BURMA: Struggles, smiles & paradoxes
After a 14 hour flight I arrived in the land of a thousand and one pagodas: Burma. Immediately there is a shock of cultures! The taxis are from another era, there are super crowded pick up trucks and people everywhere in the streets even at 4am. Here everything can be traded in dollars. To get kyats (local currency) you must go on the black market directly in the street, and haggle with 4-5 yob guys, the kind of guys from a bad Asian series.
Step 1 : Yangon
Yangon is the 1st city in the country but not the capital, and this is where the Burmese paradox begins. There is a capital here however the city remains uninhabited and closed to foreigners. It is sometimes used by generals or by wealthy businessmen … In short, a whole town for only a few people …
Burma is a country where you have a greater chance of falling into a hole at each street corner than someone stealing your bag. Most of the time the pavements don’t exist or are incomplete, and some streets are not lit (which makes walking at night more than complicated). But people are so welcoming that it is disconcerting. One of my best memories of Yangon will remain when I was invited to a wedding after just watching the ceremony for a few seconds. In not even two minutes I was sitting at a table having my photo taken in a flurry by the wedding photographer. Yangon is one of the only cities in Asia where there are no motorcycles. A few years ago one of the generals had an accident with a scooter and since that day it is forbidden to drive a motorcycle in the city,
Monster traffic jams … Another local curiosity : the steering wheel is on the right but they also drive on the right which makes it quite dangerous to drive. I was totally amazed in front of the pagoda Sheguabun …
Step 2 The south east :
First Burmese bus trip to The Golden Rock and then Pa haan. An 8 to 12 hour drive is the minimum option in Burma, with the added bonus of air conditioning at a temp of only 11 ° and the music to the max. The Golden Rock is a beautiful place with a huge rock decorated with gold leaf by a faithful group balanced on top of a mountain.
My best memory of this step will remain the monk who after only exchanging a few words (in English for dummies), invited me to drink tea in a small monastery perched in the mountains. A few minutes later I found myself on top of a hill looking at the sunset with a Burmese cigar that the monk had given me. There was something magical there.
After came 250 km in a pick up truck, the wind in my face and a feeling of freedom too!
A Pa haan, few tourists, breathtaking landscapes, super friendly local and really unusual places like fields filled with over a thousand Buddha statues.
My Step 3 : Bagan
Sand, lots of sand and 4,000 temples on an area of 27 km 2. Basically there is a temple every 20 meters, it is really impressive. That’s the good side of the force! On the dark side are the completely re-done temples which impair the site a little, a wireless fire god and a dozen Chinese cars arrived together and armed with their cameras for the sunset. It’s like a little Disneyland. Fortunately, there are still temples there with that Indiana Jones feeling …
Step 4
Trek for 3 days in Hispaw
Mandalay
2nd city, a lot of noise and pollution. Scootering is part of a suicide mission. You have to imagine a city of several million people without red lights, without stop signs and without give way to the right! At every corner you thank Buddha to be alive.
My train leaves at 4 am, I sleep in the station. A Burmese tailor rummages my bag and aligns my things on the floor. 12 hours in an old train on a wooden bench. Backache.
Hispaw trek for 3 days and 2 nights: It’s a small town situated 6 hours on the bus from Mandalay wedged between the mountains. Not many tourists come here especially for treks and I chose Mr Charles, a kind of megalomaniac. Mr Charles has a guesthouse, but he also has towels, slippers, bottled water and even a view point.
1st day pace is fast, the guide is only 20 years old and we walk for 6 hours.
The locals have nothing but they look really happy. Before nightfall, we play shilo and drink a few beers around a campfire.
I sleep on the floor with blankets as a mattress. In the morning, I open my eyes, the whole village is in the process of watching me sleeping. I am the first foreigner they have seen …
I hit the road … Under the seat in the pick up truck where I winded up, there was a 20 liter container of petrol. On the way there are hundreds of cows. I arrive in a desert airport which is almost abandoned. It is 5 am. There was just one guy, half asleep guarding the door! I leave for the neighboring country. I will keep in mind all those smiles; of this country that is still finding it’s feet, where the verb to struggle makes sense, where plastic chairs are carved for children, and where cars, Chinese motorbikes and ox-drawn plows coexist on the same road.
– Aurélien Guyon –
