Majestic Myanmar

(Navyn) The front page headline in the International New York Times today alerts us that rebels have taken over the north of the country while refugees flee to the Chinese border. This country has been unsettled for quite some time, but holds much promise as American tourists start to explore this distant land.

The national hero of Myanmar (formerly known as Burma) is Aung San Suu Kyi. You should all know who she is and if you don’t, rent the movie The Lady. Her story is an incredible one and one still in the making. She is the chairperson of the National League for Democracy. In 1990 she won the general election but was put under house arrest for 15 of 21 years until her most recent release in 2010. She is currently a member of the parliament and has announced that she will run for vice president this year. (“Legally” she cannot run for president because she was married to an American.) I was fortunate enough to watch her be interviewed by President Clinton two years ago at the Clinton Global Initiative and was left impressed and inspired by her bravery and leadership.

Prayer before lunch

We spent a couple of days in the capitol city of Yangon. I had always thought of Myanmar as a very poor country, but I have to say, compared to my African travels where capital cities don’t have electricity or roads that are passable, I was pleasantly surprised. (Perhaps I am not a good judge, now that I look it up, it is ranked 150 of 182 countries on the Human Development Index and I have been to way too many that rank in the bottom 10). Despite it’s modern appearance, ancient history and religion run deep through this country. We started our day at a Buddhist nunnery. The girls, dressed in pink with heads clean-shaven, were in the middle of their studies when we visited. Then to the boys at the monastery, we witnessed hundreds of them, all draped in maroon cloth, lined up for their second and final meal of the day at 11:00 am. Some come for a few days or weeks and some stay for life.

Twilight at Shwedagon Pagoda

Next up, a visit to the 2,500 year-old Shwedagon Pagoda, which consists of hundreds of colorful temples and is considered the most sacred and impressive Buddhist site for the people of Myanmar. Shwedagon Pagoda is a work of art and architecture, standing over 300 feet tall. The top of this dome-shaped stupa is covered with hundreds of gold plates and is encrusted with diamonds; the largest of which is a 72 carats. Even in the evening, this refuge is bustling with people offering flowers, lighting candles, worshiping, and meditating.

A one-hour flight with a two-hour delay brings us to Bagan, located in central Myanmar on the banks of the Ayeyarwady River. This small city is home to the largest and densest concentration of Buddhist temples, pagodas, stupas and ruins in the world with many dating from the 11th and 12th centuries. There are roughly 3,000 remaining, as many were lost during a large earthquake back in 1974. No matter which window you look out of, you will see a temple. The majority are made from brick, but each one has it’s own distinct personality as each king tries to outmatch his predecessor. As Myanmar experiments with expanding tourism, this spot has so much potential and with a little more English training it could be world class.

To really be able to appreciate the multitude of these temples you must take a hot air balloon which requires getting out of bed at 5:00 am to be up, up and away by sunrise. For more on this amazing experience, please read Jolie’s blog, “Balloons over Bagan”. Truly this was a unique experience to be added to your bucket list.

Our third stop in Myanmar was Inle Lake (a short plane ride from Bagan), which sits 3,800 feet above sea level and offered a little relief from the heat. Here, everything sits above the water on stilts – our hotel, the houses, the stores, even the gardens. The only way to travel through this Venetian-style region is in an oversized canoe, complete with five single-file wooden chairs, a driver and an engine that sounds like a jackhammer. These boats are everywhere, zipping tourists and locals back and forth like on any other street.

Fisherman

Our first morning began with a 40-minute boat ride to the market, which assembles every five days. We cut through the calm lake waters on a hazy, sunny morning, as fisherman perform a fishing balancing act in their dugout canoes. They use one leg to row the boat allowing both hands to be free to work the fishing nets. If they are lucky, they will get 10 kilos of fish per day. We pass hundreds of fertile floating gardens, full of all kinds of vegetables from cauliflower to tomatoes to ginger. The farmers tend their fields by rowing their boats through the narrow canals in between the rows.

Zaw Zaw and Aung Pan, our Burmese guides, were both great. Zaw Zaw brought us to his village to cook with his family, taught the girls to fish with one leg, took us canoeing, had the girls ride water buffalos through a river, toured us through several of the cottage industries such as a weaving and lacquer ware workshops, and introduced us to the long necked giraffe women who wear heavy gold necklaces that spiral around their necks from the age of ten. Aung Pan told us stories of his involvement with the student protests back in the 90’s, which ended him up in jail for 8 months. He then was released and had to flee to India for safety. He has been a refugee in two countries for many years and only returned from a refugee camp in Thailand in 2012. In this country, where freedom of speech is not embraced, he continues to speak out in support for a stronger, better Myanmar in the future.

Oh, and we have been in a wifi desert for the last nine days hence the reason for so many posts and new photos at once.