May 27, 2009
Tonite we are back in Yangon after over a month of travels in Myanmar (Burma). I am pleased we came and experienced this diverse country with all its many ecosystems, strong friendly people, amazing culture and belief system, but glad to be going to a more restful place like Thailand as a reentry to the West. The fetid squalor of the city in Yangon is magnified by the mud pooled streets from the start of the rainy season and the contrast to the beauty of Inle Lake where we have spent the last 4 days in a lake village surrounded by mountains and hill tribes.
Here one notices the black mold and mildew growth that covers every surface of every building that has not been built or painted in the last year ( which is 95% of them). The stark contrast of rural simplicity and its earthen cleanliness of the bamboo huts, mud and earthen villages, clear air and distant views is so different from the diesel fumes, the trash-strewn streets, open sewers, and betel spit sidewalks of the city. It is hard to believe the conditions the majority of people in this city live in, many making a tarp squatting next to a brick wall home until the government decides to move them. I looked down a dark narrow alley between buildings where one person could barely pass and saw an old woman sitting back in the dark recesses having claimed this space as a home. The people all seem industrious but relaxed and move with no frantic distinction between hours of the day.....it all flows the same.
The countryside is largely unchanged as the centuries have passed with the exception of a few more roads for travel and the introduction of pipes for clean water in most places. There is the sporadic appearance of electricity outside of the towns and village life seems to go on as it has for centuries tied to the seasons. Chinese goods have made their inroads though and cheap, colorful and abundant plastic and mass-produced product available in shops in the towns next to the open-air vegetable markets that have existed forever. Plastic goods and polyester blankets, many garish blankets that provide warmth and colorful flower patterns to ward off the chill of the all to brief cool season at higher elevations.
We are back at the Motherland 2 Guesthouse, now for our 3rd time. We went to Inya lake here, the lake that separates Aun San Suu Kyi from her people when she was under her house arrest. Now she is on trial and held in Insein prison ( appropriately pronounced "insane") defending herself on the charge of the invasion of an American who broke the conditions of her house arrest two weeks prior to completing her house arrest. Many people mostly Westerners believe like I do that the intruder was a set up of the military government anxious to keep her withheld from her freedom. This woman is an inspiration not only to her people but to the world in her stalwart commitment to democracy and to her people against a totalitarian militaristic state. They are determined to keep her silent in next year's election so the future does not bode well for democracy.
Myanmar people studiously avoid any discussion with Westerners about" the lady" that could possibly be overheard by regime informants because of fear of government reprisal to them, their families and businesses. Most reasonably well-spoken English speaking Burmese will suddenly feign misunderstanding to avoid having to discuss her. The world may give Myanmar's government a slap on the hand but nothing even this tourist and economic embargo will change as this government is a puppet to China's desire for its' natural resources which are being mined and logged avariciously, largely for the benefit of the government and not its people.
At Inya Lake there are steel benches just wide enough for two lovers with their umbrella, to ward off the heat or the monsoon rains, or prying eyes, to sit and cuddle in semi-public privacy. The bench each couple is sitting on has a large advertisement on the back for Procare which I can only assume to be prophylactics. The heat radiates off the water in the middle of the day and we do not stay too long feeling a little out of place in this young "Lover's Lane". We are off to our last Myanmar lunch at a place that many Burmese go for authentic Burmese food. The monsoon clouds are rolling in so we expect another afternoon of heavy showers and time hanging out at the Motherland before we leave tomorrow.
So this trip has been a challenge and can best be described as "intense." Intense heat, humidity, physical, mental, cultural, economic, spiritual and travel challenges. It is much like childbirth....in that it is harrowing to go thru and it takes some time in retrospect to get some distance from the experience to want to tackle it again. It is an approach-avoidance where you suck up the squalor and have compassion for the people who are living in it not knowing any other existence. You can't begin to imagine the hot, back-breaking, labor-intensive work done by the majority of the country people and many city people but you hope that somehow balanced in it all is the simplicity and peace that is in their lives. Tourists here come and go in and out of their lens of consciousness. Most of them are welcomed and at a minimum looked on as a bit of a curiosity. I would like to think that we represent a small spark of hope of another way of life that they may have only seen on TV, seemingly as distant as the moon to many and equally as fictional as most of the movies shown, yet a spark of hope nonetheless.
