The Amazing Union of Myanmar!

I realise I went to Myanmar/Burma a couple of weeks ago but exams, essays and ActionAid stuff has kept me pretty busy since then. I'm now in Vietnam after packing up my dorm room and leaving Green Park today. But I'll get to that later.

We left for Myanmar on Thursday Nov 26 at the crack of dawn. Literally. We saw the sun rise. And I'm not really great when it comes to early mornings. But we did it. Two Aussies, one Canadian and a crazy Finnish uni lecturer.

I don't even know how to begin to describe Myanmar. Everything I was expecting was completely wrong. We got in to the Myanmar airport around 8ish in the morning and from the second we got there, I think Danielle, Sarineh & I fell in love. Men, women and children were wearing longyi's, which is traditional clothing much like a sarong. Being in the city of Yangon, formerly Rangoon, is like stepping back in time.

I won't go too far into the details of what we did, because I'd be typing forever. We were on the go constantly. One the first day we had a traditional Burmese breakfast of fish soup. Well, I didn't. I can't bring myself to eat seafood no matter what. Ever. Even if it means I'm being impolite. I just can't do it. But I did drink tea. Even though I swore I'd never drink tea because that would mean I was old. Only Nanna's drink tea. We went to a school where our uni teacher gave a lecture in Buddhism, had lunch with our awesome new Burmese friends, went to the National Museum which reminded us of Night At The Museum. We had a strange little guide who was wearing his longyi and a pair of Ray Bans. Inside. Despite the fact that there wasn't enough light for us to see anything properly. Weird. And then Marja-Leena (our teacher) and her friend Dr Pe Win took us to the Shwedagon Pagoda. Dr Pe Win was one of the funniest people I've ever met. He had this nervous little giggle that we don't think was actually nervous at all, that was just how it sounded. Everytime he laughed, the three of us (Danielle, Sarineh & I) looked at each other smirking like little kids. The Pagoda was incredible. Seriously, if you ever get the chance, I highly recommend it. And if Burma seems a little too far to go for some Pagoda action, Google it. It's unbelievable. After Chinese food and some Myanmar Beer it was off to bed.

For those of you who don't know, Myanmar's electricity is... well, lets just say dodgy. Every house, business and hotel needs a generator because the state-owned electrical system will only work for a few hours a day. It cuts out without warning and when the generator kicked in the lights all came on and scared the hell out us.

Day 2 was just as busy, if not more so. We paid a visit to the Shalom Foundation, a local NGO. After a discussion with one of the staff members, we found out that they work with ActionAid Myanmar and off we headed to the ActionAid office! I became a total Development Studies geek and was so excited. For those of you who haven't been following my blog or haven't been pestered by my non-stop facebook messages, I'm hoping to get a position with ActionAid Australia as their next Project TOTO Outreach Blogger so for me, a visit to the Myanmar branch was awesome. We met the manager of field operations, Sital Kumar, who could not have been nicer to us. Despite the fact we just turned up at his office unannounced and without an appointment, he spent a great deal of time discussing ActionAid's work in Myanmar, particularly rebuilding the areas that were hit by Cyclone Nargis in May 2008 and killed at least 100,000 people. Seeing ActionAid at work and learning about the way they have helped the wonderful, friendly people of Myanmar was quite possibly the highlight of the trip!

We visited another organisation and met Marja-Leena's Burmese teacher, Jennifer for dinner. We went to an awesome Nepalese restaurant. Well, it was awesome till we had finished eating and then I saw 2 giant rats running along between the walls and the tables. Yummy. But, hey, the food was good, and no one got sick! We had met a nice Dutch guy that was staying at our guesthouse the night before and we spent the rest of the night having some more Myanmar Beer on the roof. All fun and games til you wake up the other guests and get in to trouble like little kids. Whoops.

Day 3 was just as busy and just as exhausting as the previous days. A visit to an Armenian church for Sarineh and then a driving tour of Yangon. We went to a lake that literally could've been anywhere in the world. Sailing boats, a rowing club, beautiful weather. But we couldn't stay, more to see, more to do! We met Mimi's mum (Mimi is a fellow student at MUIC and is originally from Myanmar, her mum still lives there) and had Indian food for lunch. God I love Indian food. I could eat it anytime, anywhere. And this place just kept bringing the food whenever you finished some. Awesome.

Lunch was followed by shopping at the Aung San Markets, getting Indian sweets and sitting down at a little tea shop, in little chairs with little tables. A quick rest and we were off again! This time to the Myanmar Institute of Theology for their Christmas fundraiser/fair. Moments of pure gold were had that night. From choc mint ice cream, to the man-powered ferris wheel. That's right. Man powered. No motor, no engine. Just a bunch of guys. Picture a hamster wheel. One of those little wheels that you buy for a pet mouse. Now turn it into a full sized ferris wheel but substitute mice or hamsters for people. I refused to go on when I heard that some of it was held together with things akin to twist ties that you use on plastic bags. Erm.. thanks but I'll pass. We played some side shows, I won a soap holder thing (score!) and then it was off for a night out!

We headed to a bar named Mr Guitar, live accoustic music, beer, fries. What more could you ask for? Shame it couldn't last because our flight back to Thailand was early the next morning.

I must say that Myanmar is possibly my new favourite place in the world. The people are so lovely, so generous, and so accommodating. The city is green, much cleaner than Bangkok and is a crazy mix of old and new. Mostly old. :) If you ever get the chance, don't hesitate. Just go! Don't listen to those who tell you that you should boycott and don't be put off by those visa horror stories. It's totally worth it.

And now I'm sitting in a hotel room in Ho Chi Minh city. The trimester finished with much stress and people were planning what they were going to when they left Green Park. I had a minor freak out about being homeless and alone and booked a tour of Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand, kind of on a whim. Some of the other girls from the dorm left over the last few days, many, many tears were shed especially for those who won't still be around when I get back to Thailand. It's amazing how close we've all become in such a short space of time. We've likened it to Big Brother. You're crammed together 24/7 and have no choice but to become friends.

So my tour starts tomorrow. Exciting, but nerve-wracking at the same time. I've gone from having friends around me all the time to being totally alone. But, hey, it's meant to be character building right??

Missing you all!!
xoxo