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| Temple by the airport |
Todays shout out goes to my niece Beth and all the girls at the State of Montana Office in Bozeman. Beth said they follow the blogs, so if you are wondering why nothing is getting done in Bozeman, I appologize.
What a difference a night makes, last night I went to bed at 8pm as the lack of sleep finally caught up with me. I slept for 11 hours and did not move until 7 am this morning. I was up, had breakfast and on the lobby at 8:45 to grab a cab to the airport. I was nice at breakfast and when this group of Chinese tourist kept getting my toast out of the toaster, I did not cause an international incident. But on the 3rd attempt, fork was stregically in hand and I was not afraid to use it.
I heard the traffic going to the airport can be really bad and was not disapointed, as it took just under 1 hour. One of the issues is they have no left turn lanes, so traffic gets snarled with the people turning left blocking traffic, and I never even saw a left turn signal, so the traffic just cannot move.
We pulled up to the domestic departures and I went in to get the lay of the land. Immediately porters wanted to get your bag and take you to the window, but I just waved them off. It was easy, they have not learned to be annoying yet. There were about 4-5 different airline counters and I was looking for Air Bagan. They had these 2 counters with a sign on top, they looked like something a kid would set up in his front yard to sell lemonade. As per the usual, there were no agents frantically typing away on keyboards and printing out boarding passes, you handed your paperwork over and they checked your name off the clipboard. They placed a sticker on your shirt with the airline logo and the airport code you are going to, Sittwe bein AYK. The boarding passes were hand written and I was there and gone in a minute. This young man walked me to these large red scales, I swear these things were 7 feet tall and you could tell had been here since before electricity. I put my bag on the board and the dial swung around and I made weight so he attached with string the baggage ticket. I have never checked into American or Southwest this fast so maybe they could learn something.
He pointed to the departure area where you proceed through a unisex (lol) scanner, then get your carry on baggage scanned, finally waved into this big room. It was about half full of people milling about but mostly sitting and watching the big doors. There were no gates, just 4 signs that said gate 1, gate 2, etc but they all used the same doors. I took a seat and tried to figure out the boarding process. Soon a couple of buses pulled outside the doors and this lady made an announcement in Burmese that was about as inaudible as a bad McDonalds drive in window. Then a guy with the airline, flight number etc. walked around the hall holding this sign up and people started filing for the doors. After a few miinutes calm returned and the process was repeated. They never made the announcement in English so I was being ever vigilant. A couple of times they were missing people so they would raom about checking the tags on shirts. Soon I saw the Air Bagan sign walk around and made my way to the bus. I was getting a bit nervous as it was about 30 minutes late and I was almost afraid I had missed the sign.
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| Sittwe Airport |
The flight was about half full and was stopping in Sittwe on its way somewhere else. It was a smallish turbo prob with 4 across seats 2-2. I had a row to myself and soon after take off they served drinks and a snack. It was a tray with a brownie and this unusal thing that was a weird hybrid hotdog thing. Instead of a bun it was a crust, like a pie would be, then filled with this cheez whiz looking stuff and a hotdog that had been cut down the middle was placed, then put in a broiler to turn the cheez whiz brown. It was most unappetizing looking but I tried it anyway, It was not horrible much to my surprise. Then they served hot tea with slice of lime which I enjoyed. Nothing spells class like hot tea and cheez whiz.
