Dear family and friends,
On January 5 th an hour long flight took me from Bangkok to Rangoon Burma, now called Yangon Myanmar. Burmese food, no thank you, oily curries, yuk. After my first and only Burmese food experience I stuck to Indian food and Shan noodles, both were good. The beer was good but pricey relative to Thai beer. I stayed in hotels ranging in price from $60. to $80. U.S. per night. I only ate in the hotel dining rooms, though the streets are full of street food vendors I did not eat it. Overall I found it to be more expensive to travel there than in Thailand. I seen very few westerners on the streets. I took flights between the places I planned to visit, all were about an hour long.
Most of the women and men wear an oversize ankle length tube type of skirt called a longyi that is wrapped around the waist and fastened by folding over at the top. A lot of the people including the women chew betel nuts, a mild stimulant, making their teeth and lips a red/brown color. Chewing seems to require a lot of spitting out of red stuff, meaning watch your step. The women and children have light colored powder made from sand wood smeared on their faces, some have decorative lines and swirls through. The powder is thought to protect the face from the sun and is also for beautification.
There are frequent blackouts, pretty much daily, all the bigger businesses and hotels have back up generators. Internet is available but so very slow and it to is often not working.
Everyone in Bangkok has a cell phone, I did not see one person in Burma with one, just little stands in the streets with a phone you can pay the attendant to make a call from. The roads are full of old cars from the 70's and 80's, with a mix of left and right hand drives. The fumes are terrible, I just wanted to hold my breath most of the time I was there. The infrastructure is in a sorry state, broken sidewalks, it is hard to walk without tripping, and rough roads. The city is jam packed crowded with people and street stalls and more people yikes between tripping and getting elbowed it is hard not to build up a bit of 'road rage'.
The Shwedagon Pagoda in Rangoon, was something something. The complex is immense aside from the main temple there are 82 other buildings, big and small temples all with residing Buddhas. The main temple said to be 1,000 years old, is covered in gold, estimates say 53 metic tons of gold cover it. It is also studded with diamonds, rubies and emeralds. It is a site to see. I spent hours there wondering around. So peaceful, beautiful and the complex grounds so clean.
I took what is called the circle train around the outskirts and countryside surrounding Rangoon and really enjoyed the three hour trip. The countryside is beautiful, green and lush. The other travelers on the train mainly small vendors going from one place to the next were interesting to watch. I took pictures and when I can I will post them here, they tell the tale better than I can.
I flew to Pagan now called Bagon, on January 8. Pagon is a collection of three towns within fields of ancient pagodas built in the eleventh century, the area breathtaking in its scale. There are some 44000 pagodas, (temples). Motor scooters are the main means of transportation by the locals, I did not see many cars. Horse carts can be hired to take you around the temple filled plains, the drivers speak a bit of English, enough to guide you to and about the more accessible temples. I hired one for a day, it was a nice way to wonder around. The Guesthouse I stayed in was charming, hundreds of temples in view from the small deck off my room.
January 11 I went to Mandalay. I met some people from Australia in the airport who were there for two weeks to visit and work in an orphanage they sponsor. They invited me to join them for a day. They had also applied to the government for and were granted permission to visit a small village they had been told about and wanted to sponsor located 25 kilometers from the orphanage. They wanted to assess in what ways they could best offer assistance. I went along that day, we first went to the orphanage. There are 100 children living in the orphanage ranging in age from 1 to 15. Ten full time caregivers also share the housekeeping, laundry and cooking duties. The kids eat salt rice three times a day with a vegetable soup added for the evening meal. They get meat protein once a week and an egg once a week. The Australian group have been sponsoring the orphanage for 4 years, they focus on hygiene and sanitation. This time they brought along a 3 months supply of protien powder. The kids were so excited to see the group, they all got little packages with fresh supplies of toothbrushes, soap and such. Each child also received a toy and or school supplies. It was fun to watch they were so excited.
Going to the village was an experience I was totally unprepared for. We went by truck, 12 of us packed into the truck bed. There were 4 army guys who escorted us to and from the village. We were not allowed to take cameras or cell phones, these guys had guns so we paid attention. The village is located on the bank of a small river. The bank was knee deep in garbage, the paths between the little huts the villagers lived in were littered with garbage. The people toss their litter out the windows. There were no toilets, little kids run around naked popping and peeing wherever they happen to be standing at the time of need. Adults do their business in the river where they also bath and launder. I was horrified and it took everything I had to stay with the group and act like this was a normal situation to be in. First on the help agenda will be to install composting toilets, doing a garbage cleanup and getting a hygiene education program started. We stayed about 2 hours an interrupter helped get thing sorted as the volunteers talked to the villagers. I can only praise the Australians for their dedication and loving spirits. I gave a donation, enough to install a composting toilet, but it is not in me to work along side them. I could not wait to get out of there. I have thought about those people every day since.
I did not see much of Mandalay because the day after the village visit I got sick, intestinal; fever, vomiting, water runs. I had Cipro antibiotic with me and took it. I had gotten Dukoral vaccine for travelers diaria before leaving Canada but I guess it did not cover whatever it was I picked up. I was sick for 3 days and needed another day recouping. I missed my flight to Inle Lake so missed seeing that area. I had to fly back to Rangoon on the 16 th to catch my 6:00 a.m. flight back to Thailand on the 17 th.
An article on Lonely Planet talks about how in 1985 the superticious ruler at the time decided that all 25, 50 and 100 kyat (Burmese currency name) notes were to be replaced with 15, 35 and 75 kyat notes in honor of his 75 th birthday. Only small amounts of the old currency could be exchanged leaving many people nearly destitute. The leader was still not happy and 2 years later he changed all the notes to 45's and 90's. He had become obsessed with the number 9. This time no exchanges were allowed. Today any wealth is stored not in banks but in gold.
Burma has been controlled by a military junta since 1962. The junta have built themselves a new city complete with a golf course at the cost of two billion dollars and the use of forced labor. Far away from and inaccessable to the majority of Burmese people, while the rest of the country's infrastructure including education and healthcare are non existent or crumbling and the majority of Burmese people live in poverty. The country is rich in natural resoures but the economy is filled with corruption. The military have been accused of large scale herion trafficing.
While I was in Rangoon the British Foreign Minister was there to pressure for change following Hillary Clinton there last November in the same capacity. Changes seem to be coming to Burma, political prisoners were released during the time I was there and a democratic election is promised for April. I hope the changes happen.
Write me a few lines, send news, photos.
Sandy xo
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