We flew into the capital of Yangon (or Rangoon as the Burmese call it), and we knew that we would want to quickly move on from there. Walking around with our backpacks in the rain trying to find a place to stay that first night, confirmed that we would try and leave the next day if possible. One of the first things we noticed while walking around was what a bad state the sidewalks and roads were in. Without paying attention, you could easily find yourself neck-deep in sewage, and none of us wanted that to happen to us! We decided to have a taxi take us from the airport to a hostel that we had read about in our guide book, but sadly, we discovered it was fully booked when we arrived. The man working at reception was nice enough to offer to call another place for us to check availability, however phone service was cut off before he could complete the call.
The casual way that he turned to us and told us that the phones were dead should have been a clear indicator that “we were not in Kansas anymore.” We were a little confused as to why the phones would just be turned off, and he just quickly explained that everything in Burma is like that, from phones to electricity to water. The government decides when these things will be available, and turns them off with no warning for hours at a time. Imagine trying to run a business!
We thanked him anyway, and he pointed us in the direction of some hotels we could walk to on foot to check availability. We were all growing tired of carrying our bags, so we went into one of the first ones that we saw even though it looked to be out of our price range from the outside. Once entering however, we realized that the hotel was actually quite old and rundown, so we could probably afford to stay there after all. We convinced the man at reception to let the four of us share one room, and they brought in extra mattresses that we put on the floor. Satisfied that at least we would have a home for one night in Burma, we decided to set out in search of dinner.
Before I talk about our first meal in Yangon, I want to quickly talk about the confusion of currency exchange that we encountered. Normally, when you fly into an international airport in a new country, there are no shortage of currency exchange counters ready to rip you off. However, none of us even noticed that there were not only none of these, but the current exchange rate was not shown anywhere either. As I mentioned in my last entry, we had each brought $400 crisp US dollars with us, since we had heard that there are no ATM’s in Burma. We felt like walking targets (as all tourists here must feel) because it was obvious that we would be carrying all of our money on us at all times. Well, when we paid for our hotel, we were given an exchange rate of 780 kiat to 1 USD. Having no other frame of reference, we agreed to this. At dinner though, they only wanted to give us 750, so we were determined to better educate ourselves when we got back to our hotel, so we could avoid being ripped off.
In a nutshell, dinner was disgusting, and we were nervous about spending the next ten days eating in Burma. Was all food going to smell and taste like a wet dog? We had just come from Thailand so we were a little spoiled, but this first meal was not only expensive, it was vile. The boys branched out and ate these chicken ball things (we are still not quite sure what they were) but Vic and I played it safe (we thought) and ordered chicken with pineapple, but all was inedible!
When we got back to the hotel, we used the internet there to try and put an end to the mystery about the exchange rate, however we were left with many more questions. We should have known this would be the case when the guy at reception wished us “good luck” when we asked if we could use the internet. We quickly discovered that very few sites were even accessible, and checking email and facebook were impossible as they were blocked by firewall. And when we googled the exchange rate, the official one came back as 6.7 kiat to 1 USD, which further confused us! Apparently, the government publishes this exchange rate to make it appear that the economy is doing better than it actually is, however the black market rate (which is what we would be negotiating during the remainder of our trip) could be anywhere from 700 - 850!!
Besides the currency exchange, we also did not feel that we had the same sense of trust for people in authority position that we might have in some other places. What I mean by this is that even Lonely Planet warns that you might be followed by government officials at some point during your trip in Burma, and you might not even realize! But also, when we went to the train station to try and decide how we should get to Mandalay, the ticket window workers wanted $90 USD each for a ticket (when the guide book said not to pay more than about $30)! We decided they were probably just trying to make some extra side cash from ripping us off, so we did not buy our tickets from them, but instead kept looking.
We were not exactly sure where to buy bus tickets from, so it is a good thing that we met “Stephen.” At any given time in Burma, people will approach you randomly to practice English, since it is obvious from the way you look that you are from the Western world. Even though I try not to, I am still always suspicious of these people even though I usually end up chatting with them anyway. In this case, “Stephen” (in quotes because his Burmese name was really something else but he goes by that to make it easier for us) really helped us out. Not only did he help us find cheap bus tickets to Mandalay - he probably made a commission - but he also took the guys to exchange some money at the black market. When a lot of Nashy’s money was refused upon first arriving into Burma, we were a little worried that we might run out of money. However, Stephen let us know that you can always change the rejected money too - you might just have to take a lesser exchange rate.
While the boys were off dealing with the black market exchange people, Vic and I decided to wait at the bus ticket place. As we were sitting there, an old man came and sat next to me reading the newspaper. I had heard that the news in Burma was restricted by the government as to what the people are actually privy to, so I was interested to see that he had a newspaper. That is until I noticed that he was reading the sports section, and that the latest news was that Spain had won the World Cup (and this was January!)!
