BACK FROM BURMA

Long distance air travel is for the birds. 

In acknowledgement thereof, for our final blog post in this series, here is a collage of Burmese ANGRY BIRDS -- an indication as well, perhaps, of Myanmar's increasing integration into the international consumer economy ...

ORIENTAL SPLENDOR INDEED

Heidi and Lee have always thought of Wat Phra Keo (the Temple of the Emerald Buddha) in Bangkok as epitomizing the definition of "Oriental Splendor" in all its gaudy excesses, gold leaf and jewels, mirror mosaics, and fanciful statuary.  This morning we revisited this iconic spot and found our original assessment amply justified.

Moreover the rest of the world appears to have come to the same conclusion: the Temple of the Emerald Buddha clearly has become THE place to visit in Bangkok.  The crowds of foreign visitors we encountered today, in fact, almost overwhelmed the place.  Certainly the temple complex no longer retains the notion of religious serenity originally envisioned but rather emits a noisy cacophony of babble as explanations are delivered in multiple languages to large hordes of tourists crowded around their guides and Thai hosts.

Nonetheless one can still manage to escape the crowds and simply sit or stand in awe of the exquisite sense of design and detail that permeates the entire complex.  We appreciated, too, the evidence of ongoing restoration and maintenance everywhere we ventured -- those admission changes are obviously being put to good use: the place looks stupendous, better than ever.  Truly, there's still nothing like it anywhere else in the entire world!

We wandered about the place for nearly three hours, taking in the Grand Palace, too, as well as the newly opened Queen Sirikit Museum of Thai Textiles (its air-conditioned interior an especially welcomed relief from the high eighties found in the world outside).

Otherwise we continued simply to marvel at the lively modernity of this dynamic city evident everywhere around us, especially as visible from the riverside veranda of our highrise hotel on the banks of the Chao Phraya and in the immense new Siam Paragon shopping mall with its huge food court and 500 brand name speciality shops from around the world!

Early tomorrow morning, we're homeward bound, satiated at least for now but sure to be bitten again, sooner rather than later, by that persistent travel bug that happily has always haunted our life together.

MID-DAY REPORT: RANGOON

We DID venture out earlier this morning, walking two city blocks to visit the Sule Pagoda .  We arrived just as a parade of twenty-eight statues of the Buddha passed by (representing the historical Buddha and his twenty-seven prior existences!), a procession taking place only once annually.  Obviously, the trek was worth it, and this viewing of our last pagoda compound proved a great conclusion to our sightseeing adventures here in Rangoon.

However, the effort proved a bit overwhelming due to the sun and heat.  The temperature had already reached the low nineties by 9:00 AM and was headed into the low 100s!

We, therefore, bailed on our intention of visiting the (un-air-conditioned) National Museum.  We'll just have to await the re-installation of the Asian Collection at the Cleveland Museum of Art in 2013 to view examples of Burmese fine art ...

Instead we retreated to the lobby at the Traders Hotel and arranged a late check-out from our hotel room.  We've been lounging around since, reading; watching BBC, CNN and Aljizera; editing images (including those of modern Rangoon below); and resting up for our evening flight to Bangkok.

Not a particularly exciting day, to be sure; but, then, "Only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the mid-day sun."

SCHWEDAGON REDUX

Our initial visit to Rangoon's most famous and sacred site, the Schwedagon Pagoda, took place our first day in Burma at dusk. It lasted past sunset.  During that time we were able to see the complex both lit by the setting sun and illuminated by spotlights - awesome!

This morning we returned for a more leisurely look around and ended up spending three hours exploring all the Schwedagon has to offer.  Even then we missed seeing some of its most well known marvels.  Still and all, this time was even more amazing.

Burma is in the midst of a ten day school holiday marking the conclusion of Buddhist "Lent".  Families seem to take advantage of the vacation period to visit temples and pagodas, monasteries and other sacred places throughout the country.  Schwedagon today was no exception: the crowds were fulsome and festive and provided loads of "people watching" opportunities which we thoroughly enjoyed.

Folks came to worship and pray, to be sure, but also to enjoy a picnic lunch or make a donation to one of the ongoing restoration projects or just to sit and meditate or take in the changing scene while relaxing (or flirting) with family and friends.

