Myanmar: the only country in SE Asia, bar
East Timor and Brunei, which I had yet to check off my list. My only regret
during my 2013 trip through SE Asia was that I passed on Myanmar. This Chinese
New Year (CNY) I wouldn’t make the same mistake.
I took off the entire month of January, but
for the other teachers at my school, their three week CNY break began on
January 20th. Joanna and planned to travel for a week in Myanmar to start the
vacation, and a week in Cambodia to finish. In the middle she would travel to
Thailand to meet friends from England. As for me, I would stay in Myanmar and then meet her in Cambodia.
 |
From India I had to go first to Thailand, and then
to Myanmar. Joanna and I planned to go to
Mandalay, Bagan, and Yangon. |
Before I started my trip in Myanmar I first had
to get there. I departed Delhi early afternoon on January 19
th,
but didn’t arrive for nearly 24 hours. India and Myanmar share a land border,
but I first had to transit through Thailand. Plus I’m a cheapo, so I took the
lowest price, which also meant I stopped in Kolkata on my way to Bangkok. After
a long layover I arrived in Bangkok at midnight, and my flight to Mandalay wasn’t
until the next morning.
I managed to catch some shut eye at a
hostel near Dong Mueng (Bangkok’s second airport which serves AirAsia) before
my morning flight, which got me into Mandalay at 25 past noon. Joanna's flight was delayed, but only by half an hour, so we
reunited soon enough. It had been over a month since we’d last seen each other
in Hangzhou, and I actually had butterflies in my stomach waiting for her to walk
out of baggage claim.
Now I’ll give you the rundown of our trip,
and in the next post I’ll cover what I did after Joanna left for Thailand. This
will read more as a quick overview. I need to get up to speed at some point
here—plus I’m not the greatest travel writer, so I’ll stick to the facts.
 |
| The royal palace moat |
Joanna and I spent two nights in Mandalay,
the second largest city and last royal capital of Myanmar. Mandalay is known as
the center of Burmese culture and it boasts numerous temples and palaces. By
the time our airport shuttle dropped us off at our hotel in town it was already
late afternoon; that evening we explored the neighborhood to get our bearings
and had dinner at an outdoor restaurant across the street from our hotel, after
which we made it a quiet night.
The following day we got our steps in,
visiting the royal palace, three Bhuddist temples, and trekking up Mandalay
Hill for sunset. The royal palace is more of a walled city, separated from the
rest of Mandalay by a moat. Foreigners can only enter through one
gate, whereas the locals can use all four sides. Our tickets cost about 10
USD, which seemed pricey for Myanmar. Later I learned that the tickets
are actually good for all the surrounding sites as well, so it was a much
better deal than I initially thought.
 |
| Part of the reconstructed palace grounds |
The palace itself was constructed in the 19
th
century, but, like many things in Asia, it has been reconstructed several times.
It was first destroyed in WW2 when Japan took Burma from the British, and then
rebuilt after the war. Once Burma gained its independence and the generals
overthrew the government, the country largely sealed itself off from the
outside world. During decades of isolation and economic stagnation, many
cultural sites were left to rot. Only recently has money from both the Burmese
government and foreign aid groups been used to spruce up these sites.
Although the Palace was renovated recently
I felt that it was tastefully done and worth the visit. The same was true for
the temples we visited afterwards—the area around the palace grounds is dotted
with numerous sites, and it is common to see the iconic orange-clad, head
shaved monks out for a stroll (nearly half of Myanmar’s monks live in the
Mandalay area). After a late lunch and another temple we stopped for a beer and
then climbed up Mandalay Hill for sunset. From the bottom the hill looked
small, but the stairs seemed endless. By the time we reached the top the sun
had nearly vanished beyond the distant mountains.
 |
| A bird's eye view of the palace grounds |
 |
| Joanna posing in front of another temple |
 |
| View of the city as we walked up Mandalay Hill |
That evening we looked for a watering hole
or some other late-night spot, but discovered that Mandalay shuts down after 9
or 10 pm. In the end it was no big loss, as we had a bus to catch early the
following morning anyway.
On the 22nd we ate breakfast at
the hotel and were picked up in a small bus which would take us to Bagan, a
town 180 kms southwest of Mandalay. Google maps estimates the trip should take
3 hours and 42 minutes; I knew better. Along with renovated historical sites,
another thing much of Asia shares is long bus journeys. Our bus stopped several
times to pick up and drop off locals, to fill up for gas, and for lunch. From
door to door the trip lasted 6 hours—including a 20 minute wait at the station in
Bagan to switch vehicles so we could be dropped off at our place a couple kms
down the road.
 |
| View of the landscape from one of the larger temples |
Bagan is famous for its dense concentration
of Buddhist temples, stupas, and ruins—over 2,000 dot the surrounding
landscape. Most date to the 11
th and 12
th centuries, and although
some have been rebuilt surprisingly much of the original material remains. Maintaining
originals still takes work, and we noticed many temples under scaffolding. When we asked about the repair work, a local informed us that
Bagan was hit by an earthquake in 2016, and more than 400 buildings were
damaged. The temple where we watched the sunrise had scaffolding up, and
another major site was off-limits.
