Beautiful Bagan and Inspiring Inle Lake

Bagan

I saved the best sights in Burma for last. The Temples of Bagan and the floating gardens of Inle Lake were the highlights of this country.

I am already getting used to seeing temples and religious shrines because there are so many of them in Burma. However, Bagan is unique in that there are thousands of them all in one valley.

In Bagan I rented a bicycle and slowly went from the shade of one temple to the next, trying to avoid the blazing hot sun. Unfortunately, I wasn't so successful in avoiding the very slick souvenir sales people. Despite being alert for their schemes, they still managed to convince me to buy postcards at the first temple. I'm too soft-hearted.

The temples are between 200 and 800 years old, with many of them being at least partially rebuilt due to earthquake damage. My favourite part was climbing the temples for panoramic views of the valley. Sunset was particularly nice from my perch on the side of Bagan's highest temple.

Inle Lake

After Bagan, I took a bus ride to a mountain town for the start of a 3 day hike to Inle Lake. I thought the bus ride was really interesting because the road wound past rice fields and other agricultural communities. The people were using oxcarts instead of trucks and tended the crops by hand.

It was nice to arrive in Kalaw and leave the hot weather behind (for a little while). I got lucky and joined on a trekking group of 4 other people.

The hike took us over low mountain ranges, past villages and fields of rice, chili peppers, and cauliflower. Our guide's name was Go-Chi and he had eyes like a hawk. He could spot caterpillars, unusual insects, and chameleons – lots of chameleons – while we were hiking.

On the third day of walking we could finally see Inle lake. After a long, hot descent, our group reached the water and the awaiting boat.

Inle Lake is really incredible. The boat drove down a narrow path between floating plants. Just beyond the plants, on either side, are tidy rows of crops floating in the water. Grass huts are perched on stilts and the inhabitants tend their crops from long, narrow wooden canoes.

The floating gardens and stilt villages go on and on. We visited a stilt monastery where monks have taught the many pet cats to jump through hoops. Unfortunately they don't do cat jumping shows anymore, but a tour guide showed me how to get the cat to jump through my arms.

Inle Lake is really authentic, and while there are lots of tourists, the lake and communities are so big that I didn't notice the other foreigners. It's hard to believe that a place like this exists on earth.

I wanted to sample the tomatoes that were being grown in the floating gardens. The boat driver said we would find the tomatoes for sale in the town where we were staying the night, and he was right.

What we found were people sorting tomatoes for shipment to other parts of Burma. Staying true to warm Burmese hospitality, they offered us a bag for no charge.

I had allowed myself 4 weeks to explore Burma, but I am satisfied after 2, and ready to move on to another country. The places I have visited are all on the 'tourist trail', and fairly convenient and cost-effective to reach. Much of the rest of the country, however, takes more time, requires expensive flights, and government permission.

Overall, I really enjoyed Burma's sights and its friendly people. At the same time its political situation is sad and frustrating, but eye-opening to me.

I was originally planning to go to Laos and Cambodia after Burma, but I am really itching to get to the water and try some surfing. I'm flying from Rangoon to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia today, and then I'm going to hop across the water to Indonesia.

Long Lost Burma

Right now I am sitting in my hostel in Kuala Lumpur enjoying the fast, dependable internet connection. I spent about 2 weeks in Burma and then flew here to Kuala Lumpur yesterday. Tomorrow I'm flying to Jakarta, Indonesia.

The internet in Burma didn't work well enough to let me post on my blog. This is the post I wrote after my first week, and in a couple days I'll post the one for my second week. Enjoy.

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I’ve been in Burma for one week and there are so many things I could talk about. I flew from Bangkok into Rangoon, what used to be the capital until the government created a new capital a few years ago. After 3 days in Rangoon I took a bus to the country’s ancient capital of Mandalay.

First, a little bit about the political situation, because I find it very interesting:

Burma’s government is well-known for making such poor decisions its almost funny – except when you consider the basic human rights it denies most of its people (and especially the ethnic minorities). As the hotel owner in Rangoon told me, Burma used to have the strongest economy in Southeast Asia until the British conceded colonial rule in the 1960’s.

Then a military dictatorship took over, and has retained power to this day. The government has done such a bad job running the country that it is now one of the poorest countries in the world. This is pretty incredible considering Burma is rich in natural resources: oil, gas, gold, rubies, and teak wood among others.