Lee took hundreds of pictures.  Here is a collage of some of his favorites, culled from the results:

And here are individual shots of his two favorite images from the entire visit, one ecstatically sacred; the second, exuberantly playful.  Together they epitomize the spirit of the Schwedagon as both temple and playground.

 

After our morning at Schwedagon we wandered around Scott's Market, Rangoon's central covered shopping complex, a massive collection of stalls selling everything one could possibly need or desire.  Despite the heat, we managed to stock up on enough goodies to considerably eliminate numerous items from our holiday shopping lists!

We retreated to our (overly cool) air-conditioned hotel lobby for lunch, then ventured out later in the afternoon for High Tea at the Strand Hotel, the city's most historic hostelry, dating back to the time of the Raj when Burma was administered as part of British India.  Our last stop of the day took us to an art gallery in the hotel featuring some up-and-coming Burmese artists.  Both Heidi and Lee found favorite pieces among those on display, and we were allowed to capture an image of each.  Can you guess who liked which?

 

All in all, a very pleasurable and relaxing day -- and we didn't need a tour leader to make it all come together!  Another leisurely morning lies ahead before we head off to Bangkok, our final destination, early tomorrow evening.

IMAGE UPDATE COMPLETED!

Our final tour day took us by bus from our Inle Lake resort back to the airport at Heho, then by Asian Wings to Rangoon and bus again around the city and to lunch (at Monsoon, a VERY popular tourist meal spot) before dropping just the two of us off at the Traders Hotel, our "home" for the next two evenings.  The rest of the group spent some time at Scott's Market shopping for last minute souvenirs before flying off to Bangkok.  We're on our own from here on out ...

Best of all the hotel has a good Wi-Fi connection, so Lee has been finally able to upload all those missing images promised in earlier posts (dating back to MINGUN AND MORE from October 29, 2012).

The added pictures make a huge difference, so go back and take a look ...

PAGODAS GALORE

IMAGES ADDED THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2012 UPON ARRIVAL BACK IN RANGOON

Today's major accomplishment was to add a minimum of 1054 new pagodas to our list of religious sites visited here in Burma, bringing the grand total to close to four thousand!

We took off from our hotel by longboat as usual but headed inland along a swift-moving, muddy, narrow river channel that eventually brought us to the village of Ithein at the foot of the surrounding mountains. Successfully threading our way past all the souvenir vendors, we stopped briefly at Nyaung Ohak, a collection of atmospheric pagoda ruins just off the well-trod central walkway.

The walkway turned into a covered passage leading upward towards Shwe Inn Thein temple and its surrounding forest of over a thousand Buddhist pagodas. About halfway up the hill, we left the vendor-lined covered corridor to wander on our own over the pagoda-strewn hillside.

Everywhere one looked a mass of pagoda spires crowded one's field of vision, some white, others gold, newly refurbished or crumbling from neglect,. It proved a photographer's dream scape, a truly awesome experience.

At the summit we removed our shoes yet again and walked through the main temple building, filled with prayerful Burmese pilgrims or others enjoying the ten day “End-of-Lent” holiday vacation period.

After sweeping back downstream at a record clip, carried by the rapidly moving current, we had lunch, then embarked on visits to a cheroot manufacturing workshop and a silversmith's showroom. We managed to avoid a thunder shower marching in from the west and make it back to the hotel by late afternoon.

For our Farewell Banquet this evening, we all dressed in longyi, held a special candle ceremony at the pagoda across from the hotel and were entertained by folk dance and martial arts demonstrations, most connected to local Shan state traditions, a pleasant ending to an especially enjoyable tour.

A FULL MOON FESTIVAL DAY

IMAGES ADDED THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2012 UPON ARRIVAL BACK IN RANGOON

An early morning departure brought us out onto the lake before daylight today.  The low lying fog and the mountains to the east meant, however, we were able to enjoy a succession of "dawns" as the sun broke through the fog or peeked over the mountains again and again as we sped down the lake.

Our goal was to secure a good vantage point from which to observe the Phaung Daw Oo Festival procession, an annual journey that parades four sacred Buddhist images from temple to temple around the lake over a period of one lunar month.  Since today also is recognized as a special holiday, the conclusion of Buddhist "Lent" marked by the full moon overhead, this particular segment of the serial procession promised to be even more festive than is usually the case.

