Category: Yangon & Farewell to Myanmar

With the Rohingya situation making almost front page news of late we debated whether we should visit Myanmar. If everything we read was true we certainly didn’t want to add any legitimacy to the current government by spending our money in their country. The country is a young democracy but the military is essentially still in control. We seriously gave this some thought but concluded we were there to see the country, meet the people and eat the food because 99% of the population has absolutely nothing to do with the current situation so why should they suffer for something they have absolutely nothing to do with. This was our logic, right or wrong and we heard some very interesting stories, one from someone very close to the action and many from the youth and older people who actually live in Rakhine State where this crisis is happening but what we ultimately learned is there are many sides to this story, many more than we would hear from mainstream media and there is supposedly another country quite involved in maintaining the instability to further their global desires.

Htin Kyaw is the President of Myanmar although most people think the Nobel Peace Prize winner, Aung San Sun Kyi leads the country. She is only a State Councilor, a sort-of Prime Minister and could never lead the country because she married a foreigner. She has very little control over what happens in the country geopolitically and is essentially an advisor to the President yet everyone wants to charge her for crimes against humanity. She suffered over 20 years of house arrest for defying the military junta and finally won a little taste of democracy for the population and now she is committing crimes against humanity? Give your heads a shake and dig deeper. The old military still runs the show here my friends.

Myanmar was a surprise to us. A country that has lived under military rule for decades surely must be quite under developed we thought, but we very wrong. Aung San does have some influence on infrastructure, healthcare and education improvements and this has been obvious. Yes agriculture is still a primary day-to-day existence for many but the roads are paved, there are several telecom providers, ATM’s are in most villages, there was no obvious poverty in the context of poverty you see in India or many African countries, food was plentiful and affordable, busy food stalls lined the roads and everyone seemed to be very happy. Education is now free for all until level 12, highway tolls have been introduced to upgrade and maintain the roads and a 5% GST is applicable on all purchases with the money going to further improve the social and infrastructural projects needed to move the country forward. I keep bringing this up but I can’t  help but to compare everything we have seen to date with India. The world’s largest democracy, thousands of years of civilization and a place that is still massively underdeveloped and in a sad state of affairs in many places. The standard has been set very low so everything else looks just peachy. But, this is not fair to Myanmar (or any other country) and I guess because we loved the people here so much our judgment could be slightly biased but we don’t think so because we think Myanmar has set a new standard for us and one we will use to compare with all other so-called 3rd world/developing countries and the post is set quite high.

I posted a semi-summary a post or so ago so I won’t repeat myself other than to say the people are beautiful, the history incredible, the landscapes incomparable, the food so delectable and the society so respectable. What more could you want? We loved Myanmar…especially the people.

Tomorrow we fly back to Thailand to spend a few weeks so today was our final day in Myanmar. We are sad to be leaving however we had to make a point of seeing some of the sights around Yangon. As mentioned in our last post the traffic here is civil but very congested and today was no different and we did learn one interesting fact through noticing there were no motorcycles in the city. They are banned and the reason was too many people were dying in accidents so they are not allowed in the city any longer and so this explains why the roads are so congested. Our first stop was to visit the Shwedagon Pagoda. This pagoda is the most sacred in Myanmar and has a very interesting history which I’ll quote from the map they give you at the entrance. We didn’t take many pictures because it was so hot and uncomfortable. You must be barefoot when you visit any pagoda and the tile flooring was scorching in areas.

Brief history of the Shwedagon Pagoda

“In about 588 BC, Gautama Buddha obtained enlightenment and while He journeyed in seven places two merchants, Taphussa and Ballika offered Him alms-food. Having obtained eight strands of hair from Him as a blessing, they returned to Okkalapa land where they were welcomed back by the multitudes led by King Okkalapa. King Okkalapa enshrined Buddha’s hairs together and the relics of three Buddhas before him…the staff of Kakusanda Buddha, the water filter of Kawnagamana Buddha and the netherrobe of Kassapa Buddha in a ceti 66 feet (44 cubits) high which they consecrated as the Shwedagon. Because it contained the relics of four Buddhas who had attained enlightenment, it was known as Shwedagon, the Reliquary of the Four. From about 588 BC to the  14th century, the Shwedagon was maintained by 32 kings of the Okkalapa dynasty and since 1372 AD by kings Banya U, Banyayan, Banyagyandaw and others. In 1453 when Queen Shin Saw Pu (ha ha) ascended the throne she had it raised to a height of 302 feet and in 1774, King Sinbyushin had it rebuilt to a height of 326 feet.” It is a very impressive pagoda.

