It's Not You Myanmar, It's Me

I previously stated that there could be periods of time in-between my postings; however I thought those lapses would be related to my work and travel schedule. Apparently I was wrong because we just spent the past two days in one country that does not have the Internet: Myanmar (Burma). No world wide web was just the tip of the iceberg, here are the highlights, in top ten order fashion...

The "You May Know It As Myanmar, But It Will Always Be Burma To Me" Top 10:
(Really the good, the bad, and the ugly of the Union of Myanmar)

10. Longyi - is it a dress, a shirt, or shorts? Longyi is a sheet of cloth worn around the waist running to the feet, and it is the traditional - and still popular - equivalent of pants worn by Burmese men and women. It is held in place by folding the fabric over (like a towel after the shower). The designs are pretty cool and some of the tour members purchased their own ($6 at the market). The dynamic part is that you can fold the longyi into shorts as well, and our guide demonstrated this ability...it is the perfect clothing item for the on-the-go guy or gal in Myanmar.

9. The River Cruise to Laos. On Saturday night we chartered a river cruise for a few hours up and down the main river in Yangon (the name is escaping me at the moment). The river made the Muddy Mississippi look crystal clear. We witnessed a beautiful view of the setting sun, had some drinks, and then sat down for dinner and were entertained by a combination of Bollywood-Burmese-Chinese singing and dancing...at times hard to understand or completely follow...and FYI, those three genres should not be thrown together. One of the dancers was the best dancer in Myanmar...so we were told by our guide. She looked 12 but was an amazing dancer. Oh, and the vegeterians were all sat together at one table, in the back, away from all of us...not that it made any difference, those of us at the meat tables really only ate rice. And, the cruise did not go to Laos, but they kept saying it did.

8. I have no credit in Myanmar. This is the first of many, uh, interesting aspects of this country stuck in the past. We were instructed to have enough cash to pay for our dinners, hotel bill, etc. because credit cards are nonexistent and cannot be used by foreigners in Myanmar. Yep, no credit, and apparently it is due to the sanctions imposed on the country by the U.S., the E.U., and Canada...so the American Express card stayed tucked away in my wallet. If there was ever a time to lose a credit card, it would be here because no charges could every accumulate before you report it lost! I wonder how people purchase their Burmese used cars (see #1) or homes.

7. Schwedagon Pagoda. This country is littered with pagodas: big, small, everywhere, and they are a beautiful look into Burmese past and a nice contrast to the colonial and average buildings in Yangon. If you are not familiar with the term, a pagoda is usually a religious structure and most common in Buddhist countries, and Myanmar is central to Buddhism. No visit to Myanmar is complete without seeing Schwedagon Pagoda (SP). Legend has it that the SP is 2,500 years old and was built before Buddha himself died. It is solid gold and the gold is made of genuine gold plates covering a brick structure. We were there on Saturday around 1:30pm and it was sunny and hot (around 100 and humid as all get out, like much of SE Asia, we all have sweated each and every day here). As with most Buddhist locations, you have to be in your bare feet as you tour. The pictures are pretty cool.

6. Who needs currency exchange? No need to do anything here because the U.S. dollar is the preferred method of payment anywhere - from paying admission to pagodas, tipping staff, or even buying trinkets at the Scott's Market (cobblestone street bazaar in downtown Yangon), even menus and prices were listed with the $ sign. The Burmese currency is essentially worthless.

5. Myanmar Beer. As previously mentioned we took a river cruise on Saturday night and the only beer on-tap was Myanmar beer, so we all had a taste, because I don't recall the last time I saw Myanmar beer at the local grocer, and...it was actually really good! One of the good aspects of Myanmar, great local beer, who knew?

4. Hand-written luggage tags. This morning we arrived at Yangon International Airport to depart and when I approached the check-in counter I noticed there weren't any computers. That's right, not one computer. The airline representative checked my name off a paper, hand-written list; she filled out my boarding pass with stamps and writing; and then wrote out my luggage tags and attached them to my bags. I documented the experience. I don't know what happens when we get to Manila and my bags are lost...there is no tracking number, just MNL and my name.

3. The internet doesn't exist. Tour members with Blackberrys and other devices experienced no service while in Yangon, there were no computers at the international schools, the hotel told us if we needed to send a fax we would need to visit the Central Telegraph Office...yes, telegraph. Apparently the military government prevents internet access throughout Myanmar. This is the main reason I couldn't post anything since we left Bangkok.

2. Erratic electricity. We were told that Myanmar experiences widespread and massive power outages, multiple times a day, and when our tour leader came 6 months ago he said the power was out for most of the night (aka no A/C). It wasn't as bad as that, but at our school visit on Saturday the power went out twice, yesterday at the hotel the power went out a couple times, but the back-up generator kicked in after 5-10 minutes. One of the tour members was in the health club and an employee came running up to her shouting to get off the treadmill and as soon as she did the power went out...that could be one major problem due to erratic electricity.

1. This is where Toyotas come to die. There are no new car dealerships! All of the cars are used, and mostly come from Japan. This sounds like it would already be bad enough, but for those astute readers out there you'll know this problem is compounded by the fact that Japanese cars have the steering wheel on the right and they drive on the left, while in Myanmar they drive - like the U.S. - on the right, so our guide told us there are multiple accidents. What is worse is the busses and cabs are even older, our guide said from the 1940s and 1950s, so they have steering wheels on the left (but some busses are imported from Japan so the steering is on the right).

So there you have it, my two days in Myanmar wrapped up into a top-ten list. The pictures will help paint a picture of this country. I checked the Wikipedia entry on Myanmar and apparently this country was one of the best in SE Asia before years of military rule, human rights abuse, and sanctions have reduced it to what it was when we visited. I can't end this post without mentioning that the Burmese people are great, the students we met at the Int'l School of Yangon were some of the most prepared, polite, and interested students so far and their counselors and parents were involved in the process. If only they could get some freedom to have credit cards, the internet, and new cars the opportunities could be endless!