As we were waiting, Vic and I started to grow a little suspicious of Stephen when the boys were gone over an hour. We were starting to get really nervous, when we heard them approaching. Apparently it had been a long and sketchy walk, but they had exchanged their money at a place that fronted as a t-shirt store (it is illegal to trade money with foreigners on the black market adding yet another dangerous aspect to our trip).
With our bus tickets figured out, we knew we had a way out of Yangon, so we decided to make the most of our day in the city. We walked through the streets and shopped at the markets there. We mostly just bought weird fruit that we wanted to sample and observed everything else that was going on. The women and young men in Burma all had this yellowish paint on their faces, and we wanted to know what it was. When we found someone that spoke English, we asked them, and they let us know that it was like a type of natural sunscreen or makeup that is made from the bark of trees. Also while at the market, I saw some cute puppies for sale. I tried to convince Nashy to buy me one, but then we realized that they might not be for sale to keep as pets... And final observation of the market - the men in Burma wear skirts. As a throwback to tradition (and also because they are probably more comfortable than pants), the men tie a piece of cloth around their lower half and leave the house that way. Okay, I lied! One final observation while we were walking - there were some really nice buildings in between the slums in Yangon, and we started to realize that these were government buildings or the houses of government officials. They would be fenced, sometimes heavily guarded, but always surrounded with walls and barbed wire.
When we went to the indoor market, we were surprised to see monks in pink robes with yellow sashes. We are still unsure to this day, but we think that these were either the girl version of monks (is that a thing?) or male monks in training (that were really feminine looking). The reason for the confusion is that male monks wear red robes, even when they are really young - which is why we think that these must have been female. We also noticed that a lot of the shops in the market proudly displayed signs letting us know that they were government registered. This is actually a double-edged sword however, because if you are government registered, you are recognized as being a legitimate business in the eyes of the government, but you have to pay them in order to be. And further, many tourists might choose to go to a different shop with the fear that they would be financing the government by shopping there.
After we browsed the markets, we made a beeline for the Shwedigon (sp?) Paya (paya is the word for pagoda in Burmese), which we had heard is one of the most impressive pagodas in all of Burma. It was definitely enormous with lots to see, and we got an introduction to what we would see a lot of during the remainder of our time in Burma. First, there is Buddha. I cannot tell you for sure how many Buddha statues I have encountered in my travels, but I would say that Burma had the most amount of Buddhas I had ever seen. For those of you who do not know, Buddha is not actually a god, but rather is a representation of the different types of stages that people go through. This is why Buddha is sometimes androgynous, since it represents both male and female. You can see Buddha statues that are peaceful and calm, but you can also (although not as often) see Buddha statues that appear to be suffering or in pain. People can relate to this second Buddha but can aspire to be like the first example. The variety of Buddha that I enjoyed in Burma (although it is extremely tacky!) is disco Buddha. Surrounded by Las Vegas style disco lights, these statues were hard to miss.
The second thing that we noticed (which is actually related to the first) is that there is no such thing as over the top for pagodas in Burma. These things are decorated to the max, and everywhere you look, there is gold detailing or etching. The gold adds an impressive quality to the pagoda, but on a sunny day, it makes for some crazy glare haha!
And finally, there are those Burmese monks dressed in red - they are everywhere! We had heard somewhere that they beg for their keep, but we had not yet seen this in action. So when they approached us to practice English at the pagoda, we were doubly as suspicious. I actually had a great conversation with one of them while Vic and I were resting our feet as we waited for the boys. He was from the Shan province in the north of Burma, and he had been a monk since he was six years old. We understood that he became a monk because his family was poor, and he wanted to lessen the burden that adding an extra mouth to feed would cause. It is still unclear to us though if at the age of six, he made this decision himself, or if he was forced to leave his home. In the end, he did not ask us for any money, but I still left our conversation not entirely trusting of these men dressed in red robes...
That night, we would be catching an overnight bus to Mandalay, which is pretty much the farthest north that tourists can go currently in Burma. There is a lot of fighting and conflicts - like civil wars - going on with the government and people in the north, east, and south (and probably even the west), so we were restricted to where we could go. We also knew where the good things were to see, and luckily, they were mostly in the areas that were deemed safe.
Unlike in many other Southeast Asian countries, the buses in Burma appeared to run on-time, and we were on our way to Mandalay. We were even given small care packages for the ride including bottled water, disgusting strawberry cream rolls, and toothbrushes! The seats seemed pretty comfortable, and we thought that we might actually get a decent night’s sleep. Then as the lights went out, the TV turned on, and for the rest of the night, either crazy Burmese tv shows or loud, Burmese music was pumped over the loud speakers. And at some point, there was even subliminal messaging about Buddhism - something like turning to Buddhism “will eliminate mental and physical suffering” - and that was actually in English! I think at some point the music turned off, but I did not feel like I had gotten a complete night’s sleep when we arrived in Mandalay.
