Just making it to Burma was an adventure. Since before the voyage began, there was heated debate about whether we should even port there. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the issues, Burma has been dictated by a repressive military regime since 1962. In a way of boycott to the military government, the U.S. has imposed many sanctions on our relations with Burma. Many people on the ship had expressed their doubts about whether we would and should actually go there. When Desmond Tutu was aboard, he made a statement to one of the classes that he wouldn’t have agreed to come on the voyage had he known that we were going to Myanmar. And, apparently, there were many faculty debates on if we should go or not.
So, when Dean John appeared at the microphone on our one day between India and Myanmar, and started the sentence, “Now comes the difficult part of this trip . . ..”, a silence fell over the crowd and for a brief moment, everyone thought that he was there to cancel our stop in Burma. That was after all almost the same sentence that he had used to preface announcing the cancellation of our port in Kenya. However, it turned out that he was just referring to how difficult it was to process India and prepare for Burma in only a day. And, indeed, it was a mind boggling day. We had the usual classes combined with a crash course on Burma in Global Studies and an extra long combination cultural/logistical pre-port meeting in the evening.
The key theme of the meeting - “we are entering the unknown.” Semester at Sea hadn’t traveled to Burma in many years and with the isolation of the country, getting reliable information from such an isolated and repressed country was very difficult. Just by entering Burma, we were tripling the population of Americans in the country. So, everything we were told, was really uncertain. “The Lonely Planet says you can’t use U.S. currency, our tour operator says you can.” “We know that it’s a twenty minute walk to exit the port area, we heard there is a restaurant and a general store inside the port, but we really don’t know anything about any of it.” “Our tour operator says that the trains, planes, and busses are safe and efficient, but the Lonely Planet says not to use public transportation.” “We are hoping to arrive at 8, but we really don’t know, it could be 11.” “When immigrations come on, it might be fast or it might be slow.” And the list goes on and on and on.
We were also given other unique information/tips. We were told that women should not look a monk in the eye or touch him. We should not hand anyone anything with our left hand. There are no ATMs in the country and we will not be able to use our credit cards anywhere due to the sanctions on currency by the U.S. We should not engage citizens in political discussions as there will probably be undercover military listening and the citizen would get in big trouble. We may very well be followed by undercover military. We would only be allowed to travel in government approved “tourist” areas. We would not be able to access e-mail accounts (Hotmail, Yahoo, etc.) while in Burma as they are censored out by the government. If we did send an e-mail, it was very probable that it would not make it to the recipient as it would first be screened by the government. Etc., etc., etc.
So, with much uncertainty, I finished my India blog (at about 1 a.m.) and went to bed. I woke in the morning to find us docked in murky brown colored water. Apparently, we had pulled off the main ocean and into a river to dock. We had a diplomatic briefing in the union around 9ish, where they shared lots of other helpful information. They reiterated many of the things that we had heard the night before and contradicted even more. They encouraged us to talk to the people about politics in a private place. At that one, I saw various members of the administration cringe. That was something they had been careful to warn us against. They also explained that the best way to change money is on the grey market, however, they did not endorse this of course. They told us that we would not be seeing the real Burma. That the areas tourists were able to travel had very good facades of normalcy, but that we should be aware that under the surface, it is a repressed country in distress. They told us that they had spoken with the police and the police would be watching out for our safety. After all, the last thing they would want is a controversy with the United States and the media. The government is, in fact, trying to promote tourism to raise capital within the country.
Around noon, the ship was cleared. Since town was an hour away, I stayed on the boat until 2:30, when I had a sunset trip to the Shwedagon Pagoda. I had signed up for this trip with several of my girlfriends on the ship – Noel, Lauren, Krystal, and Kristen. It was an hour’s drive between the port area and the town, so we decided that we would take our passports and some clothes with us on our trip and try to find a guest house to stay in for the night. So, I threw a skirt, top, toothbrush and paste, deodorant, and clean undies in my canvas purse and headed out for our SAS trip.
As we drove through Yangon on our way to the Shwedagon Pagoda, I was very surprised at how developed it was. It looked almost like any other smaller city – small buildings, hotels, nice roads, movie theaters, and billboards. Of course there were also pagodas, monks in orange robes, men and women in saris (tight, strait skirts), and small, outdoor tea stands. Unlike India, the only vehicles on the road were cars and trucks. Motorbikes are banned in Yangon and there were no cows or rickshaws. I was shocked to also see bars! For some reason, I had envisioned that drinking would be frowned upon in Myanmar. I wouldn’t have been surprised to arrive to find no bars, however, I was really shocked to see so many bars.
The Shwedagon Pagoda is a huge complex near downtown Yangon made up of probably a hundred colorful temples, stupas, and statues. The centerpiece is the towering 326 foot solid gold-plated stupa that is believed to have been built 2500 years ago and supposedly houses eight hairs of the Budda. It’s covered with hundreds of gold plates and the top of the stupa is encrusted with 4531 diamonds; the largest of which is a 76 carat diamond. It’s one of the wonders of the religious world. The complex is bustling with local people and monks washing the statues, offering flowers to them, worshiping, and meditating. We were given flowers to place in one of the many vases throughout the complex for good luck. Our guide took us around the Pagoda and explained the significance and history of some of the different structures and rituals. We were there at sunset and had the pleasure of watching the golden stupa shimmer as the light faded and then saw it lit up at night once it was gone. It was a magnificent sight – both the actual complex and the hustle and bustle of the local people and monks there to worship.