The flight was a little over an hour and enjoyed the view along the way, despite the window with scratches. After landing we pulled up to this small building and about 10 people got off the plane. You were led to this small arrivals area and you handed your passport over to the guy standing behind this desk. He opened this huge ledger and wrote your name and passport number. He mumbled something to me but I have no idea what. I guess this is the Govts way of keeping tabs on where you are. I saw a throng of what I presumed to be taxi drivers gathering at the door and since there were only a couple of foreigners on the plane they had me in their sites. I grabbed my bag off the floor and prepared for the onslought, but to my surprise there was a guy standing just inside the door holding a sign with my name on it. I was shocked and motioned to him it was me and he grabbed my bag and said follow him. I asked who he was and he showed me a badge from One Stop Travel. He said he was taking me to my boat at the jetty. I asked him to stop and told him I knew nothing about this. He assured me it was all taken care of by the Yangon office. Then it hit me, I was having trouble understanding the lady at the agency and when inquiring about the boat she kept saying "no problem", now I know why, she presumed I wanted help with the boat. He told me I owed no money so I went with him. I was thinking all the cost was the airfare and hotel, but now with this it turned out to be not so bad. He drove me through town on these really bad roads, it was quite interesting. He asked me if I wanted to buy lunch to take with me on the boat and I said sure. We stopped by this small place and the lady whipped me up a nice thing of pork fried rice with an egg on top for $1.50, which included a bottle of water. We headed down to the jetty and pulled up and this huge, ancient looking boat was at the doc with guys crossing the gangplank with bags of rice on their shoulders one after another. This boat was what I pictured the turn of the century steamer ferries from pictures I have seen. I could just picture this thing heading up river between Yangon and Mandalay with rich British sipping tea on the deck. Now its just a rusted out hull. We got to the board and they stopped to let us cross, but this thing was narrow and it took me a few minutes so I did not fall into the water. They were all laughing at the slow white guy and I smiled back at them when I made it across. This was a rust bucket to say the least, 2 stories tall and smelled of oil. I followed the driver through and we crossed into another boat which was just as bad, and then onto another smaller boat and then this little wooden boat was on the far side with 4 plastic chairs under this wooden cover. It was a relief I was not going on any of those other rust buckets. I was the only passenger except for another Burmese gentleman sitting in a chair. My bag was laying on the deck with this smiling young man standing next to it. He had grabbed the bag out of the car and was gone in an instant and the driver said he was the porter. I was glad cause there was no way I could have made that crossing with a bag too. I gave him $2 and he was smilling as wide as could be. As soon as I loaded the engine started and we started putt-putting down the river. I was scanning the small jetty area for other boats in case I had not had this set up and it was very sparse, and what was there was pretty scary looking. Some how I stumbled into the right thing to do. As we started out the best boat in the area was pulling in, it was a twin outboard fiberglass boat with all kinds of official looking stickers on it, so I presumed this to be a Coast Guard type vessel. The best part, it was being towed into dock by this old fishing boat that was leaing to one side. Maybe older is better.
I found out the Burmese gentlman was going to be my driver in Mrauk U to visit the temples and ruins. He had come down river to drop off 2 German couples and pick up some supplies from the big city. It was nice having him as he told me many things as we traveled up river. He confirmed that more than likely arrving when I did, an overnight stay in Sittwe would have been in order.
They had fruit layed out on this table with tea. It was an amazing trip, the countryside passing by, I would have paid double the price. I felt like Humphrey Bogart on the African Queen, minus the pretty lady. I am sure less than half my audience will know that movie. The river would get wide then narrow, and you would go miles and see nothing but rice patties, then hit a small fishing village with all the houses on wooden stilts. It was truly amazing. The time flew by and soon it was getting dark. The sunset and the star gazing was worth the price alone. After dark this young guy got in the front of the boat and had this big light that he would shine from shore to shore looking for logs and keeping the driver in the right spot. After a bit in the dark, he pointed to some lights in the distance and said Mrauk U. (Clarification its pronounced like a cat - meow - oo.) Once again at the dock you had to cross through 4 ships to get to the dock, and cross an even longer wooden plank. As I approached hush fell on the dock workers, I stood there a second contemplating the concequences, then I am sure I heard one of the dock workers yell, $5 the fat guy falls into the river. There was a bustle of money exchange, then hush fell as I apprached the board, fortunes about to me made and lost, when this young guy runs down the narrow board and stops, he grabs my hand and puts on his shoulder and walks me across. I raised my hands knowing I beat the abiss. In reality, I think they just wanted me off their plank so they could get back to work.
