Some General Observations of Myanmar/Burma

Pedestrians - NOBODY stops for pedestrians, not even on pedestrian crossings.

Traffic merges fairly effortlessly but with copious amount of tooting. It's manic, it seems it's mayhem, but it's "organised" somehow.

Manual labour - a lot of it seems to be done by women, or at least that's our observation. Construction workers have absolutely no work safe practices in place: welding is done without protective glasses; airport workers on the tarmac don't wear protective earphones; building workers, high up on scaffolding, don't wear a harness - and all of them whilst wearing thongs!

Laying the ground base for roads is all done by hand and predominantly it's the women who carry the rocks from where they've been dumped by a truck, balanced on their heads to where they are placed ready to be used. It's heavy work and done by children as young as 11. 

Laying the road base.

A young (13 year old) construction worker

Hospitals are so very, very, very basic. They make the facilities Nurse Ratchett worked in look like state of the art 2050!  But, I am so grateful for the work of the dedicated doctors in that public hospital in Nuaungshwe. 

Construction and development in Burma/Myanmar has been suppressed for many years and now its doors have opened up to the outside world, so have the floodgates on large and ugly developments. There are 20 very "influential" families in Yangon linked to the military government. These construction jobs are taken on by these families and they and the government officials get to share the monetary rewards. As a consequence, there is very small number of people who are extremely rich, with the majority extremely poor. 

It's all very, very dirty! -- rubbish is everywhere and very, very few people seem to care. 

Food & drink are very cheap!  --  just make sure the food is hot and only drink bottled water & bottled beer.  We met a couple in Yangon, Mercedes and Colin; Mercedes previously worked for the UN and said beer isn't good to drink in 3rd world countries because it's made with the local water and she recommends only Coca Cola is drunk! I'm not sure though, which is the lesser of the two evils!

(Why won't BlogSpot.com co-operate and present the text in the same font/format?! Grrrrrr!)

There is a strong need for animal rights workers to put in an appearance here. Three "white elephants" are shackled by two feet, one front one rear foot, and rock aimlessly back and forth for hours on end. Our guide tried to assure us they are taken for long walks morning and night, "on the gardens", but I wasn't assured at all.

Inle Lake - and Hospital!

Another early morning flight in yet another twin-prop plane took us to Heho airport - the last  stop on the "bus route" before the flight returns to Yangon. Heho is the regional airport that services Inle Lake and it's the last regional for us on this trip. 

Heho airport - air traffic control.

Again, our tickets were an oddity - they're mostly filled with advertisements front and back! 

HEH - destination; TG132 Flight # - not much else!

 

Reverse side of the airline ticket.

This monastery was the first stop and now we're on our last day in Thailand and I'm blogging this, neither of us remember its name.  It is the monastery where the last Shan, King signed the Peace Accord with the British in 1885.

Beautiful teak oval windows with split opening 'doors'

(Unfortunately the guide cracked the tailgate down on Lorraine's head so she didn't get to visit this temple, but there was worse to come!)

 

After a rest at the hotel, we ventured out for the short walk down to the pier for a long-tail boat ride to the top of the lake.  We passed the one-leg rowing fishermen - not dressed up in the 'traditional' gear of white shirt and orange longhi - but apparently they're only frocked up these days for tourists - tourists who travel in large busloads!



A one-leg rower with his catch.

 The visit to the lotus and silk weaving factory was fascinating.  This 78 year old man cut the stalks of the lotus flower about 5 cm long, pulled the stalk ends apart to expose the fibre, twisted the fibres, laid them on a wooden block and with some water splashed onto the fibres, he rubbed them into a fine thread.  It was a huge amount of work for such a small reward.

The beautiful lotus flowers

Weaving of silk and lotus fibres - beautiful and stunning!





78 year old making lotus silk fibre



The beautiful colours awaiting the silk threads.

We headed for the "Eyeful Restaurant" - a major restaurant on the tourist route, named in recognition of its views.  

The Eyeful Restaurant

 

The view from our lunch table

 
 

If only I knew then ... ... !!!

