A Taste of Burma, 18 - 29 April 2007
Hootoksi Tyabji
Memories of my childhood are dominated by our summer vacations in Bangalore where my grandparents lived. My parents would put my sister, brother, and I on the train along with our faithful companion Cathy, and off we would go for a month or so on our annual holiday. Sometimes our cousins Cyrus, Anahit and Kaikoo would join us, but most often it was just us three!
I remember sitting cross legged on the floor in our large bedroom in an old Bungalow on 16 Davis Road. My grandparents had named it “The Gift” and had moved to Bangalore when Grandpa retired. “The Gift” sat in a beautiful garden dominated by a very large pine tree that you could see from the top of the road a long way before you arrived at the bungalow. Set aside in the back corner of the garden was a little two bed-roomed cottage. In it lived Loga, Esther and their families. Loga would brush and oil my hair while I sat on the floor and she would tell me stories about her beloved Burma. It was from her and from Esther that I learned about golden pagodas, wide rivers, abundant fields, tree lined streets and scented flowers. These two kind and gentle ladies introduced me to Uno Cow Swey which I love to this day, and I promised them that when I grew up, I would take them both back to Burma with me!
When the Japanese invaded Burma, Loga and Esther along with thousands of others had fled. They walked for several months through thick jungle, over hard burning plains, through mountain passes and across raging rivers, escorted by Burmese and British soldiers, haunted by memories of lives, and loves abandoned. Women and children were permitted to leave the country, but men over 19 had to remain. Loga, Esther & a few other family members, walked into India and by some chance, arrived at my grandparents’ doorstep in Bangalore; they were destitute and in need of help and work. My grandma offered them the little cottage behind her bungalow and later they were joined by some male members of their family. I know that several among them were highly qualified, there was a doctor and an engineer, but I only knew Loga and Esther as they worked in my grandparents’ home.
The two ladies were always beautifully dressed, and they always wore jasmine flowers in their hair. Sadly, I don’t have any photographs of them, but I can still vividly picture their faces and have never forgotten their many kindnesses to my siblings and to me.
Another reminder of Burma came from bumping along pot-holed roads in our Consul car, my parents in the front seat and the three of us packed in behind. One of the songs we used to belt out as we drove was “On the Road to Mandalay.”
On the road to Mandalay
Where the flying fishes play
And the dawn comes up like thunder
Out of China across the bay
And those crazy bells keep ringing
'Cause it's there I long to be
By the egg Moulmein pagoda
Looking eastward to the sea.
It was only in 2007 that I was finally able to fulfill my dream of visiting Burma, and these childhood memories came flooding back as I planned our trip.
In 2007 Aung San Suu Kyi was still under house arrest and we were told we had to be overly cautious of who we spoke to and what we talked about. Politics was taboo, petrol was strictly rationed, no medicines were available except for a few which were sold in markets on the street, and everyone was a potential spy! The government wanted the funds that tourism would bring, and I wanted to ensure that the money we spent, went to individuals rather than corporations beholden to the government, or to relatives and friends of the ruling junta. To do this I had to organise our trip without using a tour company and this was challenging as Burma was only just opening to the outside world. There was little information available on hotels and places to stay on the internet and what we read was mostly what the government wanted us to read. Despite this, I was able to find small guest houses individually owned and run, except for the main tourist attraction in Bagan where we were forced to stay at a government owned hotel.
We travelled by plane, car, boat, tuk tuk, (auto rickshaws) and in tongas (horse drawn carriages). We visited Yangon, Heho, Inle Lake, Mandalay, Pyin U Lwin, Bagan and Mt. Popa. Pyin, U Lwin was off the tourist map, I had read about it in a novel some time ago. It was a beautiful hill station in the Shan highlands not far from Mandalay reminiscent of the colonial days with a fabulous botanical garden in full bloom! We marvelled at temples, monasteries, stupas pagodas, churches, and mosques. Ruins, ancient brick and stone pagodas, new concrete pagodas, wooden monasteries, even a “Jumping Cat” monastery where the monks have taught the resident cats some tricks! We saw hundreds of Buddha statues, some huge, others small: carved, gilded, painted, encrusted with 24-carat gold leaf, some surrounded by haloes with flashing lights, many standing, some lying down, and several sitting in every pose and posture. We went to markets teeming with humanity, people from minority groups dressed in their traditional outfits, and old women smoking thick cheroots. We walked city streets, attended a marionette theatre with fabulous puppets, visited a Padaung tribal home where the women stretch their necks with neck rings, a cheroot factory, a lacquerware workshop, a toddy still, a glass factory, and we even enjoyed a luxury afternoon tea at Mandalay's famous Strand Hotel where the ghosts of the British still lurk about!
Of the sites we visited, two stand out and will forever be etched in my memory: Bagan at sunset, and Shwe Inn Thein with its myriad weather-beaten stupas on the southwestern side of Inle Lake.
