As I boarded my flight for Yangon, I couldn’t but help notice that the plane was full of tourists like me. One hears so much about the ‘political situation’ in Burma (Myanmar?) and potential travellers to the country are in a dilemma (to visit or not?). Lonely Planet has an entire chapter that lists, in detail, the pros and cons of visiting Burma. By spending money in the country, a lot of which goes to the regime, the tourist is actually putting cash into the coffers of the Government. But then some of the money also goes to the people of Burma. Hence the dilemma. But recently the winds of change have been blowing in the country and the regime has been reaching out to the outside world. So why not?
After immigration (which, btw, was a breeze), there was a customs form to be deposited. This form asked if one was carrying more than $2000 (I was, since one can’t use ATMs etc in Myanmar. More on that story later on) so I put ‘yes’ in the form. The officer to whom I gave the form, saw the ‘yes’ and gave me a sheepish grin and then asked, ‘tip?’ But he was very unsure of himself and I just walked on saying that I had no small dollar bills. A smarter official would have said, ‘hmmmmm. No small dollar bills? Then give me a big dollar bill!’. But then that is the first thing that hits you about the people of Burma. There is no cunning or guile at all. Instead you get only innocence.
Even from those dealing with tourists. The people selling souvenirs will ask you once, if you say ‘no’ they just back off and won’t bother you again. Any other country in the world, the people try to make a quick buck off the tourists - 'Our hotel offers the best rates', or 'the beer here is the cheapest'. Instead, what you get is 'don't drink here. It is cheaper if you go outside' or 'the exchange rate at our hotel is not too good, I would suggest you go to the exchange counter outside.' Though it was a lovely feeling to see so much of genuine good-naturedness all round, it also felt sad to anticipate what the situation would be like in the next few years once the country 'opens up' and 'develops'. Oh well, better not to think about that now.
We hear a lot about political repression etc in Burma but things are changing very fast. There are elections in April (which Aung San Suu Kyi and her party, the National League for Democracy, NLD, are also contesting). ‘The Lady’ (Aung San Suu Kyi, as she is known) is visible everywhere – posters, t-shirts, buttons, and fridge magnets. Apparently a couple of years back, one could not mention her name, but now showing allegiance to her, and her party, is no longer something that could get you into trouble.
Yangon (or Rangoon, as some still call it) became Myanmar (then Burma)’s capital in 1885 when the British took over the country by ousting its King and exiling him to Ratnagiri in India (conversely, the last Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar was exiled from Delhi to Rangoon. More on that in a later post).
Yangon is no longer the political capital of Myanmar. That was shifted to Nay Pyi Taw in 2006. But Yangon continues to be the commercial and diplomatic hub and, despite being busy, has an unintimidating feel to it. It has large, green, leafy streets with manageable traffic and has a nice lethargic aura. Perhaps, that is because a few years back two wheelers were banned in the city.
Our hotel in Yangon was a simple but efficient affair – it was a converted colonial building with a nice pool where I took my custom twice (but you don’t swim, they ask). There was a large hall where wedding ceremonies were held which gave us good opportunities for people watching.
The golden dome of the Shwe Dagon pagoda rises about 320 feet and can be seen from almost everywhere in Yangon (the city is pretty flat, as of now!). The pagoda, the holiest shrine in Burma, was originally from about 2500 years back. It was destroyed many times by numerous earthquakes and the existing structure dates back to the 1760s. Two Burmese merchant brothers met up with the Buddha and were given 8 strands of his hair. They brought back these strands to Myanmar and four of them were enshrined at the site of the Shwe Dagon.
A visit to the Shwe Dagon is an intense experience with tourists, pilgrims, monks, incense, and chants all vying for your attention. I visited twice – the second visit, during sunset, was totally different from the first as the Pagoda changed colour with the setting Sun and was then lit up. That day there was a festival at the Pagoda to mark its 2,600th year so it was even more crowded than before. But despite that it was not an intimidating experience but rather a calming one.
From Yangon, we made a day trip to the township of Thanlyin (about an hour away) where we saw a few Payas - Kyaik Khauk Paya and Yele Paya. The latter is in the middle of a lake so one has to take a boat along with monks, people with flower bouquets which are offered to the deities. The lake is full of huge catfish so it was quite a jaws-like feeling to be passing through that water (I could hear the soundtrack of the movie!) when our boat was making the trudge to the island. I survived.
The next day, we took the train from Yangon to Bagan, about 430 miles away. The train was supposed to leave at 1600, and like good tourists we reached the station at 15:30 despite being warned that the trains in Burma 'might' not run on time. True enough, on reaching the station we found out that the train would be 'atleast' an hour late. The hour became two but it was fun to be at the station doing a bit of train- and people-spotting. It was fun to see life change colours at the station as vendors, passengers, officials, guards, old trains, new trains, and engines all went about their business. The station-scene was a lot like in India but a bit less crowded and less dirty so the extra two-hour wait wasn't difficult.
The train, a bit (!) slow and languid, covered the distance in a little over 17 hours. Most of the time was spent sleeping, reading, watching the country side pass by, or wondering if the train would tip over (yes, the ride was extremely rocky). There were very few stops but again each of these stops was very unlike train stops in India. There were no people pushing cokes or teas in your face.
The Kings of Bagan introduced Buddhism to the area and went riot on building temples - apparently 4,400 temples were built over the 11th-13th centuries. About 2000 of these temples remain. Supposedly Bagan (the size of Manhattan) has more temples than medieval cathedrals in Europe!. So imagine the view if you clamber on top of one of these stone temples and look around.
The thing to do in Bagan is to watch the sunset over this landscape of thousands of pagodas. The first evening I was there we took a horse cart to one of the less-touristed (or so I thought) pagodas . But sure enough when we got there, there was a bunch of French and German tourists who had already cornered the best viewing places on the pagoda. I decided to stay a level below - which was good as the steps were really steep and I was beginning to get worried about the climb down. But then I got distracted by the view. Imagine a misty carpet out of which rise a few hundred pagodas with the setting Sun casting all sorts of multi-hued rays on this stunning landscape. Words obviously cannot do justice. You have to see it for yourself.
Next day we had planned to cycle around for the whole day in Bagan and explore about 10-12 temples. After about 4-5 temples (by which time I had had a decent dose of spirituality, temples, Buddhas, and souvenir stalls), I decided to call it a day. Actually it was a getting a bit warm to be cycling around and my delicate backside was also complaining. I went back to my hotel and lounged about in the swimming pool (despite the fact that it had a green floor that gave the water a sort of stale look).
In the evening we went for a Puppet show (‘Youq-the pwe’) over dinner. The dinner was, to say the least, terrible. But that was one of the few experiences of bad meals in Burma. Of the 30-odd meals I had in the country, only three were bad. Burmese food (if one can ignore the shrimps and prawns and fish, which I hate) is quite nice since it falls somewhere between Thai, Indian, and Chinese food.
Over dinner, we got talking with one 60-something British tourist who, over the course of half an hour, told us his entire life history including the fact that he entered Burma without sufficient cash to find out that the country had no ATMs for international banks and one couldn’t use one’s credit card. So he had to go to Thailand to withdraw cash from an ATM before he came back to Burma!
More in the next post.