As we were leaving the Pagoda, we asked our guide if he could recommend an inexpensive local guest house. Not only did he recommend a guest house, but he called it for us on his personal cell phone and told them to hold a couple of rooms for us. He then had the bus stop a little ways from the guest house on a main street and drop us off, giving us directions to walk down a couple of back streets and inquire for the inn at the Chinese restaurant on the corner. I felt really ridiculous (as in, no way is this happening) with six of us girls trooping down some dark streets IN MYANMAR looking for a local guest house. Burmese went about their business all around us – men in longis, women in longis, monks in bright orange robes, and cars. We got a lot of curious glances. Even in one of the major cities of Myanmar, they don’t get many tourists, especially not American tourists. The especially nice part of that is their economy is not built on tourism and most people are truly just eager to learn about you, help you, talk to you, or wave to you, as opposed to just finding a way to part you from your money. Anyways, we found the inn with no trouble. It was called the Okinowa Inn. It was the coolest little place ever. It had small, clean, comfortable rooms and cute, cozy common areas. It had three floors and the stairs were so steep that it was almost like climbing up a latter. We ended up with the whole third floor to ourselves. We had two rooms (one with two beds, one with three) and a little sitting area in between. After we arrived, they actually put mosquito netting up around the beds in the three bed room. Apparently, the two bed room didn’t get many mosquitoes. The bathroom was on the second floor and included a bidet hose (as is the Burmese custom) and a shower head (the bathroom itself became the shower. The sink was outside the bathroom. Anyways, for all this, we paid $5 per night each. It was so quaint and fun. Check-in consisted of signing into a little guest book with our names, passport numbers, and nationalities.
After checking in, we headed to dinner. The interport lecturer suggested that we try this restaurant on a floating barge with a view of the Shwedagon Pagoda. So, after a little work at finding a taxi and showing them a picture of the restaurant (which we had passed by and taken earlier in the day), we took a $2 cab ride there. The barge was like the type that the former royal family used to ride in. It was gorgeously elaborate in a beautiful, not tacky way! We were actually a little nervous about how expensive the food might be. But, as it turned out, it was a $5 buffet. By the time we got there, the place was swarmed with SAS kids. Many of the food trays were empty and were never refilled. The food that was left, was mainly seafood. And, since I don’t eat seafood, I was stuck with rice, soup, watermelon, and dessert. Needless to say, I wasn’t very impressed, however, the girls who had the fish items said they were good and others who arrived earlier and got the full buffet enjoyed it. I was just on rice overload as we had just left India two days before. At that moment, I had such a terrible craving for a pizza. That’s something that I’ve noticed about myself on this trip. I love the foreign food, but I need a little bit of a break in between now and then. The atmosphere was fun and I enjoyed myself, so it all worked out just fine. I’m sure that the restaurant was just overwhelmed with the amount of business on a Monday evening. It probably was much better after that day.
After that, we went back to the hotel and had a couple of drinks and I had some ice cream to satisfy my Western food craving (ouch, shouldn’t have done that). Then we walked back to our hotel and had a little girl talk before bed. Noel and I shared the two bed room, which was perfect because we both forgot to bring jammies, so we sleep in our bras and undies. We both passed out and slept almost all night. Apparently, the other girls tossed and turned a bit with the heat and Krystal was woken up in the middle of the night by some sort of marching and chanting outside the window. We never did find out what that was.
The next morning when I woke up, I was greeted by Noel pointing out a salamander running up the wall behind my head. Wow, I have had enough of crawly things on this trip. I was thankful that I hadn’t seen it the night before. Although, honestly, I’m really becoming a pro at blocking the bugs and crawly things out of my mind. Breakfast was included in the cost of the rooms. They served us some type of marmalade covered pancake, fry-type things, watermelon, coffee, and papaya juice (which I swear smells and tastes like vomit). All in all, it was a nice little breakfast. After breakfast we took a quick little walk through the market and then some of us took the hour long shuttle bus ride back to the boat. I have to tell you, after just 24 hours off the ship, walking into the air-conditioning and my clean room and shower with all my things and the option of ordering a cheeseburger and a diet coke at virtually any time you’d want one, I’m ashamed to say, that I was tempted to just stay on the boat for the next five days and recuperate from India. Of course I didn’t. Because after a quick shower and meal in the dining room, I was off to meet my tour group for my three night trip to Bagan.
There were a lot of nice and fun people on my trip, so I was really excited. Plus, I had known that I wanted to visit Bagan ever since I read through the Lonely Planet last winter. I had planned to do it independently, but after getting on the ship and seeing that it was sometimes nicer to have SAS plan things for you and being a little nervous about what to expect in Myanmar, I decided to book it with them when they opened up a second sale.
The trip started out great. I found out that my tour guide for the trip was the same one that I’d had the night before on the Pagoda trip. As he was extremely friendly, helpful, and knowledgeable, I was stoked. His name was Joe and he was a fountain or knowledge and humor. As he’d spent a lot of time in America, he spoke great English and knew a lot about the U.S. They gave us flowers as we entered the bus and after we were all sitting down, our guide came back with traditional Myanmar bags individually wrapped in pretty paper. Besides that, the ride to the airport and the two hour plane ride were pretty uneventful. The meal on the plane was surprisingly boringly Western (ham and butter sandwich and cake) but good.
We arrived at our hotel around 8 p.m. It was a gorgeous, five star resort. The rooms were beautiful hotel-type rooms in outdoor buildings and there was a gorgeous outdoor restaurant and pool. Soon after we arrived, we met for dinner. It was all Westernized food (salad, pasta, steak), and I really quite enjoyed it. My favorite was the pasta with butter sauce. I added some chunky tomato sauce, some spinach from the beef, and some parmesan cheese. It was heavenly.
After dinner, our guide, Joe, offered to take us into town if we wanted to go. Around fifteen of us went. He first took us to a little store and showed us the local cigarettes and how they make them out of palm leafs, tobacco, and spices. Then he bought a bushel and handed them out to us to try. They looked like cigars, but they were pretty weak and flavorless. Next Joe took us to a small shop where he suggested that we purchase cheap liquor. Many of us picked up bottles of local rum for the equivalent of 80 cents. A single drink at the hotel was $4, so this worked out great for us. Then, he brought us to a little local bar, which pretty much consisted of some tables outside and a small building. Joe told us that we could either order drinks or use what we’d just bought. He knew many people at the bar and he sat down and joined our table. Some of his friends also came and sat with us. Joe broke out a guitar from somewhere and played and sang some American classics for us, like Let it Be and Sweet Home Alabama. We had a great time and I couldn’t believe what a localized experience I was having on an SAS trip. It was so much more low key and culture rich than the hectic pace we kept in India. After the trip into town, some people went swimming. I went to bed but not before taking a nice bath in my gorgeous tub and becoming acquainted with my new salamander friend scurrying along the wall in my bedroom.
