First Impressions of Myanmar
Sorry there's been such a delay - my blog was censored in Myanmar! Haha! So I'm waaay behind, but here's my best shot to catch up.
An early morning flight at 730 put my Spanish friends Pere, Arnau, Maria and Jan, and I in Yangon at 830. Uneventful. We were immediately surrounded by taxi drivers who wanted to drive us to a "cheap" place. Naturally, we were suspicious, as that is never the case. However, we agreed to check it out before moving on to somewhere in our book. We took the 30 minute drive, and wonder of wonders, it WAS super cheap - we got a family room for $6 a person a night! First lesson in Myanmar - they are not out to slit my throat for money. Nicely done, chaps.
After a few hours sleep, we decided to wander around town and get our money exchanged. We were told to go to the market and go to a gold shop, where supposedly, th
e money changers are honest. We found a guy who took us on a maze-like walk through the market to his little shop, where a machine was spouting out Kyat ("chot"). It all looked very shady, but as we had no idea what else to do, we exchanged for a rate of 1100 for $1. It turns out that this was indeed a fair rate, but it certainly felt suspicious! We deposited our stacks of money back in the hotel and went to explore.
Things that immediately got my attention. All women, most children, and a few men, wear a yellow-brown make-up made from bark on their face that is startling to see at first. It can be applied in many ways - some have just two light brushes across the cheeks, like blusher, some have circles, dots, tear-like shapes by the eyes, some like leaves, and some women (more so outside the cities) appear to just haphazardly apply it wherever their fingers brush. It is a sign of beauty and also for skin protection.
Another startling thing is the "longyi" which is a long skirt worn by men and women, but tied differently. I'd heard that men in Myanmar where the skirt, but I thought I would only see it in very traditional areas. In reality, about 95% of the men were wearing them! There were some western pants, but mostly on younger men. I definitely felt like I had entered a new world, different than any other I had been to. I also noticed that many of the people appeared to be more of Indian descent rather than Asian.
The cars- apparently, after Britain left Burma, the Burmese wanted to get away from all things English, so they switched the roads from driving on the left to the right in the 70s. However, about half of the cars are from before the 70s (or thereabouts) or are cheap Japanese models, which means that the steering wheel is on the wrong side. Makes for some dangerous driving!
Electricity - the government doesn't even provide 24 hour electricity to its citizens, even in major cities. Businesses are forced to own their own generators to use half the day when the official power falters. Such a basic necessity, yet they don't have it. Stupid.
Our walk took us on circles through markets, past pagodas, and to our first Indian restaurant, as there are many Indians living here (Burma was once part of Britain's Indian Empire). The food was alright, but I don't know enough about Indian food to be a good judge. Finally, we ended up at the highlight of Yangon, Shwedagon Pagoda.
This was one of the most amazing sights I've ever been to. The center gold stupa is 98 meters tall, and is surrounded by more golden animals, gods, etc. Everyone, including monks, foreigners and Burmese, walks in a clockwise circle around the main stupa, and worshipers stop in front of the animal that depicts the day of the week they were born. Each plane
tary post has a Buddha image and worshipers kneel and pray and offer flower garlands and money. It's an impressive sight. Apparently people all over Myanmar save their money to make the pilgrimage to this paya, or pagoda. At night, the paya is simply stunning. I found a spot to sit and just stare and take pictures for while, and it was very nice. Here's one with the monks walking across - they look lke spirits, huh?! Eventually we had to get some food and then to bed - long day!
The next day we walked for hours, heading to the pier, which was a disappointment. The heat was extreme, so we had to stop for drinks a few times. More things I noticed was the dirtiness of all the buildings. You could tell that a long time ago, the buildings were probably very nice, but now they are covered in a black grime. We made the joke that nothing's been cleaned since the British left! We bought out tickets for Bagan the next day and then walked through Chinatown and Little India, but altogether it was a slow day.
An early morning flight at 730 put my Spanish friends Pere, Arnau, Maria and Jan, and I in Yangon at 830. Uneventful. We were immediately surrounded by taxi drivers who wanted to drive us to a "cheap" place. Naturally, we were suspicious, as that is never the case. However, we agreed to check it out before moving on to somewhere in our book. We took the 30 minute drive, and wonder of wonders, it WAS super cheap - we got a family room for $6 a person a night! First lesson in Myanmar - they are not out to slit my throat for money. Nicely done, chaps.
After a few hours sleep, we decided to wander around town and get our money exchanged. We were told to go to the market and go to a gold shop, where supposedly, th
e money changers are honest. We found a guy who took us on a maze-like walk through the market to his little shop, where a machine was spouting out Kyat ("chot"). It all looked very shady, but as we had no idea what else to do, we exchanged for a rate of 1100 for $1. It turns out that this was indeed a fair rate, but it certainly felt suspicious! We deposited our stacks of money back in the hotel and went to explore.Things that immediately got my attention. All women, most children, and a few men, wear a yellow-brown make-up made from bark on their face that is startling to see at first. It can be applied in many ways - some have just two light brushes across the cheeks, like blusher, some have circles, dots, tear-like shapes by the eyes, some like leaves, and some women (more so outside the cities) appear to just haphazardly apply it wherever their fingers brush. It is a sign of beauty and also for skin protection.
Another startling thing is the "longyi" which is a long skirt worn by men and women, but tied differently. I'd heard that men in Myanmar where the skirt, but I thought I would only see it in very traditional areas. In reality, about 95% of the men were wearing them! There were some western pants, but mostly on younger men. I definitely felt like I had entered a new world, different than any other I had been to. I also noticed that many of the people appeared to be more of Indian descent rather than Asian.
The cars- apparently, after Britain left Burma, the Burmese wanted to get away from all things English, so they switched the roads from driving on the left to the right in the 70s. However, about half of the cars are from before the 70s (or thereabouts) or are cheap Japanese models, which means that the steering wheel is on the wrong side. Makes for some dangerous driving!
Electricity - the government doesn't even provide 24 hour electricity to its citizens, even in major cities. Businesses are forced to own their own generators to use half the day when the official power falters. Such a basic necessity, yet they don't have it. Stupid.
Our walk took us on circles through markets, past pagodas, and to our first Indian restaurant, as there are many Indians living here (Burma was once part of Britain's Indian Empire). The food was alright, but I don't know enough about Indian food to be a good judge. Finally, we ended up at the highlight of Yangon, Shwedagon Pagoda.This was one of the most amazing sights I've ever been to. The center gold stupa is 98 meters tall, and is surrounded by more golden animals, gods, etc. Everyone, including monks, foreigners and Burmese, walks in a clockwise circle around the main stupa, and worshipers stop in front of the animal that depicts the day of the week they were born. Each plane
tary post has a Buddha image and worshipers kneel and pray and offer flower garlands and money. It's an impressive sight. Apparently people all over Myanmar save their money to make the pilgrimage to this paya, or pagoda. At night, the paya is simply stunning. I found a spot to sit and just stare and take pictures for while, and it was very nice. Here's one with the monks walking across - they look lke spirits, huh?! Eventually we had to get some food and then to bed - long day!The next day we walked for hours, heading to the pier, which was a disappointment. The heat was extreme, so we had to stop for drinks a few times. More things I noticed was the dirtiness of all the buildings. You could tell that a long time ago, the buildings were probably very nice, but now they are covered in a black grime. We made the joke that nothing's been cleaned since the British left! We bought out tickets for Bagan the next day and then walked through Chinatown and Little India, but altogether it was a slow day.
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