At the shore there was a jeep waiting for me to take me to my hotel. Thank you Once Stop! As we drove through the town, it was a really bad dirt road with all these small places to eat and stores, He said this was downtown and I just laughed. We got to the hotel just outside of town and they took me to my room. I cant describe this room with words, its like you are in some kind of Castle. Only pictures will do.
Well, off to unpack and get to bed, I have a full day of gauking to do tomorrow.
Happy Travels, Humphrey, er I mean Don
Day 2:
I dont even know where to start, this place is amazing, so far beyond what I even expected, I really cant even put the words together to tell you about this place. I wish I could have had all of you with me to get the true feel, because words are not going to be enough...................
I was up and waiting on my ride at 0800 with a belly full of breakfast. It was the same story here, eggs, toast, jam, fruit and fried rice. Dont get me wrong it was good, but I did miss my lime juice. We left and rode just out of town through a couple of small villages. People were bustling about, daily life at hand, kids riding their bikes to school, women at the big concrete water tank pulling up loads of water and hauling them back. It was fun to watch. There were these funky looking trucks loaded down with men and women off to who knows where. They make a distinct sound and you can hear them aways off.
Around each bend you could see these amazing old stupas on top of hills and just dotted about everywhere, but not the gold stupas you see everywhere else, these are really old. They date back to the 12th century. They are literally everywhere, you can stop in one spot and count 5-6 in each direction. Most all of the places we visited today were unearthed about 30 years ago. Similar to Angkor, they were just big mounds of overgrown dirt and shrubs and nobody even knew they were there. There are still hundreds and hundreds of these mounds everywhere that nobody has touched yet. My driver told me they could run into the thousands sorta like Bagan which you will see later. I know now what it must have been like to visit Angkor before anyone knew what it was, when you could walk about and nobody else there.
The first site we went to see was a small temple on top of a hill. It had 4 Buddha statues each face N-S-E-W with another Buddha statue on top, It is stil overgrown with weeds and you have to crawl through them to see. From there went went a short distance to another temple that was really big. It is called the 19000 Buddha temple becuase there are 19000 Buddha images at the site. Not only the sitting Buddha statues, but the walls are carved with rows and rows of Buddha images. It was amazing. You walked through this open tunnel and it took you on this big loop around the main Stuppa. Then you went up stairs to the top where the main Stuppa was and it was huge. There was a truck that pulled up while we were there and about 30 people piled out all dressed in their best. Than said they came from a village not too far off to pray to the Buddha and see the temple. Its made of this black stone that he said came upriver from the Sittwe area. Amazing.
We visited several more sites and on the way I would make him stop to takes pictures of the others I could see. He said it would take weeks to visit every site and some of them have no roads to them you would have to hike.
Did I say it was HOT. After about 3 1/2 hours I was drenched. I had wore long pants to help prevent bites from the mosquito, but forget that. I brought 2 cans of OFF and put them to good use. For my face I used a lotion my friend Lisa sent me, its herbal and I like it better on my face. We went back to the hotel to avoid the midday heat and I took a nap and made a wardrobe change. I did not want to eat at the hotel so he picked me up at 3 and took me to the town area for lunch.
Back at the room, I took a cold shower. Besides no wifi they have no hot water. I HATE cold showers, but you do what you have to do. It felt good to wash up though and change clothes. I was picked up at 3 and we went just a few blocks from the hotel to a small place called Moe Cherry's. I swear I read that name somewhere in a blog before, but could not remember. I had barbeque chicken with this leafy green veggie which I had no clue what it was and some kind of potato type thing. It was all very delicious, espcially the greens. I will have to go back there. I squeezed lime on the chicken and it was soooo goood.
