It’s 3pm on October 12th. Our ship is still docked in Myanmar. I just finished looking through some of the pictures I have taken here in Myanmar. I have so many thoughts about my time here so I figured I might as well start this entry. I found out today that Myanmar is (supposedly, a professor told me) the poorest country on our itinerary, even poorer than India. Myanmar Is the third poorest country in Asia: Thailand and Laos are even poorer.
I’ve been on the go since Sunday morning. I’m going to try and talk about my experiences but I doubt I’ll be able to talk about everything. Some things I saw just can’t be described in words.
Sunday morning we flew on a propeller plane to Heho Airport, near Inle Lake. It was a Semester At Sea sponsored trip that I bought on the first day I arrived on the ship in Mexico. It was expensive, but well worth the money. There were two groups of about 25 students each-- not too bad. We separated from the other group for most of the trip which was really nice -- the less people, the better.
What we did in Inle Lake over a 3 day period:
Rode the boats around the lake. The boats are small wooden boats and they fit 5 people in each boat.
Visited the floating villages on both canoe and regular boat. The canoes hold 2 people plus 2 rowers (the rowers are the owners of the boats, usually a father and young son or mother and young daughter). The floating villages are basically a bunch of houses in the middle of the lake. Some float, some are on stilts. People get around by canoeing everywhere since there is no ground to walk on besides the floor of your house.
Visited a monastery with novice monks.
Visited a jumping cat monastery where monks train domestic cats to jump through small hoops.
Rode Trishaws ( I think that’s what their called ) which are bicycles with little carts on them. They hold two people and the bike driver.
Visited the floating gardens. The floating gardens are exactly what you would imagine, they are gardens which float on the lake. We saw a variety of veggies including tomatoes and corn. They grow on dirt grass mounds which sits on the water.
Visited markets that sell vegetables and random necessities.
We went to the Pagoda festival which is the most famous festival of the year in Inle Lake and surrounding areas. We watched the leg rowers compete in boat races.
Myself and 3 other people rented bikes and rode around the village. We rode through the flood waters and through very poor areas. We rode through a rural area before coming to a stop because cows were blocking the path. All of the locals waved to us, smiling, laughing, pointing.
During our time in Inle Lake it rained more in a 24 hour period than it had in 52 years. You can imagine the amount of flooding I witnessed. You can also imagine how soaked I was. We were all drenched for most of the time we were there, except on the last day when the sun came out. While on the boats traveling throughout the lake we had umbrellas but the boats didn’t have covers. We were soaked from head to toe.
One time our boat broke down and we had to be towed by another boat to the dock. When we docked, we couldn’t find our group but instead were face to face with about 20 intense Myanmar government officials. That was scary at first, but eventually we found our group who had been forced to wait inside of the bus (which was forced to move off the main road) for us because of the military presence.
We ate tons of good food. Most of our meals consisted of about 7 different things… soup, rice, pork, chicken, seafood, fruit, vegetables.
Inle Lake is a huge lake nestled in between wide open grasslands and mountains on both sides. The people are really poor but were so friendly towards us. They live in their small communities, work as farmers, fishermen and some work in the different shops including silk shops, tea shops, cigar shops. Everything is rural, there are no big cities near Inle Lake.
In Myanmar there are absolutely no Atms and only a few (And I do mean, a few… probably less than 10) hotels in the main cities accept credit cards.
Once we got back to Yangon on Tuesday night I spent the night on the ship. The next morning I woke up early for a Buddhist Meditation and Feeding Ceremony trip.
First we went to the meditation monastery. To be honest, I didn’t really enjoy it too much. The Buddhist religion, to me, is a bit ridiculous. They focus upon suffering: They believe that all of life is suffering. They don’t differentiate between the poor and the rich. They believe that you should pretty much strip yourself of all feelings. They spend hours upon hours upon HOURS meditating. At this monastery they will meditate for their entire lives. They spend all day meditating, everyday! It’s nice to see another way of life, but on the other hand, I just think, what a waste. No monk is allowed to cook or garden or anything of the sort so every morning, very early, they head out and collect food from the villagers. Most of these villagers don’t even have enough food for their entire family but still, each morning the monks collect food that has been prepared for them. If you give food to the monks, it is believed that you will be blessed and have good things happen to you. The monks are all about Karma. They believe that the poor are poor for a reason and the rich are rich for a reason, which is why they collect food from even the poorest because they don’t really differentiate. It’s very strange. Anyways, we took part in a meditation ceremony which was interesting but mostly I just kept thinking about how lucky I am to live in America, where I learned about Christianity. In Myanmar there are 500,000 monks and 89.2% of the population here are Buddhist.
After the ceremony we headed to the novice monastery. This was my favorite part of the trip. Earlier this month I bought this specific trip for $50. Part of the money that each student on the trip paid went to funding a ceremony for the novice monks. When we arrived at the monastery there was a huge sign that said the food was donated by Semester At Sea. I got to present a basket to the head monks and then after, we all participated in handing out the food to the monks. Basically, 200 young kids were in a huge line and we handed out different foods to them. I used both hands as I placed the small Tupperware full of meat into their black pot that they carry around. It was so much fun to interact with the monks. After we distributed all of the food we went into the dining area where they were seated. One little boy kept looking at me and when I smiled, he got so embarrassed. Now, the monks aren’t really supposed to show emotion so when he kept getting embarrassed I kept laughing and his smile just kept getting bigger and bigger. He was adorable and couldn’t have been older than 8 years old.
