Saying Farewell to Myanmar

We are ending our time in Myanmar with two very distinctively different places.  After Lake Inle we travelled south to a town called Hpa-An.  While the fifteen hour overnight journey was a bit long, this part of the world was a dream.  The journey also highlights the gulf between India and all its Asian neighbours, where travel is on comfortable buses and flat roads; but that’s a debate for another time as India will have to sort out its own infrastructure failings.

In Hpa-An we decided to hire scooters again, as this tends to be the best way to tour around areas where sites are dotted all over the countryside.  We visited the crocodile cave, but with no sign of crocodiles, just lines of statues of monks. We then visited the Saddan Cave which ended with a lovely boat ride – although leaving our sandals at the entrance was a big mistake as the boat left us 300 yards to walk back across gravel tracks in bare feet.

The highlight, and lowlight, has to be the climb up Mount Zwe Ka Bin.  This was a very tough climb in the heat of the afternoon.  It took two hours to climb the 2,000 feet to the top; most of which was up steep and variable steps.  However, the views at the top made the pain of the climb well worth it.  We could see over the limestone karsts below us which was beautiful and very memorable.

Our final destination in Myanmar was a relatively short hop across to the former capital, Yangon, formerly known as Rangoon.  We liked the town as it had a bit of charm about it.  There was everything from nice French bistros to a rough and ready street of bars at 19th Street.

On one day we took the famed Circular Train.  This was a two and a half hour trip round the centre and outskirts of Yangon.  Rather than the scenery, the highlight was just watching the world go by and seeing what the passengers and hawkers got up to inside the train itself.

We saw everything from live chickens to a cage of parakeets to large bags of vegetables being carried on the train.  In between, people were selling oranges, which were great for passengers to spit the pips out over our feet, full meals of noodles and betel cigarettes amongst other things.

Perhaps the highlight of the visit was Myanmar’s premier tourist and religious site.  The Shwedagon Pagoda is one of Buddhism’s most sacred sites as it is said to contain some of Buddha’ actual hairs.  We visited during a massive thunderstorm, which did ease up in time for us to see everything before and after dark.

Although the gold leaf covering the massive main stupa is being replaced and partially covered by bamboo scaffolding, it is still an awesome site. With worshippers praying at the myriad temples, along with a monk praying over the loud speaker, it has a great atmosphere about the place.  Everything comes alive when it get darks and all the gold starts to shimmer in the light.  This was a really lovely way to end our time in Myanmar, as we head off tomorrow to Thailand for a well-deserved beach holiday – more of that another time.

We have really enjoyed Myanmar.  The people here, like those in Bhutan, are wonderful.  They are friendly, can’t do enough for you, and are genuine.  Everyone largely seems to be happy, which is a surprise given the very tough regime they live under.  It is a surprise to learn that the power is all with the military rulers, and not with the nominal democratically-elected “governing” party of Aung Sang Suu Kyi.  The people are fed misinformation via the Generals, and unfortunately Facebook, so until democracy really wins, and people are also better-educated, the political problems that exist, particularly with the Rohinghya, will remain.  This is a real shame as the country deserves so much better.  Let’s hope the people win out.