We ended up descending on a two story wooden house on stilts at a spot on the canal that commanded a particularly good view up and down the procession route.  All Johnny had to do was ask, and we were immediately invited to disembark and essentially take over the best vantage posts from which to observe the thirty or so long boats rowed by residents of different villages located around the lake as they symbolically pulled the larger barges containing the sacred images along to the next temple on the procession route.

That stop turned out to be essentially right around the corner, so we were able to push our way through the crowds to visit the images once they alighted at their most recent stopover temple.  Later in the afternoon we also visited the images' home temple where a fifth image awaited the return of its four companions.

In between we visited a silk weaver, a metal smith, and a lotus thread worker before stopping for lunch.  All day the boat traffic on the lake was particularly busy with families and visitors alike out to enjoy the day to the fullest.  In the spirit of the holiday, this evening resort employees lit candles at each level of the tiered pagoda across the street, a lovely sight, indeed, and yet another special memory to tuck away in our scrapbook of travel adventures.

AN AFTERNOON ON INLE LAKE

IMAGES ADDED THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2012 UPON ARRIVAL BACK IN RANGOON

We began the day backtracking to Heho before heading on over to Inle Lake, our home for the final three days of our Burmese adventure.  On the way, we stopped to wander through a market that sets up someplace new on a rotating basis once every five days.  Since tomorrow is a major holiday, the market was particularly busy as folks stocked up for the occasion.

We made a second stop to visit briefly with a couple of Gurkha families whose ancestors from Nepal had originally served the British as crack soldiers during the era of the British Raj and who had stayed on it Burma thereafter as accepted and respected members of local communities.

Our third (very brief) stop provided the chance to photograph a beautifully preserved monastery built for a local king's favorite Buddhist monk in the late nineteenth century.

Reaching Inle Lake around noon also provided the perfect opportunity for a genuine Italian pizza lunch -- the young restaurant owner had learned his craft directly from an Italian woman and prided himself on the quality of the imported European ingredients he combined with local resources to serve up his very tasty Italian dishes.

The group then divided into three and piled into longboats for our first venture out into the vastness of Inle Lake.  The rest of the afternoon was spent roaming through lakeside monasteries, craft workshops and villages of houses built up over the lake on stilts.  Many also farm "floating gardens" set out in neat rows separated by narrow canals. Turns out these lakeside farms produce forty-five percent of all the tomatos consumed in Burma!

We had the opportunity as well to meet and talk with four Padaung women, better known outside Burma as "long necked women" for the brass rings worn around their necks.  Nominally these rings represent wealth, but also symbolically they recall the attributes of the Chinese dragon -- and may have been seen as a means of protection from sexual harassment (since the effect hardly enhanced the women's feminine charms).  Fortunately (from an American cultural perspective, at least) the custom seems to be dying out: only about twenty percent of young Padung girls elect to wear they rings with the other 80% prefering modern Korean cosmetics instead.

 Towards evening we slipped along a very narrow canal to reach the Pristine Lotus Spa Resort at the far north end of the lake.  It proved to be the most luxurious of all the hotels on our itinerary, an apt conclusion to our journey across Burma.  Best of all, we're here for three nights!

A DAY IN THE LIFE

IMAGES ADDED THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2012 UPON ARRIVAL BACK IN RANGOON

Outside of Kalaw about forty minutes or so lies a Da Nu village surrounded by lush farm fields and low lying hills and mountains. We spent much of the day there visiting and learning a lot about everyday rural life in the hills away from outside influences.

While on our way, we stopped at a watering hole next to which women were busily washing clothes at an adjacent well while water buffalo wallowed in the river and small buses, motorcycles and trucks rumbled over the nearby bridge. While there we talked with an older woman tending the water buffalo, as open and friendly and unpretentious an “informant” as one could wish for – and typical of the folks we met all day long.

When we arrived in the village, we passed on to our hosts the various lunch ingredients we'd been sent out to buy in the Kalaw morning market (another task made delightful by the friendly reception we received from various market vendors when we approached with Burmese language shopping lists in hand).

