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Midget Sheila - Burmese for do you have a cigarette lighter or a small Aussie woman?
Bangkok, Thailand
The answer is the former!!! Have just spent 2 weeks in the fabulous Myanmar. Will try and give you just the highlights but be prepared for a long blog. We chose to travel with a British company, All Points East, as we were uncertain how independent travellers fared in a country with a strict military regime and little infrastructure. Couldn't recommend it highly enough as the programme, value and tour guiding were brilliant. We happened to meet one of the co-owners of the company who lives in SE Asia. He is very knowledgeable about this part of the world and tries to give the tours plenty of local experiences. Our lovely tour guide, Chris (from California but living and loving the Burmese way of life) was a photographer and added so much to our enjoyment. All the local guides were generally excellent.
We started and finished off in Yangon. The former Rangoon is no longer the capital but has old British colonial buildings, mostly now dilapidated. The roads are very wide, congested and chaotic. All vehicles are right hand drive and drive on the right.Oddly, there are no bicycles or motorcycles due apparently to one of the generals banning them after his son was knocked down by a motorbike. The streets in the old town are laid out on a grid but it can still be difficult to work out where you are! You notice that most of the women and children have patches of yellow paste on their faces. This is thanaka, a product they use to protect themselves from the sun, also to deal with wrinkles and acne. Lots of locals are sitting and drinking tea on low chairs on the pavement. There are stalls selling betel nut and cheroots everywhere. We saw lots of monks in dark magenta and the pale pink robed nuns with their shaved heads many of them carrying parasols. All men and women wear long skirts - the longyi. We enjoyed walking around the city and particularly riding the very old circular train. We got off at Insein ( pronounced Insane) and insane it was! It is not on many tourist agendas so we were the object of lots of interest. We bought peanuts and were offered all sorts of other unidentified food. We had gin and tonics in the lovely colonial Strand hotel, we walked down to the jetty and watched the sunset, one of many, on board a steamer boat. The markets were great especially Scott's. The two parks we visited were a welcome respite to the bustle of the streets. We drove past the compound of Aung Sang Suu Kyi but the Lady wasn't in residence. The highlight was the late afternoon trip to Shwedagon. This massive golden temple complex lauds it over Yangon's skyline. What a sight when we walked in through the East gate. So many temples, Buddhas, monks, nuns, devotees, locals and tourists all milling around. We found our corners, the days we were born( Thursday for me) and poured cups of water on the Buddha's shoulders, the Garuda behind him and the rat beneath him!!! We watched the sun set and the huge golden stupa being lit up. A fantastic experience.
The next day we flew to Mandalay. There is a airline service that flies to the cities around this vast country as the roads and trains are so slow. It flies a circular route so you have to land and take off a few times but is a great way to travel. Mandalay is disappointing as l had romantic images of this city. It is just vast and there is not much to see in the city. However, we went to the island of Innwa and travelled around by horse and cart. We visited temple ruins, the first of several teak monasteries, enjoyed bucolic rural scenes and l felt like l was a Burmese Jane Austen heroine. We had young girls selling jade cycling behind our carts which amused us and they managed to sell to lots of our group. That night, another sunset at iconic U Bien Bridge! A mile long teak bridge with no sides crossing a large lake, full of locals, monks and yes, tourists. The next day we drove up to the old British hill town of Pyin Oo Lwin, stopping on route to see a colourful wholesale flower market. We enjoyed one of many stops at a local tea house for our daily interaction with the locals. Once outside the towns, we found smiling faces, a willingness to laugh with us and spirited youngsters trying to sell us Burmese novels, jewellery, mother of pearl, lacquer wear, puppets and postcards. The steep ascent to the hill town was a major trading route with China. Spotted a large Buddha which had fallen off a lorry and the Burmese now want to keep in the country as they feel that is the wish of the Buddha! The market in the town was great for photos. The best sight was the woman wearing the cauliflower hat!! We all piled into horse drawn stagecoaches (now l felt that l was in the Wild West) to tour some of the old colonial mansions. Loved the sweet peas and hollyhocks we spotted at lunch. On way back to Mandalay, we stopped at the Botanical Gardens, another teak monastery which used to be part of the Royal Palace and saw the world's largest book (thought l saw that in Bhutan!!), 750 marble tablets of Buddhist philosophy all in individual white temples. We stopped at sunset to take photos of the pavilions of the Royal Palace. Now the walls surround a military compound of 10,000 men and their families.