Bagan is known as the city of four million pagodas. It’s one of the richest archaeological sites in Asia. At one time there were over 5,000 pagodas, temples, and monasteries, today there are still 3,000. They were all built between 700 and 900 years ago and are so varied in size, design, richness, contents, and current condition. A few are used by local people, but most are not in current use. Driving, walking, or biking through the area, you will never be out of sight of at least one temple or pagoda. Often you will have a veiw of dozens at a time. Some are big and heavily used and visited, some are tiny, crumbling, and mostly forgotten. Maybe it’s just my romantic side, but they make me think of being in a world of medieval castles.
So, first thing that morning, we visited our first Bagan temple. There was a big Buddha at the entrance and lots of stairs to climb up to the top. From the top, we got a beautiful view of the land below dotted with ancient temples and pagodas. After spending about an hour at the pagoda, we did my favorite thing of the trip, visited an elementary school and a local town. At the elementary school, the children (very young looking second graders) sang the English alphabet for us and in return we gave them books, pencils, and candy that our tour operator had provided out of our trip costs. Then we sang “I’m a little tea pot”, played with the kids with balloons, and took them outside and made a large circle and taught them the hokey pokey. They loved it and we loved it. I was between two little boys who I guided on the movements. They loved watching us silly Americans dance around like morons for their amusement. That was my favorite part of my entire trip so far. Just that little period of forty five minutes playing with those precious children. It’s been so long since I’ve been around a group of little kids who weren’t chasing me, begging for money, or trying to sell me post cards. The children all wear pretty little green and white uniforms. When we left the school, there was a group of children standing by the gate who happily greeted them. We later found out that they didn’t have uniforms, so they hadn’t been allowed to attend during our visit. However, the children would still receive the school supplies and treats that we brought the other children. I felt so sad that we had given the children without uniforms a reason to miss school and possible unhappiness, but it also impressed me how important our visit was to them.
After the school, we wandered around the village and saw some local people going about their daily farming chores. Many of the women in the country wear a type of cosmetic paste on their cheeks which appear in light colored streaks on their faces. This make-up keeps them cooler and protects them from getting darker in the sun. They think that lighter skin is more beautiful than darker skin. At one of the houses, one of the little girls put this make-up on some of our girls. I gave it a try for a while. It did keep my face cooler, but it sort of felt like I was wearing face paint.
Next, our guide, Joe, invited us to come visit his family home. It was raining when we arrived and his family members took turns running back and forth with umbrellas to walk us into the house. It was so kind. But then, the Burmese people are always kind. Joe’s mother stood at the door and greeted us and welcomed us to her home. Joe showed us around the modest, although I’m sure very nice for the area, home and then took us out back to his lacquer ware factory. He has a small factory where he creates pieces and sends them to Europe. He does not sell the pieces in Myanmar, because he does not want his unique designs copied. He did, however, allow us to buy a couple pieces at a substantial discount. I got a small tray. His work was beautiful. I appreciated it even more when I saw the lacquer ware at the other stores we visited.
We had a nice Burmese lunch at a fancy restaurant and then had a short break at our hotel, in which my friend Patty and I took a little walk around the town and visited a lacquer ware factory. After our break, we took a pony cart ride to another temple to watch the sun set. We went in twos in the pony carts and rode through the beautiful countryside absolutely saturated with ancient temples. This is where I really imagined that I was riding through a maze of medieval castles. Sunset was beautiful from the top of the temple. It was high enough to get a great view, but low enough that I felt immersed in the surrounding temples. After walking around and getting a view from all sides, many of us sat with our legs dangling over the edge watching the sun as it set over the countryside and the peaks of the temples.
That night we had another nice dinner at another restaurant and saw a traditional puppet show. It was a lot of fun and the food was good. After dinner, we returned to our hotel. I hung out in someone’s hotel room and chatted and told ghost stories (it was close to Halloween after all). All night I had been craving chocolate and believe it or not, there was no room service and the little convenience store had no chocolate. These are the times that really make me remember that no matter how similar things seem to the U.S. in tourist areas, hello, THIS IS ASIA. Anyways, after hearing me cry about chocolate for several hours, one of the boys called downstairs and asked if they had any chocolate bars down there. They said yes and he said he wanted four. So, of course, we end up with four hot chocolates. It was really funny and ended up being pretty good (especially with a nip of that Myanmar rum).
The next day was jam packed with activities. We started out the day by visiting two local markets. The first market had a variety of fish, poultry, fruit, vegetables, souvenirs, and other household goods. The fish and raw meat were laid out on tables for display, covered by a hazy cloud of flies and other insects. It smelled of fish and raw meat as you trekked through the muddy, narrow aisles. The second market was strictly a fruit and vegetable market. Joe bought us some orange garlands of flowers that smelled so good, and we tried this really good fruit that looked like a pink artichoke before it was peeled, but looked and tasted like a kiwi inside.
After the markets, we stopped at a sugar plantation. A man climbed up a coconut tree and showed us how they extracted the sugar from the tree. They then showed us how they made it into sugar candy and whisky. Of course they let us sample both. As it was only about 10:30 a.m. and I hadn’t eaten, the breakfast of sugar cubes and whisky gave me a terrible stomach ache. Duh! Good thinking Amber!
Our next stop was a climb up Mount Popo. The coolest thing about this place was that it was swarmed by monkeys. That was also a little frightening as they seemed a little aggressive. One of my friends was hissed at by one of the monkeys. And, I watched another monkey run up and steal a bunch of bananas from one of the local women. She got a kick out of it. I saw a really cute monkey with an adorable little baby. There was nothing significant up at the top of the mountain besides a nice city view. Luckily, this was nothing like climbing (scaling) Table Mountain. However, it was a “barefoot” climb up some rather steep stairs covered in monkey poo. It wasn’t too difficult and there was a nice city view below.
After the mountain, we took an hour ride back to Bagan and had another nice traditional Burmese lunch (including some amazing spring rolls). After lunch, we visited several beautiful and interesting temples. One had some beautiful, well preserved paintings. Another had four huge Buddha statues that each had their own history and special features. The one that I thought was especially interesting was the one that changed facial expressions depending on where you were standing. When you were standing far away, he was smiling and beckoning you towards him, when you were up close, he looked as if he were in serious teaching mode (no smile).