Then we clamored aboard some “Chinese water buffalo” motorized vehicles to drive up the hill to the local monastery. Once there we helped clean up the main sanctuary being swept in preparation for the upcoming End-of-Buddhist-Lent celebration and then sat down to talk with two of the resident monks.

Next we made a delightful stop at the local village school where we were royally entertained and in turn entertained the students with iPad images, poems, stories, songs and the Burmese national anthem (which the kids belted out with great gusto).

We walked back to our host's home for lunch and an extended question-and-answer session during which we probed numerous characteristics of village life. Two insights Lee found particularly striking: when asked what they wished for in the future, all four hosts (father, mother, son and village secretary) answered :”to achieve Nirvana”; when asked what the most significant change they had experienced in their lifetimes was, all pointed to the recent change in the political climate. Wow!

Our visit ended with a vigorous session of drumming and dancing, attracting more and more attention from neighbors who all gathered around to watch and wave good-bye as we pulled away, headed back to Kalaw.
 

Quite a day! Quite a day!

On the return trip we alighted for a walk through another village, partially, we suspect, so that we would work up an appropriate appetite for yet another yummy Burmese dinner later in the evening at the Seven Sisters Restaurant in Kalaw.

OFF TO THE HILLS

IMAGES ADDED THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2012 UPON ARRIVAL BACK IN RANGOON

The population of Burma is made up of 135 different government-recognized ethnic groups. To learn something about a few of these groups, we have left Mandalay behind and headed off to Heho. Actually we flew into Heho, then boarded a bus to ride off to Kalaw for two nights before moving on to Inle Lake.

The countryside hereabouts is bucolic and richly fruitful with farming villages producing all manner of fruits and vegetables shipped off elsewhere in the country. Enroute to Kalaw we dropped in on a group of Pa O women for a pleasant chat, then wandered through their village before re-boarding our bus, all part and parcel of Overseas Adventure Travel's approach to enhancing our cultural understanding of the country.

In Kalaw itself we hiked up to a hilltop monastery, both for the view and to listen to some chanting novices. In the early evening we doffed our shoes yet again to walk though a limestone cave lined with donated statues of the Buddha followed by a leisurely stroll through a local neighborhood dominated by late-nineteenth-century British-style hill station homes, some beautifully maintained; others, quite dilapidated.

 

The lobby of the Pine Hill Resort where we are staying is in one of the oldest colonial era wooden homes in Kalaw, so we get to experience first hand what drew British expatriates to these cooling hills.

Unfortunately, the resort hasn't yet installed Wi-Fi, so these comments won't be posted for another day or two. Nonetheless we're thoroughly enjoying life here in our own little bungalow, listening to the chants from a nearby monastery, enjoying the cooler weather and anticipating the activities of the days ahead.

MINGUN AND MORE

IMAGES ADDED THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2012 UPON ARRIVAL BACK IN RANGOON

In the late eighteenth century King Bodawpaya decided to build the kingdom's (and the world's) largest pagoda upriver from his palace complex in Mandalay. His death in 1819, however, brought an end to the project, and an earthquake a couple of decades later left the extant structure so unstable as to prevent any consideration of continuing the undertaking. Nowadays travelers cruise up the Irrawaddy to view what some have deemed “the world's largest pile of bricks” and to visit the world's second largest bronze bell (which was to be installed in the completed pagoda) and a nearby blindingly white pagoda honoring the King's favorite queen. The boat ride itself was pleasant and much appreciated as well, a welcomed chance to sit back and relax in the midst of a busy sightseeing agenda.

Back in Mandalay, the tour continued on to Mahamuni Paya, a temple housing a Buddha covered in gold leaf several inches thick. This particular statue was looted from Angkor Wat in Cambodia by the Thai and subsequently lost to the Burmese as a result of later military conflict. The well-traveled image is among the three most sacred in Burma; numerous pilgrims make their way to worship it, to offer prayers of supplication or thanksgiving or to perform various rituals.

Even though Burma is in the final days of Buddhist Lent, some families appeared at Mahamuni Paya while we were there to dedicate their children to the faith, an elaborate celebration involving special dress for the kids, a procession to the temple to present offerings to the monks and a feast prior to the girls having ears pierced and the boys having heads shaved (before a week of instruction for the boys at the temple).

We also stopped to see some bronze casting and gold leaf pounding demonstrations before returning to our hotel. Clearly, we're out to see and experience as much as can be packed into a single day!

