One for the road...: February 2012

Click on photos for a larger view.

“This is Burma and it will be quite unlike any land you know about…”

Rudyard Kipling, Letters from the East 1889

TIME

Time is the one thing we truly cannot get back once it is gone. Once a moment has passed it’s really gone, no second chance, no going back to experience it all over again. No real time travel, a moment in time can only be experienced once in any lifetime. And our lives are made up entirely of these precious moments. That is why it is important how you choose to spend that time. Let me add, however, I am not a huge believer in wasted time – who is to say what is wasted?

Even sitting here in my local park’s café, as I look around I see, Friends gossiping over coffees, a young girl reading Cleo magazine, a man sitting alone with his Blackberry, a family with some very playful and loud kids, a business lunch meeting, a couple having a fight….is any of this time being wasted? Wasted time is subjective, it’s personal, and so any reference to “wasted” time in this blog is for my own personal self and not a judgement or criticism of anyone else. This is just my own personal ramblings on my moment in time in a country, which seems as if time nearly paused…Myanmar.

In our little family, we don’t take any of our travels for granted; each trip is a treasured and much appreciated experience. So when the opportunity presented itself for Fint and me to head to Myanmar for a visit…we wasted no time and said “YES!”

TIME TRAVEL

Travelling to Myanmar was as much, or more, about traveling back into time than about distance of travel. The feelings of arriving in this country were very exciting for me…because I knew I wouldn’t have cell phone coverage, credit card use or internet…so I really felt as though I had left the modern world and that the plane had turned into a DeLorean, time machine while I was napping. This feeling continued to grow as we stepped outside to get a taxi and realized they are all Toyotas from the 1980’s (well, what is left of them anyways)! The architecture also feels like you are peering through the looking glass back into time …into the 1800’s, I really expected to see people riding on livestock…(we did see this in the country side however…in the countryside you travel even further back into time). The colonial architecture that is left in the city has been untouched; weathered, mouldy, crumbling, and cracked, left to the tropical climate to show their age.

Chinese Medicine Shop

PEOPLE YOU MEET

So you are an 18 year old girl with your 20 year old boyfriend and it is a Saturday….how do you spend your time? Shopping at a mall? Eating out? Hanging with a group of friends? Riding in a dusty, dirty slow train all day just to find some English speaking tourist who will give you five minutes of their time to practice your English?

I was sitting on the hard wooden bench while riding in the jerky, dirty, crowded train known as the Circular Train out of Yangon. I was trying to take in all of the local scenery and get some photos through the narrow window, when a local girl caught my eye and smiled at me. So I mouthed “hello” … and she saw this as an open invitation, she came right over to me, sat down, and introduced herself. We chatted and made an instant friendship, she gave me a memory and a different way to look at my life. Our two hour chat will be a memory that I will have and smile back on for life. A two hour chat…wasted time? I. Think. Not.

After the train trip Fint, we all went for lunch at the Strand Hotel and then to the local goods market (Scott’s Market) and spent the rest of the day just enjoying our time together. Chatting and getting to know people you just met over some satay and laughs….wasted time? Never.

They told me they dream of going to a American music concert, one day.

These boys just wanted me to take a photo of them (they couldn't speak English, but they loved seeing themselves on my camera's view finder.)

The Strand Hotel

The Strand Hotel is a beautiful Victorian-style building that was built in 1896 and is close to the Yangon River. This is probably the most famous hotel in Myanmar, and has seen royalty and Hollywood stars such as, Mick Jagger, Oliver Stone, the King of Tonga and George Orwell as a few of its guests. We didn’t sleep in this hotel but we enjoyed a few beers and Diet Cokes in its Strand Bar. For more info on this beautiful historic building click HERE

The Lobby of The Strand Hotel

The Scott’s Market is a lively multilevel “shopping center” where you can find souvenirs, craft goods and jewellery to your heart’s content. I ended up leaving with a Myanmar t-shirt (so people know I have been! ;) and with a little black lacquer ring box…we didn't have much room in our luggage flying the low cost airlines.) Click here for more info on the Scott’s Market click HERE

These childern were singing, the sound of it was beautiful.

Myanmar is one of those places you visit that you expect to just see the sites, eat the foods, and generally have a good time experiencing a new culture; however, what you don’t expect is how it actually changes you. The beauty, the kindness, the rawness of the country makes you realize. It shows with how friendly and welcoming they are as a people to tourists.