Rangoon

In Rangoon there are lots of buildings left over from British colonial rule. The buildings are beautiful and covered in moss and stains. It looks like they have never been cleaned or maintained.

It amazes me how people in the least developed countries are often the nicest. When I walk down the streets people wave and say hello just because I’m a foreigner.

The other day I took a motorcycle tour with a guy named Mr. Lin. When we stopped for snacks, I bought him a snack and some water. I tried the snack he was eating and really liked it. So the next day, he went out and bought the ingredients for the snack and gave them to me as a gift so that I can make the snack myself. Other people have given me various gifts as well.  This is from some of the poorest people in the world. Crazy!

Rangoon’s big attraction is the Shwedagon Pagoda. Burma has thousands upon thousands of pagodas, but this one is the most revered and most beautiful.

The pagoda is covered in real gold leafing. At the very top of the pagoda there is a massive diamond the size of a fist. The pagoda is believed to be over 2,000 years old, and has been added to many times by Kings and Queens over the years. It was originally built because someone coming back from India had brought a few strands of Buddha’s hairs with him. The hairs are supposed to be deep in the middle of the Pagoda.

I thought it was cool that some monks were climbing the sides of it at dusk.

Mandalay

Mandalay is the site of the country’s ancient capital city before the British came. There is a lot of history around here, but the remaining ruins are only a couple of hundred years old. Nevertheless I toured around (on horse and cart) and visited the old buildings.

The people, both in the cities and the countryside, are traditional in their dress. Men wear longyi’s (long skirts) and women wear yellow face paint. Most people get around on scooters or really old bicycles. And in the countryside people farm without any modern machinery at all. This creates an interesting atmosphere in which to experience the ruins.

As in Rangoon, Mandalay has lots of monks and many pagodas. I went to see the monks lining up for lunch.

Mandalay has the most popular Buddha statue in Burma. When I visited it, Burmese people were swarming the place and praying to the statue. Men are allowed to go up to the statue and apply a gold leaf patch to the statue.

The Buddha statue is thick with gold from the layers of leafing added by the worshippers.

On my last night in Mandalay I went to see the Moustache Brothers comedy show. The Moustache Brothers are the only ones I’ve heard speak openly and plainly about the government. They talked about the current state of the Burmese government and showed us some traditional costumes and dances.

Both of the brothers have been to jail for their comedy shows. In the picture below you can see the brother on the left, Par Par Lay, who is famous for having spent 7 years in jail during one of his arrests.

I’ve been nursing a cold for the last two days, but hopefully I will be good by tomorrow. I just arrived in Bagan to see the temples.

One Night in Bangkok

I can see why so many people travel to Thailand. Even though I have so far only seen the biggest, and probably the most touristed place in Thailand (Bangkok), I am already very pleasantly surprised by this country.

The language is unlike any I’ve ever heard: I would say Thai is not spoken, but sung. The people are so friendly to visitors its almost overwhelming, and even in the big city local culture is very strong. Buddhism is an everyday part of life and the places of worship are absolutely beautifully constructed.

I think it’s a shame that Bangkok is most famous for lady boys and ping pong shows because while they certainly exist, it is not what makes Bangkok a cool city.

It wasn’t until the third day here that I visited the Grand Palace (picture at top), because quite frankly I had never even heard of it before. It’s a palace and place of worship that was built about 250 years ago by the Thai royalty, and its entire exterior is covered in sheaths of gold. It’s a sensory treat with the smell of incense, rhythm of drums, and religious chanting of the locals praying in the surrounding temples.

The title of this post is not entirely accurate, it should say 3 (crazy consecutive) nights in Bangkok. The nightlife is a ton of fun: I spent 2 nights in the laid back street bars that are full of backpackers and Thais alike. Then I did a night at the luxurious rooftop nightclubs. I felt like a rock star smoking sheesha with some really awesome Arabs, and then partying hard at a second rooftop terrace bar with people from all over the world.

Naturally I tried my hand at some Muay Thai. The trainer made me work hard, so after 2 training sessions my body’s pretty sore and I’m glad I’m moving on to Burma tomorrow.

Apparently Bangkok is known as ‘Venice of the East’ because there are a lot of canals that wind around the city. Except for the main canal down the middle, they’re not used as much anymore for transport, but they are quite pretty. I took a tour with one of the boatmen that plies the canals.

