Burmese days- Yangon,Golden Rock and Mandalay

Sorry for the lateness of this post, we have both either been ill or glad that we aren't ill so busy!!

We had both been really looking forward to our time in Burma. Adam's Grandad had fought there in WW2 and we were both aware of the bravery of Aung San Suu Kyi. Our time in Burma turned out to be better than either of us could have imagined and we both feel far more  informed about the tragedies that have happened and continue to happen to the Burmese people. Despite these hardships the Burmese people are incredibly friendly and welcoming. The scams that are everywhere in Thailand are almost non existent and when someone comes up to say hello, they just want to know where you're from and why you decided to come to Burma.

 We started and ended our trip trip in Yangon, the former capital city of the country. We were both shattered when we got there so mainly chilled out with a nap in the hotel (I love the way you can nap whilst travelling- definitely missed nappy whilst working) we did venture out to have some Burmese tea and sticky rice in a local teashop. Teashops for the Burmese are incredibly important- it's where you go to catch up with friends and family and where many protests an political talks have started.

 
In the evening we met up with our group. Due to the difficulty of travelling around Burma we had opted to go through a tour group and as it turned out got quite a bargain!! Our tour was full and consisted of 15 people (including us) plus the tour guide, Shane.There was a nice mix of people from Germany, UK, Norway, New Zealand, Switzerland and Canada. There was also a mix of ages which was good and everyone got on well. In each stage of our journey we also had a local guide who could give us a Burmese insight and answer any of the questions that we had about Burma and the the things that we saw.

Our group

Our first day was a very busy one and we headed to the holiest site in Burma, the Shwedagon Pagoda. Not only for the Burmese is it the most important pagoda because of Buddhism it is also where the National League of Democracy (NLD) has conducted many "ïllegal"  rallies for the promotion of human rights and democracy in Burma. It was very impressive and covered in gold. We went on a Sunday, which is traditionally the day for families to go together so there was plenty of children running around. We also saw children who were off to become monks so dressed very finely.















After the pagoda we headed to the Golden rock, another very holy site for the Burmese. Up the top of a mountain is a rock which is balancing off the side of a cliff and is held up by a single strand of Buddha's hair. As this rock has survived earthquakes it may well be true!! To get there we went by coach, jeep and then finally had to walk the rest. It was pretty hard going as it was very hot and up a pretty steep slope. Luckily unlike most of our group we spotted a bit of a shortcut up some steps and so were able to break up the slope with some stairs. We were confronted with the cutest child (about 2 or 3) so far on this trip. He said hello to us and we replied Mingalaba (Hello in Burmese) He jumped about 2 feet in the air and started shouting Mingalaba at us!! It was very very cute, he couldn't believe we knew how to say anything in Burmese!


 
We were both very pleased to reach the top and to be able to have a shower before going to the golden rock (we were staying right nearby on the top of the mountain.) We reached the golden rock just before sunset and looked around. It was very busy with many Buddhist monks and nuns as well as many Burmese families who had made the pilgrimage. If you live fairly locally to the sight you are expected to attend once or twice a year, quite a mission. Only men were allowed up to the rock. The idea is that men buy gold leaf and put it on the rock in tribute to Buddha. Unfortunately Adam being the tourist that he is didn't realise this and thought the idea was to take the gold off. Not only did he end up with gold on his finger it was all over his feet!!Bad Karma!









 

 
The next morning we trundled down the hill (which seemed less evil going down and in the cool temperatures of 7am) and made our way back to Yangon. On the way we stopped at Bago to visit the very large reclining Buddha. As you can see he's pretty impressive!

We then took a flight to Mandalay via Yangon airlines where we carried on our adventures...Mandalay has many Monastries and Nunneries so is seen as very holy. All Burmese men are expected to become monks at least twice in their lives, once before they turn 15 and another time in adult life. It is seen as good merit and they learn the teachings of Buddha.  It also gives poor children the opportunity to become educated which otherwise they would probably miss out on. We visited the Monastry (which has a very big waiting list like an English public school) to watch the monks go to eat together at 10am for their main meal of the day.They cannot eat after 12. Although it was a great sight there wereother westerners there who we found very disrespectful. They had their cameras in the monk's faces and were indecently dressed. I was very embarrassed at their behaviour and so ruined the beauty for me.








We visited many attractions in Mandalay including: the biggest temple; (which was destroyed so is now the biggest pile of bricks) a teak temple; (teak is Burma's biggest export) and Mandalay hill. At one of the temples we were lucky enough to see a celebration for 2 children who were becoming novices (monks). When this happens the family dress up in beautiful, grand clothes and all wear makeup. This is meant to represent how Buddha went from grandeur to nothing in order to gain understanding.

 

 


 





 One day we ventured out to the outskirts of Mandalay to the very famous teak bridge (as seen on the cover of South East Asia on a Shoestring.)As you can see from the views it was pretty stunning.









We also ventured on to the river and took a boat ride along the Irrawaddy which was really beautiful.From our boat ride you could see how important the river was to the people who used it for cleaning, work, transport, food and fun.









In the evening we headed into town to watch a comedy troupe known as the Moustache brothers. We had heard of them through our membership of Amnesty international and were very excited to see them perform. In Burma there is a traditional form of comedy where there is a compere, dancing, slapstick humour and jokes about individuals. Unfortunately the militia government do not take kindly to this form of entertainment and jokes. The Moustache brothers performed for the NLD and soon afterwards 2 of the 3 were arrested. They have been held in prison on and off for years without trial, access to lawyers or any form of justice. With the slight relaxation of the military's treatment alongside many political prisoners they have now been released. They are finally allowed to perform their show again but there are several conditions:it must be in their home (we were in their garage) and it must be performed in English so that it is inaccessible to the Burmese population.