The pagoda is surrounded by small temples interspersed with a specific temple for a  specific day of the week called “Planetary Posts”. Each post has a Buddha image and devotees will leave offerings of flowers and pour water over the Buddha and pray for good luck and good health for themselves or others. It is a good Karmic deed. Below is Joyce at her sister’s planetary post.

 Drenched in sweat we cooled down in our AC taxi stuck in traffic on our way to Kandawgyi Lake to see the famous Karaweik, a concrete replica of a Burmese royal barge built in 1972. We actually thought it was a palace but it is a very nice restaurant and you couldn’t go inside unless you were going to eat there. Oh well.

 Time for lunch so we asked our driver to find us a place where we could get some good Shan noodle soup. He didn’t disappoint. We stopped into the Shan Noodle House and each had a great soup. Delicious and sadly our last truly ethnic Burmese meal.

Comfortably full our last stop was Chauk-htat-gyi Buddha Temple. The reclining Buddha inside the temple is 216 feet long and is one of the largest in Myanmar. Construction started in 1899 by a wealthy Burmese Buddhist and was completed in 1907 by a different construction company. The image was not proportioned correctly and the Buddha had an aggressive expression on its face so in the 1950’s, the old Buddha image was demolished and work began to replace the image under the supervision of a master craftsman. It is a BIG Buddha!

I had to do a little research on the aircraft we flew on from Heho to Ngapali and Ngapali to Yangon as it seemed similar to an old Soviet aircraft we thought we were going to die in on a flight in Cuba several years ago. The Cuba plane was dual prop and rear loading but had no windows while the dual prop plane in Myanmar was rear loading but did have windows and an air conditioning system that didn’t spew fog and freak everyone out thinking the plane was on fire. It was a much nicer plane, an ATR 72, built in France and Italy. We had never flown in one of these so this was a first and second. It took off, it flew, it landed so a very good airplane as far as we’re concerned. Yangon has a sparkling new airport but maybe it only sparkles in the International arrival section. It is small and nice in the domestic area and there is no hassle when you leave the arrivals area. The taxi guys are nice and non-pushy, typical of this country so far, and the drive to our hotel was pleasant, The roads in Yangon are good. There are traffic lights that people respect. They don’t blow their horns, they drive in their lanes and it is oh so civil. The city, what we have seen so far is clean and litter free. There are next to no motorcycles, only cars and a few bicycles. The air is clean but traffic jams do seem to be a bit of a problem from the little we’ve seen so not fair to lay judgment just yet.

So, we had a late lunch at Hard Rock Cafe, Yangon. Who would a thunk. Located in the  great big new Myanmar Plaza, Yangon’s first international retail shopping centre, we decided it was time for a burger. A quite expensive burger. Two burgers with cheese and bacon, fries and a shared Caesar salad, about $58.00 CAD. Ouch, but we haven’t had a beef burger since the airport in Male airport (Burger King) in the Maldives and I think it cost pretty close to the same. Moral of the story, don’t eat junk food, especially American chain junk food. It’s expensive but it fills this little craving that you get from time to time and then sits as a great big lump in your stomach and you want to go to sleep and your thirst keeps you awake and then you want another one. Hmmm.. I see a pattern here.

Tomorrow we will set out to explore this city of close to 8 million people, the largest in Myanmar. The city boasts the largest collection of colonial era buildings in SE Asia and is home to the gilded Shwedagon Pagoda, Myanmar’s most sacred Buddhist pagoda.