Burma or Bust!

Our plane to Yangon from Bangkok!

On December 24^th, I got on a plane with one of my friends from Chula, and together, Suba and I ventured into the unknown…MYANMAR.

I had no idea what to expect, but on the plane, I was extremely excited.  Perhaps it is because I am drawn to corrupt governments with well-kept secrets and my curiosity got the better of me.  But mainly, it was because I have five amazing classmates in my program from Myanmar and I had heard so much about their country – I wanted to see it for myself!

 As we got off the train I held my breath going through immigration.  We flew with one of our classmates Ei Ei, who took us straight to her village from the airport.  It was 8am.  I had stayed up late the night before opening presents with my family over Skype, and woke up at 4am for transportation to the airport.  I was tired.  But the minute we exited the terminal and headed for the highway, I couldn’t peel my face away from the window.  As we putted along the road, I began to become increasingly aware of my surroundings.  I was in a taxi that was a 1967 Chinese sedan whose air conditioning came through the open holes in the metal floor of the car.  I didn’t have glass in my window and wondered what happened when it rained.  As I looked out the open space, I saw many many people – both men and women all wearing longyis.  For me, I hadn’t really seen many pictures of what Myanmar looked like and didn’t know exactly what to expect – mainly because they have kept such a tight watch over the circulated information about the country.  So this was ALL new for me. 

I have seen poverty first hand many times before but coming from Bangkok – which was less than a one-hour flight from Yangon, I did NOT expect to see this kind of poverty in the middle of the main city.  It is difficult to describe, but I felt as though I had just taken a shuttle bus back in time.  Everything appeared ancient and almost as though people were stuck in the 1940s.  Typically, in countries, you see massive amounts of poverty in contrast to massive amounts of wealth.  While we certainly saw our fair share of mansions belonging to Ambassadors along Inya Lake – there wasn’t nearly as much of a contrast in wealth as I expected.  For example – the nicest cars that were driven around town were 2002 Toyota Corolla’s and once we were even lucky enough to see a 2000 Volkswagen yellow Beetle.  But there were no classy Mercedes Benz, BMWs or other luxury cars in sight.  It was as though we time-travelled back in time to a much earlier era.

Downtown Yangon

In Bangkok, most poor people have carts that they push all around the city – selling food, clothing, or other household items.  Here, the same people, in the market selling their produce and goods, didn’t have carts.  They carry everything.  We passed women carrying over 40 pounds of oranges on their heads and men with massive buckets shuffling along in the crowd.

I looked at Suba and I said, “This sure isn’t a vacation – this is an ADVENTURE!”