They are still regularly spied upon and when they made more direct references to the injustices of the government there was loud music played outside. It was a great atmosphere and the show was a great family effort. We were privileged to watch these very brave men and women perform. They asked us westerners  who have unrestricted internet and free government to share there's and the other 100s of political prisoner's stories of injustice and to share pictures of their show so here they are.













 Our favourite joke of the evening was this. He went to Thailand to visit a dentist as his teeth were sore. The dentist asked why he had to go all that way to visit a dentist and weren't there any dentists in Burma. He answered, in Burma I cannot open my mouth....


*Thanks to Robyn for her photo taking skills of us on Mandalay hill*

"It's funny, all Westerners want to go to Tiananmen Square... It's because it's the biggest square in the world!" - Fashion Glasses John

After having such a fantastic time in Mongolia all the members of our group were quite apprehensive about China. What would it be like in a communist country? Would it be as dirty as many people say? Would we all catch bird flu and die? We agreed that in the West we are constantly confronted with a negative perception of China so it would be hard not to go with some preconceptions.Thankfully this was mainly unfounded and we had an amazing time in this very busy, buzzing capital city.

 
We were met by "John" our honcho for Beijing who was about 5"3 and wore "fashion" glasses with no glass in.... That afternoon we went for a delish meal and explored the main shopping street in Beijing along with the rather exotic night market.




 
 
 

As Monique (one of our vodka train buddies) only had 1 full day in Beijing we decided to go to the 2 main tourist attractions namely the Great Wall and the Forbidden City first. The Great Wall is quieter the earlier you can get there so we started out early to get to the Mutianyu part of the wall which is meant to be slightly less busy than others. It also has a ski lift to get up and a very traditional Chinese toboggan run to get down!! It was so impressive to actually be at one of the most famous sites in the world and to see the actual size of the wall... We could never comprehend it from photos, but wow!!




 
 
 
After enjoying a walk along the wall, a super fun toboggan ride down and a bit of bartering at the market stalls that filled the walk to the car park we headed to the Forbidden City. It's name is because during the time of the Emperors, the Forbidden City was only for the emperor and his family (and presumably his servants). It is in the centre of Beijing and is absolutely massive. It makes Buckingham palace look like a doll's house!!! 


 


The following day we parted company with our honcho and ended our Vodka Train tour (Monique flew to Turkey) and we spent the day with Rachael and Anna before they headed for the Silk Road. We all went to the main shopping street for a much needed coffee for breakfast and discovered a pretty cool market full of random things to buy.
 
 
 
After a bit of haggling and coffee guzzling we headed for a walk around Beijing and ended up in a Halong neighbourhood (traditional Chinese streets/alleys) After much negotiating we got 2 rickshaws to take us for a ride which was really fun, we saw a lot of random stuff!!
 

 

 
 
 
After a well deserved lunch we headed to Tiananmen Square to see the place where students had been massacred, where that infamous photo of "Tank Man" was taken and where there is a big fat picture of Chairman Mao.
Having mentioned the square to John you could tell that he was Chinese from his response "Oh lots of tourists want to go there, as its the biggest square in the world"....sadly untrue.


 
The first day of just the 2 of us (we miss you VT guys) was spent going to various temples including the Temple of Heaven and the Lama Temple. Both were beautiful and full of people waving incense around. We were pleasantly surprised to see the freedom people apparently had with religion (it being a communist country and everything) but did notice that there was not a single picture of the Dalai Llama anywhere to be seen....



 
 
In the evening we headed to a street that had been re-modelled to look like a traditional Chinese street from the early 1900s and contained many old Beijing stores such as the original Peking duck restaurant as well as the multinationals such as H&M, Zara and of course, Starbucks (looking really out of place in the traditional building).


 

 
Our final day in China was spent at the Summer Palace and Beihai Park. Both were beautiful. The day was very cloudy and I think it was then you could truly appreciate just how polluted Beijing is.
 
 
 
 
In the evening we headed to the Olympic park and got to see the Water Cube and the Birds Nest up close. It was pretty cool to visit after all the Olympic hype of London and to see how they had maintained their Olympic park. We also spent a long time at the wall of medals which had engraved on it all the medal winners from the 2008 Olympics, however there was no velodrome cyclists at all!! We think the absence of Sir Chris Hoy, Victoria Pendleton and the other medal winners may be a conspiracy as we win all the medals, but for some reason they really were not there!!






Overall we had an absolutely amazing time in Bejing and we both would like to visit other parts of China. The people were generally really friendly (apart from the man who punched me in the boob because I wouldn't buy his knock-off book) and we often felt like celebs with the amount of photos that were taken of us!! It was amazing to see a country that is so often in the news and to see other sides to what we always see as negative. One of the things we both noticed was how well looked after and happy all the children there were. Everywhere you went you would see Grandparents/ Dads/ Families with a child looking exceptionally well looked after and cared for. The one child policy in China means I guess that the one child/Grandchild is very precious and the parents and grandparents have more money, love and time for them. Although of course this is an extreme breach of liberty and leads to terrible cases of infantcide and abandonment it was interesting to get another view on something that before our visit was to both of us only a terrible law to live with.
 
 
 
Beijing itself does not feel at all Communist as there are signs of capitalism and multinationalism everywhere. To us it felt like a very capitalist country run by an autocratic dictatorship, which I suppose in reality it is.