Mein Leben, in Worten: SEA Trip 2009 (Part 1)

Alright finally getting down to blog again. And that's mostly because I need to document the South East Asian leg of my Graduation Trip.

This blog entry as well as the subsequent blog entries will be a narrative of the sights I've seen and experiences I've had during my 3+ weeks travelling in Myanmar and Laos (+ a bit of Thailand).

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Day 1

With excitement, a large orange bag on my back, a smaller green bag in front of me, a bag full of old clothes in one hand and a plastic bag with A2 sized drawing paper and color paper in the other, I struggled to get on the bus and the MRT to meet up with Hannah at Jurong East interchange and proceeded to Changi Airport to meet up with Xuwen.

Despite people thinking that I seem to be flying around all the time, this was actually my first trip in 2009. The last plane flight I took was in December 2008, coming back from my uncle's in Melbourne.

This was also, I realised probably only a few days later, my first trip to countries that were less developed than Malaysia. Sure I've been to Indonesia but it was only a small island (Pulau Karimun) and what more it was located in the Riau Special Economic Zone.

Anyway, we bought a direct Jetstar Asia flight from Singapore to Yangon, but there was also code-sharing with Myanmar Airways International (which is presume is considered a "full-fledged" airline as opposed to a "budget" one). Probably that was the reason why there were meals! It was a pleasant surprise, and we had already eaten as we were anticipating that there'll be no food on board.

The fish was better than the chicken, but the most interesting dish was this funny side salad, which i guess was some sort of appetizer dish. It was "citrusy" and spicy and had an unfamiliar taste (slightly reminiscent of Thai salads), though I suppose I could get used to it. Nearing the end of the flight a flight attendant asked us if this was our first time in Yangon and later proceeded to write out (on paper coasters) things to do, places to visit and food to eat whilst in Yangon.

The interior of Yangon International Airport almost felt like a copycat of Changi. I can't say that I expected it. It was much too clean and wide and open and bright for a nation whose people I was told by the media are suffering under the military junta. But the atmosphere felt more homely and village-like once we stepped out of immigration. Myanmar people have varying skin tone, similar to Malaysia.

We met our contact person, Brother Joseph and people from his extended family and he took us back to his house and the orphanage he runs at a village called Wanetchaung. Mode of transport: Pick-up truck. The road quality was quite bad... lots of potholes but at least they weren't deep.

Anyway noticed that cars drive on the right side of the road but most vehicles have their steering wheels on the right too! Very weird indeed. My guess was that they once drove on the left (should be the case since they were a British colony as well) but switched some time ago. (This I confirmed from Wikipedia. Read the bizarre story here.)

Based on Google Earth (if the Wanetchaung I found IS the Wanetchaung I went to), Wanetchaung is about 30km from the airport, but it took us more than 1hr to reach there! There was a toll station at some point where Bro. Joseph paid K200 (K1000 ~ US$1, black market/street rate) (Myanmar currency Kyat is pronounced "Chaat"). Most of the money, especially those of smaller denominations were really crumpled, dirty and torn at many places (a la 鹹菜).

Lin-lin (extreme left in the pic above) told me that vehicles with red car plates are "ferry" (I assume she meant "ferrying people and goods"). Learnt some simple Burmese on the way... Something like "Ming-la-bar" (Hello), "Nai-gaung-la" (How are you), "Che-zu-din-ba-de" (Thank you). After that some small talk like how old are your parents and how many siblings you have etc... Nearing our destination the paved road gave way to a dirt road.

After putting our stuff down we were ushered to their "Agape Hall" where the orphans were seated (and we were seated on stage). A lady started the "ceremony" with prayers and then we had to give a brief introduction of ourselves etc (in English, after which the lady translated for us). Then she said a few more words in Myanmar (Burmese) and suddenly the orphans came rushing on stage, holding our hands, hugging us and leading us around their orphanage! Some pictures below:

This is entertainment, kampung style =)

Hannah and some of the children playing at the slide

Chatted for some time with Joseph Jr. (in English, of course). He talked about wanting to further his Christian education and become a pastor or something along those lines. 20 years old and he knows what he wants in life. Good for him.

