Myanmar: Unique Beauty and Charm

5/26/15
Although we arrived in Myanmar in the pouring rain, it did not put a damper on our fun, nor the experience of the beauty of this charming land.  It made for very slippery marble floors at the first pagoda we visited, but that’s another story.  For the moment, I’ll share this most auspicious welcome to “The Golden Land”, taken through the rainy windows of our coach:

Our fluent English speaking guide informed us of many things.  Among them, was that the terms “Burma” and “Rangoon” are not, nor have they ever been used by the local people of Myanmar.  These were terms introduced with British rule, and rejected by those who reside there.  So since we rejected British rule ourselves in the U.S., I’ve agreed to adopt the Myanmar terminology as well!

The first stop, directly from the airport, was the obligatory Shwedagon Pagoda in the center of Yangon (Click here to learn more).  He told us that everyone who comes to Myanmar, goes to this very sacred place.  I can certainly see why it is on the must-see lists, as it is a formidable and quite impressive monument.  All who visit are required to remove their shoes and socks, as well as cover their knees and shoulders.   Men in shorts, therefore, were given a longyi to wear.  Many know them as sarongs, but that is what they are called in this country.  And they aren’t a long “sheet” that wraps around (like one is given at the Kabuki Spring and Spa in Japantown SF), but rather a tube you step into and cinch by twisting it twice and tucking it in.  I was wearing shorts that covered me past the knees, so was luckily okay.   Jack was in long pants, so he was covered (pardon the pun) as well; but many others wore the longyis that were issues to us on the bus.

To enter the main upper level, one must pass through long corridors full of elaborate columns with gilded, ornate carvings; and then ascend a long series of escalators:

Once you reach the top, it is a mind-bending array of impressive Buddha statues, golden spires, (slippery) marble floors, and of course people everywhere!  I think I managed to avoid photo bombers in these shots ( I assure you the man in the first is the intentional subject matter)...

I caught a monk meditating in one shrine, and was assured that it was okay to snap a photo, just to share the experience with my blog readers, of course:

And as a final goodbye from the Shwedagon, the entrance dog shows "his" (anatomically correct) backside:

For those of you who know People’s Park in Berkeley, the antithesis lives in Yangon.  It’s a strip mall!  haha

The next of only two stops for us in this capital city was our hotel The Sule Shangri-La (Click here to learn more), very centrally located in what looked (as we pulled up in the coach) like a colorful and interesting shopping area, quite lit up in the evening rainstorm.  Unfortunately, since this was only a transition point and launch-pad for our trip to the two main destinations in Myanmanr, we didn’t get the opportunity to so much as step outside the hotel at any point.  Therefore I’ll share the parlor of our beautiful corner suite:

We did manage to enjoy a delicious Chinese dinner in the Summer Palace Restaurant on the second floor, with a very charming couple from Ventura, Ca (fellow members our group of course).  After dinner, I had a pedicure in the spa, in preparation for more of the barefoot traipsing through more temples and pagodas we’d surely be doing with our time in this very Buddhist country.  By that time, we needed to do some special packing for our side trips in this country.  For the next two stops, we were flying a chartered commercial jet, and therefore had to leave one suitcase behind for three days.  And with a 6am bag pick-up, there would be scant time to do this in the morning.

Speaking of the morning, the Sule Shangri-La featured by far the best breakfast buffet of our trip so far!  The impressive array of staff couldn’t be more gracious or accommodating, as they rushed around making offerings, delivering goodies, bowing, scraping, offering smile-laden pleasantries, etc.  Truly a good reason to get up in the morning.

But I did feel myself only about 70% better from the Mongolia stomach problems.  Facing a prop jet flight in a monsoon, an hour-and-a-half bus ride on poorly maintained roads, and boat rides on a likely choppy lake in the middle of the country, I seriously considered backing out, and taking a three day break again here in Yangon.  That consideration was heightened by the fact that I loved this hotel, didn’t want to leave it, and being a city person, felt compelled to give this capital city some further exploration.  By the time I explained these considerations, and had that conversation with our tour manager, in which she did convince me to forge ahead, we were one minute late for our bus to the airport, and watched it pull out of the driveway of our hotel in the pouring rain!!  Not to be set back, we simply boarded the next one (for "group #2"), caught up to our “group #1” at the airport, and managed to just catch our flight up to Bagan.  