We then heded out for some more temple climbing. When you go inside they have there corridors all lined with Buddha's and there are inside rings and outside rings, you cauld easily get lost. One Temple had 90000 Buddha images to outdo the one that had 19000, as the kings juse had to outdo the last. They were all just incredible. Shortly before sunset with my knee pounding we clinbed up a hill to see the sunset with the temples in the background. It was stunning. Than showed me a piece of rock next to where I was sitting and he stated there is another temple under us. It made you wonder what it is like, and what is yet to be unearthed here.
On the way back we stopped and watched the village boys playing "cane ball" and that was fun. They are very very good at it. Its like volleyball but you can only use your head and feet and the ball is about the size of a softball. Its hollow and made of cane and makes a distinct sound when the kick it. I took a video of them playing and will post when I get home.
Today was amazing and had such a good time. Tomorrow we go to the local market, which you know I LOVE. Then off on another river ride for a couple of hours to visit some local people. I am excited.
Happy Travels, Don
Day 3
Hey All,
Yesterday during the day, I ran across no other travelers until we went on that hill to take pictures of the sunset. There was an older couple, I think from France and a family with a teenage son, but not sure where they were from, but that was it. I have not seen any travelers in my hotel, but there is a group with an NGO. There are 3 official looking Land Rovers parked out front and they have the Red Cross logo on them. I asked Thon what they were doing here and he stated that due to the unrest here the past year, that there is a big refugee camp north of here where those that were displaced are located and they are helping there.
Today started out with a visit to another Pagoda, this one was fairly new, being built in the 16th Century. We stopped at the daily market area and that was FUN. You know how I love the markets. They have everything there, building supplies, fruits and vegetables, toiletry supplies, clothes, its like a giant outdoor Walmart. I was really enjoying it until we hit the meat area. People were butchering chickens and there was meat laid out on tables and the flies were everywhere. I heard this chopping sound and saw this guy with a giant machette cutting up what Thon told me was a buffalo. He was cutting the head in half and each swing of the knife you heard this bone crunching sound. There were large pices of the meat laying on dirty cardboard waiting to be cut down to smaller pieces. Now, I have been to many open air meat markets in Laos, Cambodiia, Vietnam, but this was the very worst I had ever seen. It was literally about to make me sick with the smell and sights. I would not be able to eat meat while in this town. I was so taken aback by what I was seeing I forgot to shoot video. You can thank me later.
We were gong on another boat trip today so I bought some fruit for the trip. The selection was amazing. As we would be visiting a village I asked Thon if there was anything to take with us, he suggested some little candies for the children. I bought 2 big bags and out of the corner of my eye down the way I spotted some of the Cane Balls. Thon said that would be good so I bought 2 of those. From there we drove about an hour out of town. The road was really bad, it made the back roads of Cambodia look good. I am gathering we only went about 10 miles because thats about as fast as you could go. You were constatnly dodging potholes that would swallow a Smart Car. On the way we passed a Muslim Village as you could tell by the way the ladies were covered up. We then went to the edge of a river where another boat waited for us to take us about 2 hours north to a Chin Village. I do love the boat trips, you really get a sense of daiy life. We passed many villages and the children were on the banks swimming but would stop to wave. Ladies were doing laundry in the muddy water and men were fishing. We then got to an area where the banks of the river slopped up slightly and women were squatting in rows of about 10 picking peanuts from the sandy ground. Wow, it was so hot and a miserable thing to have to do out in the sun like that. They all had their round straw hats on, I could never do that. Soon the area became more jungle looking and Than pointed in the area ahead and said that is the village.