We then went back to discuss money... We didn't attempt to find Myanmar Kyat in Singapore before flying over (the rate is probably better in Myanmar anyway). There's a small enclave of Myanmar workers in Singapore which I found by accident last time: Peninsula Plaza. I should probably go there to find Burmese food someday.

Anyway we then presented the stuff we brought for the orphans (mostly clothes and stationery). Soon it was dinner time and Bro. Joseph invited us to join him for a meal at his house. Flies are quite a nuisance in Myanmar, but during the meal we weren't so bothered because Bro. Joseph's children were fanning us! It was, to say the least, rather awkward for us. The food was ok, quite similar to Chinese food I would say. They were very generous with quail eggs in their soup. Also, the kitchen smelled like my grandma's kitchen back in Sekinchan.

Brother Joseph on the right, Xuwen on the left

Just before we were about to set off to the hotel (that Bro. Joseph booked in advance for us. We didn't have a choice), we enquired about Thanaka. It's a traditional cream paste that many Burmese apply on their skin, in particular on their face. This prompted a girl to show us the plant and cream, and soon enough Hannah and Xuwen got Thanaka applied on their faces. When the cream dries it creates a cooling effect and becomes powdery.

Rubbing the wood on the plate whilst adding some water produces Thanaka

I then asked about Longyi (pronouced long-gee) which is the traditional sarong attire that many Burmese men wear, even in the office! Bro. Joseph then gave me a Longyi as a gift. However I did not know how to wear it so Joseph Jr. had to help. Apparently the men and women tie the Longyi differently. What most people think is the standard way of wearing a sarong is in fact to the Burmese the lady-way.

入乡随俗; When in Myanmar do as the Myanmar do!

Hannah commented about how Burmese people tend to "go high pitch" when they talk. I noticed it too and it's quite interesting to see the various quirky details in language. Anyway it took another 1hr+ journey to Yoma hotel. Rates are US$20/room/night for single, US$25/room/night for double. Expensive!!!

Day 2

The way they cut bananas forces me to eat them

Had breakfast at the hotel, standard Western fare, tasted ok but I was a bit disappointed that there wasn't anything Burmese about it.

Bro. Joseph came to pick us up and brought us to downtown Yangon. Traffic is chaotic like most other Southeast Asian cities.

Downtown Yangon (that is not Shwedagon Pagoda)

Yangon City Hall

Jade market in the Chinatown region

A building in the downtown area with the same colour schemes as Flinder's Street Station in Melbourne.

Had lunch at a "proper" restaurant and I had some beehoon soup thingy called Kyae-Ohe.

We then went to "bus station" which is actually a few rows of roads and shop lots. The arrangement is such that buses leaving to a particular region will be placed together (e.g. we were going north so we went to the section where buses leave to the north). All the buses I saw when I was in Myanmar were old Japanese buses.

Anyway after some delay we finally left and a bus attendant passed everyone some sweets, a bottle of water and toothbrush + toothpaste.

One thing I couldn't quite stand in Myanmar was that they just lurrrrrve to beep their horn. To indicate overtaking *beep*, before overtaking *beep*, during overtaking *beep* (*beep* doesn't mean one beep). Also flash their lights when doing so. Anyway as usual I was staring outside most of the time. Saw many paddy fields and villages. Every now and then there were groups of people playing sepak takraw or volleyball. Also saw many domesticated animals, cows, goats, chicken, ducks, cats, dogs... but most interesting of all are those I rarely see even in Malaysia... water buffaloes and pigs in mud!

Random mosque that we passed by

After some time we arrived at a rest stop where people alighted to have a meal, use the toilet etc. while the bus driver and his friends were busy spraying the bus with water, especially the engine behind. I forgot to mention almost all buses keep the lid behind open (I suppose to let wind blow the engine). The engines always seem to overheat... maybe because they were meant to be used at places with more temperate weather (Japan)?

So it was no surprise that there was a bus breakdown... during bus breakdown #1 (sometime after passing Bago, where 2 westerners boarded) we stopped beside a small stream where there were people in the mud (don't know what they were doing). Took the opportunity to chat up with the westerners. One was a Swedish guy and the other was from Leeds.

