Myanmar Diaries - Flight to the north.. Thank god for the fog!

Its been quiet some years since I had travelled to the east of India, which in time is ahead in Hours.

Last night when I crashed in bed after two consecutive nights of sleeping on flights, I set my alarm to which I thought was 5.15 am Myanmar time for a flight at 7.30 am from Yangon to the eastern state of Shan. The only thing I remember is waking up at 4 am out of fear of missing the flight and cursing myself ‘the alarm is set it will ring’. Well it did ring while I was in the taxi to the airport. I had woken at 7 am and the flight was just 30 mins away.

I don’t know how I managed to do my morning chores but in 10 minutes I was on a taxi to the airport(after showing my hand as take off as a signal for the airport). Ten minutes away from my actual take off I was still at a traffic signal, but couldn’t see the red light as the morning fog in Yangon had set in. I reached the airport just 5 mins away from the take off. I had imagined myself run and eventually asking the ‘Air Bagan’ counter for some refund, inturn i found myself walking to the counter which still had some people checking in with the destination of my flight displayed.
‘I thought I missed my flight’ I said to the attendant. ‘oh no we wait for you’ she smiled! It was the fog .. The check in was smooth is all I can say, with the porter taking my bag on a trolley to the scanner and putting a sticker on my chest, the ones they put as a ticket when you enter a sightseeing place.

The Fog had grounded all the flights and the departure area was a complete mess. I obviously had to skip my breakfast but I guess as I wrote from the solo airport restaurant, I had enough time for yet another coffee. The only thing I feared I had forgotten back in the room was my iphone charger, which anyways was alright as Myanmar has a signal block for all international phones.

The boarding announcements went on and the waiter told me to wait and finish my coffee. Now that’s the benefit of having your flight stuck to your chest! As I typed on my laptop I saw my waiter eagerly listening to the announcements in English, a language I doubt he knew, the accent he did understand or I guess just the flight number. He was like the alarm that would come and wake me up from the chair and this time it did it right!

                                                             The Check- In bags 

Myanmar is expensive in terms of Hotels, and tourist transport. So tourists from the west especially who have combined this with the trip to Thailand, often complain about the prices. I too think the same especially for what I got for $75 in a shabby guesthouse in Yangon. Tourism is in boom and suddenly everyone wants to cash in. Some have improved their quality and therefore charge more, the others and that include most of them, simply charge more because they know people will pay. The guidebook, which was published in the Jan of 2012, has rates, which have grown by more than 100% in this season. So the people who blindly follow the guidebook (that includes me as well) are in for a shock as they approach the Hotel desk or the taxi guy.

I am not very good at bargaining and so after a little yes and no, I did give in to the close to $75 demanded for the 7 hr trip from the Heho airport where I landed to Pindaya, which has the only natural cave Golden Buddha temple of the world and then to Nyuangshwe, near the mouth of the biggest tourist attraction in Myanmar, The Inle Lake.

The Burmese are bloody honest!! I had read, but when the airport attendant got my travel pouch to me just as I realized it had been left at the counter of passport check, I just smiled and said thank you. “Hey yoaa baeeg” he said to me! If you think the Thai don’t pronounce half the English letters, come to Myanmaaa !

The temple was good and the drive took me through the Shan State countryside. The Shan are local tribes and a proud lot they are. Much of the state is out of the tourist radar as it borders China and Thailand and there are frequent conflicts as we near the border. But I was well away from it and in the tourist heartland of the state where the only conflict is in this season to find a room. My search on the internet resulted in nothing but mails saying “we are sorry, no rooms we have” or “no rooms, try some other one” it was like getting a no for a job interview. Finally I had decided to come here and see for myself. Well the first recommendation on the Lonely Planet places to stay had a room (the guys who booked it didn’t turn up, the prices had gone 3 times higher than those printed in the book) so without going further I just took it.

There are as many travel agencies in the town of Nyuangshwe as they are places which sell the Myanmar beer. They all arrange the most in demand ‘boat trip on the lake’. The lady owner at my guesthouse, tried to sell me the trip for twice the market price, which I later realized, and I am glad I didn’t take the offer.

After scouting some agencies in the town, which seemed to me like moving in a village in India in the mid 80’s or maybe even before, I was finally able to feel right about one. “Money is ok, no ploble payin is tomolo” it was not just the money which was the lowest in the market. The boat guy was sitting just there staring at me smiling. Within minutes we had the whole itinerary for the next day chopped out. The owner which was still in his 20’s was a particularly easy guy and seemed non touristy which was refreshing after the desperate sales pitch made by my guesthouse owner.  Infact the guy was so cool that as I was walking back from the restaurant to my hotel, he called me in his shop, which had a aspiring band practicing.

Dagon beer(Myanma biya is no stlon), and local cigar was to accompany the guitar on which Burmese versions of popular English songs played. As it is I don’t understand any English in the songs I hear, so there I was singing with them in Burmese. The night had just begun for the guys. For me, well I didn’t want to miss the boat the next day!!

That night my phone which doubles up as my wake up call was set again this time one hour ahead of IST. Oh and yes it was plugged in to the charger as well! Nothing lost after all!