Myanmar

Day One: Buddhist Disneyland

After hearing the interport lecturer’s stories about Burma, I already knew Semester at Sea was making a huge mistake to go there. She described the injustices that the people of Myanmar (formerly Burma) face on a daily basis. The people elected a democratic govt in the 80s but the military wouldn’t allow the new govt to take office. If one is found talking ill of the gov’t they are thrown in jail. Burmese people can’t walk in groups of 4 or more. Most outside media is blocked, this includes many tv stations, news papers, hotmail, and AOL. There are many areas in Myanmar that foreigners are not allowed to go/see. In addition the lecturer also believed that the decision to go to Myanmar, while an individual one, was not a good one.

The first day, Jesse and I went on a full day Yangon City tour. There is absolutely nothing around our port area. It is a 20-25 minute walk from the ship to the gate, and then a 45min-1 hour drive into the city. This drive reminded more of Rural Africa then what I would have ever expected from SE Asia. There were literally huts littered along the road along with rice fields and cattle. Once in the city, while there wasn’t trash everywhere, the infrastructure was worse then India. The buildings were of gorgeous design (you could tell the British had been there!) but horribly run down and dirty.

We went to the national museum which was rather dull but it was the first time, of many, that I had saw “darting eyes.” Darting eyes is the reaction of the citizens of Myanmar when either they have said something (or about to) that could get them into trouble with the military. It was kind of like a “big brother” mentality at all times, which was very creepy and uncomfortable. Our tour guide was showing us a map of the country and explaining that Myanmar is divided into three zones: white, gray, and black. White zones allow foreigners (and are mostly the big cities in the central area of the country), the gray zones a foreigner would need a permit to enter (and they were generally located just outside the white areas). The black zones allow no foreigners to enter and make up at least half of the country and touching all international borders of the country. A student asked why can’t we go into the black zones, and that is when the “darting eyes” occurred, before the tour guide answered he couldn’t talk about that there.

We stopped at Chauk Htat Gyi Pagoda which is Yangon’s reclining Buddha (every city has one). I couldn’t believe how big this statue was! It dwarfed me. I couldn’t believe the amount gold and gems that were used. It truly was magnificent. Our next stop was at the Shwedagon Pagoda. This place of worship was unreal. It reminded me, and many others, of Disneyland. The temple was plated with 90 tons of gold. Surrounding it were smaller temples and shrines. It was interesting to watch the people and monks worship and give offerings.

Jesse and I left the SAS trip at the end and went to a restaurant for dinner. The restaurant overlooked Royal Lake and the dragon Barge. It was really beautiful. For appetizers we ordered fired Gourd and fried cashews (fried was definitely the theme on the menu… but this was “authentic Burmese cuisine.” Both were great and I was really surprised that I liked the gourd, but it actually tasted like onion petals. I ordered shrimp curry with Indian Spices with Jesse order duck-something. Both were really good. Mine was really spice but absolutely wonderful. For desert we spilt a fried banana with honey. The bill came to under $25 dollars with drinks, tip, and the mandatory 10% government tax.

We decided to walk off dinner and headed towards the barge. The streets were relatively empty and kind of eerie, but we arrived safely to the park area in front of the barge. We were wondering around when some one yelled hello, and jumped out of his chair at an outdoor restaurant. He introduced himself and asked us where we were from. He then invited us to have a drink with him. I was ready to refuse when Jesse said he’d love to . So we sat down with him and ended up talking to him and his two companions for a couple of hours. This Burmese had lived in Seattle for a year and spoke decent English. He had a cross tattooed on his forearm so I asked him if he was a Christian and he said yes. I asked him if he was discriminated against in Burma (over 90% of the population is Buddhist) and he said no, that everyone was very peaceful and tolerant. Interesting…

To summarize our conversations with this slightly intoxicated Burmese man and his friends, anytime we’d talk about anything he’d look around whisper a few things and then say he couldn’t really talk about it. Jesse and I weren’t pressing him for information at all but our friend, Winston was his name, kept talking about this and that. Winston talked a lot about his love for America and how he wishes he could go a back and escape Burma. He knew that since he had already been to America there was hardly any chance that he would get another visa (b/c it would be presumed that he wouldn’t leave the states then). He spoke with desperation about trying to go anywhere so he could actually “live life” and how he was dead in Burma (figuratively).
After a while, Jesse left to use the restroom, and men came over to the edge of the restaurant and yelled something to Winston. Winston went to talk to the men, and came back and looked riled. He said that that was an officer and we needed to go soon. When Jesse returned he told me that he had been stopped by half a dozen soldiers who began to question the waiter that had accompanied him to the bathroom. So needless to say we began to walk to the gate of the park to catch a taxi. SAS had said that a taxi to/from the Yangon to the port should cost around $6. The cabbies at the gate wanted $10 b/c it was 11:00pm, but Winston said we should not trust them. So we continued on a little ways and found another cab willing to take us for $12, and by this time all I wanted to do was go back immediately because I was very nervous, feeling like we shouldn’t trust anyone anymore. Winston kept saying that he’d right down the license plate number and that it was only $2 more and you can’t put a price on safety… plus what he had been telling me earlier, I was felt like we might not make it back to the ship…
Five minutes into the cab ride, we stopped at this seedy looking place and the driver whistles. I start freaking out and yelling to the driver (who doesn’t speak English) to keep driving. He got out of the car and opened the trunk and then I saw 3 guys come out of the woodwork. Luckily, I remembered hearing in my econ class that the govt regulates the amount of gasoline each cabbie can have per week, and then I saw a gas can and a funnel in the hands of the approaching men.
So after refueling, we continued on, having to clear through two different military checkpoints. Creepy… Then Jesse, who had way too much to drink, had to go “really, really bad” and couldn’t hold it. So we asked the driver to stop so he could get out. Once out, I hear a whistle, and then see a police officer heading to towards the car. He begins to talk to the cab driver and more and more personnel come over all talking to each other and to me in Burmese. They point at me and then somewhere else and then would say something to me, which I didn’t understand. I think they wanted me to get out of the car, but I was definitely not getting out (they would have had to pull me out). Finally Jesse returns from the bushes and hops in like they weren’t 10 people surrounding the car and tells the cabbie to go. Well, that didn’t work and the men continued to talk. The cabbie told us to pay them “tu dollas”. Confused, but just wanting to leave, I began to fish through my purse for 2 dollars when the officer said 5 dollars. What were supposed to do? So reluctantly, I gave the bastards 5 dollars and we were able to leave.
Needless to say, the rest of the way Jesse and I fumed over our experiences that day. I was so angry. I was angry that SAS brought us here. I was angry that I was forced to give their horrible govt my money, thus allowing them to be in power for one day longer. When I finally got back to the ship I wasn’t sure if I wanted to get back off again in Myanmar.

Well I hate to leave it there but I must… until I have time to write the rest of my journey in Myanmar… and no worries, I did get off and had a wonderful time.

Besides that, tonight is the famous crew talent show and I am looking forward to that very much. Tomorrow is a no class day but I am sure I won’t do anything productive like I should… Everyone write me an email and give me updates on what is happening back home so I’ll have lots of email waiting for me when I get Vietnam.