The bus got fixed (dunno how long that took) and we passed by Taungoo (ard 8pm) and Kaytumati. I think we were somewhere near Nay Pyi Daw (the new Myanmar capital) when the bus stopped at a checkpoint. All of us alighted. The officials checked the Burmese people for their IDs and we got our passports checked. Chatted a little with an official who commented we were all "ASEAN" people.

At the dinner rest stop place we had a whole "set meal" for K1800/pax, inclusive of soup, tea, side dishes, rice and raw veggies. Apparently it's a "Shan Buffet" because once we finished any one side dish or soup it was topped up. We didn't take the raw veggies because (1) we didn't know how well they've cleaned it, how long it's been exposed and whether or not it's been in contact with raw meat (2) the flies landed on them multiple times. However all in all it was a nice warm and delicious meal. I liked the soup and Bamar tea (which I filled up my bottle with), and especially a veggie + peanut side dish.

There was another shorter breakdown at night. Slept around 11pm.

Day 3

Slept quite well but woke up around 1.50am. By then we were climbing up the hills. The road itself seemed to be only one-lane wide or at most a tight two-lane, but it seemed like they are widening the roads as there was quite a lot of excess space at the sides. Also on the way up the hills it looks as if they had used dynamite to clear space.

There was probably another short breakdown. I forgot to mention that the TV was switched on most of the time. They played Burmese drama, comedy and music videos on it. There were so many songs that were originally sung in Chinese! E.g. 小城大爱 by Lee Hom and 我的驕傲 by Joey Yung.

There was the final breakdown which lasted 2 hours. It was getting a bit stuffy in the bus and the guy beside me had a super irritating Chinese ringtone/song for his alarm (I was so bored I even wrote down the lyrics: “如果我还有一点时间，我一定要把你找到。在只有我们知道的地方，啦啦啦啦。。。” sung to the ubiquitous Nokia ringtone *shudders*). So I went out to jalan-jalan. Around sunrise the bus was fixed and we moved on.

As you can see, our bus is "Nishitetsu"

Passed by Kalaw which is renowned as a backpackers area, cool weather and the starting point for the trekking routes. As we had limited time in Myanmar we didn't do that. The 2 European guys left. Awhile later we had breakfast. K300 for tea (Royal Myanmar Tea... good stuff!) and K250 for bread.

As the bus was preparing to leave we boarded the bus and suddenly the driver talked to me in Malay! Wah! 吓到！Apparently he worked in Malaysia before and used to stay in Balakong, near KL @.@

The end point for our bus was Taunggyi but we alighted at Shwenyaung. It was around 9.30am. We took a 20 hour bus ride!!! From there we had to get to Nyaungshwe. Cab driver quoted K6000, but I said K5000 and we got the deal. Which was a mistake because we could've gotten much cheaper by using a pick up truck.

Entrance to Nyaungshwe, which is the entrance to Inle Lake. At the side (out of picture) were propaganda asking the people to be friendly and helpful to tourists

We decided to stay at Queen Inn as suggested by Lonely Planet. The owner is a nice lady called Ma Soo (always serves us nice strawberry smoothies! ). She helped us buy our ticket to Mandalay. After putting down our bags we walked to "downtown" Nyaungshwe to have lunch. We settled on Smiling Moon Restaurant. The whole place seemed pretty dusty... doesn't seem like they've had patrons for quite some time. However the food was good and the Mango lassi was nice!

Cute dog!

It started raining so we went back. I got a bit better at wearing longyi. Haha. After some rest we decided to get some bikes to cycle around with (Ma Soo helped again). We cycled along the water passageway that goes leads to Inle Lake. We were attempting to reach Inle Lake but realised it was too far and our bicycles was not well equipped for such terrain (+lots of cow dung on the path and if we were careless we might've fallen into a paddy field).

So we went back to downtown Nyaungshwe and used the internet for awhile. The connection was really slow though, and they have to depend on generators to backup all the time as the electric current fluctuates and get cut every now and then.

Myanmar keyboard with Burmese script

Notice in Internet cafe:"Not allow to use Myanmar Political Websites and Myanmar Political Email"

After seeing the sun set in the mountains we went back to our lodgings. Dinner was prepared by Ma Soo and it was a nice home cooked food. Chatted with the only other person staying there at the moment which was a Swiss guy.