Photos from Myanmar

Myanmar 23 January 2013

Myanmar 30 January 2013

Bagan, the temple city

I have to admit that so far Myanmar was somehow not really working well for us. We were still not quite sure whether we liked the country or not and if it wasn't bad enough we both got sick. At the beginning we though it would only be a small simple cold, but it turned out to be more stubborn than we could have expected, making us miss home more than ever before. We have spent nearly two days in bed in Inle Lake, but we were both still far from OK. Still we didn't want to stay there any longer than necessary. The region was definitely not our favorite one and we were really looking forward to our next stop, the famous Bagan. Our expectations were high, as we never heard anything bad about this particular place. Even people who were generally not very happy in Myanmar agreed, that it was an absolute highlight of the trip. We wanted to see it for ourselves.

Bagan is an extraordinary place to be sure. The city itself is quite small, but still it's home to more than 2.000 temples in all different shapes and sizes. No matter where you look you are likely to spot a few of them and it truly is a magnificent view. Of course, the place is more touristic than any other part of the country and the prices are skyrocketing at the moment. Taking a taxi actually costs more than in Germany! But there still seem to be more temples than people, so that you may get a nice spot or even a few all to yourself. Your chances get better if you rent a bike and get off the bitten track, which is exactly what we did. And we loved it, even if biking through the sand while having a bad cold is not the easiest things to do. But it was worth every drop of sweat. And this time we did some serious research and checked dozens of bike rentals until we found two bikes that were actually big enough for us and even had some gears to change! It made the whole experience much more enjoyable.

However, it was mostly the view, not the cold, that was taking our breath away all the time. It was simply amazing. I guess I was expecting all those temples to be pretty similar to one another, like two thousand copies spread over the area. But it was nothing of that kind. Each of them was unique and beautiful in its own special way, each worth a closer glance and a short visit. But it was the way they were all gathered together at this limited space that impressed me most. The view was unforgettable! It was one of the most beautiful things we have seen on our entire journey. It made us forget about coughing, the skyrocketing prices and all the other things we had on our minds. We found an abandoned temple with a terrace and just sat there enjoying the view. We could not have enough of it. We woke up early the next day and although our cold did not get much better and in addition we had some sore muscle from our first ride we jumped on the bikes without thinking and spend another lovely day visiting one temple after another. I was afraid we may find it a bit boring with time, but the view was impressive even after hours of biking and sightseeing. I guess you just can not get tired of it.

Unfortunately, we didn't have the time to visit even half of the temples. There were just too many of them and our return flight was already booked and we still had to get to Mandalay. This time we decided against the bus, since the night rides were pretty boring and the strong air conditioning was not doing us much good. We went for a more expensive, but also much more enjoyable option, the boat. It took us several long hours, but we were rewarded with lovely views all along the way and a magnificent sunset on Irrawaddy River.

Our cold must have enjoyed the ride as well as it definitely decided to stick to us for good. Mine was at least getting better, but David had some really hard times, so that we had to skip our plans for Mandalay and surroundings and focus on getting better as quickly as possible. It was a pity, as the city was quite pretty and I'm sure it had much more to offer. Well, we will have a reason to come back here one day and maybe see for ourselves the results of all changes that are bound to take place in the next couple of years in Myanmar. Whatever happens I hope the local people will still stay as open and friendly as the are now, as they were they truly were the real highlight, no matter where we went.  

To late for Myanmar?

I can remember when David read the first article about Myanmar. The country, which was closed for foreigners for quite a long time was slowly opening to tourism. The first reports were overwhelming. “A hidden treasure”, “untouched and authentic”, “the most beautiful and authentic country in the region”. We wanted to see it! As soon as we knew the second part of our journey would take us to Southeast Asia it was obvious, we would go to Myanmar too. Moreover, we decided to make it our first destination, just because we could hardly wait to go there.

There are still some restrictions you have to live with if you want to visit Myanmar. Although we were already in Bangkok, we couldn't take a bus or a train, but needed to fly into the country instead, which is not the most (eco)logical thing to do. But we booked some Air Asia tickets to Yangon and decided to spend the first few days in Bangkok, trying to get the mandatory Myanmar visa. I have to admit we did worry a bit, because we have already gathered some bad visa experiences and felt a bit uneasy buying the tickets without having the necessary documents ready. Fortunately, it was one of the easiest visa procedure we have seen so far. The queue was huge, but it all went much faster than expected and since we already bought the tickets we had the right to ask for a same day visa, which we received without any problems. We were ready to go in no time.

Traveling through Central Asia with Karossi, we have never really bothered to book a hotel room. We only needed one from time to time anyway and the hotels were hardly ever full. But since we were backpackers now and our plane was landing in the evening, we decided to go for a safe option. I tried making an on-line reservation somewhere in Yangon, but I never really got an answer to any of my emails, so we decided to make a few phone calls. We soon found out booking a hotel room in the former capital of Myanmar is quite a challenge. The entire town seemed to be fully booked! For weeks in advance! When we have finally reached the Cherry Guesthouse the owner himself seemed surprised when he told us he actually still had one more room to offer, since someone just canceled the reservation. We took it without thinking, even though 38 USD seemed expensive compared to what our guidebook suggested. But the room was really nice and the breakfast good, so we didn't worry about it much.

