Burmese Days - Haze - Rays & Malays

Day: many days

Location: Monash University Sunway Campus, Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia

It has been well over a month since my last post. Between two weeks essentially without Internet in Burma, then many weeks catching up and completing some of the semester's bigger assignments and a parental visit the blog has lamentably been placed on the back burner.

BURMA: We landed in Yangon mid-morning and went straight into the centre of town - Sule Pagoda to meet Simon. After dumping excess bags we went to the nearest train station and got on the three-hour 'circle line' train that loops around the city. The train barely exceeded a pace that made it unsafe to jump off wherever it suited you (and it did suit some locals). We befriended a Buddhist nun and with the help of a woman who translated for us were invited to her monastery somewhere on the outskirts of Yangon. The nun was bossy and so, bossed us off the train at her stop, to a tea shop and then on to her home where we had more tea and fruit on the floor of a small stilted hut that housed 5-8 people. Then we were offered a wash (or rather forced to) which involved stripping inside a longyi (Burmese sulu) and then pouring cool water over us from a trough which was incredibly refreshing. I respectfully declined the offer of a second hand toothbrush. After a quick visit to a small pagoda to pray we got back on the train to complete the journey.
That evening we visited the main goods market to exchange money with a jeweller and purchase our own liberating longyi.The next day was less successful than we had hoped because the national museum was closed (on a Monday!). We went to the main pagoda - Shwe Dagon that evening before our bus to Mandalay. Shwe Dagon was teeming with people, possible equal parts tourist - worshiper.

Yangon Flats

Sule Sule Sule Sule!

The Circle Line - Yangon

Anunymous

Trainside

Rural Burma - not far from the city

Tea

Mobile Monk

Shwe Dagon Pagoda

Shwe Dagon Pagoda

Arriving in Mandalay the next day we struggled to find accommodation with bed bugs being discovered in the first place we (almost) settled into. After relocating we met a monk that Simon knew from a previous trip. We talked to him and some of his friends in their monastery and they enjoyed practicing their English. After reading a book of teachings (from an Australian monk believe it or not) that they had I asked if they could show me where to buy a copy so we went to a bookstore. The monk insisted on buying the books for me which was so generous. I returned the favour by buying him books to help him pursue his interest in English and French.

Our Friend's Monastery

In the evening we went up to the temple that looks over the city and saw into the military-occupied imperial palace and other landmarks around Mandalay. The astounding thing was the smog that blanketed the city, to the point where it was eerie because the sun disappeared before it reached the horizon, the air was completely still and the landscape below faded to haze.
The rest of the time in Burma we spent getting as far North East as possible, in the ancient city of Bagan or in Yangon.
There seems to be misconceptions about where tourists can travel in Burma. Local people may say that you can travel to a certain town but at the same time don't want the government to know that they told you that you could go there. I don't know what to conclude from that exactly other than don't believe the government hype because it is nothing more than propaganda to keep everyone in the country, tourists and locals alike, under their thumb, within their grasp and on the beaten track.
Bagan offers a similar experience to Angkor in Cambodia I think. Many tourists, some bussed in just for the sunset from the top of the pagoda with the best vantage point. A highlight of the trip was the last few days in Yangon as it coincided with the water festival which is essentially a national water fight that lasts for days. You cannot walk down the street - especially as a white tourist - and stay dry. Yangon is also home to the magnificent Strand Hotel, built by the Sarkies Brothers who also built the Eastern & Oriental in Penang, Malaysia and the renowned Raffles, Singapore. I can recommend happy hour on a friday in 'The Bar' aptly named, where drinks, pool and ground nuts are served with copious lashings of colonial charm.

Train to Hsipaw

Countryside

Pagodi - Namsam

A sauced local

Bagan by the Irrawaddy

Mini Monks

The Table

The Bar

Water Festival

Having come to the sad realisation that I can't come close to telling you most of the stories that I would like to I will have to skim through the last month or so and I hope more photos will suffice.

After Burma there was a bit of work to catch up on at Uni which an extension or two helped with. I had to respond to pestering emails from Monash requesting my compulsory weekly attendance sheets that the government requires international and exchange students to complete and return weekly to prove 80% attendance.

The relieving news also came that a group of 20 or so exchange students wouldn't be evicted from the residence. After a personal appeal from the Vice Chancellor the residence which is run by a private organisation - Sunway Monash Residence (SMR) withheld their decision to evict us for the abhorrent act of attending a modest social gathering in one of the units on the 'exchange student' floor.

It was great to have Mum and Jenny here for a week and go away to Penang for the weekend with them. Luckily home sickness hasn't struck me down very much at all but I enjoyed the family time and being away from the Monash/SMR 'bubble'. Penang is another location in Malaysia that displays the diversity of the country. This is most evident through culinary and religious displays and icons.
As with Yangon, the Sarkies Brothers put on a good show and we enjoyed high tea at the E&O on our last afternoon in Penang.

Kl w Mum

High Tea - The E&O

Since this weekend I have been away another two times - justified by the logic of busy people get more done. These trips were to Pangkor Island and Cameron Highlands and both with groups of the exchange students from Melbourne, England, South Africa, Germany and Sweden.

Both trips involved hiring motorbikes to see the local area and some of the tourist attractions. I have really enjoyed learning to ride and the freedom of not being bound by local public transport.
In Pangkor we discovered phosphorescent plankton at night that sparkled in the water as we swam through at night and indulged in a seafood BBQ that involved far more crab than was viable for the AUD$10 that we paid for it.

Pangkor

Cameron Highlands

It is now the third last week of classes for the semester and I have one assessment in each of the following two weeks. My time will be split between those, preparing future travel and the usual gym-class-Rock Cafe semi-routine.

In other news Tom and I have booked flights to Athens and back from Istanbul as a solution to our post-semester travel conundrum. Europe here we come!

Ben x

Aus

p.s. The weekend in Pangkor coincided with the federal election here in which the Barisan Nasional party (BN) won another consecutive term since independence. This will take their period of power over 60 years. Each day sets a new record for the longest ruling 'democratically' elected party anywhere in the world.
BN secured the win by a small majority and the circumstances surrounding their victory were extremely suspicious to say the least. Many of the locals I have spoken to, of which the majority are taxi drivers, want a change in government and with it a change to the divisive race-based policies that BN maintain.
It has been fascinating to see the political processes at work in Malaysia and to attend an opposition rally (NOT a protest by any means). The passion that people have for change was far beyond any enthusiasm we see at home.