After seeing several temples, Joe took us to a lacquer ware factory and we saw the workshop and learned about the timely, intricate process of making lacquer ware. Then, we went back to the hotel to clean up a little before dinner. Let me tell you, after climbing up that mountain, a shower and a break in the air-conditioning felt heavenly. This is also the interlude where I met my new salamander friend (it definitely wasn’t the same one from the evening before) for the evening. This one actually chirped like a bird. I have no idea how or why, but he did.
Dinner was a magnificent event. It was held under a tent right in front of a temple. The temple was lit by a hundred candles placed in the windows. Local people performed traditional dances and music for us in front of the temple as we ate. The food was good traditional Burmese and the lime juice was the best that I’d tasted. We were then invited up to dance with the locals. The dance they showed us kind of reminded me of a hula type dance. I was terrible, but I tried.
After dinner, Joe took us back to the same bar as the first night and we again sat around a table, drinking with Joe and some locals. This time we had an Ipod with speakers instead of a guitar. It was a great time once again. After we returned to the hotel, I joined some of the others in the pool. It was so warm and the water was so tempting. My roommate let me borrow her shorts, so I could go in. It was a lot of fun. I don’t know the last time I’ve had a handstand contest in the pool. Haha. But, soon I had to return to my room to sleep. I didn’t want to leave my pet salamander alone too long.
We returned to Yangon the next day and I spent the afternoon shopping in the market. I then met up with Lauren, Noel, Tiffany, and Kristen and we went to SAS’s traditional dinner and dance performance. It was at a hotel and was very nice and the dinner was good. However, it wasn’t nearly as special as the performance and dinner the evening before at the temple. After dinner, I headed back to the ship and got some rest. I was exhausted by this point.
The next morning, I woke up early and headed out to the markets with Noel, Tiffany, Monica, and Courtney. The markets are huge and are filled with all sorts of wonderful things such as pearls and paintings. I got a wonderful painting of Bagan that I’m in love with and a couple strands of unique pearls. It was all extremely inexpensive. Then we met up with Patti, Lauren, and Krystal and went out for lunch at a Thai restaurant. It was nice Thai food although I wasn’t terribly happy about getting prawn in my vegetarian meal. I’m not a big fan of seafood. After lunch, Noel, Lauren, and I headed over to the glass blowing factory that lots of students had been talking about. I’m so glad that we went. They took us through the factory and showed us how they made the glass blown items. The grounds of the factory/store were so neat because they were actually lined with glass items that were broken or surplus and they would recycle. It was a beautiful collage of glass of different colors and shapes. I really wanted to get some wine glasses, but it was very difficult to find four matching ones, so I settled on a small vase and some icecicle ornaments. After the factory, Lauren and I decided to give the market one last whirl. When we got there it was closing and there were only locals around. It was just beginning to get dark. We ended up getting something here and there, but for the most part, everything was closed. It was still a fun experience walking around the market with only local people there. After the market, we got the last bus back to the ship and boarded just before on-ship time.
The Politics of BurmaGoing to Burma was a controversial issue for long before we arrived. Burma has been dictated by a repressive military regime since 1962. When the military government took over, they changed all the names of the cities as well as the name of the country from Burma to Myanmar. As you can understand, there are clear implications in which name you use. The American government calls it Burma (Myanmar). In a way of boycott to the military government, the U.S. has imposed many sanctions on our relations with Burma. For example, due to financial sanctions imposed by the U.S., we were unable to use our credit cards or ATM (none of these existed anyways) card anywhere in the country. We were also told that we were only allowed to bring “educational materials and original works of art” from Burma back into the U.S.
We were only allowed, by the Burmese government, to travel in a few specified tourist areas. We were told by everyone that the places we would travel would put on a good façade of normalcy and we would not see the real political situation. There are rumors of slavery, government run drug rings, and other oppression. Of course everyone was right, and we did not see any crazy evidence of a repressive military regime, however, as in anything, if you look close enough, you will find little indicators that make you think. For example, the University in Yangon was closed and was in the process of being moved outside the city. The reason it was being moved was because the government knew that students protested too much and if they were in the city center, they may ignite a larger protest or riot. However, if they are isolated, the government can better keep things under control. Now that’s something to make you go hmmmmm . . .
I did have a couple of private conversations about politics with some citizens. One citizen told me his life story. He had been headed for a successful career as an engineer or a doctor. He had wonderful grades in school and on his tests and came from a good family. However, just after he started university, it was shut down by the government. It was shut down for several years. By the time it was reopened, he had already established himself in a decent career and had a family to take care of. He does have a good career now, probably the best career available to a non-educated Burmese man. However, after spending some time with this man, it’s clear that he is extremely talented and intelligent and could have done much more important things with his life had he not been held back. This man was eager to speak to me because I was a student and he wanted to teach me about what was really going on there. However, I have been warned against writing too many details about this type of thing, even on my blog, as local people can get in serious trouble for discussing the government.
Another man approached me at dusk one evening and engaged me in a political discussion. His main line of conversation was, “I love George Bush. George Bush knows . . ..” That was a very interesting conversation. I have not run into that sort of sediment on this trip. Overall, I found that the people desperately wanted to seek out intelligent people to share their thoughts and stories with when they could do so in secret. I believe that they see it as a possible means of creating change. They have so little opportunity to do so. Having these conversations with these men, made me truly appreciate the freedom that I have at home. I know that I’ve always taken it for granted. I’ve always believed that I could be and do anything that I wanted to if I worked hard enough, and I’ve always believed, to a point, that everyone has that opportunity too. Now I realize that’s not true, and I am truly happy to be an American. Although, I always have been . . .. *Just a side note – many students wear around Canadian pins and tell people that they are from other countries because they want to avoid anti-American sediment. Of course that’s everyone’s choice, but that completely disgusts me to deny being a citizen of our country. Every time someone does that, I just say, “I’m proud to be an American.” That feels really bitchy to me, and I’m not usually like that, but I feel like to deny your country is almost like being a trader. I love being an American, especially after visiting countries like Burma. Anyways, that was sort of a random sidebar, but I felt like it was an appropriate time to bring it up.*
Myanmar? Burma? Six days in the unknown . . .
