Myanmar land of smiles

Yangon the former capital of Myanmar welcomed us with the local new year, the same that we hated in Thailand we loved here. Even though both celebrations are based on getting everyone drenched, here the difference was that the locals did it as a tradition and as a way to bring luck and put a bit down the intense heat of April.

After leaving our stuff at the White house hotel we did a first tour of the city. 10 meters further we were already soaked as at every door there was someone, young or old, with a big bucket of water ready to be poured on every passerby. The ambiance of the city was a whole party, western music was playing all around, while trucks filled with youngsters drove over the flooded streets.

We had a seat at a small plastic table in front of the Sule Paya, one of the city's landmarks, to have the first contact with the Burmese food and it was a very good one, a small green soup with some fried ingredients and a very fresh taste. This was the opportunity to enjoy the people passing and of course smiling at us. This would be a constant for the rest of our stay in Myanmar. Smiles from ear to ear.

Getting drenched resulted in a lot of coughing and some fever for Angela's part. Jonny's supposed malaria had probably strengthened him to Wolverine's mutant healing power and he only got some sniffles. The next morning the delicious and abundant breakfast at the roof top from our guest house made Angela feel a bit better. To avoid the water festival and to recuperate from the fever we spend the next day in the hotel, talking with other travellers and hoarding tips, while drinking mango juice and sweating a lot.

After dark and when the pouring of water had stopped (only allowed until 6pm) we went out for dinner at the lively China Town, were we had delicious noodle soup for only 300 kyat, less than 30 euro cents. With a full belly we wandered around the virtually deserted streets, looked at amazing colonial architecture and we sat at a tea house, had a coffee mix and a tea with condensed milk yummmm.

Tea houses or tea shops are usually an open air cafe where you can get some small snacks, soft drinks, instant coffee mix and black tea. On every table there is also a thermos of hot Chinese tea which is free and we drank litres of it during our stay in Myanmar. This is a real nice part of the Burmese culture. We are sure that if our Burmese was better we could have heard the latest gossip, who's wife got pregnant, what the government said they were going to do but actually didn't do and why are these foreigners staring at us all the time?

As the banks in Myanmar have the worst exchange rate, tourists have to exchange money at the black market. A very friendly Indian approached us offering a good rate to exchange our dollars into kyat. The friendliness of the guy, good rate and his very good English gave us confidence to follow him until the Mahanbadoola guesthouse. Yangon has the best exchange rate so we took out our 450 dollars, he took out his calculator, because each denomination had a different rate and he explained it to us while multiplying and adding up.

At that stage everything seemed ok, we were very cautious on counting every single note. Before we finished counting another tourist told us from outside to be careful but the transaction was already at an end, after a hand shake and a smile from the Indians we left, both of us with an awkward feeling.

Long story short; if an Indian shakes your hand, rest assured you've been scammed! What they don't expect however is for tourists to go back and demand the right amount and that's exactly what Jonny did. We got back $ 40 of the $ 50 and we didn't see the $ 10 as a loss but more as a valuable lesson learned: if something seems too good to be through it probably will be. $1 = 1.000kyat note so that means a ton of notes and you can see what it does to people...

We went to visit the magnificent Shwedagon Pagoda, the most important and impressive temple complex in Myanmar. Amongst the hundreds of beautiful Burmese people we walked through the golden shrines, and we were able to see the magnificent mix of Buddhism with the Nat, the 37 mystical creatures that are an important part of the Burmese religion.

The next morning it was time to head up north to Inle lake located 800 kilometres away. We were lucky because our trip ONLY took 18hours! It sounds worse than it actually was. Angela ,as usual, slept most of the time whilst Jonny took strength out of the french guy that was sitting next to the nauseous woman with the young crying baby proving yet another universal rule: No matter how bad your situation, someone else will be having it harder.

Our last stop was for breakfast at 4am. Was very nice actually to see the self employed / kleine zelfstandige trying to make a living at this spot. We got down and took a taxi for the remaining 11km with the driver destroying Angela's self confidence by claiming that she was fat and should sit in the front. Angela had so far lost 5 kg (now 7) and felt very good about herself. To put this into context: In Myanmar saying someone looks fat is actually a compliment as it means wealthy enough to eat excessively. I took the front seat of this 30 year old taxi of which nothing seemed to work anymore. The guy steered the car like you see in old Hollywood movies when the actor would just turn the steering wheel to create the illusion the car was moving.

We stayed at Aquarius Inn. The ambiance, the fellow travellers we met there, the warm and caring staff and amazing surroundings made this the nicest guest house we would stay at in the whole 4 months. After a delicious pancake breakfast we took a deserved nap in our romantic bamboo walled room. Inle lake is heaven on earth! The rest of the day we spent wandering through town and visiting the local market where they fixed my broken sandale.

Next morning we enjoyed a delicious potato pie breakfast and each took out a book from the owner's excellent book collection. “Burmese days” and “the pianotuner” would be our company for the next 3 days. We chose a spot in the nice garden and read the day away only disturbed by the occasional stretching, songs of birds, bells of the pagodas chiming and the everfriendly maids offering us tea, peanuts and “would mister and miss like banana with honey?”

Remarkable about Myanmar is the lack off the type of tourist we dislike and we considerate it a blessing. The people we will meet here come to Myanmar to experience the country, its culture and its people. What travelling should be about no?

The next day we went on a boat trip on Inle lake. It stretches out over 11km about 7 metres deep, surrounded by mountains and inhabited by the Intha people. The people have lived on stilt houses for centuries and continue to do so. We stopped at the huge market, visited silk weavers, blacksmiths, cigarmakers where we had lots and lots of tea and even though it sounds like a tourist trap it is not! As it was low season and tourists were few (because of some sort ridiculous idea there was an economic crisis) you could get some real bargains. A “silver” bracelet that at first cost $ 20 was eventually sold for 3!

We asked to have local food for lunch so they brought us to a floating restaurant filled with the people of the villages where we also found the most surprisingly cleanest squat toilet we had seen on our trip.

The best part of the day is actually just going through canals, enjoy the spectacular sceneries, seeing daily life on the lake, waving and shouting MINGALABAAA to the sweet people of Myanmar.

Late afternoon we got back at the guesthouse were we barely had set a foot in and were offered strawberries with sugar. They didn't have to force us this delicacy and we enjoyed it as we continued reading our books. Going out to diner they ran after us with an umbrella as there would be “many rain later” If Thai people make you feel like kings, Burmese make you feel as if you were Buddha. At times it feels uncomfortable but is really the Burmese way. You can't help feeling affection for the people. As foretold by the maid the rain came. Not only that but lighting and hurricane winds to accompany it!

Next and last day we explored the surroundings, welcomed by monks who took out all their alms and offering them to us. Tip: don't drink too much tea cause you'll be offered gallons of it and would be rude to refuse. We saw planting of rice that can only be described as backbreaking. If we work for a couple of hours in the garden we almost need surgery to recover but here these women were going on for hours, field after field weeks on end chattering away and even putting on a show for us tourists.

Next stop burning hot Mandalay!