Inle Lake is quaint and dominated by Nyaungshwe the main town from where we hired a long boat to explore the lake and its many villages. Although being on the lake was extremely hot, watching the watery world glide by with an ever so faint a breeze, made it dreamlike and wonderful! Our boatman navigated through many narrow channels lined on both sides with stilted houses. The tour of these "streets" gave us an intimate glimpse into the lives of the people. At one point we stopped in the middle of the lake to watch how the fishermen trap and spear fish, and we also saw small boats being rowed and steered by men balanced precariously on one leg with the other wrapped around a single oar! These “leg rowers” propel their vessels leaving both hands free to handle their fishing nets, basket traps and spears. Quite an amazing sight! Against a backdrop of hills and the flash of gold from a pagoda in the distance, we passed through watery fields of vegetables, predominantly tomatoes, being grown in the lake rather than on soil, beautiful two and three storied houses built of teak and raised above the water on stilts, quaint wooden bridges gliding by overhead, water buffaloes wallowing alongside children splashing, women washing clothes and bathing, a lone rider on a buffalo, and stupas silhouetted on the horizon.
We discovered Shwe Inn Thein on our second day at Inle Lake. The boat ride down the lake and then along a narrow, winding channel was quite thrilling as it involved rowing up stream through a number of weirs (low head dams) over which the water flowed at the top, and then cascaded down several feet! After docking, we walked along a wide, covered passage with wooden pillars leading up a hill to the monastery past a stunning collection of weather-beaten stupas. Some of the Buddha statues were decapitated but many were in their original state and beautifully preserved. At the top of the hill we were treated to some terrific views across the lake to what seemed the edge of the world! I felt I was in a magical kingdom as I walked around the stupas, pausing to take pictures, and accidently discovering amazing works of art in the carving, features and posture of Buddha statues concealed in each stupa.
And then ..... Bagan!!
“Bagan is an ancient city and a UNESCO World Heritage Site located in the Mandalay Region of Myanmar. From the 9th to 13th centuries, the city was the capital of the Pagan Kingdom, the first kingdom that unified the regions that would later constitute modern Myanmar. During the kingdom's height between the 11th and 13th centuries, 4,446 Buddhist temples, pagodas, and monasteries were constructed in the Bagan plains alone, of which the remains of 3,822 temples and pagodas still survive to the present day” - Wikipedia.
What can I say to adequately convey the sight before us on that sunset evening? The spectacle is forever imprinted on my mind. I could visit it a hundred times and still see something new and different each time.
We stayed at the Bagan Thande Hotel, beautifully located overlooking the Ayeyarwady river in old Bagan, at the very core of the Archaeological Zone which contains the main temple sites.
The best way to explore this vast area would be on bicycles but it was too hot for that at this time of year, so we explored first by taxi and then in a horse carriage which was perfect because of the slow pace of the ride and the height of the carriage from where we got a better view.
On our last evening we climbed onto the roof of the Pyathada Paya (stupa) from where we got a panoramic view of the entire site: hundreds of pagodas, temples and stupas scattered across the plain as far as the eye could see! We sat on the ramparts and watched the sun go down as it bathed the land and the ancient buildings in ever-changing colours. Gazing downwards, we saw movement in the distance and the faint sound of horses’ hooves as they pulled their carriages along the rutted road far below. I felt I was on a set of a biblical film extravaganza!
In addition to the beautiful sights, the majesty of the ancient trees standing proud and tall, we thoroughly enjoyed our interaction with the people.The men dressed in their traditional laungyi with their shirts tucked in and the women also in Laungyi’s with a blouse hanging over it. Most wear scented flowers in their hair and thanakha on their faces. This white paste, made by grinding the wood of the Thanakha tree, is applied as a cosmetic, sunscreen and perfume. Gitanjali, Nigs and I applied it on our faces, and it felt cool and wonderful!
Young, old, Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim, Christian, rich or poor; hotel staff, taxi drivers, worshippers, people in the street – they all had time for us and it was this generous spirit of the Burmese people that made the greatest impression on us all.
On our last evening in Yangon, we went on a sunset cruise on the Ayeyarwady river. The boat was an old tub and soon after we sailed there was a squall which caused the lights to go out! I accidently tripped and fell on the steel deck, fracturing two toes on my right foot and the pain was terrible! It was however eased by the outpouring of loving kindness by the waiters and staff on board. They could not do enough for me and as there was no medical kit on board, they bound my foot with a strip torn from a tablecloth! One of the waiters fetched a jar of balm and later helped carry me down the stairs and into a taxi. He repeatedly refused the money we offered him saying "I don’t like this money," and eventually turned on his heel and walked away.
The Burmese people are poor, their living conditions are harsh, their lives are dictated by a repressive regime that punishes and tortures dissent. Despite this, they find it in their hearts to smile and say "thank you” for the smallest consideration. They live their lives in silent acceptance and pour their energies and their earnings into worship in the conviction that someday their lives will change for the better, because they implicitly believe that one day, Buddha will dispel the darkness and deliver them into the light!
