and gives validity to the regime. Others, of course, argue that it is
important to keep contact with the people and that it is possible to travel
without supporting the government.
(There are now many privately owned hotels and guesthouses as well as
bus companies and airlines. One
need not stay or travel with State owned enterprises as has been the case until
recently.) By going there I have
declared my view.
So, I flew into
Yangon (old Rangoon) and on arrival purchased my required 200 Foreign Exchange
Currency. (One can only enter
Myanmar by air, there are no land crossings.) Every independent traveller is supposed to convert $200US
into FECs at an exchange rate of 1FEC:1$ US. FECs basically can be used to pay for hotels, air and train
travel, some bus transportation, and entrance fees to government tourist sites. They are a pain in the ass. FECs can also be converted into the
local currency, the Kyat, but at a discount of about 10% over the dollar rate. It is clear the intention of the
government is to ensure each tourist spends at least $200US per visit.
Many people offer
the officials at the airport a 'gift', usually about $5, to be exempted from
the requirement to purchase FECs. The
gift is usually accepted following an appropriate amount of furtive glances and
requests for complete secrecy. Group
travellers are exempted as it is assumed the tour organizer will have spent at
least $200 per person in setting up the tour.
I have always
been able to drive down the price of a stock (by buying it), force up the cost
of foreign currency (by travelling), or ensure a horse finishes dead last (by
betting on it). I haven't lost my
touch. The exchange rate for US dollars
fell over 20% the day I arrived, from 1,100K per dollar to 850K. People said it was because there had
been a run on the banks as a result of a new government policy. Ha! They can't fool me, I know the real reason.
I spent two days
in Yangon, mostly just people watching and market browsing, pursuits which
always give me great pleasure. Myanmarese
(? Or should it still be Burmese? I don't know.) are very friendly and anxious to please
tourists so catching candid snaps of them is pretty easy. Most women apply Thanakha paste, made
from the bark of the Thanakha tree, to their face. I am told it is to protect their skin from the sun, but it
is also clear to me it has a cosmetic element to its use as well. The paste is ecru coloured and hence it
tends to lighten their colour.
A great majority
of the people chew betel nut, bright rust-red gobs dapple the sidewalks
everywhere. Those who don't chew
betel nut, men and women both, smoke cheroots, a very large cigar made mostly
from tobacco. It's quite a sight
to see a tiny old lady, her lined, weathered face painted with Thanakha,
chewing betel while smoking a cheroot almost the size of her forearm.
The main
attraction in Yangon is the Shwedagon Pagoda, one of the most impressive
Buddhist temples in the world. Shwedagon
sits on top of a hill overlooking the city. At the very top is a 326' high golden stupa which seems to
radiate in the sunlight. Topping
the stupa is a 43 foot high 'umbrella' made from 500 kilograms of gold and,
according to my guide book, it is encrusted with 83,850 precious gems, 5,000
diamonds alone. The very, very top
has one diamond of 76 carats. It
is by far the most impressive and opulent Buddhist temple I have seen.
A fifteen hour
overnight bus ride took me to the ancient city of Bagan, the capital of Myanmar
for 200 years. Its glory ending in
1287 by which time Kubla Khan had overrun the site. Over 4,400 Stupas and temples were built, almost two each
and every month, for the entire 200 years.
When I arrived in
Bagan I teamed up with two American women and we hired a horsecart to take us
around the historical sites. Our
driver, Wimawdon, was 20 years old, a devout Buddhist who didn't smoke, drink,
or chew betel nut. His English was
quite good and he proved to be an excellent guide. A horsecart is a great way to travel. They have big high wheels, comfortable
seats, and a canopy to protect you from the hot sun. Wimawdon had two horses, both equally scrawny. With a flick of his switch and a
command that sounded like "hmmmn kneoww", he would prod his horse,
and we would be clip clopping down the road.
We visited
several of the most noted stupas and temples, each interesting in themselves,
but even more interesting as a part of the whole landscape. Bagan is quite different than Angkor
Wat in Cambodia, but every bit as impressive given the sheer number of sites.
On the second
evening in Bagan a group of us rented a boat to cruise the Irriwaddy River at
sunset, a beautiful sight with the blood-orange sun lighting the temples with a
soft glow as it set.
I left Bagan very
early the next morning on a bus; hey, hey, hey, I'm on the road to Mandalay! Courtney, one of the American women
(she's a young student studying Chinese in Kunming) is on the same bus with me
as we have the same one week in Myanmar and the same itinerary. Scenes from the past flash by on the
eight hour trip. Oxen plodding
around old stone mills grinding grain, women striding down the road with
baskets balanced on their heads, horsecarts, oxcarts, bicycles, cycle rickshaws
are everywhere.
Everything
motorized is used as a 'bus' in Myanmar.
Some of the oldest, most decrepit buses I have ever seen trundle down
the street absolutely jammed with people.
Dump trucks are used as buses, people sit, stand, and cling to the back
and sides. Tiny little Mazda
pickup trucks not much bigger than a golf cart, and once assigned to military
officers, now have a canopy on the back and people squeeze into them for a ride. Toyota pickups are the most common
public transportation. They have
seats along each side and small stools for sitting in the middle. One fellow traveller told me of
squeezing into one of these trucks with fifteen other persons, and as it
continued to sit there, she asked, "When does this bus leave?" The answer. "When we get twenty four." I have seen more than 35 people crammed
into one of these trucks.
Mandalay was the
seat of the last Burmese Royalty when the British exiled the King to India and it
remains an important cultural center.
The Royal Palace, located within a walled fort, surrounded by a grand
moat, became the Brits' administrative headquarters. The palace apparently burned to the ground during the final
days of the Japanese occupation and the Fort is now used by the Myanmar
military. Backing the Fort is
Mandalay Hill. A brief one day and
a half in Mandalay does not allow one to see much. But, a climb up Mandalay Hill is absolutely necessary. The top, reached by a one-half hour
hike, and best seen at sunset as I did, affords a 360 degree view of Mandalay
and surroundings.
The next morning,
after a wander through Zeigyo, the main market in Mandalay, and a quick
horsecart-ride tour of the ancient nearby city of Ava, the capital of Myanmar
after the fall of Bagan, I was on a flight back to Yangon and then on to
Bangkok the next day.
As a last comment
I would note how inexpensive Myanmar is.
I stayed in the greatest guesthouse in Yangon, Motherland 2. It was spotless. Including breakfast and other amenities
it cost $13.50Cdn. An equally
agreeable guesthouse in Bagan, again with breakfast, was $9.00; Wimawdon wanted
only $6.00 for a whole day. Not per person but in total. Good meals typically cost less than
$2.00. I had one dinner including
three glasses of beer for about $1.70.
And having laundry done borders on free, 30 cents for washing and
ironing several items.
And so ends
another leg of my tour. Myanmar is
truly fascinating and I regret not having allowed for more time. Maybe I will get to come back one day. Regards to all.
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