A taste of Myanmar

Mingalaba !                                                            

It’s been several days since I landed and I feel my brain is only landing just now  …

So, talking about Myanmar … (it is really important to say Myanmar instead of Burma, even though it may not sound as musical as Burma. The reason is that the name Burma was given to the country after the main ethnic community called the Bamar. Talking about Burma means you disregard the other ethnic groups of the country and there are 130!) …

First of all, the road: Rangoon (Yangon) first, Kyaiktiyo Golden Rock after followed by Inlé Lake for a few days, then Mandalay (including Ava and Amarapura) and finally with the boat to Bagan. Except for the train I have taken all the possible transportation you can imagine and this includes: boat, plane, bus, pick-up, taxi, rick shaw, horse …

I am not going to make this a political post although some of you may be dying for it, because I don’t believe that spending 3 weeks in Myanmar, a country with a completely different culture, entitles me to have an opinion that will be read by many readers.

I personally believe that my knowledge of the country is still rather limited and can only be contained in my observations or first impressions. I, of course have my opinions, however they are still at a raw stage considering what I have just explained above. This being said, several people from European Origins or Myanmar origins recommended me to read a book “The River of lost footsteps” by Thant Myint-U.

There is maybe one thing that I would like to say and that is that the Western world doesn’t understand the tribal world and in the name of this ignorance has made many mistakes in its crusade to impose western democracy around the World, leading often to dramatic losses of lives.

Several years ago, I came to the conclusion that socio-economical rights are the ones the World should be focusing on and once those are ensured, let people decide what kind of government suits them. It is similar to coaching in a way, you help people find what is good for them, and not what is good for you and the Western world has been extremely brilliant at defining what is good for us.

But as I mentioned, this is not a political post so let’s move on to the trip…

Spending a few days in Yangon gave me the opportunity to adapt slowly to another culture. As Ryszard Kapuscinski said in one of his books, travelling by plane doesn’t really give you a chance to slowly adapt your eyes, your brain, and your nose, to the change of scenery. You leave Amsterdam one morning and the next morning you are in Rangoon with 1,60m men in longyis and velvet flip flops next to you.

It gave me time to catch up with my friends and most importantly spend time with my godson I was meeting for the first time. Only that was worth the trip. We hit it off really well.

After a few days of adaption it was time to see something of the country, so I headed to Kyaiktiyo and the Golden Rock. The Golden Rock in itself surprised me from a physics point of view; the position of the rock is certainly due to something else, more scientific, than a hair of the Buddha as the legend reports …

More than the Rock itself I was fascinated by the whole experience I had gone through to get there. Early morning at the Bus station near the airport (5.30am), eating Mohinga (noodles with fish soup, dried onions, coriander …)with the other travelers, all Myanmar people, in the middle of gas and jasmine flowers smells.

The advantage of travelling alone is that you get to be closer to the people and their culture. On top of it, you use local transports, you learn about their reality, you eat with them and you participate directly to their economy allowing them to have a better month with the few dollars you may spend.

I had about 5 hours of bus with stops in different stations where you would be assaulted in a true Asian style with all sorts of merchants: rice cookies, dried shrimps beignets, fruit, vegetables … People in the bus kept buying me stuff so I could taste their specialties.

During the whole trip they played a Myanmar movie … very poor acting and everyone was laughing in the bus. I didn’t understand a word but it didn’t prevent me from understanding the movie … a love story. A sort of “Betty la fea”, the major Colombian success that is now all over Europe and the US since Salma Hayek bought the rights, but in a male version.

And then the music … with videos … you would not believe it …. Songs of Gloria Estefan, Nat King Cole, even “Wild world” from Cat Stevens but all in Myanmar language …

And then suddenly you hear someone in the bus spitting, a red spit, in a yellow plastic bag, no it isn’t blood, just some betel chewing spits …Plastic bags coming from China are all over the place and are being thrown out the window wherever. What a pity they didn’t keep their traditional banana leaves packing … so much more ecological.

When I arrived in Kyaiktiyo. I still had to take a pick-up to climb a few kilometers to the hills … I turned around where advised and there were several trucks, loaded with people like sardine tins. You need to climb on a wooden stair in order to then get in the pick-up. I had to go at the back, the pick-up was full … I suddenly thought to myself, so this is what it feels to be a “boat people” …

And here we went in the curves of the mountains, going up and down, no security holding you, just the Buddhist faith taking you to the Golden Rock.

An amazing experience … before climbing my way to the Golden Rock … now that was exhausting! What was even more impressive is how many people were climbing and I mean locals! So, the Golden Rock is one of the 3 most important Buddhist places in Myanmar (along with the Schwedagon in Rangoon and the Paya Mahumani in Mandalay) and I was blown away by the quantity of pilgrims. Rough calculation: 40-45 people in a pick-up, more or less 20 pick-ups a day going up, that is around 800 people a day and on a full Moon day, I guess it is close to double.

This really made me think about Buddhism and religious devotion in general. The Western world talks about Islam ad nauseam, especially in its political deviated form. Who really knows what the teaching of the prophet were and why polygamy was allowed (just to give one example) is something that remains to be clarified. What has been used by power eager individuals is yet another story and how this is affecting world peace is an even larger debate (this obviously being true for Christianity as well).

I was mesmerized by the religious devotion in Myanmar: Pagodas, Temples, Pilgrimage locations, Buddha’s, Monasteries. Frankly speaking, it was a little bit more than I could bear. Especially when you think of the fact that a teacher earns 8.000 khyats (more or less 5€) and will spend 1 000 khyat to buy gold squared leaves she/he will put (only a man can do so) on the Buddha, or the Stupa … and be a good Buddhist this way, ensuring most likely a better life in the next round.