Fortunately there was still more than enough
to see; Joanna and I could have spent a week there and not done it all. A week
would have been too long though; even after two days of exploring the buildings
started to look the same. I felt similar about Angkor Wat: the site was
majestic, yes, but there can be too much of a good thing. With only two and a
half days there, it was enough to get our feet wet, but not to bore.
 |
One of the first temples Joanna and I saw,
just outside town |
The first afternoon we walked from our
hotel, which was a couple kms from the town proper, to Bagan market, and then
along the river. From there we checked out the main drag for restaurants and
shops. Bagan is a small town, with more tourists than locals, but
considering the attractions on hand crowds are managable. CNY is a busy season,
but even then Joanna and I often found ourselves alone when we were visiting a
lesser known temple. Still, numbers of visitors have skyrocketed compared to even
a couple years ago. I can only imagine the numbers to go up, so better to visit
sooner rather than later.
The next morning we were up before dawn to see
the sunrise on top a temple. We rented an e-bike for the day and spent much of
it touring the countryside and the scattered pagodas. As we drove out to catch
the sunrise we almost missed the turn off—there were few signs—and by the time
we found the right spot the sun had nearly peaked up above the flat plains. We
picked the most popular temple, but despite the crowds, the view was worth it.
Just after sunrise hot air balloons floated up along the horizon (you can book
tours in Bagan, although they are a few hundred dollars a pop).
 |
| View just before the sun rose |
 |
| The balloons made for a scenic backdrop |
As we left a busload of Chinese tourists
were climbing the temple steps; that was a good time to head for the exits.
Like I said, I can only imagine that more and more tourists will visit Bagan in
the future—many of them from China. The Chinese already have a big presence in
Myanmar, especially in the north. By some counts over a third of Mandalay's
population is ethnically Chinese, many of whom emigrated from Yunnan in China’s
southwest.
After a day full of sightseeing on the
e-bike we caught sunset along the river (my cover photo for this post), and then ate dinner again at the main
tourist street. The following day we took a morning excursion to Mt Popa, about
an hour drive from Bagan. There are hundreds of monkeys who hang about the base
of the hill, and if you’re not careful they will steal any snacks you have on
you (it’s best to leave your food behind). Joanna and I avoided any
confrontations as we made our way up the hill, where there is a temple with
amazing views overlooking the surrounding countryside.
Our driver dropped us off back in Bagan for
lunch time, where we finally ate at the most popular joint, which had been full
the previous two nights. That afternoon we rented bicycles for a grand total of
a dollar each and rode around to several more temples. After another sunset we
had a white knuckle ride through the dark, without lights or reflective
clothing, to drop off the bikes. Luckily it was only a few kilometers back to the
center of town, but it sure felt longer than that.
 |
Many of the outlying temples had few visitors
(well human visitors, that is) |
 |
| Approaching Mt Popa |
 |
| Beware of the monkeys! |
 |
| The view from the top was worth it |
On the 25th we caught one last
sunrise, this time atop our hotel roof (not as good as the temple), and had the free
breakfast buffet before heading to the airport, which was essentially one large
room with a couple metal detectors. Instead of suffering through a much longer
bus ride, we flew to Yangon, where Joanna would stay for 2 nights before flying
to Thailand.
 |
| View of Yangon from a rooftop bar |
With over 7 million inhabitants in its
metro area, Yangon is by far the largest city in Myanmar. Joanna and I were
used to the quiet streets of Bagan and early to bed atmosphere of Mandalay, and
we arrived in Yangon like wide-eyed country folk. I was surprised in part at
how modern and developed the city is—well, at least the downtown core. I
assumed that Yangon would also be sleepy, but the skyscrapers and terrible
traffic reminded me of many other SE Asian cities, not an isolated former
capital.
The city has changed tremendously since the days of the iron-fisted generals. Our second night in town Joanna and I met two expat English
teachers with whom we chatted over drinks. One of the teachers described the
Yangon of 2012, when almost no one had cell phones and foreigners would stop
each other on the street to say hello. Back then, the bar street downtown had
one watering hole—today there are dozens.
 |
Another view from the bar; most of Yangon is much
less developed |
Despite the trappings of modernity,
Yangon is still behind the times in many ways. Most of the towns and suburbs
surrounding the city center lack basic infrastructure such as paved roads or
proper waste disposal. Tens of thousands of rural Burmese stream into Yangon
every year in search of work, and due to housing shortages many end up in
slums. One positive of Myanmar’s isolation was that its British heritage has
largely remained (it was a UK colony); the downtown area boasts the largest
collection of colonial buildings in SE Asia.
On the first day we arrived Joanna and I walked
to the central shopping market, stopping to check out a church and Hindu temple
on the way (during the British Raj, thousands of Indian laborers and traders
settled in Burma, and although many were evicted during the generals’ reign,
Yangon retains a significant South Asian community). That evening we had a
drink at the tallest rooftop bar in Yangon—there aren’t many to choose from—and
ate dinner along the riverfront night market.
 |
| The pagoda is actually a huge complex with many temples |
On the 26
th we visited
Schwedagon Pagoda, the most sacred Buddhist site in all of Myanmar, which was
worth the price of admission, plus an extra $4 for skirts—both men and women
have to cover their knees, and apparently my shorts were a tad too short. After
the pagoda and a light lunch at a local street food vendor, we made our way to Kandawgi
Lake, which is surrounded by a city park. That afternoon we relaxed at the
hotel and then went out for dinner and drinks downtown, which is where we met
the English teachers. Joanna keeps track of our steps on her iPhone, and we
ended up just short of 30,000. We’ll have to hit that milestone another time!
Comments