Our Burmese Days Pt. 1: Yangon

Oh Burma! Where to begin? It'll be a difficult task to try and describe all that we saw in three weeks, but it was a place that had a real impact on us-- perhaps one of those challenging trips that ends up really rewarding.

It's hard to believe we only managed to visit about six places in our three weeks there, but in Burma, travel takes a great deal of time. We landed in Yangon on May 23, not sure what to expect. Would the airport be fully of stern military soldiers with huge guns? Probably, we decided. We had our answers prepared on our occupations, and were hoping we wouldn't have to declare our electronics (as we'd heard we would have to), as having a computer, 2 iPods, a tape recorder, a video camera, an SLR, and a digital camera might just slightly look as though we're into media! Surprisingly, there were no questions and we were through customs in a flash. Coincidentally, staff from the guesthouse we were hoping to stay at was waiting to pick people up and it was a seamless ride into the city.

We probably rode the whole way into town with our mouths hanging open. Everyone we saw walking on the street, male or female, (including our hotel staff) wore a long sarong of sorts, called a longyi. The streets were busy enough, but there weren't any motorbikes or bicycles-- we learned these had been banned by the government within the city. Instead, it was all cars (mostly old), ancient buses spouting dark grey exhaust, and something like cattle trucks for people, where the back would be jam-packed with standing passengers (and the trucks looked like they'd been made in about the 1940s or so). It was grey and rainy outside, which made the dismal, pollution-stained buildings of Yangon look even more dingy. And actually, there weren't really sidewalks as much as there were sometimes concrete slabs placed over the open sewer/drains which ran along the streets. Walking the streets of Yangon was a real exercise in concentration-- there's no looking in the air, as you'll likely fall in a hole somewhere along the way.

Our hotel, the Motherland Inn, was absolutely lovely-- great staff, giant free breakfast (eggs, toast, orange juice, coffee, bananas, cake) but was a bit out of the centre of town, in some sort of marine-supply district (which meant also trying not to trip on massive ropes and anchors on the sidewalk too), on the corner of the Indian district. On our first meander into the centre of the city, we could barely keep up a conversation because so many people-- usually it's just kids, but here it was the adults too-- wanted to say hello, or "Mingalaba" (hello in Burmese). A friendly bunch for sure! We were halfway to town when we came upon a grimy red Victorian-looking building which took up a whole city block, and in searching our Lonely Planet we found it was an unlabelled grey square on the map. Very mysterious! While snapping some photos and pondering whether we should jump the barbed wire fence and try to explore it, a man came up to us and started sharing the history of the building-- the former British parliament, it was left to rot after the British left. And it was also where Bogyoke Aung San (Aung San Suu Kyi's father), still a big nationalist hero who was instrumental in gaining independence, was gunned down with most of his cabinet in 1947 shortly after elections. Creepy stuff.

We didn't know what to make of our new friend who had found us by the British parliament-- in many of our past experiences in Thailand and Vietnam, generally if someone befriended you, they wanted something from you. Alfred was different (and actually, this was very characteristic of Burma)-- he was out for a stroll, and even more up for a chat. Newly retired, he'd lived right around the corner from the parliament his entire life and had some crazy stories about Yangon. Being 67, he was around for all of Burma's recent and turbulent history, sort of a Burmese Forrest Gump. He was born during WWII when his mother went into early labour because of the loud shelling by the Japanese. Alfred went to grade school with Aung San Suu Kyi's brother, was around for several coups, and last year found himself being interviewed on CNN after Cyclone Nargis devastated Yangon and the Irrawaddy Delta. He'd been a professor in the far north of the country, studied orchids, lived in Japan for two years working in hotels, and had a tailoring business after that. He was a fascinating guy.

We toured some of Yangon's sights with Alfred the next day-- Shwedagon Pagoda, a massive gold-leafed Buddhist pagoda on a hill in the middle of the city, where worshippers donate their most prized jewellery to enamour themselves to the gods (the spires are covered in gold and jewels, bracelets, pendants, earrings, etc), and checked out the city's huge Bogyoke Aung San Market, housed in an grand old building made by the British. We were constantly dodging downpours, as rainy season was in full force in Yangon. We left the market with a few souvenirs (and Adrian had a bellyful of fried crickets, a local snack) and stacks of Myanmar cash: as there are no ATMs accepting foreign bank cards (thanks to international banking sanctions), the only way to get local currency is to bring US$ notes-- which we heard are only accepted in crispy mint conditions. We handed over our notes with delicate hands and received 1080 kyat for $1USD (quite funny b/c the official exchange rate, according to the government, is 6.54 kyat to $1! xe.com). As the best rates are in Yangon, we exchanged a few hundreds, which made our bags heavy with stacks of bills, and we were a little uneasy carrying so much cash! Luckily robbery is pretty nonexistent in the extremely Buddhist country, so it was more inconvenience than anything that we felt.

