An Indiana Jones Movie... aka Bagan, Myanmar

 

Prior to reaching the government/junta-run country known as Myanmar, formerly Burma, our Inter-Port lecturer for the country was Dr. Monique Skidmore. She’s Australian but has written many articles on Myanmar, visited it numerous times and even lived there. The most interesting buzz on the ship was the fact that she was very openly adamant about NOT wanting SAS and us to visit Myanmar, but obviously she couldn’t do anything about it. From what I have heard, no one stayed on the ship, so her efforts where futile and probably more of a tactic just to warn us and let the students know more about the dark side of the country. In Global Studies, we learned that the people are very much in favor of democracy, and in the last election in 1992, a woman named Suu Kyi ran and received 80% of the votes but the government forced her under house-arrest and denied democracy, holding onto their own rule instead.

 

In fact, everyone I’ve talked to so far on the ship LOVED Myanmar. The military were not everywhere like we were told, and the oppression did not seem to exist. All the Burmese people were so friendly, loved to say hi and talk to us about where we were from, and wanted to help us out in anyway possible. Of course, the oppression is there, the government controls a lot of the country and there is lots of civil war near the borders, but it was not nearly as bad as it had been made to sound! We hardly noticed it even when trying to look. In terms of exchange rate, the “official” or government rate is 6 kyat for $1, but the black market exchange rate is 1100 kyat for $1. Of course we love the better exchange rate and NO ONE uses the other one. We were approached everywhere in Yangon to exchange money and felt quite rich since the largest bill in circulation is 1,000 kyat and everything was very cheap.

 

On the first day, I explored the capital of Yangon with Stacey and Kevin. It was an absolute blast – we bought stuff in Scott Market which was gigantic and never-ending, getting lost in the stalls of t-shirts, jewelry, langees (the skirts that all the men wore), and artwork. In the afternoon we hired a driver and saw all the main sites like the Sitting Stone Buddha, the Reclining Buddha, white elephants, a floating restaurant, some lakes, and watched the sunset at the famous Schwedagon Pagoda. We also got to speak and interact with a lot of Buddhist Monks who live at the pagoda which was extremely interesting to hear about their lives. On the second day I left for the archeological city of Bagan. The trip was really fun and I felt like I was in an Indiana Jones movie the entire time, especially while exploring and climbing the pagodas! Now only if  It was hot, humid, dusty, and mostly desolate except for the thousands (over 2,000 in fact) of pagodas that were everywhere. The sunsets were absolutely amazing, we would climb some of the tallest pagodas and get the most incredible views of the dry land just littered with the pagodas that were made to honor Buddha (there are statues in each of the pagodas). We also visited a local village, did pony cart rides one night, had a puppet performance at dinner, climbed pagodas, and explored a local market. On the last day, we flew back to Yangon and got to ride tri-shaws (bicycle with a passenger seat on the side, like a motorcycle) and bought lots of cool t-shirts in Scott Market. The food, of course, was AMAZING. I’m obsessed with foreign food… thanks Mom and Dad for raising me on it instead of on fast food! I ate papadums, lots of rice, papaya, fried vegetables and the most amazing fish one night that tasted like chicken.

 

Myanmar was so interesting. I met a German woman on my flight back from Bagan who had visited the country numerous times and has started up an organization to help educate the children in Myanmar in the rural areas. It was neat to hear how much the country had left an impact on her and how much she wanted to help these people by getting people to donate old computers to give to the schools in the country. It’s incredible how one simple experience or a few words exchanged can deepen a person’s experience and understanding of a country and want to help them out. The United States has disaffiliated themselves with the entire country due to the military regime, but I think visiting it and learning about it and returning is the best possible thing.

 

Travel is the best education possible.