And we wouldn’t have wanted to miss this flight (I say with tongue in cheek), as the snack tray looked like this:

Of course upon arrival, Eszter did make mention that punctuality is essential, especially when flights are involved.  Rather than express my disbelief that I was being reprimanded when what made me late was my talk with her about potentially not going on this side trip, I decided to take the highest road possible; so I apologized for any frustration caused, expressed my respect for the need for punctuality, and committed to resume adhering to the schedule at all times.  To be able to know this would be behind us once and for all was worth it.

We landed in Inle Lake after an hour flight, and along the bus ride one and a half hours to our resort by the lake, I snapped a couple of choice photos.  The first will help me to prove my theory that it’s not man, McDonalds, nor Subway that has conquered the globe, but rather Coca Cola.  I came up with a slogan in fact: “Welcome to Planet Coke.  There’s no place like it in the Universe.”  What on Earth did the world drink before the infiltration of this beverage, which amazingly originally contained a substance - from which it derives its name - now a global pariah thanks to our war on drugs?

The dark and ominous clouds seen here, over a typical country shack, will display the sense of impending storm we felt much of the time in Myanmar:

And speaking of typical shacks, this will certainly serve to highlight the stark contrast between the local living conditions and the luxury resorts that have recently been popping up in the vicinity of Inle Lake, right in the center of Myanmar (please forgive the bus window glare):

And as far as those luxury resorts, we stayed at the Aureum Palace Inle Lake (Click here to learn more).  It was as impressive a place as you might expect in the middle of such poverty and simple living.  The abysmal internet service there was the reason for my long delayed last blog entry.  The superior connectivity here in Sri Lanka has now enabled me to put up a successive post so soon after the last.  Upon arrival to our room, however, we were greeted by an impressive display of linens and flower petals on our four poster bed, complete with bug screen (which they close up as part of the evening turndown service):

Before we get to the outside itself, here you can see the views looking past our deck and out towards the estuary of Inle Lake and the neighboring village from our living room:

And so you get an idea of how the villa was situated, here is a view from across the channel outside our structure.  It’s almost on stilts right on the water like the ones you see in Tahiti, but it is actually on land surrounded by these channels, mostly man-dug I believe.  But it certainly gave you the feeling of being right out on the water.

My first order of business upon arrival was to schedule a massage.  And at $40 an hour, I couldn’t resist going for a double session, although this did seem to perplex the staff at first (nobody gets a two hour massage?).  My therapist, however, went the distance without flinching nor seeming to tire (of the work or me!).  ;-)  And I am so pleased to share that there on the table, I felt the final relief from my digestive illness as my muscles were coaxed into letting fully go of all residual tension from the violent retching that had served to knot them up a mere few days prior.

So once I was "floating", we decided to take a long walk around the property, which will serve as a practically complete photo album of the beauty and charm I mentioned in the opening about this Asian country.  We started meandering the planked decks that wind through all areas of their lake front property.  Here, you can see a general establishing shot, as well as proof that all bananas eaten there are grown on site!

We soon ran into this crew of local village ladies who do the landscaping maintenance work.  I apologize for the first photo being so blurry, but it was too good not to include.  They were extremely shy and resistant at first, but after a selfie to show them I was armed with only camera and no weapons or ill will, they were game for some photo fun.  In fact, they were the armed ones, and indeed the butcher knife in the second shot is their tool-of-the-trade for pruning the resort foliage.

Room attendants were game to waive from across the inner channel for a photo op as well:

Looking towards the village next door, where many of the no-way English speaking staff of our resort were born, raised, and reside.  A mere pole across the deck serves to keep us resort dwellers from breeching their locals-only zone.

It really seems difficult to take a bad photo on this picturesque property full of natural beauty:

These girls go around and sweep the entire expanse of the resort!  They are cute and as shy as one would likely expect.  But you’ll see a bit later that I did get them engaged in a little fun horseplay.

A few random strolling shots:

Beautiful dragonflies were swarming and humming all over the place, as were a myriad of bugs, insects, snails, birds, etc.  I loved this bumble bee colored one:

As were we:

Jack made friendly with the local canines (about 5 more just out of frame):

Scooters and motorcycles buzzed all over the place, including by the entrance to our resort

And to fulfill the aforementioned horseplay promise, my sweeper ladies let me lend a hand:

Playing statue with the exterior artwork:

This woman, who goes by Papa, was as charming as they come.  She really made the resort, giving out plentiful hugs to all who wished, and sharing her joy of living in this sacred place.  She told us that 70% of the staff are local villagers, most of whom speak very little or absolutely no English.  She has personally trained all of them!  Very impressive on both counts, and she does a flawless job.  Once of those personalities that is worth her weight in gold for the operation, and I’m sure inspires many excellent Trip Advisor reviews (Check them out here).

