Day 83 - Bagan Temples Part 1

There are two popular ways to view the temples in Bagan – either by horsecart with a tourguide or by bicycle. I opted to rent a bicycle so that I could go at my own pace, and because I was running out of Myanmar Kyat currency.

There are three sections of Bagan to explore – Nyaung U, Old Bagan, and New Bagan. Most of the more popular temples are situated near Old Bagan, which used to be where many of the locals lived before they were forced to relocate to New Bagan by the government when it was developing tourism.

I decided to take the popular route from Nyaung U to Old Bagan, stopping by whatever temples that caught my eye. Many of the temples have “key-keepers” who take care of the temples and hold the keys to the gates at the entrances to the temples. I found most of the locals to be extremely friendly, being tour guides when I entered each temple. Of course, they also wanted to try and sell me some of the merchandise that they had, ranging from lacquerware to sand paintings to tee-shirts. I didn't find it to be too distracting as their friendly demeanor made up for it.

Many of the temples had upper levels that weren't accessable due to restrictions by the government, but I did come across some that I was able to climb up. Once up top, the view was even more incredible, with thousands of temples sprawled across the small city in every direction. The terrain was flat, so there wasn't any sort of obstruction of my view of the many temples surrounding me.

Most of the temples were built in the 13^th century, and many of the paintings are still originals inside. Some of the Buddha statues have had to be restored though, and there was a major earthquake in the 20^th century that destroyed many of the temples completely.

The city of Bagan is one of the biggest tourist draws in Myanmar, but many of the temples I visited were empty. Near the end of the day, I settled on one of the temples that I could climb and just enjoyed the moment by myself for the next couple of hours. While there, a sand-painting seller came to the temple to try and sell me some of his paintings. He was a humorous, and good-natured salesman and we had a chat about the country, all while he cracked jokes.

After telling him I wasn't interested in buying the paintings, he said:

“OK, I give you present (sand painting), and you give me present ($$$)”

After telling him that I had already heard so many people saying their would give a “great price” for the paintings, he said:

“OK, I give you Wonderful price instead!”

He asked me if I was happy, and I replied that I was just “OK”, so he said:

“If you were happy, I sell for $15, but since you are just 'OK', I give you discount!”

He was pretty open about his dislike of the government. He said that he was only able to talk about it so openly on the tops of these temples, and if he said anything in the streets, he'd be handcuffed and led to prison. I asked him if he participated in the protests in 2007 and he said he protested everyday...but “in his dreams”. He said most of the money that was made in Myanmar ends up in the governments' pockets and in their families' pockets.

There aren't any private of government jobs in Bagan and most of the villagers have had to resort to selling merchandise to tourists to make any sort of income. You could either own a restaurant, work at a hotel, be a horse-cart driver, or sell merchandise. There isn't enough restaurant or hotel work, so the only other feasible way of making any money is through souvenir sales. And tourism has waned in the past couple of years, starting with the protests in 2007, and then a cyclone that swept through the country in 2008, then the protests in Thailand that closed down the airport for a while (Bangkok is one of the most popular cities to fly to Myanmar), and now the US Dollar is not worth much in exchange with the Kyat... It's a pretty depressing scenario.

But this young 22-year old salesman continued to be in good spirits throughout our conversation, and I could tell he got through the struggle by cracking jokes and talking a lot. There were times when he did get serious and I knew he hurt inside, telling me how hard it is to sell a painting, and how he'd come home and his mom would ask him how his day went, and how his silence was enough of an answer for her to know that he was unsuccessful for the day. He said most people made around 40K kyat each month, and if he were to move to Yangon, where the opportunities were better, that he would make around 60K kyat. This was better, but it would only be enough to support himself in the city, and he would be somewhere where he couldn't take care of his family or see his friends, so this wasn't an option.

It's times like these that make me think about how these people survive here...The government doesn't seem to care enough about its people to make the living conditions better, or to provide jobs, and internationally, most countries have sanctions that prevent any sort of business to enter the country that would help the locals. He said the key to everything was with China. The country has strong ties with Myanmar, and that is where the country gets most of its support. If China put some sort of pressure on the government to change things around, maybe things would be better... a sobering thought, all of this.

