Bewitching Burma, 2014
Note : This trip report was originally written for the Fodor's Travel Forum.
It seems so much of the conversation about Burma is when
to go. Years ago it was whether you should go because of the
boycott, and now it’s whether it’s “ruined” already! Ahh, as
an anthropologist I'm amused to see people competing over who has had
the most “authentic" experience or who has seen the “real”
thing, it shows a complete misunderstanding of culture.
So,
as to the first question about Burma, is it over run with tourists?
Yes, in the high season we saw a fair number of groups and it’s
true that the accommodation is more expensive than other places in
Asia - as there is currently a high demand and not yet enough
capacity. However, everyone is going to the same places, so the only
thing I can say is just step a few streets off the beaten path and
you won’t find any foreigners at all, go to places further out and
you’ll find the same. Don’t worry about not making it to Burma
soon enough, frankly I think that it may be a better place to travel
in a few years when they have a more developed tourist infrastructure
with expanded mid-range or boutique options. That’s not to say we
didn’t enjoy our trip, in fact we had a great time and I enjoyed
the entire three weeks.
Here's
a blog post on our itinerary and one on stepping off the tourist track.
Rather
than give you a day by day report I’m going to link posts
and photos over at my blog and give you some general ideas of what we
found helpful, useful or interesting. I’d also be happy to answer
any questions. Bagan and Mrauk U were for us the highlights and the
places we enjoyed the most.
Getting
Around: A lot of itineraries seem to send you to and from
Yangon and I wanted to avoid any doubling back, so here’s what I
recommend. Consider flying into Mandalay and out of Yangon or vice
versa. We found this a good way to go. We flew almost everywhere but
took the boat between Mandalay and Bagan. It’s a tourist boat and
it take 10 plus hours so be prepared. D. liked it more than I
did, but it was nice to get out onto the water, here's the relevant blogpost.
We
worked out our itinerary around the most direct flights which meant
we went to the beach in the middle of our trip instead of at the end.
Here was the route we took, Bangkok to Mandalay (3 nights) , boat to
Bagan(4 nights) , flight to Heho (3 night Inle Lake), flight to
Nagapali (4 nights) and Nagapali to Sittwe (for Mrauk U -4 nights)
and then Sittwe to Yangon (3 nights). If I had to plan it again I
would add a night or two in Inle, skipped Kakku and added a least
night in Yangon.
Planning/Travel
Agent: We used Myanmar Shalom and I was very happy with them.
The price was reasonable and they gave me a breakdown on everything
which meant I could opt in or out of everything, guides, drivers,
transfers etc. They took care of the flight bookings which was
particularly helpful as it seems you are often wait listed in Burma.
Overall I would highly recommend them. On the last day they sent a
car to transfer us the the airport in Yangon. I hadn’t opted for
the transfer, as a taxi is far cheaper, but Mr. Tin (who I’d been
working with) sent the car anyway with his compliments - which I
found charming.
Guides: Because Burma is opening up to tourists very rapidly you’ll
encounter a lot of new guides which is a mixed bag. We loved our
guide in Inle, K2. He had just qualified and was filled with
enthusiasm and energy. He had the perfect disposition for a guide and
often this is the key issue. In contrast we weren’t thrilled with
our Mandalay guide who was rather rote and answered, “Yeah, yeah,
yeah, something like that…” rather too much! When we go back to
Burma I'd be inclined to minimize the guides overall.
We'd read that you do not need a guide in Bagan
and it's true. We had made contact with a guide recommended in the
NYT and reserved him directly for three days several months before
our trip. However, but once we arrived in Burma he failed to contact
me back. On arrival in Bagan I was a little concerned, the driver
knew the guide’s name, tracked down his number and called him for
me. It was bad news, we were being blown off. Apparently he had
booked with someone else, probably a group. Ok, I understand the
economics of it, it’s better for the guides to go with the
travel agents, but it does get tiresome as an independent traveller
and at the time I was mad. However, like so many things in life that
you think are a big deal, it resolved itself favorably. We loved our
three days touring Bagan without a guide and I highly recommend you
look into the Approach Guide’s Guide to Bagan.
What
a fabulous resource. I can’t rave enough. It really helped us
select certain temple groups as well as to understand the
architectural form of the stupas and their development.