Just making it to Burma was an adventure. Since before the voyage began, there was heated debate about whether we should even port there. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the issues, Burma has been dictated by a repressive military regime since 1962. In a way of boycott to the military government, the U.S. has imposed many sanctions on our relations with Burma. Many people on the ship had expressed their doubts about whether we would and should actually go there. When Desmond Tutu was aboard, he made a statement to one of the classes that he wouldn’t have agreed to come on the voyage had he known that we were going to Myanmar. And, apparently, there were many faculty debates on if we should go or not.
So, when Dean John appeared at the microphone on our one day between India and Myanmar, and started the sentence, “Now comes the difficult part of this trip . . ..”, a silence fell over the crowd and for a brief moment, everyone thought that he was there to cancel our stop in Burma. That was after all almost the same sentence that he had used to preface announcing the cancellation of our port in Kenya. However, it turned out that he was just referring to how difficult it was to process India and prepare for Burma in only a day. And, indeed, it was a mind boggling day. We had the usual classes combined with a crash course on Burma in Global Studies and an extra long combination cultural/logistical pre-port meeting in the evening.
The key theme of the meeting - “we are entering the unknown.” Semester at Sea hadn’t traveled to Burma in many years and with the isolation of the country, getting reliable information from such an isolated and repressed country was very difficult. Just by entering Burma, we were tripling the population of Americans in the country. So, everything we were told, was really uncertain. “The Lonely Planet says you can’t use U.S. currency, our tour operator says you can.” “We know that it’s a twenty minute walk to exit the port area, we heard there is a restaurant and a general store inside the port, but we really don’t know anything about any of it.” “Our tour operator says that the trains, planes, and busses are safe and efficient, but the Lonely Planet says not to use public transportation.” “We are hoping to arrive at 8, but we really don’t know, it could be 11.” “When immigrations come on, it might be fast or it might be slow.” And the list goes on and on and on.
We were also given other unique information/tips. We were told that women should not look a monk in the eye or touch him. We should not hand anyone anything with our left hand. There are no ATMs in the country and we will not be able to use our credit cards anywhere due to the sanctions on currency by the U.S. We should not engage citizens in political discussions as there will probably be undercover military listening and the citizen would get in big trouble. We may very well be followed by undercover military. We would only be allowed to travel in government approved “tourist” areas. We would not be able to access e-mail accounts (Hotmail, Yahoo, etc.) while in Burma as they are censored out by the government. If we did send an e-mail, it was very probable that it would not make it to the recipient as it would first be screened by the government. Etc., etc., etc.
So, with much uncertainty, I finished my India blog (at about 1 a.m.) and went to bed. I woke in the morning to find us docked in murky brown colored water. Apparently, we had pulled off the main ocean and into a river to dock. We had a diplomatic briefing in the union around 9ish, where they shared lots of other helpful information. They reiterated many of the things that we had heard the night before and contradicted even more. They encouraged us to talk to the people about politics in a private place. At that one, I saw various members of the administration cringe. That was something they had been careful to warn us against. They also explained that the best way to change money is on the grey market, however, they did not endorse this of course. They told us that we would not be seeing the real Burma. That the areas tourists were able to travel had very good facades of normalcy, but that we should be aware that under the surface, it is a repressed country in distress. They told us that they had spoken with the police and the police would be watching out for our safety. After all, the last thing they would want is a controversy with the United States and the media. The government is, in fact, trying to promote tourism to raise capital within the country.
Around noon, the ship was cleared. Since town was an hour away, I stayed on the boat until 2:30, when I had a sunset trip to the Shwedagon Pagoda. I had signed up for this trip with several of my girlfriends on the ship – Noel, Lauren, Krystal, and Kristen. It was an hour’s drive between the port area and the town, so we decided that we would take our passports and some clothes with us on our trip and try to find a guest house to stay in for the night. So, I threw a skirt, top, toothbrush and paste, deodorant, and clean undies in my canvas purse and headed out for our SAS trip.
As we drove through Yangon on our way to the Shwedagon Pagoda, I was very surprised at how developed it was. It looked almost like any other smaller city – small buildings, hotels, nice roads, movie theaters, and billboards. Of course there were also pagodas, monks in orange robes, men and women in saris (tight, strait skirts), and small, outdoor tea stands. Unlike India, the only vehicles on the road were cars and trucks. Motorbikes are banned in Yangon and there were no cows or rickshaws. I was shocked to also see bars! For some reason, I had envisioned that drinking would be frowned upon in Myanmar. I wouldn’t have been surprised to arrive to find no bars, however, I was really shocked to see so many bars.
The Shwedagon Pagoda is a huge complex near downtown Yangon made up of probably a hundred colorful temples, stupas, and statues. The centerpiece is the towering 326 foot solid gold-plated stupa that is believed to have been built 2500 years ago and supposedly houses eight hairs of the Budda. It’s covered with hundreds of gold plates and the top of the stupa is encrusted with 4531 diamonds; the largest of which is a 76 carat diamond. It’s one of the wonders of the religious world. The complex is bustling with local people and monks washing the statues, offering flowers to them, worshiping, and meditating. We were given flowers to place in one of the many vases throughout the complex for good luck. Our guide took us around the Pagoda and explained the significance and history of some of the different structures and rituals. We were there at sunset and had the pleasure of watching the golden stupa shimmer as the light faded and then saw it lit up at night once it was gone. It was a magnificent sight – both the actual complex and the hustle and bustle of the local people and monks there to worship.