The following day we sailed up the mighty Irrawaddy River to Bagan, the plain of nearly 4000 stupas. The trip was very enjoyable. We saw the sun rise for a change. The river was very low so saw lots of guys on small boats standing and checking the depth with bamboo poles. The river banks were deep with very primitive bamboo dwellings for fisherman. We saw many freight barges transporting teak. Thought that had been stopped!!!
What can you say about Bagan other than everyone should see this phenomenal place at least once in their lives? Kevin and l cycled through a small part stopping off when something caught our attention. We found a man renovating and painting a small temple with exquisite detail. At another temple, l bought a small lacquerware box and the artist painted an elephant on my hand. We had a lot of banter with a young lad trying to sell us Orwell's Burmese Days. He had been taught the phrases 'lovely jubley'and 'see you later alligator'. We had a great time with Tu Tu who was the 5th generation working in a family lacquerware shop. He took us to see the drying process in his home and then cycled with us to a novice monk initiation festival. We saw some of the famous temples and stupas but for us it was more about the overall ambiance.
A flight later, we were at Heho. The drive to Kalaw turned out to be one of our best experiences. None of us were expecting to be blown away by such wonderful scenery. This is a very fertile area of Myanmar with red soil and it is farmed very extensively. We came across fields of barley being harvested by hand by local women. We spent ages in their field talking and taking photos which they seemed to love. In another field we saw 75 locals working together to harvest the crop. There were ox pulled carts, fields of sesame, red flame trees, sunflowers and countless fruit and vegetable. The food in Myanmar can be very good. In the towns we mostly had goat or chicken curries but the freshness of the produce in the north means a more varied diet. Kalaw is in the Shan province so had Shan noodles and meat and fish steamed in banana leaves which went down well in our group. We visited the Pindaya cave with its 9000 Buddhas. Our local beer stall was the Golden Umbrella in Kalow. The beers in the country are Myanmar or Mandalay. 4 of us did a private hike into the hills. We stopped in a local Palaung tribal village for tea and trekked past tea and orange fields. This area used to grow opium and is now trying other cash crops. We saw many rice paddies and avocados and strawberries being grown. As we left town we caught the revolving 5 day market which is the only time we saw any military men as they all came into town to buy from the stalls. The weather in the north was cool in the evenings and night but temperatures shot up during the day.
Our last stay in the north was in Nyaungshwe, an entrance to the beautiful Inle Lake. We stayed in a great local hotel, the Paradise and discovered 2 local restaurants that treated us royally, Wa Taot and Road to Inle. We took a tuk tuk up the hills to the Red Mountain winery and although l don't think the main wine producers of the world need to fret, a bottle of rose slipped down easily as we watched... yes,another sunset! We spent 2 days exploring the lake with its stilt house villages and floating gardens secured with bamboo poles on small open longboats with engines. The sight of the fishermen with their quirky method of fishing is unique. You also spot many ferry boats packed with locals or goods.The lake is a protected area for birds. We saw cheroots being made, visited a weaving factory producing silk and lotus products. It takes 1 woman a day to produce 10 metres of lotus thread from branches which explains why it is more expensive than silk. Also visited the Phaung Daw Oo Pagoda which houses 5ancient Buddha transformed into blobs by the keenness of devotees applying gold leaf. Only males allowed to do this as is common in Myanmar. We also went to Indein and saw the crumbling stupas covered in greenery and a really odd spotty dog!!!
I really didn't want to leave this country although we both needed a rest after a hectic 2 weeks. I will miss the greeting 'mingalabar'. Will definately try and go back. The country is opening up to tourism (hotels need to improve, internet is so slooooow)although the election in 2015 will be crucial. Locals talk about their hatred of the government and the generals. There is fighting in the north and we couldn't drive between Bagan and Kalow because it had become unstable. There are so many tribes within the country that it is very difficult to move forward. Aung Sang Suu Kyi is revered in the West but there is disillusionment with her in some parties. A country still to decide its future! In answer to our initial question, you could travel independently but would need to do a lot of research and need a lot of time and patience.
Now in Bangkok, awaiting our Indian visas. They need 5 working days so taking a mini bus to Koh Kood, an island near the Cambodia border for R and R. Be in touch again soon. Xxx
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