We were ignorant enough to expect Myanmar to be similar to Thailand, but it was a different world. It was extraordinary green. Even though Yangon is a big industrial city, you could see trees and plants on every corner. The temperatures were a bit lower too. But the most extraordinary thing about Myanmar were the people. No matter if men, running around in longyis (men-skirts) or women with funny yellow spots on their faces to protect them from the sun, they were all smiling and weaving, being as friendly as one could possibly imagine. Children were running out of their houses just to say hello to us. It was absolutely amazing.

We were a bit surprised to see the number of foreign tourists when we reached the Shwedagon Pagoda, but then again, we were at the most famous tourist attraction in the biggest city of the country, so we could not really hope to have it all to ourselves. And we liked the place anyway. It was not exactly pretty, not unless you like tones of gold and Buddhas with bright neon lights around their heads, but it was definitely interesting and worth visiting. And it gave us a chance to find out that we were both born on Monday, which was apparently a very good sign for our future.

Unfortunately times when Myanmar was not touristic at all seem to be long gone. Now English signs are spread all over the city and an entry fee was being collected in every possible place, including parks, even the smallest ones, so that we soon found ourselves avoiding every green spot on the map. We didn't want to support the local government if we could avoid it. We thought the problem only concerned Yangon, which is a big, pretty international city and can therefore be a bit expensive and overcrowded. Back then we didn't know it will turn out to be the cheapest city we would visit in Myanmar.

We have booked a bus to Inle Lake, to see a bit of a countryside. The 20 USD tickets didn't really seem cheap, considering the fact, that we were driving an old bus with no toilet and although we took our warmest clothes, the air conditioning quickly turned it in into a moving fridge. Moreover, the bus made only one single stop during 14 long hours. Trust me when I say it (as I do have some considerable bus experience) it was not the most pleasant drive. And if it wasn't enough we ended up coming at 4 o'clock in the morning only to find out all the hotels and restaurants were closed, so that we had nothing else to do but to walk around waiting for the sunrise. It was actually a very nice experience to see the entire village waking up to life and the sunrise itself was worth staying awake too.

We had a reservation in Teakwood Guesthouse, which remained the only accommodation in Myanmar I have managed to book through an email. It seemed quite expensive too, but since we were coming early in the morning, we decided we would have some time to check the situation and change a hotel if we manage to find something better. We didn't. We met some people who had no reservations yet and they spent quite some time looking for an available room, ending up paying over 40 USD for places that were not even worth a quarter of this price. We were really glad we did the booking, especially that Teakwood turned out to be a really lovely place run by an extremely friendly family, who made us feel at home from the very first day of our stay.

It turns out, that even though our guidebook was published in 2012 the prices included in it are no longer up to date. They actually doubled or in some cases even tripled over the last twelve months. One lady actually offered us a tiny wooden cupboard in the middle of a garage, with nothing but a wooden bench in it and expected to get 45 USD for it. We didn't know if we should laugh or cry. More and more tourists are coming to the country and since there are simply not enough places to stay, the hotels can rise their prices to a ridiculous level and still get fully booked. At least so far, as I'm pretty sure this strategy will not work well in long term. We were not the only ones shocked by the local price level. How can it be that in a country where a teacher is supposed to earn around 70 USD a month I am asked to pay 40-60 USD for a night in a shabby room and should then pay another 10 USD for a taxi to the nearby bus station? It just doesn't seem right. And it gets only worse when you think what kind of standard you could get for this price in the neighboring Thailand.

All in all Inle Lake turned out to be the biggest disappointment of our trip for many different reasons. We were hoping to get some rest in a nice countryside, but ended up in the middle of in the touristic capital of the region. The locals were totally outnumbered! Every second building was a hotel and the rest was divided between restaurants and tourist agencies, all offering the same expensive boat trips. It was a nightmare. In our last attempt to escape this nasty place we decided to rent a bike and get off the bitten track. I do not know if local bikes were simply not made for people of our size or if we were just too late and all the good bikes were gone, but we ended up riding over 30 km on bikes, that were half the necessary size. It was a nice experience, though a little painful one. But it did not really allow us to see much of the countryside neither. Even when we left the village, the road was still full of Coca Cola stands and souvenir shops. Only the guesthouses disappeared to make place for Spa & Welness Resorts. But the people we met on the way were as friendly as ever. Even though they had all the right to be fed up with tourist, they were still smiling and waving, as if we were the first foreigners they have seen in weeks.

I do believe we simply came a bit too late. We met people who visited Myanmar 2 or 3 years before and could not recognize it. They came back to see the “hidden treasure” but ended up shortening their trip not to ruin their budget and previous impressions of the country. Some also claimed we came too early. The place is only opening now and the tourist industry is simply not ready yet to handle all the people wanting to come here. But that is definitely going to change. The only question is, will it really do Myanmar good? Well, the time will show, but I'm afraid the “hidden treasure”, the way people could see it few years ago, is irrevocably lost.