The Thorlitzer's Grand Adventures: Myanmar / Burma

Although we knew people who had traveled to and loved Myanmar, (some people call it Burma - see link here for more details), we arrived with very few expectations due to the lack of travel literature about Myanmar. This is mainly due to Aung San Suu Kyi’s request for a tourist boycott in order to show non-support for the Myanmar government which has been accused of human rights violations by the UN and various worldwide governments including the U.S. In fact the major tourist guidebooks and publications do not print anything about Myanmar due to lack of access and supression of journalists in country.

While there is no hard travel ban by the US government they do not make it easy and in fact discourage people from traveling to Myanmar. Despite this discouragement, the sanctions by the US only really impact travelers when you realize that your credit cards and ATM cards won’t work and travellers’ checks are not accepted, in other words you have to bring and carry all the cash you need (in US Dollars) for your entire trip before arriving in Myanmar. Once in Myanmar you can change your US Dollars for the local currency (Myanmar Kyat).

What we didn’t know at the time was just how selective our “Money Changers” would be in regards to changing money. By Money Changer I mean random but nice guy who works in a shady back alley stall and has a store front of some textiles or other small item. Basically money changing was a side business or vice versa. This actually worked very well once we got use to it because, as our hotel said: “there are no official changing places and you don’t want to change money here because you will get a bad rate.”

The only major complication as mentioned above is the selective nature of the money changers. In fact, selective might be an understatement as the money changers would only accept $100 US bills (no small bills here). They would only change those that were clean, not creased and no fading, no discoloration and oh did I mention not creased. This led to some awkward discussions with the changers as our bills inevitably had a small crease or a small pen mark somewhere on them. We had brought in a fair bit of money to change just in case and needless to say half of it was not easily accepted by our money changing overlords. At times we accepted a lower rate by a few kyat (a dollar or two) in order to get money changed but most times we were lucky to have some extra cash on hand. I have learned after all my travelling that it never hurts to have some extra emergency US dollars on you no matter where you are travelling.

Despite the travel boycott and the lack of tourists, this was one of the best trips we took in Southeast Asia and I would highly recommend it. The people were beyond friendly and hospitable. Everyone was genuinely curious to meet and talk with us and we felt very safe in all the places we traveled (the caveat is that we were in the three of the four major tourist areas of the country, so I cannot opine to the safety outside of those areas). The people and sights were very genuine and compared to the rest of the major tourist countries in Asia, we were not bombarded with large tour groups or many tourists at all. Most of our hotels and tour guides went out of their way to accommodate us, and most were maybe half full which probably allowed them to go above and beyond for us.

Now time to jump into what we saw and did on our trip.

We took a very early morning direct flight from Singapore to Yangon where we planned to stay for just a single night. The first order of business was to get our hotels and plane tickets for Bagan and Inle Lake (this cannot be done outside of the country unless you plan the entire thing with a tour operator.). Once we had received our hand written tickets and a confirmation from our hotels (verbal only) we were on our way to explore Yangon.

The first stop was to eat lunch at 999 Shan Noodle House, recommended by my Aunt, and I will highly recommend it as well. It is nothing more than a noodle cart attached to a small sit down area. The menu had pictures (really good to point due to my lack of Burmese language skills) and Carrie and I pointed at two different dishes and received hot tea as well. After a few minute wait, and watching the chef cook up the dishes in his single wok, we dug into the noodles. They were unique and tasty in what I could call a distinctive Shan/Burmese way. The sauce was spicy and tangy with a mix of chili oil and vinegar but also had a certain starchiness to it that kept it thick and on all the noodles as well as the pork and chicken. It was not like the noodles in Hong Kong or Singapore but not totally foreign either. Carrie and I both loved it. We felt very satisfied and ready for the day, we paid our two dollars each (tourist prices!) and were on our way.

Carrie enjoying a cold soda and the decor

Stick, Spicy, Delicious Noodles

The sign and the kitchen on the left

The next stop was Sule Paya, which is the city center and the major round about in Yangon. This is a distinctive roundabout with a Temple/Pagoda/Stupa/Paya (choose your term) in the middle of it. The contrast between the peace and quiet of the temple with the relatively modern hustle and bustle of Yangon outside was entertaining and says something about how much Myanmar retains its Buddhist traditions despite its desire to modernize. I also liked the electric halos for Buddha which were all over Myanmar. The real enchantment of Sule Paya is that it is still being heavily used and the smell of incense, the sound of prayer, and the color of the offerings were an irresistible draw to the back rooms and the far reaches of Paya.

Sule Paya in the middle of Yangon

Emanating out from the Paya were ethnic areas including a Little India, a Muslim Area, and a so called Chinatown although the first were much more prominent than the latter. We spent some time touring all these areas to find small shops that manufactured the Buddha halos, shoes, clothes, ethnic foods, and everything else under the sun. These areas were a beehive of activity from manufacturing to selling with not a tourist in between.

After immersing ourselves in the local areas we headed to the more touristy market, the Bogyoke Aung San Market, to see what wares were for sale and to experience the familiar and invigorating task of bargaining with the locals.

We managed to pick up a few items including a wonderful set of monks with Buddha which is very Burmese and very unique. Even the lady we were bargaining with knew how unique it was, as she was very firm on her price that she quoted and I tried every trick in my book including adding in other items, walking away and acting like I didn’t want it at all. I did manage to get a medium size wooden Buddha included and knocked a few dollars off the initial price but it was a very tough negotiation but glad the purchase went through. It was nice because the shop owners were not overly aggressive and the market was not overrun by tourists. However, it still felt like the most touristy place in Myanmar.

After that hard earned win, we headed back to the hotel to cool off and then to Shwedagon Pagoda for the a very enlightening afternoon/evening including some spiritual time during the aptly named Golden Hour when we witnessed the turn to night time in Yangon.

The Shwedagon Pagoda is also known as the Golden Pagoda and is considered the most sacred pagoda for the Burmese people due to the four relics enshrined inside the temple grounds. This was one of the few things I had seen photos of before our trip to Myanmar, and photos cannot do this justice at all. I knew it contained real diamonds (over 5,000), real rubies (over 2,000), and was covered in genuine gold plate. However, the sheer size, the smells of the incense, the sounds of the bells, the people, and the intricacy and beauty of the carvings, the architecture, and the colors were stunning beyond my imagination. We spent a few hours here walking around, soaking up the local feel, and enjoying a meditative feel inside the city. There were almost no touts to hassle us and the locals were extremely friendly and excited to see us. The children were fascinated by the “white people” and even the adults were quick to smile when we made eye contact. The entire experience felt so far away from any tourist site it was remarkable, as there were no large tour groups and people were just performing their prayers and going on their way in a genuine manner. The entire complex was worth and wander and after a few hours we walked down the long stairs to the melee of Yangon.