As we got off the bus in Mandalay (on-time!) in the morning, we were surrounded by people trying to convince us to go to their hotel. We had read about one that sounded good, and someone from there was at the bus. We tried to negotiate with him over the cab price to the hotel since we knew that it was not very far away, but he was not having it. We decided to find our own cab and go to the hotel instead, and we found someone willing to lower their price. However, as we pulled up at the hotel, someone came out and told us that they were full! Clearly, they were not actually full but the guy from the bus station had called ahead and told them not to accept us! We could not believe it, but we were actually glad, because we ended up staying in a place that looked better from the outside and the staff was actually friendly.
On that initial taxi ride from the bus station, we actually got a ride in a tiny pickup truck with all of our big backpacks. The other three sat in the back with the bags, and I had to sit up front with the driver. The truck felt like it would fall apart at any time, but luckily we made it to our destination. At one point along the ride, a procession of Buddhist monks crossed the street in front of us. They appeared to be arranged in order of height, and I think they were actually on their way out or back to/from begging. It was a surreal sight!
Even though none of us had gotten a good night’s sleep, we decided to make the most of our first day in Mandalay, so we set out to find the Royal Palace. We had read in the guidebook that when you visit the palace, you have to give your money to the government. We were not happy about this part, but we thought it sounded like something we should see, so we went anyway. Looking back, I do not think I would have paid to go inside, knowing now what I do. We were blasted with government propaganda before we even entered the place, and we were actually not even allowed to see much. There was a map which showed the areas where foreigners are allowed to go, and the rest was shown in red. Apparently, much of the palace was built with forced labor, and this may still be going on today in the red areas of the map. And in the end, it was not really worth the visit to be honest.
Determined to forget the Royal Palace experience, we did a walking tour around Mandalay that took us to a couple of paya, a teahouse (where we ate lunch and had improved Burmese food), and an ice cream shop before we ended up at a local market. That night, we had plans to go - by trishaw (a bike which two people can also ride at the same time) - to Mandalay Hill to watch the sunset and then to the Mustache Brothers’ Show.
First things first, the Mandalay Hill experience was like climbing a never-ending staircase into the sky or at least that is how it felt. Everytime we thought that we were literally about to climb up into the clouds, there was another staircase that would lead us further upward. I do not know exactly how many stairs in total there actually were, but it was probably in the thousands. And we were constantly surrounded by Buddhist monks who wanted to practice their English with us. I felt bad, but I tried to ditch them as often as I could. I was trying to enjoy my time at this place, and they were interrupting! The sunset was nice, and the view over Mandalay was alright, but then we had to climb back down all of the stairs, and oh yeah, we were barefoot!
Now the Mustache Brothers’ Show... After dinner, we were taken by our trishaw drivers to the house of the Mustache Brothers (named Par Par Lay, Lu Zaw, and Lu Maw). Apparently, speaking out about the hardships of the Burmese people and saying what you really think is illegal in Burma, unless it is done in the privacy of your own home. The Mustache Brothers used to be a popular, comedy troupe in Burma before the government made any form of comedy illegal, so they came up with the idea to continue their show in their living room. The content of the show is pretty controversial, and you are not really sure if you can actually be in trouble for being in their house.
When we entered the living room and sat down, I was immediately told that I was sitting in a special seat. Apparently when Aung San Suu Kyi was in Mandalay visiting, she had sat in that very same seat. For those of you who do not know her, Aung San Suu Kyi is the leader of the National League of Democracy in Burma, and she was recently released from house arrest after 20-some odd years. She is actually very popular among the people, but the government has insured that she will never control the country, and they lock her up in her house when she gets close. The only reason that she has been let out now is that the government just won re-election, and as the Mustache Brothers say “it is a different bottle of wine from the outside but filled with the same old thing on the inside” (or something like that), meaning that even though they may have a new leader, they are still puppets of the military... The show was entertaining, and in between hearing their controversial opinions about Burma, the Mustache Brothers taught us some traditional Burmese customs. At one point, they even show a scene from the movie, “About a Boy,” where they mention Par Par Lay. He gained fame when he was actually arrested after telling a joke in Aung San Suu Kyi’s house that the government did not like. After his arrest, he spent 7 years in a labor prison away from his family and all for telling a joke! It is crazy that he still continues the show today knowing the dangers of what the government could do to him.
The next morning, we planned to leave Mandalay for Bagan, and we had already booked our bus. We did not realize until it was too late that there are actually a few things around Mandalay that we should see including U-Bein’s Bridge. We were struggling with what to do since we could not refund our bus tickets, but then we came up with a solution that had us waking up at 4AM in order to catch sunrise at U-Bein’s Bridge and then still make our bus to Bagan. U-Bein’s Bridge is one of the longest teak bridges in the world, and for many people, it is their daily commute to work or school on foot or bicycle. We had seen some pictures of the bridge which convinced us that we should definitely rise early and make the journey out to see it. It was incredible, and even though it was wobbly and scary to walk across, we spent a few hours taking pictures and just observing the life of the commuters who make that long walk (both ways!) each day.
I think now is a good time to post what I have written so far about Burma, but there is still much more to come. My computer is about to die, and once again I am on the Shinkansen bullet train from Kyoto to Tokyo in Japan (this time with Humme!), so I will have to say goodbye for now!
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