Travels: Day #4 Burma or Myanmar? Yangon or Rangoon?

Day #4 Burma ~ Myanmar ~ Yangon

Up at 3:30 am because we have been told to be at the airport 3 hours in advance but we find we have a seamless entry through customs and scanning and find ourselves there with 2 hours to spare. Skip is delighted when he spots a Starbucks and we enjoy a leisurely breakfast sharing our Peninsula Hotel box breakfasts. I am disappointed there is no mango but delighted they have included butter for the croissants. We play in the light show at the airport laughing like the children I heard the day before at the local public school. I think how wonderful it is not to be in a rush.

Burma

We arrive in Burma or should we call it Myanmar as the name was changed by the military when they took over? We decide to call it Burma as it refers to the Colonial name before the military took over and renamed it. While colonialism has lots of drawbacks, the regression in this country post colonialism in education and lack of economic progress since 1962 is heart breaking. We are met by our guide Oo Myint (do not pronounce the t) who is wearing the traditional longyi, a similar skirt to the ones we saw in Bhutan but not as colorful. I think John should have one of these, as they may be cooler than his baggy, long pants that are too big for him.

Oo Myint tells us on the bus a little about Burma and assures us it doesn’t matter if we call it Burma or Myanmar. It has a population of 60 million people, over 135 tribes and 8 major nationalities each with their own dialect. 80% of the people are Buddhist. He tells us that until 2 years ago a guide couldn’t talk politics (except secretly on the bus) but now things are more open. BBC on radio, TV and people’s ability to buy satellite has brought the world to these people. Moreover since 1995 the government has allowed many more airlines to come to Yangon. As we get stuck in a traffic jam going to the hotel Oo Myint comments that this is a new phenomenon ~ the number of cars (mostly used Toyota cars) purchased has tripled in 2 years. He tells us 2 years ago it cost over $30,000 to buy a used Toyota; almost no one has brand new cars. The cost of real estate in Yangon (or Rangoon) here is similar to New York. I notice that traffic driving is on the right side of the road but so are the steering wheels! Apparently in an effort to distance itself from the British colonial period, the military government instigated a switch from the left to the right side in 1970, but almost all of the cars remain right hand drive. I wonder how cars pass each other?

Aung San Suu Kyi

Suu Kyi as 4 months of age

Oo talks a little about politics and tells us about some of the many problems with their current constitution. For example in order to become president one has to have been a general in the military! Another reason for not allowing Aung San Suu Kyi (the Lady or Mother) to run for president is because she was married to a British citizen. While she was under house arrest for over a decade, he tells us she is free now to speak (released in 2010) and he hopes she will be able to run in the 2015 election that is, if the constitution can be changed. She is currently excluded from running also because her children do not live in Burma (they were born and raised in Oxford where her husband was a professor). He tells us the people are in love with her and he makes the connection between Suu Kyi (as he calls her) and Nelson Mandela. He sees the possibility of hope for Burma in the future with new leaders and a more open democracy. He says that prior to the military takeover in the early 60s, Burma was the most developed and well off southeast Asian country—ahead of Thailand, Korea, and Viet Nam. He has seen change in the past 2 years but he tells us they are far behind and are essentially starting again.

House of Memories

Skip a banker consults on economic issues

We meet the other 7 people on our tour who are a diverse group including people from Washington DC, Minnesota, Florida, London England and Paris. An impressive group of people with backgrounds including journalism, two former US ambassadors to the Czech Republic and Bulgaria, an oncologist, math teacher, an engineer and the four us. Zanny is a psychologist like myself and Skip a banker. I think we are in good hands with two physicians on hand. John elects to stay at the hotel (Kandawgyi Place Hotel) while the rest of us go to the House of Memories restaurant for a delicious Burmese lunch. I wonder what the difference is between Burmese, Thai and Chinese food? Afterwards we go upstairs to see a small room where Aung San (Suu Kyi’s father) had meetings. Aung San was the leader of the independence movement who fought for independence from Britain, which was granted (1948). He was assassinated by rivals before independence was fully granted by Britain. I take a picture of Suu Kyi as a young child (about 4 years of age) shortly before her father was assassinated. Can you tell from her toddler picture looking intense what an amazing model for women of commitment and persistence to a goal she would be? I wonder about the role of women in this culture and decide to do some reading on this.

Reclining Buddha at Chauk That Kyi ~ Man or Woman?

We visit Chauk Htat Kyi where we see another huge reclining Buddha image. Clearly this Buddha looks female to me and when I ask Oo about this ~ he laughs and says, “the Buddha is beyond that.” And then adds that when this Buddha was built in the 50’s they wanted to make him more beautiful. Something doesn’t fit here.. either he was gay or a transvestite? S/he is much more ornate than the reclining Buddha in Bangkok with a crown of encrusted diamonds, a smiling face with porcelain eyes 5 feet wide,

actual eyelid lashes and finger and toenail polish.

I ask Oo what these clearly false eyelashes are made of and he says he doesn’t know. ? elephant hair?

Shwedagon Pagoda

Schwedagon Pagoda

I wasn’t prepared for the magnitude of this 12 acre spectacular place ~ and even though I had seen pictures of this before, one cannot fathom the largeness or magnificence of this place.

It has a sacred feeling of religiosity and inspires contemplation especially as you see families pouring water over the Buddha’s, praying and making offerings.

At the same time for me
as a tourist, this place has a somewhat Disneyland magical, wonder fantasy quality because of technicolored lighting placed over the Buddha’s’ heads and flashing signs. The legend says that a great king was presented with a gift of 8 strands of hair (not ordinary ones) that are enclosed in this temple of gold, silver, tin, copper, lead, marble and brick.

The golden dome of the Schwedagon pagoda stupa is 321 feet above its base, covered with 60 tons of pure gold and the top most vane is studded with 1100 diamonds and at the very top 4351 diamonds weighing 1800 carats in total.

Diamond Umbrella at Top

This stupa is said to be the heart and soul of Buddhist Myanmar. Oo tells us it that part of the stupa (which is not visible now) is 2500 years old but anthropologists argue it was built by the Mona people between the 6^th and 10^th centuries.

Around the perimeter of this huge stupa there are four large stupas (marking the four cardinal directions) and 60 small ones as well as shrines and small pavilions.

As I walk around the gold dome clockwise in bare feet on the marble paving I am as much enchanted by the many people here praying as I am by the monument. The children start to learn this early.