Mandalay
is a modern, very Chinese style city, surrounded by important
historical and religious centers. Like most people we weren't wowed.
There is very much a tourist circuit which we did not enjoy and
cannot recommend, but we loved our day walking through the enormous
indoor and outdoor market which was fascinating. Further photos and details here. In the evening we headed out to see a folk dance show
which I can recommend. Yes, it's a show for tourists but it is a
great way to see and support local artists, musicians and dancers in
a small theatre setting. I've also finished a post on the imperial capital of Ava.
Bagan
We
needed all four nights in Bagan and I wouldn't recommend anything
less to anyone very interested in the temples. What a spectacular
place. A lot of the stuff we read before we got there was just plain
wrong. I remember one report talking about the touts and hassles,
either things have changed dramatically or they have a very low
tolerance for traveling in the developing world. Yes, we had people
selling postcards and trinkets but it was nothing to worry about. The
best thing about Bagan is that there are so many temples that you can
get out there and really explore on your own. It's just so wonderful
to see the enormous variety in the buildings themselves, and in the
interior decoration, do bring a torch – you’ll be happy you have
one. At one temple we climbed onto the roof in the late afternoon
light and saw the farmers harvesting in a nearby field.
We
took bicycles on day one, electric bikes on day two and rented a caron day three. The electric bikes are a death trap, I nearly killed
myself and we had a great time! There are lots of details and photos
of me looking a wreck on my blog! Lets just say I knocked over a
brick boulder and they had to bring me another bike. No helmets of
course!
Inle
Lake
On arrival at Heho we headed straight to Kakku and I wouldn't
recommend it. Yes, the site is interesting enough and the drive
through the countryside is pretty, but overall it was far too far to
go for a one day jaunt and by the time we arrived at Inle I was
exhausted. We had three nights in Inle but I had some sort of 24 hour
bug and spent one day in bed. I had no ill effects the next day but
it meant we missed a day out on the lake.
The
lake is astonishingly beautiful and we enjoyed making our way down to
Sankar in the south. We bumped into friends out on the water, we
had met up with in Bangkok and Bagan but had not expected to see them in
Inle, proving it is a small world for avid travelers!
The
guide made a big difference and really told us a lot about the ways
people live here which I appreciate. He took us to see a small
village where they make pottery that is baked in a kiln in the earth.
We also went to a small silk weaving factory, luckily it was the end
of the day and the place was empty. I would have hated seeing this
place crowded with tour groups. In all honesty this is a factor of
travel in Burma, as an independent traveler you need to arrange your
visit to avoid the set path the tours are on. If they are going to
see the sunset go at any other time.
From
the time we arrived in Heho we could see the diversity in Shan State.
There are many different ethnic groups and you'll see quite a number
of them at any of the weekly markets. However, I have to say I was
deeply ashamed of many of the tourists who we saw at the market. They
seemed to have no shame, taking intrusive pictures of adults and
children without either buying anything or asking permission.
Tip:
Remember to bring something warm, it gets cold on the lake in the
morning.
NagapaliWe
enjoyed a few days or relaxation in the middle of our trip. Ngapali
has a lovely beach and at one end you can see the villagers sorting
and drying small fish on the beach. There are lots of small
restaurants serving meals right on the beach and there's nothing
better than eating grilled fish with your toes in the sand, fab!
Sittwe
and Mrauk U We
loved this part of the trip and would highly recommend it if the
Mrauk U area is open. I haven't started my blog posts on either
Sittwe or Mrauk U so I can't like to any pictures but the entire
area was fascinating. Of course this is the center of the government
and the monks' suppression of the Rohinga minority and as we drove
into Sittwe we saw the ruins of an old mosque. The Muslims here are
horribly marginalize and many have been driven into camps, its a
human rights tragedy. Up in Mrauk U you see a lot of NGO vehicles as
they are working with the Rohingha. Interestingly however we saw a
vibrant Muslim neighborhood in Mandalay though a man we spoke to
outside a mosque in Yangon said that they are very nervous about the
anti-Muslim sentiment spreading across the country.
Like
everyone else we stayed in Sittwe only because it's a place to break
the journey but we found the town interesting and in particular the
early morning fish market - where the fisherman auction small lots of
fish to the market women who sell them.
