On the flight I met a European couple who, initially, decided to check out my hotel with me. Before any major decisions were made we decided it was crucial to feed ourselves. Upon sitting down at a street stall we had no idea how or what to order or how to communicate anything. It turns out English is a bit harder to find in a country that has only been officially open for tourism a few years. Lucky for us we sat next to a self-taught-English-speaking taxi cab driver who ordered us delicious food (we never found out what exactly) and turned out to be our saving grace in organizing our afternoon. Over lunch the couple convinced me to hop a 4 a.m. train to a less touched area of Myanamar where trekking and adventure awaited. I quickly cancelled my hotel reservations on the other end of town and jumped in with them and our new cab driver friend to buy a ticket at the train station and to find a nearby hotel for a few hours of sleep before boarding my first train ride ever. He even escorted us in buying our tickets and made sure we had satisfactory seats. What hospitality!
In the few hours of the evening wandering Mandalay I could tell this was country unlike anywhere else I had been. The men walk the streets wearing skirt/tube like garb called longyi or paso, while chewing betel leaves and tobacco leaving their mouths a blood red. Street lights are non-existent. Every meal is served with green tea made in the nearby villiages. Tourists can only enter certain parts of temples. You are always asked "Where are you going?" (A cultural way of saying hello while checking to make sure you have everything you need.)
We left Mandalay short of the touristic experience, but full of delicious Burmese curry and coconut rice-you can imagine my satisfaction. The train itself was super basic and very... Springy. It was an experiences of thirteen hours rocking the opposite direction of cars in front of you, catching a small amount of air on bumps, watching the train go backwards at a stop with your stuff on it and not knowing if it would come back, screaming goats in the back, bridges only safely taken at ten kilometers per hour, locals transporting their harvested veggies, and views and insight into the landscape that makes up beautiful Myanmar.
Once we arrived in Hsipaw (the Shan district) I separated from the couple o give them their own space and bunked up with some other girls for the night before taking off on a three day trek through the mountains and villages of Northern-ish Burma.
The trek itself was easily one of the most wonderful things I have done in my travels. Anyone who knows me knows I need to be active and outdoors to really be in my element-it only put a cherry on the experience to be with fantastic people and a well educated and willing to share guide through some rural villiages. The trek through the farmlands, hills, and mountians was broken up by stops for locally grown green tea, visits to school and monestaries, and heaping amounts of rice and traditional Burmese dishes. As I mentioned before a highlight was our guide: Aso. Aso studies economics in the university and worked abroad for many years to put his siblings through school before marrying his high school sweetheart and settling in Hsipaw. His knowledge of the history and development of the region was such a treat. He made sure we spread out our food money and accommodations to help distribute wealth and he was very open about sharing about the "dark era" and his hopes and aspirations for future generations as Myanmar gets itself on its feet politically. I learned so much from him and was only inspired to learn more as my travels continue.
We ended our three days in the countryside trek at the "hot springs" for me a much needed rinse of the feet and explored the quiet town of Hsipaw before the three Americans (for lack of a better word in the English dictionary) took off for the historical site of Bagan. We only made the bus out thanks to a local man on a motorcycle who came up to us asking "Where are you going?" and pointing out to us we had passed the bus station by a long shot and allowing me to jump on his moto in the opposite direction to make sure one of us was there to hold the bus on our less than timely arrival. The generosity of this man and so many others... Wow! He wouldn't even let us give him money or food in thanks.
Arriving to Bagan at five in the morning we managed to reserve accommodations and set out to explore the thousands of temples on e-bikes. Something Myanmar has an edge up on is promoting environmentally sustainable tourism- like electirical motorcycles (that don't always maintain a charge, but add to the adventure.) We were able to explore some of the best temples and do some more yoga pictures on the motos before we ran out of steam for the day and headed back to New Bagan for the evening.
Being the sunset and sunrise chaser I am, I didn't rest long and to a pagota on the river and watched the sunset while watching a local man paint.
The next day we awoke beside dawn to watch the sunrise and the release of the hot air balloons and over the temples. This is just as beautiful as all the pictures in all the magazines make it seem. The light and glow at that hour is unreal over all the historical structures.
After the sunrise Olivia, from Wisconsin, and I set out in search of a view people on our trek told us about...and only found a pool with overpriced coffee. Yet, in the process we were able to find the first restaurant that opened in Bagan, where Olivia's parents had eaten at in thier short and limited visit to Burma 30 years prior.
After our failed expedition we visited a few more temples and headed back to the hostel before our bike batteries failed us again (we didn't quite make it, but luckily they can seat two for a short while.) Afterwards, I ended up going by foot in search for that man from the sunset and his painting and was again blown away by the kindness of strangers here. I sat with him and another man selling paintings for an hour or so asking them questions about the Buddhism, history, and politics represented in the paintings. They were more than willing to share and also very hopeful for change and a brighter future within the growing Democratic Party. After I ended up buying a painting from each of them (I'm a sucker for a story behind a trinket) they treated me to a sugar cane juice and more conversation. This little spot by the river quickly became my favorite place in Bagan. I returned there the next day and took the local boat across the river to watch the sunrise with Olivia for a different and more local perspective before jumping on a bus to Inle Lake.
I had been told that Inle Lake was where the true Burmese lake culture was preserved. This is true and false in a number of regards. I was able to share a boat ride for the day on the lake with two German girls. We hired a female guide, interested in getting that perspective on things which for me wasn't as rich due to my trekking experience, but she was informed on the area and very helpful. In the end Inle was beautiful and I really enjoyed seeing the fishermen in their unique tension based fishing strategies spread out across the lake, as well as the homes and gardens that are floating on or above the lake. The tour itself was insightful into the industries from the region such as: silvering jewelry making, cigar rolling, boat making,
and different types of materials in weaving, but it was also clearly modeled to try and sell us tourist priced goods. There is always a fine line between educating, displaying, and selling and they are walking on it with binoculars backwards (monocular vision-for you outdoor ed friends.) They didn't push it on us too much but it seemed established for a purpose.
After such a touristic experience (yes, I understand I am a tourist) I decided to spend my last day (after another over night bus ride) in Yangon on a more local level. I wandered Yangon and sat down at a number of street vendors and chatted with locals to our best ability. The most interesting of which was a man who had a tattoo of a peacock-the nationals bird and symbol for democracy. He got the tattoo after spending five years in jail after being a part of the 1988 demonstration for democracy. He was very open and kind, but he was also very injured by his own government wearing false teeth and not being able to see out of one eye due to all the interrogation he suffered through. Despite all this he insisted on buying my thirty cent breakfast because as he said: "Myanmar are friends." Throughout the day other locals continued greeting me with a smile and sharing as much conversation as we could (I've nailed three phrases in Burmese), and even guiding me to the train station to take a loop around the outskirts of Yangon.
Overall Myanmar is a beautiful country with intense history. I haven't even touched the surfaces of fully understanding it. What I do know and fully understand is that the people here have huge hearts and are compassionate and inspiring. I feel very blessed having had a short experience with such amazing people and only hope that growth continues in a positive way for their futures. This country stole a piece of my heart.
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