Myanmar Diaries - Yangon, the capital!

The flight looked full and going by the number of people waiting at the departure gate, it didn’t  seem like I was going to a relatively unknown country. Mostly American’s in tour groups, and a few Asians here and there. Writing from the Bangkok international airport waiting to board the flight to Yangon, Myanmar, I can say that I was quiet surprised. ‘Myanmar is on the tourist map’ I thought to myself. Now let me call it by another name, Burma, still not helping? Well, look it up on the map. A country of good size, between India and Thailand, Myanmar borders Laos, Bangladesh as well as China.

The arrival formalities were smooth and the floor looked sparkling at the Yangon international airport. At the immigration I noticed, the counters for foreign tourists, were attended to, by women and that for Burmese nationals had beetle nut chewing men. Within 10 mins from arrival I was in the cab whose driver kept on checking the address to my hotel with his glasses on and then asking bystanders with them off.

I was in Yangon to meet with travel agents to arrange a group of fellow Indians for the future, but first I had to set my itinerary right.
The lonely planet is a guide book I have extensively used to find hotels, restaurants etc but this was the first time I was using it to find a travel agent. This is how ‘new’ it was to me to travel to the neighboring Myanmar.

                                                              The Street Satay joint 

I had read about the following before coming to Myanmar.

Only $$ are accepted and the bills have to be, clean! No creases, no marks, no folds and certainly not torn(blame the sanctions which are imposed by the U.S on the government of Myanmar, or just blame the military rule) 

No credit cards! No international phones! Very limited internet and English!

So I was not surprised, when the guest house and the travel agent together rejected close to $1000 out of the $1400 I had with me. After paying collectively, I just had $53 good to go, left with me and the hotels for the next 4 days had yet to be paid for. So this is what you do ..

You go and change your not so good $$100 bills at a regular bank into the local currency (Kyats, pronounced as chats). Then go to a spanky bank and get your clean $$. Well you do loose out on the buying selling rate, but its still worth it with virtually no acceptance of creased bills by hotels.

With the cash back in my pocket I felt better again and set out on my job. The temperature even in February is close to 34 deg here and I was glad that the next day I had booked a flight to go to the hills of Myanmar.

The book speaks about a walking tour, which I unintentionally did, not to see the sights, but to find the travel agents listed. After the punishing sun, it had to be beer and not anywhere else but at the strand hotel. “We only take $$” the waiter said. The beer was cold and the music was soft in the lobby bar of the most expensive hotel in Myanmar. When I said no to snacks(too expensive!!) the waiter just got me a bowl of fish crackers. At places like the Strand when you see Locals, that means they are the super rich of the country, and since the American version of poison, Coca Cola, just got introduced to the country, I saw a group of them just having a coke each!

Myanmar is a country where almost all of the population is Buddhist. The land of the Pagodas is what its called. The biggest of them all and that too topped with 2000 kgs of gold and 3000 carats of Diamonds is the Shwedang Paya. After trying hopelessly to negotiate for a good rate, I settled in for what the driver had to offer and came face to face with the traffic of Yangon.  The driver who had avoided commenting on his country’s political situation blasted the government and the city roads later. So much so that he went on talking and I fell asleep.

The car finally came to a stop and it was only after the engine went silent that I realized I had to get down. The shwedang Paya was here.

The pagoda turned crimson red with the setting sun and then a magic gold when the lights came out. I walked aimlessly around it greeted a few of the guides, who said ‘namaste’ to me. One of the guides I think spotted my aimlessness and asked me to walk the 5 steps with him. “look up as you walk, do you see anything?” . I do not, I told him. He said again “look up at the top of the Pagoda” and there I saw the biggest diamond changing its colour  A 70 carat diamond at the top he said, “it change color “!!  A guide does make a difference.

The pagoda is set on a high hill so that it is visible from anywhere in the city. Also the highest position in the city has its own significance. The authorities have built capsule lifts to take the visitors, up and down the hill. There are four entrances to the complex in four directions. Only the north and the south have elevators, the other two, have stairs leading to them.

It was only on my way out that I realized how huge the complex was. It took me 30 minutes, a kilometer of more aimless but this time frustrating walking and a lot of failed attempts at English to find me the right exit down where my shoes were.  My mind was tired from searching and not sleeping for over two nights. I realized all my time up there I had not sat at a place for more than 10 minutes and observed silence.

So as I left the pagoda, I just thought of doing what the locals were there for, meditation and not just photo taking. But with a tired mind and a crying stomach ,it was hopeless to even try.

Sushi is the new Mc’Donalds for junk food haters. I soon realized this, as people who don’t want to risk ordering local food were all coming to a sushi joint recommended in the book. Mostly these Europeans were on their way out of Myanmar and therefore had got tired of rice and Burmese curry. Here they could at least let go of the curry.  

On my way to the hotel in the taxi, I fell off to sleep. All I remember is the driver stopping the car and shaking me .. “We alive”  (read as we arrive), yes I was glad to be alive but soon I was about to drop dead on my bed.