After we visited with the boys we headed to eat some snacks that the monastery had provided for us. They gave us bottled water that had been blessed by the head monks for 31 hours. I kept mine. The local children (very poor) followed us around and watched our every move. After eating I got up and went to talk with them. I shook their hands (they love touching us) and took pictures of them and then showed them the pictures. Many people in Myanmar have never even seen cameras! They were so happy. After, we all headed to see the nuns. Three girls who spoke decent English already - they were around 16 years old - introduced themselves to a few of us. They decided to sing us a song and then asked us to sing. Five of us ended up singing Row Row Row your boat and then we sang Mary Had a Little Lamb and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. The SAS Camera man was on our trip so hopefully you’ll be able to see me singing these songs on the SAS Yearbook Video… the kids loved our singing and when we finished, about 20 of them sang the Myanmar National Anthem for us. My new favorite thing in these countries is interacting with the children. It is so rewarding. I love being able to make a child smile, especially these children in these countries who hardly have anything.
After the visits I headed back to the ship. Later that night I went into the main city and had dinner with some of the people I hung out with in Inle Lake. We went to a Thai restaurant and I can definitely say that it was the best food I’ve had since leaving California. It was cheap, too! Three of us ate a full meal for only $10 US total.
Later, my friend Kyle and I headed back to the ship on the shuttle. Our ship was docked an hour from the main city, Yangon. Semester at Sea had shuttles available for us -- an unlimited shuttle pass was $18 and the buses were air conditioned charter buses. Kyle and I had the bus to ourselves, lol. I guess most people wanted to stay out and party for our last night in port but I was more concerned about being able to get some sleep and wake up early for the trip I had today…
Today I went on a Local Life trip. We first went to the jetty and observed how the locals live. They are the poorest people I’ve seen so far (out of all of the countries). They don’t have much at all… most of their shacks only have straw roofs and no doors, they take baths outside in dirty water. Their kitchens are outside of their shacks. We saw naked children, children with completely torn clothes, starving dogs, poor women. It was intense. The children and village people followed us around the entire time we were there. The children were so friendly and just wanted us to take pictures of them and then show them… they had so much fun with us! After visiting the jetty we headed to two monasteries. Then, we took the pony carts to another village. We visited the local produce market and then we took the trishaws again -- I got to be in the front of the caravan on both the ponies and the trishaws, lol. We went into a local house to see how the people lived. These people had a better house than most of the other locals so I didn’t find the experience to be very rewarding. After, we went to a local tea shop and tried a variety of fried pastries.
By the way, I’m not totally sure if the bicycle type things I rode are called Trishaws. So don’t quote me on that, lol.
Myanmar was a life changing experience, as was Vietnam and China. I took so many pictures and I know once I get home I’ll be able to better explain what I witnessed and took part in.
Right now our ship is traveling at a slow pace and we’ll be in India by Sunday. I have two days of classes and then 5 days in India followed by 10 sea days before Egypt. We’re almost half way done with the voyage.
We got our India pamphlets today. Before each port we get a pamphlet filled with everything we need to know about India including currency, safety, port information, traveling information, things to do in the main cities, etiquette, food, Atms, climate, government, people, language, religion, business hours, communications, tipping, electricity, clothing, taxis, behavior and so forth. In this pamphlet, it says, “India is the country that has brought the most varied responses from SAS participants. Reactions, both positive and negative, tend to be very strong. One way or another, you will be changed by India. It is impossible to be unmoved as India tends to overload the senses and present a somewhat overwhelming diversity. You will be exposed to the contradictions of the incredible beauty with the crushing poverty, of intense daily personal worship with hygienic practices which do not fit with your experiences….” On the last page, there was a poem written by a Fall 1990 SAS student.
Don’t give to the beggars, they said,
So I didn’t, and my heart ached
As I turned and walked away
From a 4 year old starving child
Don’t give to the beggars, they said
So I hid my money and walked away
From a thin mother and her two children,
Carrying all my packages…
Don’t give to the beggars, they said,
So I pushed away the little children
Don’t give to the beggars, they said,
So I laughed and nervously as a leper
Clutched at my friend,
Laughed because it was easier
Than to cry
Don’t give to the beggars, they said,
So I walked for blocks,
Trying to ignore the kids at my side
Running away instead of staying to help
Don’t give to the beggars, they said,
I thought I hadn’t, but I was wrong…
I did give, each and every time…
A part of me, naïve to the pains of others,
To the horror of others.
I gave them my innocence,
And they gave me their pain
And after India,
I will never be the same.
I really don’t know exactly what to expect but I do have a feeling that I’m going to be one of the students with positive reactions. I’ve heard from several people now that India is the most life changing port. I’ll update as soon as I get back on the ship on October 19th.
Call it ridiculous, but I call it being bored and not knowing what else to do! There is only so much studying I can do!