AROUND YANGON (RANGOON)

Yangon (Rangoon) is an interesting city to say the least. I have lived in Asia for just over 4 ½ years now and I can say I have never visited anyplace like it! It is truly a special place to visit…getting there isn’t traveling miles, it is truly, time travel. Spectacular. One of the most stunning sights to see is the Shwedagon Pagoda…we spent hours here and never tired of it. The gold leaf glows in the sun and it is sparling with hundreds of golden “spires”….you feel as if you are transported into the sun as you get immersed into the temple. The golden city is one of the most visually stunning temples I have ever seen…this beautiful place, that is so well cared for by its visitors, was one of the highlights of my trip. Click HERE for more info.

Taking shoes and socks off to enter the Pagoda.

Gold, gold, golden.

There also seems to be no street lamps on at night…which makes for a very dark evening. In fact, when we were arriving at the restaurant "Feel", the power lines in the streets fell to the walkway with sparks and zaps! Very scary to think we were so close to it, but no one was harmed and the locals knew what to do…they ran and picked up the live wires and climbed up the pole and re-attached them and the electricity came back on. Crazy stuff to see! Riding in the taxi’s with no headlights on was quite an adventure in itself….let’s just say I would like to keep that to a minimum! ;)

Alfresco Dining...Myanmar Style.

Another surprising realization in the city is the lack of branding….and the lack of it is very noticeable. In SE Asia you are used to seeing billboards and banners and table umbrellas with brands like: Coca-Cola, Tiger Beer, or Magnum Ice Cream…but not here in Myanmar. The lack of it makes one feel a bit happy….like the corporate branding world didn’t get to everyone…too bad it couldn’t stay that way…there is such an refreshing charm to the lack of it.

CIRCULAR TRAIN

Train Station

For $1 USD we each got a ticket to ride the Circular Train…it takes you out of dusty Rangoon and into a bit of the country side…where you can have a more personal experience of the daily lives of locals. This train was a highlight of our trip…we loved the scenery, the rickety old train and meeting the lovely people aboard. This train was a three hour round trip…and the best part is you can just sit on the old wooden bench and let it all come to you. If you do find yourself in Yangon and you have three hours to “waste”, I assure you this trip is well worth it…and not a minute will feel wasted.

Passenger

SNAKEHEAD FISH…GRILLED, WALKING OR SCARING "ANY TOWN USA"?

One meal worth mentioning was our feast of Burmese grilled Snakehead fish…an ugly looking fish, which has loads of sharp teeth and according to Wikipedia…can walk on land and eat frogs and rats! Ewwww….glad I didn’t know that when I allowed myself to see that the white flesh tasted good. Really it had a bit of a whitefish/catfish mix flavor. Not bad at all…but I don’t think I will be rushing out to order it again anytime soon….for this “Frankenfish” (as it was the star of 3 SiFi movies: “Snakehead Terror”, “Frankenfish” and “Swarm of the Snakehead”). That said, if I was ever in doubt on an entire menu, and snakehead was the only thing I recognized on it…I would go for it…better the odd foods you know than the surprise of one you don’t! ;) For more info on this delectable delight please click HERE

The fish and the spicy chili and garlic dip was cooled and washed down quite nicely with the local beer called Dagon….which, I have to say, is very good, by any standards.

Just after finishing our snakehead feast, the locals working in the restaurant treated me to a Myanmar beauty treatment. They use a rock and a bit of water and “grind” a certain type of tree bark into it…and then they rub it all over the cheeks, forehead, and nose….and even on their arms. It is a local type of sunblock…said to keep your skin pretty. Not sure if it made me prettier…in fact, seems I am so light, it doesn’t show up so well on my skin! But my face did seem soft that night when I washed it off. The people at Feel (the name of the restaurant) are so friendly and the food is worth being adventurous and trying…I do recommend the grilled snakehead, as it is a nice whitefish and very cool to have eaten a fish that sifi movies are made in honor of! ;)

If you are in Yangon and want an exciting bite to eat, head to Feel: No.124, Pyihtaungsu Yeikthar Street, Dagon: Click HERE for more info:

NO WASTED TIME

I am glad we wasted no time and we were blessed enough to visit Myanmar when we did….and I wouldn’t hesitate to head back in the future…it is a truly amazing place. One I will not soon forget.

More Photos from around Yangon City and

from the Circular Train

Shwedagon Pagoda