To Burma (Myanmar) and back…

After having a successful antique show in Hong Kong we decided we wanted to see Burma even if the guidebooks said that winter is a much better time to go.  Hong Kong is a hell of a lot closer to Burma than Honolulu so we went.  Singapore Airlines to Singapore and Singapore to Yangon (old Rangoon).  Just before we left Hong Kong, our friend Earle Stoner heard about our plans and quickly emailed us with the email address and phone numbers of  a tour guide that he has used several times.  It was the first of several lucky turns.

All the apsaras came to see us off

Wrapping an order of rice in the lotus leaf, all recycled materials

A hearty lentil soup

Lunch al fresco

Bamboo bridge to the market, Judy in front

The lake people have turned out for market day

The fisherman watches the water and when he sees the bubbles coming up from the bottom, he lowers the net and catches the fish

A unique way to row a boat

The lake, like the Grand Canyon, Ha Long Bay, the Rocky Mountains

The old man and the lake . . . frustrated almost to death with the uncooperative internet

Judy and Ohnmar preparing to jump in these sleek boats in the rain to return to the hotel. Yes, it was wet but fun

Who needs a washing machine anyway?

The lotus fabric

A great crafts woman measuring out thread for the loom

The lotus threads are rolled together and used to create cloth that is sought after in Japan. This is a new technique developed here in this village.

The looms go clickity clack, complexity becomes a simple beautiful design

Judy is watching the woman cut the stem of a lotus leaf, and pull it apart to get the sappy threads inside to come out –next

Treasure Resort, Inle Lake. Home away from home.

We had made a reservation at a rather expensive hotel in Yangoon and when we arrived I called his friend.  Her name is Ohnmar htun.   She came to our hotel and within an hour or so we had a itinerary of our trip.  We told her what we thought would be interesting and she made recommendations.  We decided that she would travel with us which is her common plan.  But, with her, expenses, airlines, hotels, drivers and miscellaneous expenses the total was cheap.

The Shwedagon is a stupa complex in the heart of Yangon, a magnificent spire of gold and white that can be seen from many parts of the city.  It is not one stupa but a hundred or so.  People go and make offerings and leave flowers.  Monks in their dark red robes and nuns in pink with mustard colored scarves were there also.

The Scotts market where tourists can buy cheap stuff, is tourist necessity, so we got that out if the way.  The temperature was about 98 f.  The next day we packed up and got on a plane to the northern city of Mandalay.  It’s a third world city with an infinite number of small shops that sell shoes and ice cream or dresses and electronics in the same store (a little exaggerated but not much).  One of the important reasons to go there is to see the jade market.   We arrived late in the day, but there were still many traders.

Burma has jadeite, the best is transparent, emerald-green, and glossy.  There are lavender and mustard colors and red colors in the stone, but the one sought after is the first one –gem quality green.  The problem is that this gem quality is almost always a small vein of pure material surrounded by less important variegated green.  So, traders buy it blindly.  They buy a stone that they believe might have that color and quality in it.  There is no way to know until it is cut.   There were several stalls where young men sat in front of cutting machines to cut the stone in whatever way the trader had guessed.  If he is right he can be a wealthy man.  It was obvious that most of the people there were serious gamblers in an arcane game.  There were people offering cabochons and finished gems of various colors and transparency.

I was glad I saw it since I deal in the finished products.  But, felt no need to gamble in that way.

Mandalay did not inspire much, again because it was about 100 f.  What inspired was the hotel that we had.  It was small, very tastefully laid out with a wonderful restaurant and cheerful welcoming people.

Of course because of the heat we were two of four guests for the hotel.

And then on to the long drive from Mandalay to Bagan (the first and most royal of capitals).  We were in a comfortable air-conditioned van.  We could enjoy what we saw.  The people of Burma by and large live in woven bamboo houses that are very small with thatched roofs.  The first little piggy had a better house I think.  But, they are in the fields growing beans, lentils, chick peas, catching fish and raising chickens

And occasionally they eat some beef and goat meat.

Last year going from Budapest to Vienna by train I could simply sit back and see the country describe itself.  The trip by van to Bagan was similar.   Bagan is the treasure of Burma,  There are 4000 stupas of different sizes and shapes.  On our final day there we climbed a stupa and could see that the field of stupas was endless in every direction.  I probably should say that a stupa is a reliquary for some bone that belonged to the Buddha.  But, there are said to be in all of Asia only two of them with the original bones.  All of the others are the relics of great Buddhist teachers and Monks.   Bagan is as amazing as the pyramids, the grand canyon, Ha Long Bay in Vietnam.

The next leg of the trip was to Inle Lake.  It is a long body of water 13 miles long and 7 miles wide, surrounded by villages, a hundred thousand population.  The people live on the sides of the lake and follow various professions.  Some weave the most exquisite silks and fabrics. On the lake there is a peculiar grass that grows and floats on the lake.  It is very dense.  The people make a long row of it , sometimes 20 meters long and pile seaweed and dirt and other nutrients on it. And then they plant tomatoes and eggplant, beans and cucumbers.  But this island will float away if they don’t run a long bamboo through it into the lake bed to anchor it.

I finally got to ride one of those long elegant boats that I had seen in Bangkok several years ago.  They have a propeller that is also a rudder and swivels into the water, powered by a very powerful air-cooled diesel engine.  When the propeller goes into the water the bow lifts up out of the water and you speed along at a wonderful pace with wind blowing all of your cares away.  The lake is very cool compared to  everywhere else in Burma.    But, it again is a treasure of Burma.  If I ever go to Burma again I will go to the lake right away.

We were only in Burma for two weeks, we saw a lot and learned just by being there a little of the culture.  It is a very Buddhist country with about 500,000 monks and nuns in monasteries that must beg for their food everyday.  The six to seven million Burmese that live there do feed them everyday.  The country has 37 different ethnic groups that live in various regions and places.  The reason Burma is no longer called Burma is that the name refers to the dominant ethnic group, the Burmese.  So, to calm the other groups the name Myanmar was adopted and according to our guide really has several different unclear translations.  Now in the news is the unrest between the Rohinga Muslim people who have squatted in the state of Arakan, having crossed the Burmese border from Bangladesh.

I had a professor who said that no one can judge you but yourself.  I remember this when I think of Burma and my short experience there.  No one but they can judge themselves and their culture.  I am grateful though that I had a chance to visit them and their reality.  As I have seen in other countries, karma, history and incredible creativity shape how people invent themselves.