Unfortunately Heidi had been laid low by some mysterious microbe, so Lee had to make the day's journey alone while she slept away the hours back in our hotel. Recovery was swift and complete, however, so we're back together and on the road as a team once again..

DIRTY FEET ARE HAPPY FEET

Reverting to the earlier notion, let's just say “a picture is worth a thousand words” and let it go at that. Below a short sentence or two helps set the scene, but the details will have to wait until such time as we reach a locale with faster Wi-Fi access ...

Today we were run up Mandalay Hill early in the morning in the back of two pick-up trucks and were “wowed” by both the temple we saw there and the views of the surrounding countryside.
 

Then we stopped by to see Kuthodaw Paya, its seventy-two small shrines housing an alabaster stone chiseled copy of the complete Buddhist scriptures. Impressive, indeed!
 

Our morning continued with a visit to Schwenandaw Kyuang,which once served a Burmese king as a temporary residence while his palace was being constructed. The low-lying, carved dark wooden structure was quite stunning, clearly a Burmese national treasure!
 

We were unexpectedly invited to a celebratory luncheon while visiting Myawaddy, a Buddhist nunnery where we later enjoyed an extended question-and-answer session with three of the nuns and had our photograph taken with the (quite charismatic) abbess.

Later in the afternoon, we stopped by a street of alabaster stone carvers and an embroidery workshop on the way to watch the sun set from U Bein bridge, one of the world's longest wooden bridges famed for its sunrise and sunset views.
 

Yet another yummy Burmese dinner completed yet another wonderful, insight-filled day. During this particular day we took off our shoes at least four times and went barefoot whenever we entered any kind of sacred space, yet we enjoyed all our “barefoot experiences” immensely.

So, yes, dirty feet are happy ones, indeed!

ON THE ROAD TO MANDALAY …

… we stopped off to see some historically important spots in Ava. Now known as Inwa, Ava served as the Burmese capital for some four centuries beginning in the mid-fourteenth century.

Today little but ruins, neglected monasteries and small villages remain. Nor is visiting these historic remnants a particularly easy task: our bus drove us from the airport to a fairly primitive riverbank ferry crossing where we clamored aboard a small long-tail boat, crossing to the other side, there to be met by a fleet of small horse-drawn carriages which took us around to the various sites we visited over the course of the morning. 

Our first stop was at a local craftsman's home and workshop where the family produced the polished black lacquer begging bowls used by Buddhist monks to collect their daily food offerings. We also wandered around the surrounding village, seeing how woven mats were used in the construction of house walls and visiting the local nat spirit shrine protecting the local inhabitants from harm.

 
We then jostled our way on over to a wonderfully romantic old ruined Buddhist temple set in the midst of newly-planted rice fields and sheltered by towering palms and huge, old shade trees.

Another bone-shattering trot brought us to Bagaya Kyaung, a Buddhist monastery built entirely of teak by one of the nineteenth century Ava monarchs. Though the structure has suffered neglect over the years, it still retains a majestic serenity that somehow reflects the sobering underlying Buddhist notion that “life is naught but suffering and vanity”. As we wandered through the shadowed interior, we even ran across the current abbot instructing a small group of monks, studiously bent over their copy books while lying on their elbows at their master's feet.

Our carriages next bounced us over to an ancient watchtower which (since an earthquake damaged the foundation in 1975) has come to be known as “the leaning tower of Ava”. Lunch alfresco in a wonderfully shaded garden setting followed. Then it was back by ferry across the river to our air-conditioned and (relatively) smooth-riding bus and on to Mandalay.

Later in the afternoon we ventured into the city center to marvel at a reconstructed version of the Ava Palace complex. Though an impressive reconstruction, the buildings have been neglected since being built in the 1990s and represent an extravagant expenditure of funds to no apparent benefit even to the burgeoning tourist industry; a missed opportunity, indeed.

Before returning to our exquisite small luxury boutique Hotel by the Red Canal for cocktails and a delicious Indian dinner, we walked around central Mandalay as vendors were busily setting up for the daily outdoor evening market.

Not surprisingly, we were in bed, fast asleep, by nine o'clock with visions of golden-spired stupas dancing in our heads!