We pulled ashore and I managed another gangplank without falling and we headed up to the village. Of course it was a climb up the bank to the village, you have to climb everwhere here. I was greeted by some older ladies and small children. we started passing out a candy to the children and they were so excited. Soon there were several ladies and they pulled out a plasitc stool in the shade and had us sit down. I think they could tell the fat white boy was struggling with the heat. They brought out some bananas and we sat and ate some while Thon was talking to them. OK, so the unique thing about these ladies is that their faces are covered with tattoos. Its a cobwebb design and covers their entire face. So the story goes, many years ago the Chin women were known to be very pretty and the kings would come through and take the best ones with him, so at age 9 they stated tattoing their faces so the king would not find them attractive. This went on for centuries. The older ladies in the villages are the last to do this and the young are no longer do this. When these ladies go there will only be the pictures to see, and I will have some. I always feel uncomfortable visiting places like this as I feel they are trying to put on a show for the tourist, but it was not that way here at all. We sat around having bananas and they showed me their village. They did not try to sell me stuff or anything. It seemed very genuine. As you would meet them they would take your hand and shake it. They took me to a primary school in the village and when you went in the hut it was divided into several areas of different ages. They had some really old chalk boards. I noticed they were teaching english to one group as they had the english words written on the board, and as the teacher pointed they would say the word. We gave all the students a piece of candy and the teacher had me tell them where I was from. It was so much fun. We then went to another building close by and the older students were there. They all waved and asked me a few questions practicing their english. I gave them one of the 2 cane balls and they were so excited to get it. As we walked back to the boat, I heard a radio and asked if they had power and Thon said no, but showed me a small Solar Panel leaning in the sun. I had to laugh as it looked so out of place in this really old village. I am sure you could have walked through here 100 years ago and it would look the same. Thon showed me all the banana plants, and trees with mango, pamelo, cocconut and also grow peanuts.
We left there and stopped at another village close by. It was much of the same, the people were so friendly. This time a game of cane ball was going on with boys out for recess from school. The ball they were using was old, lopsided and made from some old bamboo reeds. I pulled the new ball out and they got so excited. It was $1 well spent. More candy was passed out and we stopped to sit with the ladies again and the offered me some bettlenut. Now, I have read about this. All the ladies and men have red teeth stained with this stuff. They showed me how they do it, they take 2 bettlenut leaves, then she pulled out this white jar and rubbed lard on the inside leaf. In anothr white jar she took a small bit of tobacco and put on the leaf and then added a red bettlenut. Thon told me its a fruit but about the size of a cashew nut. They roll it up and put it between their cheek and gum and chew on it. They offered me one, but I declined, guessing it would make me sick - lol. I took a video of her making one and will post it later.
Thon told me that their are other Chin villages scattered all about this part of Myanmar, and that each group has it own distinctive face tattoos that they do.
It was an enjoyable trip and glad I went there. As I was leaving I noticed a lady weaving something and Thon took me over. She was making these wraps and they take them to the market to sell. They did not take me there to buy, I just happen to see it. The lady was 80. so I told her about my mom's upcoming 80th Birthday and bought one. She took the money and squeezed it and you could tell she was so thankfull. She walked over to a Pamelo tree and picked 2 and gave them to me for my journey.
By the time we returned up the river and fought the bad roads it was about 4 when I returned to the hotel. I was hot, sweaty and tired. The heat just saps the energy right out of you. I had bought these tablets before I left that you can add to a bottle of water that turns it into almost like a gatoraide, with the things that can zap you back to life. They really work well and have used them a couple of times. I was feeling a bit woosy when I got back and drank a bottle with a tab disolved in it and laid down with a fan. They plan was rest a bit then go to Moe Cherry's for some friend rice (no meat of course). When I woke up it was midnight. So I packed, turned on the TV for the first time this trip. The TV had 3 channels, one was a movie channel from India but the show was in english, the 2nd was BBC world news and the 3rd was a Myanmar channel playing these videos. I started watching the movie and it was Thor, but about 45 mintues into it, it went off and something else came on, some Billy Chrystal movie that was also in the middle of. Geez. I gave up on the movie and started watching the Myanmar music video's. Like a lot of Asia vidoes I have seem before they are full of drama, sorta like a soap opera with music. There would be a group of people and this man and woman would be fighting, soon the woman would slap the man in the face, tempers would flare and in a instant, they both look at the camera and start singing. The others would break into this asian line dance while the couple would sing and smile at each other, all the while he has this red hand print on his face. Really bizarre. Got bored of that quick and went back to bed.