We
were fascinated to meet a Brit in his 90s who had been in Sittwe
during the Burma campaign (Second World War) and had returned with
his family to honor a number of his army colleagues who had died
there. Interestingly his pilgrimage was funded by the British Lottery
Fund and a service was held for the dead at the Anglican cathedral.
The
river journey up to Mrauk U was very picturesque and we enjoyed it
very much. Each tourist group has there own boat which is entirely
unnecessary but we didn't have time for the local boat and th travel
agents locally want to maximize the money they make. There aren't too
many options in Mrauk U but we opted for the midrange Shwe Thazin
which was adequate.
Mrauk
U has
quite a number of interesting stupas in a fairly wide area. They are
very diverse architecturally and scattered through the town itself.
Other temples were out in the fields. One of the interesting things
about this area for us was that the guide took the time to take us to
visit a number of artists which was very interesting. These were
lovely visits to individual ateliers and surprisingly there was very
little for sale. He really wanted us to see the local crafts
including a cast metal sculptor, a wood carver in his neighborhood
and a painter among others.
Chin
Villages We
also went out to the Chin villages for the day which was quite a long
journey involving a drive to the river and several hours on a small
boat. I have considerable qualms about much of the “ethnic”
tourism in South East Asia where natives are paraded for Western eyes
and spent quite a bit of time thinking about whether to go up to the
Chin villages or not. The guide really thought we would enjoy it and
explained that the women sell their weavings to make money and that
if we liked we could visit the Chin school and make a donation which
we did. He understood that the concern was that the people locally
would see a benefit from the visit.
We
really enjoyed the trip and in addition to visiting the one room Chin
school house we stopped at a larger town on the way back to meet a
really charming monk who is running a vibrant school for the poor.
The guide hadn't been there before but had heard about him and though
we might enjoy meeting him which we did. Throughout Burma we had seen
rural Buddhist schools but many of them looked fairly uninspired.
This place was quite different and you could feel the commitment and
passion of the man running the place.
Overall
I would highly recommend a visit to this part of the country and if
we return it will be high on our list of places to go back to.
Yangon
– we really liked Yangon and I think it's a very underrated
city.This is certainly somewhere we'd enjoy spending more time. It
was fascinating to see the religious and cultural diversity in the
city where you can visit a synagogue, a Hindu temple, a mosque and
Buddhist temples within blocks of each other. We really enjoyed our
visit to the synagogue which was interesting particularly after
seeing the one in Calcutta. Shwedagon was far more interesting than I
had anticipated. We didn't come for sunset but went to see the local
forms of worship which were very interesting, particularly the
shrines to the days of the week where you can make offerings to
“your” birth day.
Some
years ago we took a tour of colonial buildings in Calcutta and in
Yangon we made our own walking tour from a book which I highly
recommend, 30 Heritage Buildings of Yangon. It is written from an
architecture/urban planning perspective providing a history of the
buildings along with suggestions for possible usages which was very
interesting. It covers a lot of interesting buildings including the
Secretariat where Ang Sung was killed. Afterwards we headed to The
Strand for a drink in the colonial style bar. Here's a blog post onthe walk with lots of pictures of the colonial architecture for those
who are interested.
Personally
I'd skip Scotts Market which was touristy and held little interest
to me and go instead to Pomelo a lovely fair trade boutique which
supports a variety of good causes. http://www.pomeloyangon.com
We
enjoyed the main market and several vegetable markets around the
center of the city. We ate some wonderful street food here and loved
the great noodle soup which you can eat on small stools on the
street. Here's a blog post on some of the street food we enjoyed.
It's ridiculously inexpensive.
I'll
try to add links to the blog posts when I get around to writing about
Inle and Mrauk U. After Burma we headed to Bali for a week of
complete relaxation and then on to KL and Penang for more street food
and colonial architecture! Iat some point 'll cover them on the blog
too. We were away for more than three months which makes for a lot of
memories and pictures to sort through. Our Mad Dash took us first to
Rome and then all over Asia. Right before Burma we were in Sri Lanka
which we loved. Here are links to the Fodor's trip reports in case
anyone is interested.
Ok
enough of this babble, I hope this helps someone else who is planning
a trip!
Comments