Day 71 - Yangon, Myanmar - First Impressions

Sleeping at the airport was actually somewhat entertaining. Quang and I decided to grab a couple beers from 7-Eleven and play some cards at night. It was actually more luxurious than some of the dingy rooms I've stayed at. We had rows of seats to sleep on, airconditioning, and nice bathrooms that were constantly cleaned.

Quang left back to Ho Chi Minh City while I moved onto Yangon, Burma. The flight was around 1 hour and 15 minutes. It was interesting to compare the aerial views of Bangkok compared to Yangon. You could definitely see the difference in development of both countries. Huge buildings and strong infrastructure filled Bangkok, while in Yangon, everything was green and natural.

Upon arrival, I went through customs smoothly and hired a taxi cab to take me to the center of Yangon. The cab ride cost $10 USD. I tried to lower the cost to $8, but the cab driver explained about the decline in the value of the dollar, which has continued ever since the shake up in the government in the country. A year ago, you could get at least 1,000 Burmese Kyat for each US Dollar. Now, you'd be lucky to get 800 on a good day.

I've read articles about the matter, and some of the blame is put on the influx of US Dollars by the Chinese who are attempting to take over many of the new business opportunities that are now afforded foreign countries since the government shakeup.

After settling into my guesthouse for $8 USD, I found out that most hotels only accept US Dollars. I changed about $100 US Dollars at the airport into smaller denominations, but felt I needed to change more, so I walked around looking for someone to change my money. I managed to get a jeweler to change by $100 to 5-$20s. The $100 bill had to be in crisp, pristine condition with no creases in the center of the bill or else it wouldn't be accepted. I went through some of my bills before one was accepted.

I researched on the internet about the best places to convert currencies. The best place was through the black market and at some of the local markets in the city. The official exchange rate is less than 10 Kyat per $1 USD, which is useless. I headed to the Bogyoke Aung San Market and walked around looking for money changers. I asked around to establish the expected exchange rate before agreeing to change money with a Burmese man of Indian descent named Pale, who agreed to change my money for $1 = 765 Kyat. Walking to his store, I asked him why the US Dollar was depreciating so consistently over the past year, and I suggested maybe it was because of the government. He agreed, but then also told me to keep quiet about any open talk about the government...

There is a certain procedure to take when exchanging money. Since the foreigner would be getting around 75 paper bills for every $100 exchanged, they are given the money first to count. After establishing that the amount is correct, the foreigner hands over their money in exchange. If you do not count the correct number of paper bills, do NOT let the money changer count the money, as they could scam you with their sleight of hand.

I ended up not having any “acceptable” $100 bills to exchange because there were slight creases in the center of Benjamin Franklin's face, and some of the ink was fading, so they agreed to exchange them for $1 USD = 740 Kyat. I'm worried that I won't have enough “acceptable” dollar bills to use on this part of my journey!

After lunch, I walked around the city just to see the city life. The sidewalks and streets were very underdeveloped. I think you'd easily trip on one of the slabs of cement that was used as part of the sidewalk if you didn't watch where you were stepping. Most of the people in the town looked of Indian Descent, and many people (including the men) wore traditional Burmese sarong-style pants called Longyi. Many people also had what appeared to be mud smeared across their faces. In actuality, this substance is called thanakha (powered bark) and is used by everyone as make-up and sunblock. Some of the women looked as if they were crying because of the way their applied it to their faces.

The internet access is very slow here, similar to a dial-up connection, and there are restrictions on some of the websites you can access. It was a little difficult for me to find a place to purchase a bottle of water. There aren't any chain convenience stores here, and after asking around, I had to purchase one at a market that was hidden in the back of a clothing store.

I'm a little worried about traveling here alone, not because of any safety concerns, but because I don't have a clue which routes to take around the country and which modes of transportation to take to get there. There are so many suggestions online, but it's a little overwhelming, and there isn't really a standard “backpacker” route since this country isn't as commonly visited by backpackers. I messaged some couchsurfers and local, so hopefully I can meet up with people!

At night, I walked around again, and settled on a Chinese-Shan style restaurant where I had some Shan Noodles with Chicken and Myanmar Beer. I figure I should avoid some of the street food and stick with restaurants that look crowded to make sure the food has high turnover and is fresh and hot. The last thing I need is for me to get sick here.