I have always considered myself very close to the Buddhism teachings where a man, Siddhārtha Gautama, who after a long search found a way to understand human suffering (its cause being ignorance) and eliminate it. The personal search and experimentation are in my opinion quite interesting and reminds you that everything starts within us.

I must confess that this religious devotion I witnessed conflicted me with the idea I had of Buddhism. I still might be wrong, I don’t know, I consider myself being in a reflective process right now. However I don’t see why Buddhism cannot be compared to any other People’s Opium …

I am still not sure what to think of Monkhood (considering some are there by vocation, others to escape reality, others for a short experimental period, others to escape poverty …) and the role Monks play (other than a social security one) in the ability for people to think by themselves. I must confess I don’t know whether the anesthesia of the people comes from, what is characterized as a Dictatorship or Buddhism and its social place, or both.

What I found interesting as well is that Women are not allowed to approach any sacred Buddha, or Golden Rock … any sacred object where Gold is to be put on. Now that to me makes me wonder about the position of women in all religions …

I left the early morning of the following day for Rangoon and experienced yet again a colorful trip tasting all sorts of things that the other passengers of the bus were kindly getting for me. By the way did you know that the Last of the Mughals died in Rangoon and has his mausoleum there ?

The people are so nice, so helpful, benevolent, probably a result of devoting themselves to such a tolerant religion as Buddhism is.

Back in Rangoon for a day and here we were heading to Inlé Lake in the Shan State. Beautiful Inlé Lake: 22km long, 11km wide, 17 villages around the lake. We spent time on the still waters of the Lake from Khaung Ding to Nant Pan, Inn Paw Khon …

Daily scenery around the Lake, women washing their hair in the lake, picking tomatoes from the floating gardens …

The most precious moment was the Blessing that my friend organized for my Godson and I in a Monastery close to our hotel. A young Monk blessed us and blessed the special bond we have.

As the tradition wants it, we made a settlement on the monk with a robe, biscuits, candles, rice and incense sticks.

Two days later, my friend and her son went back to Rangoon and I continued to Mandalay. My luck was to have met a guide on the plane … We realized we had friends in common and that was enough to spend part of the rest of the trip together.

Contrary to what a lot of people had told me, I thought Mandalay was an interesting city. Probably one of the youngest city of the country, very dynamic, where I saw the first mobile stores “mother mobile”. The first hotel recommended as charming by the Lonely Planet, in the most authentic neighborhood of Mandalay (where Monks live), turned out to be quite horrible and I left as quickly as I had arrived to stay in a charming place called “the Royal City Hotel”.

The hotel staff was adorable and the hotel had a delighteful terrace where I could enjoy the sunrise round 6.30am. With the guide I had met, we went to Ava and Amarapura and visited astonishing ruins before taking the boat “Malikha” that would take us down the Irrawaddy to Bagan, the City of a thousand temples.

Leaving Mandalay I had met a couple of Australians who were taking the boat as well. We sat together and by the end of the cruise decided to have dinner with my guide friend in a wonderful place (Sunset Garden Riverside Restaurant) along the river where we sipped on a fresh lime lemonade watching the sunset.

The following day, we visited the temples recommended by our guide friend (they are so many it is rather useful to know which ones are worth  to see). I was breath taken by the frescos of the Gubyaukgyi temple, absolutely beautiful: the colors, precision of the details …

That was a long day, where I ended in the Ananda Festival eating local food. I went to bed convinced I was going to climb a close by temple in the morning to see the sunrise (the sunset for which Bagan is well known had been rather cloudy) …

I woke up the following morning incapable of standing up, hot as a kettle and a strangling throat. I first thought of having eaten something that didn’t suit me and that once this was out of the system I would be fine. A few hours later it got worse. My guide friend came to visit me, decided to call a doctor: I had close to 39°C fever.

The doctor’s diagnosis was immediate: I had caught a bacterium, typical of that region and characteristic of rapid and radical change of weather conditions (It had gotten suddenly unusually cold). He gave me some medicines, enough for me to go to the airport and catch my plane getting me back to Rangoon. The hotel personnel were so helpful! (Bagan Thande Hotel) I did go to the airport with the assistance of my guide friend, a wheel chair once I arrived there and special care to get in the plane. A wheel chair was waiting for me in Rangoon and my dear friend picked me up and watched over me like a real nurse. In the evening my temperature had dropped to 36°C. It lasted 48hours just as the doctor said it would!

I was so sad to have missed one day in Bagan, but that is a great reason to go back!

I managed to fly back to Brussels on time and feeling rather well considering the latest events. My poor Godson had already seen me sick twice, not the best impression you want to leave!

It's interesting, I found many culinary ingredients typical of the North East of Brazil such as Chuchu, Jack fruit (although it is not the season yet), Papaya, Qiabo (also known as Okra or lady's fingers)even dried schrimps while travelling through Myanmar.  The little shops, garage looking style, high stoops, reminded me of Brazil or Colombia as a matter of fact. I find it fascinating that through different developping countries around the globe, there are similar patterns. Except for the sounds and the smells there were moments I could have thought I was down town Maceio when walking in the streets of Rangoon.

It has taken me a few days to land emotionally once back home. This trip has been a wonderful discovery, a much needed break, a delightful change of scenery, a divine moment of re-encounters and encounters, a travel to reflect upon and a delicious moment to step back and think about my life.