Tonite we are back in Yangon after over a month of travels in Myanmar (Burma). I am pleased we came and experienced this diverse country with all its many ecosystems, strong friendly people, amazing culture and belief system, but glad to be going to a more restful place like Thailand as a reentry to the West. The fetid squalor of the city in Yangon is magnified by the mud pooled streets from the start of the rainy season and the contrast to the beauty of Inle Lake where we have spent the last 4 days in a lake village surrounded by mountains and hill tribes.
Here one notices the black mold and mildew growth that covers every surface of every building that has not been built or painted in the last year ( which is 95% of them). The stark contrast of rural simplicity and its earthen cleanliness of the bamboo huts, mud and earthen villages, clear air and distant views is so different from the diesel fumes, the trash-strewn streets, open sewers, and betel spit sidewalks of the city. It is hard to believe the conditions the majority of people in this city live in, many making a tarp squatting next to a brick wall home until the government decides to move them. I looked down a dark narrow alley between buildings where one person could barely pass and saw an old woman sitting back in the dark recesses having claimed this space as a home. The people all seem industrious but relaxed and move with no frantic distinction between hours of the day.....it all flows the same.
The countryside is largely unchanged as the centuries have passed with the exception of a few more roads for travel and the introduction of pipes for clean water in most places. There is the sporadic appearance of electricity outside of the towns and village life seems to go on as it has for centuries tied to the seasons. Chinese goods have made their inroads though and cheap, colorful and abundant plastic and mass-produced product available in shops in the towns next to the open-air vegetable markets that have existed forever. Plastic goods and polyester blankets, many garish blankets that provide warmth and colorful flower patterns to ward off the chill of the all to brief cool season at higher elevations.
We are back at the Motherland 2 Guesthouse, now for our 3rd time. We went to Inya lake here, the lake that separates Aun San Suu Kyi from her people when she was under her house arrest. Now she is on trial and held in Insein prison ( appropriately pronounced "insane") defending herself on the charge of the invasion of an American who broke the conditions of her house arrest two weeks prior to completing her house arrest. Many people mostly Westerners believe like I do that the intruder was a set up of the military government anxious to keep her withheld from her freedom. This woman is an inspiration not only to her people but to the world in her stalwart commitment to democracy and to her people against a totalitarian militaristic state. They are determined to keep her silent in next year's election so the future does not bode well for democracy.
Myanmar people studiously avoid any discussion with Westerners about" the lady" that could possibly be overheard by regime informants because of fear of government reprisal to them, their families and businesses. Most reasonably well-spoken English speaking Burmese will suddenly feign misunderstanding to avoid having to discuss her. The world may give Myanmar's government a slap on the hand but nothing even this tourist and economic embargo will change as this government is a puppet to China's desire for its' natural resources which are being mined and logged avariciously, largely for the benefit of the government and not its people.
At Inya Lake there are steel benches just wide enough for two lovers with their umbrella, to ward off the heat or the monsoon rains, or prying eyes, to sit and cuddle in semi-public privacy. The bench each couple is sitting on has a large advertisement on the back for Procare which I can only assume to be prophylactics. The heat radiates off the water in the middle of the day and we do not stay too long feeling a little out of place in this young "Lover's Lane". We are off to our last Myanmar lunch at a place that many Burmese go for authentic Burmese food. The monsoon clouds are rolling in so we expect another afternoon of heavy showers and time hanging out at the Motherland before we leave tomorrow.
So this trip has been a challenge and can best be described as "intense." Intense heat, humidity, physical, mental, cultural, economic, spiritual and travel challenges. It is much like childbirth....in that it is harrowing to go thru and it takes some time in retrospect to get some distance from the experience to want to tackle it again. It is an approach-avoidance where you suck up the squalor and have compassion for the people who are living in it not knowing any other existence. You can't begin to imagine the hot, back-breaking, labor-intensive work done by the majority of the country people and many city people but you hope that somehow balanced in it all is the simplicity and peace that is in their lives. Tourists here come and go in and out of their lens of consciousness. Most of them are welcomed and at a minimum looked on as a bit of a curiosity. I would like to think that we represent a small spark of hope of another way of life that they may have only seen on TV, seemingly as distant as the moon to many and equally as fictional as most of the movies shown, yet a spark of hope nonetheless.
No comments:
Post a Comment