We enjoyed a "lovely" lunch that was not clearly quite hot enough :(

No sooner had we left the restaurant - the heavens opened - this was clearly an omen of what was to come!!!  We fanged along the waterway - covered up as well as we could from the elements - to take shelter in the Ngaphe Kyaung Monastery, "Jumping Cat Monastery".  It is nick-named as a result of a photographer who took photos many years ago of the cats the monks had trained to jump through hoops. When he submitted the photograph in an exhibition, he could not remember the name of the monastery, so called it the 'jumping cat monastery'.  The name has stuck to this day, however the practice of training cats to jump through hoops has ceased.

 

Two raincoats!

Boats tied up outside the monastery.



The Lake is sadly suffering from ever-increasing pollution.  It is hard to believe that just one generation ago, the Lake was clean enough to drink.

 

We made our soggy way back to our hotel with Lorraine's tummy grumbling.  It wasn't only the heavens that opened up! (Sorry!)  At midnight after another seizure, a hospital was required but unfortunately no-one at the hotel spoke English.  The manager was eventually called in, and after several unsuccessful attempts to get in touch with our tour company, she rang her father who went to the hospital to get an ambulance to come to the hotel. Lorraine was in a world of strife.

 

Being in a third world country, in the provinces, is not ideal when you need hospitalisation!

 

Nevertheless, the doctor was able to stablise Lorraine's condition by hitting her with a high dose of antibots and saline drips.  The hospital was sooooo poorly equipped: the drip stand had four wheels, neither of which worked; the operating theatre had a bed but no electricity - the place was just so poorly equipped.  But they tried their best - and the white woman, certainly an oddity in this public hospital, was at least getting some treatment.

Glad I wasn't there to deliver!

This filled John with dread - not particularly hygienic!

Such basic equipment

 

 

 

 

A transfer the next day to a larger town with a private hospital and modern equipment was a blessing.  Electrolyte levels, blood tests and an ECG showed the doctors what treatment was required, and what treatment will be required once we get home.  At a cost of just under $USD500 and a two night stay we were very pleased to be discharged and on our way on Mother's Day morning. 



So the days we were looking forward to the most - bike riding to Red Mountain Winery to watch the sunset and a stay at a palatial resort in a bungalow over the water - oh well, maybe next time!!!

 

Mandalay

5 May - The "Flight" to Mandalay

We were in for yet another early flight, today from Bagan to Mandalay, on another twin prop plane, but this time a much newer one. The majority of the processing for the flight is done manually - from placing a round sticker onto your clothing to 'authorise entry' through the security checkpoint, to being physically patted down.

The ticket is printed on heavy paper that states the airline's name.  The destination code is STAMPED onto the card by the check-in counter staff.  Another staff member stamps the day's date.  The flight number is handwritten by another staff member. 

The flight is a shuttle service, a bit like a bus run, you get on, sit where you like, and if it's not your stop, you stay on the plane until you get to your stop. You soon realise why people are jockeying to get through the gate first to board the bus for the 50 metre trip to the plane's steps.

Mandalay is Burma’s second largest city.  It is a former royal capital and is the main commercial centre for the Northern part of Myanmar, particularly for its trade with China.   
 
Mandalay is much greener and cooler than the dry plains and 45C temps of Bagan and is served by two main rivers, which clearly have massive benefits for the locals and their ability to produce food.

Our guide took us to the Maha Gandayon (Golden Palace) Monastery where ~1,000 monks live which gave us a first-hand experience into their daily life.  The monks study hard learning various languages as well as their Buddhist teachings.  At ~10.30am, the monks emerge from their dwellings and line up to form a procession.  “Honoured donors” then serve food to each monk as they pass by them.  Unfortunately, this has become somewhat of a “tourist” event.  

To us this event seemed distasteful; however, as you can see by the photo, we were part of it too.  We had time to explore the complex and very fortunately, a young 25 year old monk, Jovan (pronounced Johanna), sought us out and we had a long chat with him.  He previously studied in Yangon but transferred to this monastery as it offers more university courses.  He is extremely knowledgeable and we talked about world affairs and geography and Australia of course.  He also gave us some insights into their daily life.  We exchanged email addresses and hope to keep in touch.

We had seen a lot of Pagodas and Temples whilst in Bagan and we were feeling a bit “Templed-out”, so we decided to limit it to two per day.  The Shwezagon Paya has a striking golden Stupa.


The golden

The Kutodaw Pagoda has the “world’s largest book” - 729 slabs of marble, engraved on both sides and each contained in its own small stupa.  It has been recognised by UNESCO as the world’s largest book.