Horsing around some more, this time with the cocktail table frames they were setting up for the evening's gala:

Some colorful, authentic, and local staffers:

The resort has its own dock for lake expeditions on a slew of long canoe like boats:

And the property stroll continues...

I swear this butterfly posed for me, very slowly opening and closing for the camera as I moved in closer and closer, ultimately shooting this in macro mode no more than an inch from him.  That’s why it’s so clear!

We ran into the trip’s doctor, so we posed for a shot.  He is a swell guy who has done many of these trips.  He runs an E.R. department in a Florida hospital and also teaches emergency medicine.  He was, of course, quite helpful to me when I was under the weather.  Please forgive the slight blur, as I accidentally left the camera in macro mode after shooting the butterfly featured in the last photo.

And the last stop on our walkabout was to pop my head into the restaurant’s kitchen for this unique action shot:

That evening they held a lakefront gala dinner for us, complete with traditional games (a spinning wheel thing and a huge dice rolling thing), as well as unique local foods, and a local astrologer (pictured, along with one of our local guides who served to interpret her Shan language).  The climax of the event was a fireworks show from a hot air balloon that was inflated and launched before our very eyes.  Truly a unique and beautiful experience!

The woman, who read my palm thoroughly and made marks on my lines with a pen, noted that I:

have a wonderful “wife”, am very successful with money, have always been very lucky, am very smart and clear thinking, am very healthy, get along very well with foreigners, and will have a remodeling project soon.  Uncanny, isn’t it?!

And as a couple of parting shots from Inle Lake, I submit a charming iguana, as well as the view of our pool looking out over the estuary of the lake and the village next door.  I never did make it out on the actual lake (nor in the pool), but given recent terrorizing experiences in boats, I felt quite content to stay on terra firma, despite missing what sounded like interesting local lakeside villages.

After an easy forty-minute flight on another chartered commercial prop jet (Bagan Airlines), we arrived in 100 degree fahrenheit Bagan, the former capital of Myanmar, and home to literally thousands of Buddhist temples scattered around the countryside, many dating back to the first and second centuries.  I was struck by the signs on every other power pole admonishing the use of plastic bags.  It seemed quite progressive thinking for this minimally developed and not very technologically advanced land:

Our villa at the Aureum Palace Bagan (Click here to learn more) was amply sized and rustic in its charms.  The first shot is the complete structure, and as seen in the second, we occupied half of it, but on two levels (lower: living room, dining room, kitchen, and entryway; upper: bedroom and long bathroom with vanity area, water closet, shower room, and a large jacuzzi tub with mirrored walls).  Plus it had its own exterior pond and three outside decks/patios, and a front courtyard (not pictured):

The property featured its own tower, from which you could see hundreds of temples dotting the landscape around the vicinity:

A shot from the tower of the property itself and beyond:

And the impressive infinity pool overlooking some of said temples:

On day two in 100 degree Bagan, we explored some of the local temples, chock full of Buddha statues.  We learned where the saturation point is for Buddha statues; and at 100 degrees, it didn’t take long to discover it:

The tile work on the floors provided some diversion from the monotony of Buddhas, but only temporarily:

And then it’s right back to the business at hand:

Finally, we needed a temple cat to distract us from the oblivion of Buddhas (so I figured you would too; and it's probably a heck of a lot cooler where you are at present)!

And this meditating mother and child were begging to be photographed (but obviously not literally):

The blog about Myanmar would no way be complete without a shot of Jack in his longyi, without which entrance to temples would have been denied (by the guy pictured in the background)!

And at last, the first photo of me with Spencer Wells, the reason and inspiration for signing up for this particular trip!!

And to wrap up Myanmar, the (now) usual local Google screen and world clock showing that we were then 13.5 hours ahead of San Francisco.

And so it goes, we move from one country to the next on this fast-paced expedition.  As I write this, we just finished our obligatory Sri Lanka elephant ride through the local reservoir, and the requisite photos were shot for the next blog entry, which I plan to prepare on our flight from Columbo to Addis Ababa on Thursday.  Tonight is the gala dinner with local merchants and entertainment.  The fun just doesn’t stop!  See y’all soon...  ;-)  E.R.