Myanmar After The Flood Advice for the TravellerPrepared by Harold Stephens
Travel Correspondent for Thai Airways International
It had been almost ten years since I visited Myanmar and I was anxious to go back. I checked Thai Airway's Royal Orchid Holidays and they had what looked like a good trip on ROH18, Myanmar Discovery, six days and five nights. I read the brochure: "Take an in-depth look at timeless Myanmar. Experience Yangon's many attractions, visit some of Bagan's 5,000 temples and behold the natural beauty and interesting hill-tribe people around Mandalay and Heho." Heho was the airport to Lake Inle, a place I always wanted to see.
I was all set to go, but then came the terrible cyclone in early May this year. Myanmar was hit hard, with many thousands of deaths. "It's impossible to get around Yangon, the capital," one report said. "Some sixty percent of all old growth trees have been knocked down and block the streets."
That was four months ago and now I wanted to see the country more than ever. I was in luck: the Myanmar Tourist Promotion Board invited me on what they called Mystical Myanmar Familiarization Trips 2008. The tourist board assigned Ah Nyar Thar Travels & Tours to conduct the tour. With two other journalists from Bangkok, I accepted. My surprise came when I was greeted at the airport in Yangon by the director, Phyoe Wai Yar Zar whom I had first met first in 1997. He made me feel like I was coming home.
But Phyoe wasn't my only surprise. The next one was the airport, new and modern, and completely empty. No travellers, no tourists. Another surprise came on the drive into town. No downed trees; no visible destruction; and no motorbikes. Motorbikes in the capital have been outlawed.
Myanmar was one surprise after another. Our destination was our hotel, the impressive Chatrium Hotel overlooking the Royal Lake. It was built by a Thai, and managed by a Thai, and built in English Colonial style. Lots of wood, tapestries and furniture from Myanmar. Dinner that night was at Radomar Restaurant, owned and managed by Sonny Aung Khin who for six years had a Burmese restaurant called Mandalay on Sukhumvit Road in Bangkok.
The next morning Phyoe asked if we wanted to see the Governor's Residence. It was drizzling and not much else to do so why not. Another surprise. It may have been a governor's residence once but now it is a hotel. Absolutely lovely; 48 rooms; Colonial, built a hundred year ago; spacious with old teak walls and floors, well worn with time. In the 1920s it was as the official residence of the governor of Kaya State. We met the GM, Philippe Bissig, French, who has been GM for half a dozen old hotels in Southeast Asia, including the Sofetel in Hua Hin, the Sofetel in Angkor Wat, the Metropole in Hanoi and a couple more. He's a story himself, but for another time.
From the hotel we took a drive into the city. I wanted to see the riverfront which we found pulsating with river traffic. I checked the ferries. It takes two weeks up river to reach Mandalay and there are no boats with cabins. Passengers must sleep on deck.
The next morning we flew to Bagan, an eighty-minute flight. Bagan is the most popular tourist designation in Myanmar, and it's a horse-and-carriage town. And lacquer. Instead of people carrying baskets made of pandanus, they carry lacquer baskets.
On the way into town we passed neat little guest houses and small restaurants, all closed. Not a soul. It was so sad.
We return to a place we think we know and we wonder what changes have taken place. That's hard to do in Bagan. The place dates back to the 10th and 11th centuries and the more than 3000 temples and pagodas are much like they appeared a centuries ago. No matter which way you turn there is a temple or a pagoda, each one more beautiful, more magnificent than the last one, all in a 36 sq km (14 square mile) area.
Phyoe checked us into the Tharabar Gate Hotel, an inn much like the hotels on Bali. We had hardly dropped our bags and we were off, and when we returned that night, each of us could hardly climb the three steps leading to our hotel. We had climbed to the tops of as many temples as our legs would bear. The majority of its buildings were built in the 1000s to 1200s, during the time Bagan was the capital of the First Burmese Empire. The capital was moved from time to time, shifting with each reign. Nevertheless, in AD 874 it became a major city. In 1057, King Anawrahta conquered the Mon capital of Thaton, and brought back the Tripitaka Pali scriptures. Buddhist monks transformed Bagan into a religious and cultural centre. In 1287, the kingdom fell to the Mongols, after refusing to pay tribute to Kublai Khan. Abandoned by the Burmese king and perhaps sacked by the Mongols, the city declined as a political centre but continued to flourish as a place of Buddhist scholarship.
There was more to see in Bagan than temples. The city is known for its lacquer. We watched the ancient method of making lacquer. Workers sat crossed legged for hours cutting bamboo and weaving the strips into baskets and trays and all sort of plates and bowls to be lacquered.