We met some fellow travellers that night in our hotel and shared big local beers (about 1200 kyat for one) and bewilderment on the country we'd found ourselves in. We also found ourselves invited into a Hindu temple, where we witnessed a bizarre and colourful ceremony, complete with lots of singing, dancing, and dressing up a cow and her calf in flowers, feeding it masses of bananas, and tossing around cow pee. You know, the usual. The next day we visited the the river and were shocked at the destruction still left from last year's cyclone-- rusted-out boats stuck in the mud banks, a concrete dock completely twisted like it was made of aluminum foil. Yangon was definitely not a pretty place-- but maybe someday it will be. The next day we hopped a bus north to Mandalay...

Chiang Mai, Round Two

Ahhh, back to Chiang Mai, big city of the north with heaps of atmosphere, hundreds of ornate Buddhist wats, about a million places to eat, and a kicking night bazaar! We had great fun in Chiang Mai on our last trip, so another visit was a must in this year's itinerary.

Since we really liked the area we stayed in last time, just inside the walls of the old part of Chiang Mai, after the sweaty mountaintop ride up from Chiang Rai we grabbed a sawngthaew (a pick-up truck with a metal roof and two rows of seats in the back, a cheap way to get around in Thailand) and headed to our old street. The last time we were here, many of the recommended guesthouses were full, and we ended up in a yellow 3-storey one that we couldn't remember the name of but quite liked. So, just for fun, we thought we'd check it out again. It was a little bit different-- painted blue, renamed JJ House, and with the downstairs restaurant a bit flashier this time around. The price of a room was still the same (200 B, about $8AUD), and this time it had free wifi... so a few minutes later we found ourselves with the keys to room 301 again, up a few flights of really steep stairs but with a killer balcony outside the room! We felt like huge nerds...

Then, to continue the deja vu silliness, we thought we'd check around the corner for our favourite breakfast restaurant-- aha, still there! [For anyone who's heading to Chiang Mai, make SURE you end up at 'Blue Diamond-The Breakfast Club' on 35/1 Moon Muang Road, Soi 9-- never mind the new age mom clientele; it has the biggest and healthiest breakfasts we've seen in ages, all served in a great little garden!] Adrian described the feeling like "returning to our summer cotttage", which sums it up pretty well. We say our summer cottage, because we're the only ones here.

To quote one of the most annoying phrases they love to use over here, you could say it's "same same but different". This time there's just no one here! First we were the only people staying on the 3rd floor of the guesthouse, and then yesterday we became the only guests left. (We hope they don't cry when we take off today.) We found a great little "bar"-- er, a couple candlelit tables under some frangipani and palm trees-- and had a chat with the owner, who told us about the major drop in tourists since the images of protesters burning a car in Bangkok were splashed all over the international media (during the red shirt/yellow shirt protests in April). We've actually heard that until June 5, Thai consulates are handing out 60-day visas for free to up tourism (and this is all after they changed the overland-crossing visa to 15 days and we flew in to get a 30-day visa, much to our annoyance!).

It's low season anyway, which doesn't help businesses, and perhaps that whole economy problem might play a factor. We've had a reprieve from the heat of the past few weeks: it's poured rain for about 75% of our time here-- so we haven't done too much. It's not so much fun to shop at the night bazaar when you're constantly dodging puddles and slippery sidewalk tiles. So of course yesterday, once we gave up on the weather and bought bus tickets back to Bangkok, we had a beautiful, clear night! Actually, we're happy to announce we've acclimatized-- we met a group of Vancouverites last night and watched them with sympathy as they sweated it out over pizza (one guy had to eat his dinner shirtless he was sweating so much!) as we sat around in t-shirts, and wondered if should have worn long pants for the 'cool' evening.

But between waiting out the rain, we've seen enough of Chiang Mai to know that some things will always be "same same"-- like crazy tuk-tuk drivers (we ended up on a pretty wild ride to the bus station, with our driver whooping and cheering every time we bounced through a puddle or speed bump-- turns out he might have had one or two before the ride), a bountiful ladyboy population, and many questionable old white man/young Thai girl "relationships", which if nothing else, make for excellent people-watching.

3 Nations, 2 Travelers, 1 Lawyer.

Since arriving in Chiang Rai 4 days ago, it’s been non-stop. We had the good fortune of coming when the Saturday market was happening, and the night bazaar too.