Standing between the pages of the world's largest book 

 Sadly, at the Shwezagon, we saw some young girls, just 13 years old, carrying small boulders/rocks on their heads.  They were employed doing some repair/construction work.   For many of the poorer families, one of their children is sent to work in order to get money for their family which enables their siblings to stay at school, or become a monk, or simply to help feed/house the family.

A gorgeous smile - in between carrying rocks on her head.

Where are the rocks, John?  Photo is on my ipad and it's too late!

Sagaing Hill, which is 25 km south of Mandalay, is famous for the sunsets.  We chatted with some local monks as the sun set over the city of Mandalay.

Sunset over Mandalay

As Mandalay sits on the Ayeyarwady (Irrawaddy) River, which is the major river that flows through Myanmar, we were fortunate to travel up the river to Mingun to see what was intended to be the world’s largest stupa.  However, construction ceased when the then king was advised against completing it by an astrologer, as he would have bad luck and die.  Only the bottom portion was ever built.  Astrology was very important here in ancient times and for some, it still is today.    

Earthquakes and time have decimated the Stupa

Told that the walk from the "jetty" to the pagoda was going to be "arduous", we opted for a bullock driven "taxi".

Taxi!!!

It was not the most comfortable of rides and fairly quickly, John bailed and decided walking was better for his back! 

It was a bumpy and fairly smelly ride.



A few leaves from the tree for a job well done.

The Mingun Bell is the second largest in the world.  The largest is in Russia – but that bell does not ring.  Therefore, the Mingun Bell is the largest bell in the world that rings!

Certainly, one of the most picturesque sights in Mandalay is the U-Bein Bridge.  It is the longest wooden (teak) bridge in the world and certainly one of the most photographed. 

The famous U-Bein teak bridge, Mandalay,

Sunset over the U-Bein Bridge, Mandalay

A gorgeous picture - shame it's side-on.

Beautiful Bagan

We've been so flat chat over the past few days, we haven't had time to blog.  It has been sooooo hot here - around 44-45 C every day so when we've had an hour for "rest time", we've thrown on the togs and jumped into the pool - and had the obligatory bottle of Myanmar or Tiger.

So, we started out on 1st May on a twin prop plane from Yangon heading for the delights of Bagan with the temperature already above 40 C at 9 am.  And once again, our guide took us to the market place - it seems that's one the itinerary for every place a tourist stops as there were plenty of others who were on our small 68 seater plane at the marketplace too.

Personal service!

Clearly many tourists have travelled here to Bagan as unlike the locals down in the south at Mawlamyine and Thanbuyzayat, where we were greeted with warmth, the locals here had no qualms whatsoever about jostling and bustling us.  Children and adults clamoured to get us to buy whatever trinkets it was they were selling - "Original, original", they claimed as they thrust their mass-produced screen prints, longy's, lacquerware, postcards, wood carvings, and genuine antiques (probably from a 'genuine antique factory'!) at us.

Antique puppets and brass

Burma has been buffeted throughout its history by the rival claims of competing kingdoms and cultures - and its ethnic groups and of course it's been subjected to colonial occupation.  At its peak,  the Burmese empire grew through conquests of Thailand (Ayutthaya) and India (Manipur), and shrank under attacks from the Mongols and of course, they've had numerous internal rebellions and conflicts. 

We drove past some of the 3,000 odd pagodas for which Bagan is renowned.  They say that you can point a finger in any direction at any time and you will find a pagoda, stupa or temple.  And it's true! 

We visited so many of those pagodas, stupas and temples during the four days we spent in Bagan.  This Shwezigon Pagoda is truly magnificent and it gave us an insight into the Burmese traditions.

Shwezigon Pagoda

The history of these magnificent structures dates back to the 9th century and reached its peak during the 11th and 12th centuries.  Pagodas were built as symbols of victory to display the various captured treasures such as statues of Buddha, gold, gems and artefacts. 

The people have a strong faith in Buddha but they are also influenced by some fairly eclectic beliefs that pre-date Theravada Buddhism.  For example they worship nats (spirits) and have a strong belief in astrology.   Nats have been thoroughly integrated into Burmese Buddhism, and nat shrines or images can be found in most temples in the country.  We saw some of their popular nats when we visited Mt Popa; the 'Drunken Nat' has whiskey bottles and cigarette packets all around him in homage to his life spent boozing and smoking.