It was difficult walking around at night because there weren't too many street lights, and if there were, they were all dim. There weren't many lively buildings that could provide more light either. The city sleeps early. By the time I finished dinner and after using an internet cafe, it was 10PM and the streets were empty. I think it'll be like this the whole trip, unless there is some sort of festival or celebration I can hopefully stumble upon.

What $300 USD gets you in Kyats

Day 1, Part 2 - Arrival in Ho Chi Minh City

The flight from Taipei to Ho Chi Minh City took about 3 hours. Even though I had a good amount of sleep on the last flight, I still dozed off on this flight. There's something about airplanes that makes me sleepy...

The flight was nowhere near booked and I managed to get the whole emergency exit row to myself. I usually like to take the aisle seat so I don't have to deal with leaping over other passengers to get to the bathroom, but this time, I took the window seat so I could actually look out the window and scope out the landscape. Flying Into HCMC, I saw murky brown or mossy green water wherever there were lakes, ponds, canals, and any other water sources. It just reminded me of all my friends' words of advice for this trip - "Don't drink the water"

It was nice to see the the land from the perspective above the clouds, and actually see the shape of the cloud casting a huge shadow over a huge chunk of the land. Being on the ground, you rarely, if ever, get to see when a cloud's shade starts and ends.

I also noticed that the airplane experienced turbulence every time it flew through the clouds. Maybe it was due to the change in temperature or density of the air? It's been a while since I've taken an earth science class...

Upon arrival at the airport, we passed through customs without too much trouble. The officials didn't ask us for a proof of return, probably since we were traveling as a family. My dad was a little nervous about coming back here. He was born in Vietnam and the last time he was here, he fled with one of his brothers to America (after one year in Malaysia) due to the Vietnam War. I'm sure it will be a culture shock for him, but hopefully he will recognize places and reconnect.

Hailing a taxi at the airport took forever. We were pretty cautious about choosing the right taxi since some of the travel guidebooks warned of sketchy taxi drivers who would work with certain hotels and "unknowingly" take you to the wrong hotel or convince you that the hotel you booked was dodgy or unsanitary and that you should book a room at their hotel... We finally found a "Venisun" taxi cab to District 1 in HCMC for about 6-7 USD.

My friends warned me about all the traffic in HCMC, but I finally got to witness the chaos of it all. Almost everyone drives a motorcycle or moped. The roads are filled with these vehicles, along with buses, taxis, and the occasional cyclo. There don't seem to be many road laws to follow as there are rarely any stoplights and people are driving from all directions. There are also a ton of turnarounds scattered throughout the city, which makes for even more interesting traffic action.

Being a pedestrian among all these drivers is stressful. I feel like they risk their lives numerous times a day just trying to cross the street as the motorcycles zoom past them from all directions. It's sort of exciting but also scary. The best thing to do is just walk slowly so that the drivers can dodge you. I suggest walking slowly, but also consistently so that you will remain predictable, and the drivers can avoid you.

My family had trouble all day with the currency conversion here. Due to extreme inflation over the years in the country, 1 USD equals roughly 20,000 Vietnamese Dong. Imagine buying something that was 1,000,000 Dong...It's actually just $50 USD... Except 1,000,000 Dong can buy you so much more than $50 USD worth of stuff since everything is so cheap here!

It is uber-humid here, but I expected it. There was no rain today, even though it's monsoon season. Hopefully there will be clear skies throughout my trip.

Walking around an open market, I noticed a man taking a break from the sweltering humidity underneath his business.

A collection of Vietnamese Beers in a supermarket - probably one of the safest things to drink here, and about 50 cents a can! Hooray!

Dinner - Bun Bo Hue - Hot and Spice Hue style noodle soup with sliced pork tenderloin, sliced beef brisket, and Vietnamese pork sausage, garnished with white onions, green onions, and cilantro. A decent bowl of noodles, although I thought the soup base was not seasoned enough. Instead of the usual bean sprouts and mint leaves that I'm used to being offered at restaurants in Westminster, CA, they brought out banana flowers, which served as an excellent garnish.

Dinner - Stuffed Snails with Meat - This dish was very good. It consisted of minced snail meat, mixed with mushrooms and pork. Sugar Cane was added so that the meat could be pulled out of the shell easily. The meat was soft but chewy, and blended well with the bitter taste of the mint leaves and the sweet/salty flavor of fish sauce.