Burma!

I’m completely fascinated by Aung San Suu Kyi, the dissident democracy leader of Burma.  She’s  brave, tough, and completely committed to spreading democracy in her home country – no matter the personal cost. Yet, despite the years of house arrest and oppression, she looks incredibly elegant and confident.  She has a mental toughness and drive that are unimaginable to me.   

Anyway, Suu Kyi’s story put Burma on the map for me.  As the political and military tensions have relaxed in recent months, along with the additional openness with the West and recent visit from the US Secretary of State, we decided that there may be no better time to see Burma.

The only thing that really made us think twice is that to cross the border into Burma, you have to surrender your passport upon entry in the country.  This seemed completely wrong and goes against all advice for international travel.  But, we figured that there was nothing in it for the Burma government to cause an international incident by keeping the passports of three ordinary Americans – so off we went.

Here’s the border of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar:

(Note: The military regime that took over in 1989 changed the official name of Burma to Myanmar…but most people still call it Burma.)

We went through a checkpoint where our passports were taken and, for a fee, special Burma “day passports” were issued - including a photo taken on the spot.  The checkpoint comprised a small, somewhat dingy room with about four old fashioned student desks manned by Burmese border agents.  They weren’t overly friendly, but they weren’t scary either.

And so we entered Tachileik, Burma.  Immediately below the border entry, there was a massive market and an onslaught of people who wanted to take us on tours.   The market was a bit disappointing as it was 100% cheap and/or fake goods rather than local handicrafts. 

We wandered outside of the market, along side streets, in an attempt to get a glimpse of every day life in Burma.  It looked a lot like areas we’ve seen in Thailand and China, where the streets are lined with small shops and residences are above:

The buildings all looked like they needed a little TLC, but the mix of colonial architecture combined with Asian details, Chinese New Year decorations, and tangled webs of power lines were an interesting sight.

We also saw some unexpected things, like a Baptist Church that looked vibrant.

We decided to take a tuk-tuk up to one of the temples to get a view of the city. 

It was up a long hillside - I thought for a moment we were going to have to push the tuk-tuk up the hill as it hardly seemed to have enough horsepower to do the job.  But, at least I wasn’t carrying a basket on my head like this lady:

Here’s a view of the city - not really much to look at (and Laos in the distance...at least that's what our driver said!):

Lydia playing a bell on the temple grounds:

Dave must look like someone famous since complete strangers (Asian) have asked (sometimes in English, other times just be gesturing) to take his photograph.  Sometimes they even pose with him.  Here’s a photo of Dave’s Burmese photographer.  J

Unfortunately, our time in Burma had to come to a close in the early afternoon so we could return our car on time (which didn’t happen, but that’s a whole other story).  We went back through border patrol – the exit station was on the other side of the road from the entrance…meaning our passports were walked across the (busy) street sometime during the day.  I was hoping they’d let us keep our Burma day-passes as souvenirs, but we had to turn them in to get our passports back.

 

Our trip into Burma wasn't an amazing cultural experience and I don't think we got a taste of “real” Burma. Still, I’m glad we went - it was a great experience to go to somewhere so remote and so recently “opened” to the outside world.  I hope that democracy movement flourishes and that we can go back someday to see the interior of the country.  But, as we left Burma I was excited – we were heading to the Elephant Nature Park the next day.  More on that next.