The nats

The people generally have a pretty hard life here; they work long hours for generally very little money, using rudimentary tools and equipment.

An ox-driven dray taking cotton to market

Picking chillies

This young woman was working in the field starting at 7 am - 11 am, and then from 4 pm until sunset - all for 700 kyat per day (70 cents).



Women working making cheroots

These women work in a factory making cheroots (cigars) and make approximately 1,000 per day each.  For this back-breaking work they earn 4,000 kyats per day.  The women were chanting a Buddhist prayer praying to get married so they would be 'looked after' and not have to work so hard.  They sit on mats cross-legged all day.  But the boss does provide them lunch.  Compared with the field workers, they probably have it good. 

A balancing act

We passed by an ox driven grinding wheel and decided to stop for a photo.  Peanuts and sesame seeds are ground to produce peanut oil for cooking.  The residue is fed to the cows and also used to make "Myanmar snacks" which the locals enjoy.

Sunsets over the Bagan pagodas are world renowned so we decided to see if we could capture a National Geographic photo of our own. 

Bagan sunset

Who'd have thought!!!

What a wonderfully exhilarating way to travel around to see the pagodas at dusk.  And yes, I know - never ride without proper boots, a helmet and leathers.  The risks one takes when overseas!  Swimming with sharks, feeding stingrays ... another one to add to the list.  Thankfully I survived.

Mawlamyine - Yangon

The market place beckoned and this time we made it further into the market than our brief venture yesterday. Everything is available here from flowers; fruit - three types of bananas, finger, red and yellow; locally grown durian and durian from Thailand; rambutan; mangoes;  mangosteens; amongst others. 

 

Beetle nut is sold everywhere - and spat out everywhere. Onions and beautiful garlic cloves and bulbs are bountiful. Rattan platters carry every conceivable green veggie and of course there are the shops selling detergents, toilet paper, noodles, rope, cooking equipment, irrigation piping; motor bike parts and even a school uniform shop. It's all here! 

School uniform shop

There are several jewellery stores and their goods are all on display, hanging on little racks on counter tops - and there's not a security guard in sight. Ni says that indicates it's a very safe place to be. 

It's hot - already 40C and it's only 9.30 am. We head for Yangon in the cool of the A/C minivan. It seems that today is marked as a very good day for celebrations in the lunar calendar. We've passed a celebration of a young novice monk.  

Young novice monk

Before the age of 18, all Burmese boys become a novice; after the age of 18 they become a monk. Most males want to become a monk every year and their stints can last from one week for as long as they have the spare time to remain in the monastery. Annual leave is now 10 days taken to celebrate the new year. School children have three months holiday so many use that time to become a novice. 

We stopped to take their photos and very quickly became immersed in their celebrations. A truck blaring loud music, full of local kids singing and dancing made its way up the road toward the novice who was sitting patiently on the little horse. He generously posed for photos and moved off up the road, however he had to wait, and wait, and wait as the young fellas wanted me to dance with them. It was a joyous ten minute break.

 

We passed through several more towns, each one looking like the last.  Many celebrations are taking place today - mainly weddings. We stopped to take a photo of a wedding and were beckoned from across the road to join them. So we did and everyone got up to greet us;  'Mingalarbar', 'Mingalarbar', wide beetle-nut coloured grins expressed their joy at 'white people' blessing them with their presence. We were placed on either side of the bride and groom - in our travelling gear we looked so out of place - and their official photographer clicked away, and their professional movie cameraman moved around the hut to ensure he had every angle covered! 

 

The bride and groom decked out in mauve

Special 'guests'!

 And the young children of course came up to have their photo taken with the 'white woman' to, "make them happy". 

Brides here always wear a colour, usually yellow or pink or mauve but rarely (never!) white. Many weddings are held in the early hours of the morning, around 3 am so that guests can travel to the wedding and return to their homes in order to go to work. 

Lunch was at the same restaurant where we ate lunch on our way down to Mawlyamine but today is so hot, a waitress has come to keep us cool - and fan the flies away.
 

We stopped at the Taukkyan War Cemetery that is maintained by the Commonwealth war graves commission. "Here are the recorded names of 27,000 soldiers of many races United in service to the Crown who gave their lives in Burma and Assam but to whom the fortune of war denied the customary rights accorded to their comrades in death."