Thirsting for adventure we jumped the first bus to Chiang Saen (yes, there are about 5 Chiang ‘somethings’ in the area), which was an hour and a half away. Chiang Saen is a moderate small town but smattered with old ruins from ages ago. It’s pretty wild to see a 7-11 with an 1000 year old chedi for a neighbour!
We rented a bike at Gin’s guesthouse and with a full tank we set off for the Golden Triangle, the place where the 3 nations of Burma, Laos, and Thailand meet at the Mae Kong River. It used to be a big hotspot for the opium trade, but Thailand has since stopped its production (mostly). The Golden Triangle is pretty hard to miss, a giant golden Buddha surrounded by elephants is the first hint you’re there. Yeah, it was a trap but we like our corny pictures, and Adrian got to pose with a semi-nude mermaid.

Next stop was North in Mae Sai; the Northern most tip of Thailand – also the border crossing for Burma. We had a great look across the border and now our travel interest in Burma is totally buzzing. Naturally there were all the border town characteristics: begging children, soldiers, crap souvenirs, and a bit of uneasiness in the air - but it was our first glimpse of Burmese men’s fashion – the sarong. Maybe there’s an office furniture shortage in Burma, but there were these women who’d prop the heaviest looking metal tables on their heads and cart them back across the border on foot.

Along the way back to Chiang Saen we had a whole 4 lane highway to ourselves, and eerie feeling. So what a great place for Dayle to learn a new skill: motorbike driver. She was excellent (we’ll post video soon), Dayle not only mastered the ‘leaning’ basics, she took us 25 km before we drove by a huge scrub burn off and she got some crap in her eye. Well done, Hell’s Angels look out!

Since we’d missed the last bus we were fortunate to catch a ride back with the actual Gin of Gin’s guesthouse. He’s also a Provincial lawyer, and we had a great and colourful conversation with him and his wife Julie. He even invited us to his house in Chiang Rai and played us a song on his piano, see lawyers aren’t all bad (mostly).

For Your Dining Pleasure...

There are many dishes to be sampled -- Adrian started the night off with a bang.


For Your Dining Pleasure... from BigQuestionMarks on Vimeo.

Cheers.

Nha Trang in a Nutshell

It's crazy how easy it was to spend an entire week in the beachside city of Nha Trang (and how happy we continue to be that our visa extensions allow for this kind of travel). When we left this past Tuesday, we had finally felt we'd seen and experienced enough of the city to feel OK with leaving-- but it wouldn't have been that hard to lose a month there.

Beach culture in Vietnam is altogether different than in Australia (well, duh!). In fact, many of the locals don't come to the beach for a swim until about 5 pm-- we're pretty sure this has to do with staying pale and avoiding a tan. The beaches are generally crowded with people, hawkers, and often trash. Peace and quiet can be hard to come by when you're getting bugged to buy snacks, drinks, and paintings (yes, really) every two minutes. We watched one English guy react very badly to this... but no matter how annoying the sales pitches can be, you've got to keep your cool-- yelling at a little old lady won't accomplish anything aside from giving the rest of us tourists a bad image...

And maybe it's for this reason there are so many people saying how much they dislike Nha Trang on travel forums online-- sure, it's very touristy, some things are a bit overpriced, and the beach isn't pristine-- but in our opinion it was a nice, scenic place to relax for a while! We actually haven't gone sunbathing in ages-- the scorching Aussie sun made it a very dangerous and painful endeavour. So we delighted in being able to throw down a sarong in the sun and just be lazy. And we did splurge a little one day and rented lounge chairs & got served drinks all day at the private beach of a great local brewery/restaurant, the Louisiane Brewhouse.

But besides the wide, long beach (OK, the sand wasn't close to as soft as some beaches we've been to) surrounded by mountains and carefully manicured boulevards, there's more to Nha Trang than just the scenery. There's a certain vibe to the place-- an easygoing attitude that allows one to wear beachy clothes around town without getting stared at (normally everyone's quite covered up in Vietnam!). There's also a wealth of nice hotels at very competitive prices-- our room in the Nha Quyen was huge and well-located, with a balcony and a/c for $12USD-- and about a zillion restaurants to choose from in the tourist area. For those in need of culture, there are the ancient Po Nagar temples built by the Cham civilization around the 7th to 12th centuries (we're not experts on this, but we gather they were a Hindu kingdom which occupied the area around that era), and countless Buddhist sights to take in. There are many snorkelling, diving, and island boat tours-- which we opted against, as we've heard whisperings of "dynamite fishing" being done not so long ago in the area, and now many of the reefs are a bit lunar-looking and devoid of sea life. The number of dried seahorses for sale at the local market made us a bit suspicious of the underwater scenery too.