As we were leaving the Pagoda, we asked our guide if he could recommend an inexpensive local guest house. Not only did he recommend a guest house, but he called it for us on his personal cell phone and told them to hold a couple of rooms for us. He then had the bus stop a little ways from the guest house on a main street and drop us off, giving us directions to walk down a couple of back streets and inquire for the inn at the Chinese restaurant on the corner. I felt really ridiculous (as in, no way is this happening) with six of us girls trooping down some dark streets IN MYANMAR looking for a local guest house. Burmese went about their business all around us – men in longis, women in longis, monks in bright orange robes, and cars. We got a lot of curious glances. Even in one of the major cities of Myanmar, they don’t get many tourists, especially not American tourists. The especially nice part of that is their economy is not built on tourism and most people are truly just eager to learn about you, help you, talk to you, or wave to you, as opposed to just finding a way to part you from your money. Anyways, we found the inn with no trouble. It was called the Okinowa Inn. It was the coolest little place ever. It had small, clean, comfortable rooms and cute, cozy common areas. It had three floors and the stairs were so steep that it was almost like climbing up a latter. We ended up with the whole third floor to ourselves. We had two rooms (one with two beds, one with three) and a little sitting area in between. After we arrived, they actually put mosquito netting up around the beds in the three bed room. Apparently, the two bed room didn’t get many mosquitoes. The bathroom was on the second floor and included a bidet hose (as is the Burmese custom) and a shower head (the bathroom itself became the shower. The sink was outside the bathroom. Anyways, for all this, we paid $5 per night each. It was so quaint and fun. Check-in consisted of signing into a little guest book with our names, passport numbers, and nationalities.
After checking in, we headed to dinner. The interport lecturer suggested that we try this restaurant on a floating barge with a view of the Shwedagon Pagoda. So, after a little work at finding a taxi and showing them a picture of the restaurant (which we had passed by and taken earlier in the day), we took a $2 cab ride there. The barge was like the type that the former royal family used to ride in. It was gorgeously elaborate in a beautiful, not tacky way! We were actually a little nervous about how expensive the food might be. But, as it turned out, it was a $5 buffet. By the time we got there, the place was swarmed with SAS kids. Many of the food trays were empty and were never refilled. The food that was left, was mainly seafood. And, since I don’t eat seafood, I was stuck with rice, soup, watermelon, and dessert. Needless to say, I wasn’t very impressed, however, the girls who had the fish items said they were good and others who arrived earlier and got the full buffet enjoyed it. I was just on rice overload as we had just left India two days before. At that moment, I had such a terrible craving for a pizza. That’s something that I’ve noticed about myself on this trip. I love the foreign food, but I need a little bit of a break in between now and then. The atmosphere was fun and I enjoyed myself, so it all worked out just fine. I’m sure that the restaurant was just overwhelmed with the amount of business on a Monday evening. It probably was much better after that day.
After that, we went back to the hotel and had a couple of drinks and I had some ice cream to satisfy my Western food craving (ouch, shouldn’t have done that). Then we walked back to our hotel and had a little girl talk before bed. Noel and I shared the two bed room, which was perfect because we both forgot to bring jammies, so we sleep in our bras and undies. We both passed out and slept almost all night. Apparently, the other girls tossed and turned a bit with the heat and Krystal was woken up in the middle of the night by some sort of marching and chanting outside the window. We never did find out what that was.
The next morning when I woke up, I was greeted by Noel pointing out a salamander running up the wall behind my head. Wow, I have had enough of crawly things on this trip. I was thankful that I hadn’t seen it the night before. Although, honestly, I’m really becoming a pro at blocking the bugs and crawly things out of my mind. Breakfast was included in the cost of the rooms. They served us some type of marmalade covered pancake, fry-type things, watermelon, coffee, and papaya juice (which I swear smells and tastes like vomit). All in all, it was a nice little breakfast. After breakfast we took a quick little walk through the market and then some of us took the hour long shuttle bus ride back to the boat. I have to tell you, after just 24 hours off the ship, walking into the air-conditioning and my clean room and shower with all my things and the option of ordering a cheeseburger and a diet coke at virtually any time you’d want one, I’m ashamed to say, that I was tempted to just stay on the boat for the next five days and recuperate from India. Of course I didn’t. Because after a quick shower and meal in the dining room, I was off to meet my tour group for my three night trip to Bagan.
There were a lot of nice and fun people on my trip, so I was really excited. Plus, I had known that I wanted to visit Bagan ever since I read through the Lonely Planet last winter. I had planned to do it independently, but after getting on the ship and seeing that it was sometimes nicer to have SAS plan things for you and being a little nervous about what to expect in Myanmar, I decided to book it with them when they opened up a second sale.
The trip started out great. I found out that my tour guide for the trip was the same one that I’d had the night before on the Pagoda trip. As he was extremely friendly, helpful, and knowledgeable, I was stoked. His name was Joe and he was a fountain or knowledge and humor. As he’d spent a lot of time in America, he spoke great English and knew a lot about the U.S. They gave us flowers as we entered the bus and after we were all sitting down, our guide came back with traditional Myanmar bags individually wrapped in pretty paper. Besides that, the ride to the airport and the two hour plane ride were pretty uneventful. The meal on the plane was surprisingly boringly Western (ham and butter sandwich and cake) but good.
We arrived at our hotel around 8 p.m. It was a gorgeous, five star resort. The rooms were beautiful hotel-type rooms in outdoor buildings and there was a gorgeous outdoor restaurant and pool. Soon after we arrived, we met for dinner. It was all Westernized food (salad, pasta, steak), and I really quite enjoyed it. My favorite was the pasta with butter sauce. I added some chunky tomato sauce, some spinach from the beef, and some parmesan cheese. It was heavenly.
After dinner, our guide, Joe, offered to take us into town if we wanted to go. Around fifteen of us went. He first took us to a little store and showed us the local cigarettes and how they make them out of palm leafs, tobacco, and spices. Then he bought a bushel and handed them out to us to try. They looked like cigars, but they were pretty weak and flavorless. Next Joe took us to a small shop where he suggested that we purchase cheap liquor. Many of us picked up bottles of local rum for the equivalent of 80 cents. A single drink at the hotel was $4, so this worked out great for us. Then, he brought us to a little local bar, which pretty much consisted of some tables outside and a small building. Joe told us that we could either order drinks or use what we’d just bought. He knew many people at the bar and he sat down and joined our table. Some of his friends also came and sat with us. Joe broke out a guitar from somewhere and played and sang some American classics for us, like Let it Be and Sweet Home Alabama. We had a great time and I couldn’t believe what a localized experience I was having on an SAS trip. It was so much more low key and culture rich than the hectic pace we kept in India. After the trip into town, some people went swimming. I went to bed but not before taking a nice bath in my gorgeous tub and becoming acquainted with my new salamander friend scurrying along the wall in my bedroom.