The next day took us to Mandalay. What name can be more romantic? Aside from the walled palace that dominates the city, there are many monasteries and an ancient city. Amrapura is perhaps the most interesting monastery with one thousand monks and no tourists. We spent an hour observing them at mealtime, how they queue up for lunch. No smiling, all seriousness but the monks don't seem to mind the photography.
An interesting excursion followed. We took a ferry to Innwa, the ancient city. Once we arrived we had to take two horse carts. There are no vehicles, no motorbikes and not even bicycles. We stopped at the Menu brick monastery. The queen who had it built wanted to make a unique donation to Buddha. As all other monasteries were wood she made this one of brick and mortar.
After bouncing along on the horse cart, we reached Bagaya Monastery, constructed entirely of wood. Very old and worn. The main gallery had huge teak pillars 90 feet tall. . Our carts were waiting, the horses rested and on the way we stopped to watch gold panners standing waist deep in the lake panning gold. Mostly they were looking for the ruminants of other dynasties.
There was more to see in Mandalay than we had time for, even without the need to wait in line with tourists to enter temples. We visited the Mahamuni Pagoda where the image is said to have been cast in the lifetime of the Gautama Buddha.
If you ever wonder about all those postage-size gold leaves that devotees place on Buddha images, Mandalay is the place to see workers pound them out, and pounding it is. It's incredible hard work and tiring just to watch them.
Next came the impressive Kuthodaw Pagoda containing the World's Biggest Book. Built by King Mindon in 1857, this pagoda modeled on the Shwe Zigon at Nyaung U, is surrounded by 729 upright stone slabs on which are inscribed the entire Buddhist Scriptures.
Before returning to the hotel we went to enjoy the view of the sunset and the surrounding countryside from atop the Mandalay Hill.
Our next flight took us to Heho, and from there it was an hour's drive to Inle Lake. The ferryboats, long and slender, like huge dugout canoes, lined the pier at the lakeside, waiting for passengers, but none came. Our boatman was delighted when Phyoe and we three journalist travellers filed aboard. We were his first customers in weeks.
It was an hour voyage to our hotel on the lake. In spite of a light drizzle and the cramped position, the lake came as a beautiful sight, a mass of waterways and not one lake but many lakes. It's amazing how boatmen find their way through the maze.
We reached the Shiva Inn Tha hotel and were greeted in style with musicians and flowers. The hotel, a series of bungalows, was beautiful. It even has a swimming pool, the only hotel on the lake that does.
Inle Lake is a wonderland, at an elevation of nearly 1,900 metres (3,000 feet) with a surface area of 116 sq km (44.9 sq mi.) It's not a deep lake, barely 1.5 metres deep in the dry and a maximum of 3 metres in the monsoon season. It's a freshwater lake, the second largest lake in Myanmar.
The attraction is it's beauty, or call it mood, due to the surrounding hills and low hanging clouds. The other attraction are the people of the lake, especially leg-rowing Intha people.
The people are called Intha, some 70,000 of them, and they live in four cities bordering the lake, in numerous small villages along the lake's shores, and on the lake itself. Most are devout Buddhists and live in simple houses of wood and woven bamboo on stilts; they are largely self-sufficient farmers.
Transportation on the lake is traditionally by small boats. Local fishermen are a major tourist attraction and every visitor with a camera wants to photograph them. They are known for practicing a distinctive rowing style which involves standing at the stern on one leg and wrapping the other leg around the oar. This unique style evolved for the reason that the lake is covered by reeds and floating plants making it difficult to see above them while sitting. Standing provides the rower with a view beyond the reeds. However, the leg rowing style is only practiced by the men. Women row in the customary style, using the oar with their hands, sitting cross-legged at the stern.
Lake Inle ended my tour of Myanmar. I wish I could tell readers what other tourists thought of the country, but there were none. I can call it a tragedy. Myanmar is a beautiful county with beautiful people. There is not much more I can say except a visit to the country is well worth it. You will certainly be welcome.
Next week I'd like to tell readers a little more about Yangon and the famous Strand Hotel. QUESTIONS AND ANSWERSQ. Dear Mr. Stephens. I hear that this is the rainy season and not a good time to visit Thailand. Can you comment on that? Jenny Oplander, Auckland
A. Dear Ms Oplander. Thailand is in the monsoon belt, and there are two monsoons-the northeast and the southwest. They do not blow at the same time. Thus, you can escape the monsoon by traveling to another area. Most people think of the monsoon as rain. It is not rain. It is a wind. Generally, however, the winds bring the rains, but no always.
Harold Stephens
Bangkok
E-mail: ROH Weekly Travel (booking@inet.co.th)
Note: The article is the personal view of the writer and does not necessarily reflect the view of Thai Airways International Public Company Limited. | 