We also made some really great local friends in Nha Trang-- while indulging in some excellent Italian food at a little restaurant called Olivia one evening, we ended up chatting for hours with our very bubbly waitress (who we later learned was the owner). We exchanged some English for some Vietnamese, shared some laughs, and suddenly Kim Anh had elected herself our personal tour guide, taking us to the local vegetarian restaurant with her cousin (we'd arrived in the midst of a monthly? Buddhist rite when everyone eats veggie for three days around the full moon), another day around all the important Buddhist temples in the city--even for a feast with a bunch of young monks!-- and later on to her family's house for the meatfest that ends the vegetarian days (eek! says Dayle), where we drank beers with the uncles and her grandfather and learned a bit more about everyday life in Vietnam. We feebly tried to repay the kindness with an introduction to the almighty fajita at a place called El Coyote...

The moral of our story is that we're realizing more and more how important it is not to have expectations about a place before going there, and to stop feeling the need to see every sight/going to all the tourist traps to get the real vibe of a place. Sometimes not being a total tourist can work in your favour-- if we hadn't slowed down and had some beers on our balcony instead of hitting the bars, we wouldn't have noticed the goings-on of the local brothel across the road (in daytime it appears very much like a nail salon!). If we'd run screaming at the first sight of a cockroach in the bathtub, we wouldn't have had six very bug-free nights-- and lovely days on the beach!-- after that.

Big Ups *updates that is!

We can hardly believe it's already more than a week into the trip, and we're 2000 kms along. We've been excited to do the New South Wales east coast for ages, after having to speed past it last year to make it to Melbourne to meet our friends for Xmas last year.

After having a few days in Sydney, we've started to wonder if we should have given this gorgeous city a chance to be our home. It's definitely a prettier city (sorry Melbourne), being on a gorgeous harbour and having really old buildings like The Rocks district, and fantastic beaches like Bondi. But Sydney's really expensive-- like if you want to cross the harbour by ferry you'll pay (perhaps not as a local) $5.20 one way. There's a great train system, sort of a multi-line subway mixed with an aboveground train, but it's pricey and confusing as well. Melbourne's definitely got it figured out there-- your ticket is good for 2 hours in Melbourne, and you can hop on as many trains, trams, and buses as you want... none of this no-option one-way crap! Nightlife-wise, Melbourne seems to have way more of our scene (as people had told us prior to our move there)-- little eclectic, hidden bars and drinking spots... and there's definitely more of an artsy vibe in Melbourne. Sydney seems to be more about flash and appearance (you wouldn't believe how much people get dressed up for a Friday night!) while perhaps with not as much substance (sorry Sydney!). It's a real toss-up... no regrets though!

But since we don't have enough time to plant roots in the great city of Sydney, we channelled our inner tourist and hung out on pretty Bondi Beach, drank cocktails on the fifth storey of a pub/nightclub in Kings Cross, strolled through the green Botanical Gardens, had an overpriced breakfast right on the harbour (like, next to the railing!) with a great view of the 'Coathanger' (the bridge), and did the walk across the Harbour Bridge to the northern suburbs. And what a fantastic city it is for a tourist...

On Sunday it was time to say goodbye to Sydney and head for the hills... er, the Blue Mountains, that is. First order of business was to locate a new camping fridge (while trying to dodge Sydney's mnay toll highways!), as ours had the great timing to conk out just before we left Melbourne. We scoured the first K-Mart we found and lucked out-- so we have cold food again, this time in a round fridge (which is surprisingly easier to pack than our previous box-shaped fridge). Not that we needed so much refrigeration in the Blue Mountains... it was quite cool as we travelled higher into the mountains.

On Monday we visited the Three Sisters, one of the famous sights in Oz-- three sandstone pinnacles carved naturally out of the sandstone cliff, high above a tree-covered valley which once would have been a great river system. The size of the valley was huge-- kind of like a green Grand Canyon! We camped in a very remote spot in a national park that night and found we were steps away from another Grand Canyon scene-- just amazing. We did some hiking along a few trails but unfortunately didn't find any wombats, and fortunately did not find any deadly funnel-web spiders (they're only found in Sydney & the Blue Mountains and they're the deadliest ones in the country... venom which kills in a few minutes, if I remember correctly). We did see one wombat, belly-up on the roadside-- they're pretty tubby and almost bear-size!-- and some Huntsmans, where else, in the campsite's dunny! Old news... though Dayle has to get used to them all over again. Eeek! Eeek! Along the way, we also visited the Jenolan Caves, a spectacular cave network which snakes through the mountains (ie. you even drive through a cave to get to the office), as well as a little ghost town called Hartley... just a wee bit spooky.