Bagan is known as the city of four million pagodas. It’s one of the richest archaeological sites in Asia. At one time there were over 5,000 pagodas, temples, and monasteries, today there are still 3,000. They were all built between 700 and 900 years ago and are so varied in size, design, richness, contents, and current condition. A few are used by local people, but most are not in current use. Driving, walking, or biking through the area, you will never be out of sight of at least one temple or pagoda. Often you will have a veiw of dozens at a time. Some are big and heavily used and visited, some are tiny, crumbling, and mostly forgotten. Maybe it’s just my romantic side, but they make me think of being in a world of medieval castles.
So, first thing that morning, we visited our first Bagan temple. There was a big Buddha at the entrance and lots of stairs to climb up to the top. From the top, we got a beautiful view of the land below dotted with ancient temples and pagodas. After spending about an hour at the pagoda, we did my favorite thing of the trip, visited an elementary school and a local town. At the elementary school, the children (very young looking second graders) sang the English alphabet for us and in return we gave them books, pencils, and candy that our tour operator had provided out of our trip costs. Then we sang “I’m a little tea pot”, played with the kids with balloons, and took them outside and made a large circle and taught them the hokey pokey. They loved it and we loved it. I was between two little boys who I guided on the movements. They loved watching us silly Americans dance around like morons for their amusement. That was my favorite part of my entire trip so far. Just that little period of forty five minutes playing with those precious children. It’s been so long since I’ve been around a group of little kids who weren’t chasing me, begging for money, or trying to sell me post cards. The children all wear pretty little green and white uniforms. When we left the school, there was a group of children standing by the gate who happily greeted them. We later found out that they didn’t have uniforms, so they hadn’t been allowed to attend during our visit. However, the children would still receive the school supplies and treats that we brought the other children. I felt so sad that we had given the children without uniforms a reason to miss school and possible unhappiness, but it also impressed me how important our visit was to them.
After the school, we wandered around the village and saw some local people going about their daily farming chores. Many of the women in the country wear a type of cosmetic paste on their cheeks which appear in light colored streaks on their faces. This make-up keeps them cooler and protects them from getting darker in the sun. They think that lighter skin is more beautiful than darker skin. At one of the houses, one of the little girls put this make-up on some of our girls. I gave it a try for a while. It did keep my face cooler, but it sort of felt like I was wearing face paint.
Next, our guide, Joe, invited us to come visit his family home. It was raining when we arrived and his family members took turns running back and forth with umbrellas to walk us into the house. It was so kind. But then, the Burmese people are always kind. Joe’s mother stood at the door and greeted us and welcomed us to her home. Joe showed us around the modest, although I’m sure very nice for the area, home and then took us out back to his lacquer ware factory. He has a small factory where he creates pieces and sends them to Europe. He does not sell the pieces in Myanmar, because he does not want his unique designs copied. He did, however, allow us to buy a couple pieces at a substantial discount. I got a small tray. His work was beautiful. I appreciated it even more when I saw the lacquer ware at the other stores we visited.
We had a nice Burmese lunch at a fancy restaurant and then had a short break at our hotel, in which my friend Patty and I took a little walk around the town and visited a lacquer ware factory. After our break, we took a pony cart ride to another temple to watch the sun set. We went in twos in the pony carts and rode through the beautiful countryside absolutely saturated with ancient temples. This is where I really imagined that I was riding through a maze of medieval castles. Sunset was beautiful from the top of the temple. It was high enough to get a great view, but low enough that I felt immersed in the surrounding temples. After walking around and getting a view from all sides, many of us sat with our legs dangling over the edge watching the sun as it set over the countryside and the peaks of the temples.
That night we had another nice dinner at another restaurant and saw a traditional puppet show. It was a lot of fun and the food was good. After dinner, we returned to our hotel. I hung out in someone’s hotel room and chatted and told ghost stories (it was close to Halloween after all). All night I had been craving chocolate and believe it or not, there was no room service and the little convenience store had no chocolate. These are the times that really make me remember that no matter how similar things seem to the U.S. in tourist areas, hello, THIS IS ASIA. Anyways, after hearing me cry about chocolate for several hours, one of the boys called downstairs and asked if they had any chocolate bars down there. They said yes and he said he wanted four. So, of course, we end up with four hot chocolates. It was really funny and ended up being pretty good (especially with a nip of that Myanmar rum).
The next day was jam packed with activities. We started out the day by visiting two local markets. The first market had a variety of fish, poultry, fruit, vegetables, souvenirs, and other household goods. The fish and raw meat were laid out on tables for display, covered by a hazy cloud of flies and other insects. It smelled of fish and raw meat as you trekked through the muddy, narrow aisles. The second market was strictly a fruit and vegetable market. Joe bought us some orange garlands of flowers that smelled so good, and we tried this really good fruit that looked like a pink artichoke before it was peeled, but looked and tasted like a kiwi inside.
After the markets, we stopped at a sugar plantation. A man climbed up a coconut tree and showed us how they extracted the sugar from the tree. They then showed us how they made it into sugar candy and whisky. Of course they let us sample both. As it was only about 10:30 a.m. and I hadn’t eaten, the breakfast of sugar cubes and whisky gave me a terrible stomach ache. Duh! Good thinking Amber!
Our next stop was a climb up Mount Popo. The coolest thing about this place was that it was swarmed by monkeys. That was also a little frightening as they seemed a little aggressive. One of my friends was hissed at by one of the monkeys. And, I watched another monkey run up and steal a bunch of bananas from one of the local women. She got a kick out of it. I saw a really cute monkey with an adorable little baby. There was nothing significant up at the top of the mountain besides a nice city view. Luckily, this was nothing like climbing (scaling) Table Mountain. However, it was a “barefoot” climb up some rather steep stairs covered in monkey poo. It wasn’t too difficult and there was a nice city view below.
After the mountain, we took an hour ride back to Bagan and had another nice traditional Burmese lunch (including some amazing spring rolls). After lunch, we visited several beautiful and interesting temples. One had some beautiful, well preserved paintings. Another had four huge Buddha statues that each had their own history and special features. The one that I thought was especially interesting was the one that changed facial expressions depending on where you were standing. When you were standing far away, he was smiling and beckoning you towards him, when you were up close, he looked as if he were in serious teaching mode (no smile).