Tomorrow is travel day again and I do the trip in reverse.
Happy Travels, Don
Day 4
Up and ready to hit the road early as they picked me up at 6 to start the journey back. It was fun traveling early to the jetty as daily life was happening all around me and I loved every minute of it. I finally got to see what the jetty looked like in daylight, and again had to cross through 3 boats to get to mine. The first was a ferry that runs between Sittwe and Mrauk U. It had left before I had arrived so it was not an option. After walking though it though, I am glad I was not taking it. It was smelly, the roof was low and it was playing some Indian music too loud and people were crowding on. It was fast though as it came by us later as we putted along. The trip back was as relaxing as before and I again enjoyed just observing daily life. We broke down about an hour into the trip but some other boats stopped and tools were exchanged and about 8 people were all squatting around the engine. They all seemed to have their own opinion about what the issue was as it got loud and they would all point to a different spot. After about 15 minutes of tinkering, a good wrap or 2 with a big wrench, the engine restarted and all went on their way.
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| The Ferry I am glad I missed |
Once again we pulled into the dock, but as we did we passed a Myanmar Navy Ship which I took a picture for Jeremy. Guys were laying all around the deck and it looked like it could sink at any time. We pulled up to the same old ferries again and I made my way back to shore with a young man carrying my bag who went flying past me. There was a jeep waiting to take me to the airport, no sign needed as I was the only person on the dock.
We went to the airport and I checked in at the Air KBZ lemanade booth. I then went to an immigration counter with 4 guys in green uniforms all looking way to bored in the afternoon heat. The first guy checked the official ledger and found my name from 4 days ago and wrote something after it. They next guy checked my passport against my boarding pass. He then passed the boarding to the 3rd guy who stamped it. The 4th guy checked everything, stamped it again and it was handed back to me. Then I went to the scanner to have by backpack scanned and they placed a sticker on it. Then you went to the unisex metal detector that went off when anyone walked through (why you ask?), then to another desk where they checked your name against the clipboard list of names made out by the airline. The boarding pass was then put in front of another guy who was in a conversation with someone who without even looking at it, reached down and picked up a stamp and stamped it, without breaking his conversation. He must be the nephew of some important person to have a gravy job like that. I swear, my boarding pass got stampled no less than 3 times and went through the hands of 6 people. It took longer to get through this domestic flight than it took to get through immigration when I arrived in this country. You then went into another small room with uncomfortable chairs from the 50's and waited on your flight. The bonus was this room had airconditioning. The flight was on time and except for some turbulance, uneventful.
During the flight I decided to stay close to the airport for 2 reasons, its closer and dont have to face an hour of traffic and I have decided against taking the train to Pyay tomorrow. The train is novel, but its rough, hot and I dont feel like getting tossed about with my knee hurting. I think I will go with the bus, but thats not perfect either. My knee, while very sore, has been holding up but if I dont stretch it out every hour it tends to lock up and it takes me a bit to make it better. By the end of the day I really have a gimp. With my Lonely Planet Guide I found a couple of places very close to the airport and the first one I went to had a room. One thing to understand is that rooms here are expensive as compared to the rest of Asia. Its due to a lack of good rooms and the fact that the govt puts a huge tax on foreigners, this combines to make a $16 room in Cambodia, $50 - $60 here. Its crappy, but thats the way it is. I could find a $25 room, but its would be a real dump. Now I just have to figure out where the Bus Station is - lol. From Pyay I have a driver that I have found on the internet that people said is really good and has a nice car. I want a driver because there are many places I want to see around Pyay and even more on the way to Bagan that you cannot do on a bus. I emailed him a week ago and all was good, but I need the hotel staff to call him and make sure he is going to be able to pick me up from the bus station as apposed to the train station.
I am so glad I made the trip to Mrauk U, it was worth the days travel. I told my driver that this place will get discovered some day and THEY will come. I am just honored to be one of the few who have seen this place.
Happy Travels, Don
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