We were meant to make Coffs Harbour on Tuesday, but didn't realize the length of the drive from the Blue Mountains up the coast. More dodging of toll highways (not so successfully!) and then northward along the Pacific Highway, which despite the name isn't really close to the ocean at all. If we had more time we'd probably explore more turnoffs and little beach towns along the way... but we're trying to keep on schedule the best we can so we can time our Christmas and New Years well around the centre. We made it to Port Macquarie that night (too far to Coffs Harbour, our original plan), which is a large beach town and the second-oldest prison colony town in Oz. We watched what looked like it would be a cool lightning storm-- but fizzled out to sea, and got our first mosquito bites of many to come. It already felt like the tropics!

Wednesday morning we visited the oh-so-cute koalas at the Koala Hospital in Port Macquarie, where injured/sick koalas are cared for (usually injured as a result of dogbites, car collisions, falling out of trees, and burns from bushfires, but also some suffer from cataracts and others from chlamydia!). We watched a baby koala have surgery done on a dogbite wound through a window at the hospital, and cruised around the enclosures where the rest were being pretty lazy. We still thought "Koala Hospital Unit" might make a pretty cool reality TV show! It was then onwards to Coffs Harbour, where we've been relaxing ever since... great surf but no koala hospitals...
Yes, that's koala boogers.

T-Minus 2 days and counting...

Hey all, it's getting very, very exciting.

I'm 97% packed up, and shelved away my old life here in Canada. It's weird when you've sold off all your old stuff, everything about your old life seems to be paper work, taxes, and personal mementos.

Basically my Canadian life is sitting in two bankers boxes and an old GL2camera box. I'm keeping some old books that I recieved as presents, and such. Some of my clothes as well are in the same closet, but I'm taking my prized OK47 t's with me to Australia.
Packing was a real issue, not knowing what to take, but I found a great resource online, it's kinda hardcore, but practical. It all depends on what kind of traveler you are.

I've been going over my old list of stuff to do to! Here's a taste: 5 packages of our itinerary and personal info for each family, close bank account, get travelers' cheques, open credit card to ATM access, malaria pills (which I don't think we'll need - they cost $136 bloody dollars!), fix parent's computer, get rid of old phone contract, and the list goes on and on and on.

Now it's all done and I can relax for a little bit. In fact my parents met up with her parents, tonight at Boston Pizza in one of the malls by the 401. We chatted and it was all very nice to see everyone and share a meal, it also was a good chance to swap information with the families and give them all an idea of what we'll be doing and where we'll be going.

We've changed our route a little as well, Dayle called me last night and we had an emergency overhaul of our original travel plans. Our 1st trip route took us through 4 countries in less than 4 weeks, after breezing through some travel forums we've come to the conclusion that this is possibly 2 countries too many - so we've dropped Laos and possibly Vietnam from the trip.

On the Lonely Planet website someone similar was trekking through the same itinerary but with an extra stop in China, but the same time frame. There was an overwhelming number of people urging him to slow down and enjoy a few countries (1-2) at a leisurely pace rather than rushing through. I wouldn've hated to find a really awesome place on a Thailand beach and stay only for the night before rushing off to another part of the country. Besides Laos, and Vietnam aren't going anywhere.

I have a few days left and I hope to post some more before I go, something more useful to other travelers. Seems I just walk around my old neighbourhood and hang out with my parents before they go to bed, so I've started making some notes about what to blog next so it's a little more structured.
My first note to self: Don't ramble and post at 1am when your juiced on so much pop I can hear my teeth screaming to stop already! And from playing guitar hero all night!

Love you guys, and travel safe.
-Adrian Questionmark

Up and running; T-Minus 3 days and counting

Whew, all this setting up for blogging has taken my mind off the big trip. And here it is in all it's majesty!

Well what Dayle and I are trying to do here is to keep in touch with our friends and family back home, but as well , giving all those travellers out there the 'heads up!' on preparing for any trip.

First Advice: Plan well in advance, read up on the destination, and DON'T do any of that pre-planned crap. You know, the tours that all you have to do is show up and they take you everywhere!

Our trips have never been like that, our style is shoot-'n-scoot. Get off the plane and carve your own travel. You'll be happy you did.
Speaking of, we leave for our flight out of Toronto in about 3 days! It's getting exciting, and there's been some happy tears along the way. But we'll be back soon, (roughly 2 years from now *knock wood) you guys!

Love you, and travel safe!
- Adrian & Dayle Questionmark