After seeing several temples, Joe took us to a lacquer ware factory and we saw the workshop and learned about the timely, intricate process of making lacquer ware. Then, we went back to the hotel to clean up a little before dinner. Let me tell you, after climbing up that mountain, a shower and a break in the air-conditioning felt heavenly. This is also the interlude where I met my new salamander friend (it definitely wasn’t the same one from the evening before) for the evening. This one actually chirped like a bird. I have no idea how or why, but he did.
Dinner was a magnificent event. It was held under a tent right in front of a temple. The temple was lit by a hundred candles placed in the windows. Local people performed traditional dances and music for us in front of the temple as we ate. The food was good traditional Burmese and the lime juice was the best that I’d tasted. We were then invited up to dance with the locals. The dance they showed us kind of reminded me of a hula type dance. I was terrible, but I tried.
After dinner, Joe took us back to the same bar as the first night and we again sat around a table, drinking with Joe and some locals. This time we had an Ipod with speakers instead of a guitar. It was a great time once again. After we returned to the hotel, I joined some of the others in the pool. It was so warm and the water was so tempting. My roommate let me borrow her shorts, so I could go in. It was a lot of fun. I don’t know the last time I’ve had a handstand contest in the pool. Haha. But, soon I had to return to my room to sleep. I didn’t want to leave my pet salamander alone too long.
We returned to Yangon the next day and I spent the afternoon shopping in the market. I then met up with Lauren, Noel, Tiffany, and Kristen and we went to SAS’s traditional dinner and dance performance. It was at a hotel and was very nice and the dinner was good. However, it wasn’t nearly as special as the performance and dinner the evening before at the temple. After dinner, I headed back to the ship and got some rest. I was exhausted by this point.
The next morning, I woke up early and headed out to the markets with Noel, Tiffany, Monica, and Courtney. The markets are huge and are filled with all sorts of wonderful things such as pearls and paintings. I got a wonderful painting of Bagan that I’m in love with and a couple strands of unique pearls. It was all extremely inexpensive. Then we met up with Patti, Lauren, and Krystal and went out for lunch at a Thai restaurant. It was nice Thai food although I wasn’t terribly happy about getting prawn in my vegetarian meal. I’m not a big fan of seafood. After lunch, Noel, Lauren, and I headed over to the glass blowing factory that lots of students had been talking about. I’m so glad that we went. They took us through the factory and showed us how they made the glass blown items. The grounds of the factory/store were so neat because they were actually lined with glass items that were broken or surplus and they would recycle. It was a beautiful collage of glass of different colors and shapes. I really wanted to get some wine glasses, but it was very difficult to find four matching ones, so I settled on a small vase and some icecicle ornaments. After the factory, Lauren and I decided to give the market one last whirl. When we got there it was closing and there were only locals around. It was just beginning to get dark. We ended up getting something here and there, but for the most part, everything was closed. It was still a fun experience walking around the market with only local people there. After the market, we got the last bus back to the ship and boarded just before on-ship time.
The Politics of Burma
Going to Burma was a controversial issue for long before we arrived. Burma has been dictated by a repressive military regime since 1962. When the military government took over, they changed all the names of the cities as well as the name of the country from Burma to Myanmar. As you can understand, there are clear implications in which name you use. The American government calls it Burma (Myanmar). In a way of boycott to the military government, the U.S. has imposed many sanctions on our relations with Burma. For example, due to financial sanctions imposed by the U.S., we were unable to use our credit cards or ATM (none of these existed anyways) card anywhere in the country. We were also told that we were only allowed to bring “educational materials and original works of art” from Burma back into the U.S.
We were only allowed, by the Burmese government, to travel in a few specified tourist areas. We were told by everyone that the places we would travel would put on a good façade of normalcy and we would not see the real political situation. There are rumors of slavery, government run drug rings, and other oppression. Of course everyone was right, and we did not see any crazy evidence of a repressive military regime, however, as in anything, if you look close enough, you will find little indicators that make you think. For example, the University in Yangon was closed and was in the process of being moved outside the city. The reason it was being moved was because the government knew that students protested too much and if they were in the city center, they may ignite a larger protest or riot. However, if they are isolated, the government can better keep things under control. Now that’s something to make you go hmmmmm . . .
I did have a couple of private conversations about politics with some citizens. One citizen told me his life story. He had been headed for a successful career as an engineer or a doctor. He had wonderful grades in school and on his tests and came from a good family. However, just after he started university, it was shut down by the government. It was shut down for several years. By the time it was reopened, he had already established himself in a decent career and had a family to take care of. He does have a good career now, probably the best career available to a non-educated Burmese man. However, after spending some time with this man, it’s clear that he is extremely talented and intelligent and could have done much more important things with his life had he not been held back. This man was eager to speak to me because I was a student and he wanted to teach me about what was really going on there. However, I have been warned against writing too many details about this type of thing, even on my blog, as local people can get in serious trouble for discussing the government.
Another man approached me at dusk one evening and engaged me in a political discussion. His main line of conversation was, “I love George Bush. George Bush knows . . ..” That was a very interesting conversation. I have not run into that sort of sediment on this trip. Overall, I found that the people desperately wanted to seek out intelligent people to share their thoughts and stories with when they could do so in secret. I believe that they see it as a possible means of creating change. They have so little opportunity to do so. Having these conversations with these men, made me truly appreciate the freedom that I have at home. I know that I’ve always taken it for granted. I’ve always believed that I could be and do anything that I wanted to if I worked hard enough, and I’ve always believed, to a point, that everyone has that opportunity too. Now I realize that’s not true, and I am truly happy to be an American. Although, I always have been . . .. *Just a side note – many students wear around Canadian pins and tell people that they are from other countries because they want to avoid anti-American sediment. Of course that’s everyone’s choice, but that completely disgusts me to deny being a citizen of our country. Every time someone does that, I just say, “I’m proud to be an American.” Th
at feels really bitchy to me, and I’m not usually like that, but I feel like to deny your country is almost like being a trader. I love being an American, especially after visiting countries like Burma. Anyways, that was sort of a random sidebar, but I felt like it was an appropriate time to bring it up.*