After testing out the Muay Thai waters, I splurged on some ringside seats to see what a real fight looks like. You know you’re in Asia when the heaviest weight class of the evening is 130 pounds!

The atmosphere was awesome. The fighters warm up by doing little dances and praying. Musicians play tribal-style music, and as each fight progresses into the later rounds, the crowd gets louder and louder. Unlike North American boxing, the fighters always start out slow, with only distant kicks. Then they get more and more aggressive until the final round when the fighters are swinging and kicking at each other with all that they have.

It’s a pretty serious sport – a fighter from Hong Kong went down really hard when he got hit with a low blow kick. The main event was really bloody.  Since I had the ringside seats, they let me take my picture beside the night’s winner.

I’m really excited for Burma. I leave tomorrow afternoon, and should have my visa by then. If the Myanmar embassy is a preview for what the country is going to be like, things will be very interesting. The place to get the visas is only open 3 hours a day, and closed on weekends. But for a higher fee, you can pay travel agents to get the visa for you ‘under the table’.

I’m not sure how common internet will be in Burma, so the next post may be a while. Patience. Ah so.

Hong Kong

When I asked people at home what I should do in Hong Kong, most of them said ‘shopping”. Now I can see why they said that. Hong Kong is like one big BIG shopping mall.

In particular, I can’t get over how many jewelry and watch stores there are. It’s like Hong Kong’s equivalent of Tim Hortons – there’s at least one watch or jewelry store on every corner.

I’ve had 2 days in Hong Kong. Day 1, I took the tram up to the a mountain peak beside the city for a panoramic view. It was a little cloudy out, but the view was still well worth the short trip. From the peak, I could see the entire Hong Kong Island, and part of the Hong Kong mainland (that borders onto mainland China). I also was only mildly shocked when at the top of the peak I found – you guessed it – a shopping mall.

I don’t think that it would be a stretch to guess that there are probably tens of thousands of skyscrapers in Hong Kong. Most of them are tall ones too – maybe 40 or 50 stories. Hong Kong reminds me of what future earth looks like in sci-fi movies: bright lights, tall buildings, a constant current of pedestrians and traffic, and lots and lots of concrete.

While I would never want to live in Hong Kong, it was very interesting to see it and get a sense for what life is like in one of the world’s most important industrial and trading centres.

After visitng the peak I stopped by at Man Mo Temple to get a glimpse of what culture might have been like before the city sprouted up in the 20^th century. I met a Brazilian guy named Igor there who took my picture (which is why I’m repping his country for the photo).

Man Mo Temple is the first Buddhist temple I’ve ever been in, and I don’t think the Buddhist gods are very pleased with me. When I was standing under the coiled incense candles, a really hot piece of wax dripped on my arm and burned me.

It was interesting to talking to Igor because he lives in China and works as a middle man connecting Brazillian purchasers to Chinese manufacturers. He told me that I would like visiting China because it is a ‘wild’ place to visit, and I must be a ‘wild’ guy if I’m traveling for 4 months in Asia alone. I may need to follow up with him and take a quick look around there if I have time at the end of the trip.

Up next is Bangkok. 

Adventurous Asian Aardvark

Hello Everyone!

Welcome back to the Three Amigos blog. This time its only going to be one amigo traveling (me), but I'm going to try and have 3 times as much fun.

I have 4 full, delicious months in which I get to taste all the flavour Southeast Asia can throw at me, starting this Sunday, September 2 (That's tomorrow morning if you're reading this hot off the press).

My rough plan is this:

• First a short pit stop in Hong Kong
• Fly to Bangkok, where I'll get my Burmese Visa and spend a few days or a week enjoying the capital
• Fly to Burma and spend ~1 month exploring
• Wherever I feel like going next
• And wherever I feel like going after that
• Go surf and scuba dive in the Phillippines

As can be seen with a quick glance at my itinerary, alot of research, thought, and planning has gone into this trip!

I received alot of positive feedback about the last blog I did, so I want to continue writing as I go. When something excites you, worries you, or is just plain weird, please, I beg you, leave comments on this blog or send me an email or even a facebook message. I'm excited to be going away, but I like to stay in touch with all friends and family.

Here we go Hong Kong!