Mingalaba Myanmar! Or Hello Myanmar!
Some random travel observations I've made over the years is how airports give me a glimpse of the country. Dubai and Singapore, shiny and new. Burlington, VT, small and quaint. Airports in India, large and chaotic. Well, just landing in Yangon, the airport, peaceful and relaxed. Immigration officers smiling nicely, people calmly moving about. What was even more awesome and something I haven't seen since that tiny airport in this tiny town in Mongolia, was the domestic terminal both in Yangon (the capital of the country, a bit more surprising, in Bagan and Inle Lake, not as surprising), literally just had little kiosks with the airline name. Nothing electronic in site. So just kinda of stood by there and then 2 people came and had a print out (yes, a print out) of the passenger names and just checked it off and hand wrote the flight number this tag (no assigned seats), no computers in sight and no electronics. Back to the basics, love it! An ancient weighing machine weighed our luggage and then someone ... well, just took it somewhere. No conveyor belt. I don't even remember anyone even looking at passport of ID, or if so, very haphazardly. After the "check-in," and this is both going to Bagan from Yangon and Inle Lake to Yangon, while waiting for the flight, there were no signs or anything about any of the flights, so had NO idea when my flight was going. So basically, when there was a flight, someone just stood with an 8x4 handwritten paper saying the flight name, but even that was off. So basically, when people started lining up, just asked an airport staff if that was the flight. Ready, go! So old school and so... cute! I flew the local airline, Golden Myanmar, decent and short flight going to Bagan and KYZ (an Australian airline?) going back to Yangon. Arrival section at both Bagan and Yangon, NO luggage carousel. In Bagan, there was a small sign that said "luggage room," Yangon, a wee bit bigger. Both was just one by one someone bringing out the luggage. Love it! Right away I knew I would love this place.
South East Asia is a great area and almost 10 years ago (gasp! Can't believe it!), when I traveled through Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, Myanmar closed to tourists... and the world. Each of these countries have something unique yet familiar and similar about them. So when recently Myanmar "opened," and had a few people I know travel there, one by one, they kept saying how it is changing and adapting slowly yet surely to tourism. Of course that is a good thing, economic growth and it has a ton to offer, but for us that seek authenticity, best to get there sooner than later. Hence, my original Borneo travel ideas after Singapore got quickly rerouted to Myanmar and as I believe in universal signs, just at the time I was thinking about it, I happen to have a patient from Myanmar, my first one ever, but also Emirates opened up a direct flight to/from Myanmar and Dubai - awesome! It was just meant to be!
So first impressions have been spot on with how Myanmar is, it is quite rustic, yet in a nice and simple way. People are so so kind and nice, they genuinely are happy to see tourists and smile at you so kindly. Not like a smile and then a "okay, now buy something from me," but just a smile and often a giggle back if you smile back. Then of course is the "where you from?" When I say "America," many have said "Obama!" Not for long, i've said as literally it is the time of our election. I was hoping when people further ask and I say "Chicago," they say, "Chicago Cubs!" as when i was in Singapore they won the world series for the first time in 108 years and it is a HUGE celebration. Felt super homesick as it is a big united celebration of Chicagoans, even Sox fans were celebrating! It's been such a downer this year with the election, everyone extra happy to celebrate such a fun victory. Ah, I digress!
I decided to not spend any time in Yangon nor Mandalay as... well, no diss to either, but hadn't heard anything to see and do there and wanted to spend more time in Bagan and Inle Lake, so 3 nights apiece there. People had said and said when I was there both cities busy and loud, quite the opposite to these other "sleepy" towns of Bagan and Inle Lake. Sooo happy I chose those!
Bagan is known to be the most "touristy" and tourist friendly, yet having said that the streets aren't lit, it is kind of paved and kind of not, a ton of pot holes and as I have come at the tail end of rainy season, lots of muddy roads. The big thing here is the way to get around this small town full of pagoda's, push bike, electric bike, car/taxi, horse carriage, and motor bike (although I'm not sure if tourists can access motor bikes?). The first day I did a push bike to get some exercise, and when I asked about the torch to navigate in case I was out until the evening, the guy said, "it may work, it may not... probably not" and kinda laughed. Love the honesty! Anyhoo, not even by mid-day noticed my back tire went out. Wah wah. Here the local people too friendly and just took me pointing to my tire, some fuss, and out of nowhere a pump shows up and they pump my tire. I ask one person and of course within a few seconds a several other show up to see what was going on, so when I say "they" were so happy to help me, I really mean the actual person and by-standers as they all somehow seemed to be contributing, lol. My next pagoda stop led to the same thing but this time the out-of-nowhere bike pump wouldn't work and the local guy was kind enough to call my hotel to have them exchange the bike, and this is with minimal English... again, so kind and nice. Definitely feel safe here and can't mention enough how sweet the locals are, they are as curious about us as we are of them, it's so nice to see.
Besides curious themselves about us as we are of them, they often shout out "minglaba!" - hello! Quite welcoming! They also seem fairly goofy and like to joke around or take things lightly, had a few funny experiences with the locals just them being goofy. Can't go wrong with a country that don't take themselves too seriously!
Random tips/notes:
- Although I did see sporadic ATM's in Bagan and Inle Lake, it IS best to exchange your money into kyat in bigger cities like Yangon or Mandalay. They are there as well as banks of course, but... well, for me, better be safe than sorry as in previous experiences ATM not working or bank closed because of some holiday. But generally speaking, I guess I would be comfortable saying you can get money fairly easily at both Bagan and Inle Lake. Also in Myanmar, they seem to readily accept USD, seems like they even prefer it sometimes, so that is a good option (i.e. Things quoted in USD). Also note that the kyat is ONLY in Myanmar, you can't get it oversees nor can exchange it back (I think!)! So just plan ahead what you think you will need as I know plenty of people that have random kyat notes lying around that aren't worth anything.
- Visa: Online and super easy. Think it was $50USD and took 3ish days to process, and valid for 3 months from date of issue. Super easy!
- It can get quite hot and humid and rainy early to mid-Nov, so bring a hat, sunscreen, umbrella/rain jacket, and mosquito repellent! It gets kind of sticky as you can get quite sweaty cycling around, so having a little sweat face cloth comes in handy!
- The cakes on face paint on locals. It's actually not even fair to call it paint, it's actually a tree bark that has been known to offer protection from the sun. Often you see it literally as a circle on someone's cheeks, but it can also be very beautifully and intricately designed. Quite beautiful and love it that it is natural and that it is a sign of beauty as well (for both men and woman, and kids!).
P.s. I know I spoke about the airport and probably didn't make it sound too impressive, buuuuuuut that was before I headed to Terminal 1. Yangon's Int'l Terminal 1 is super SUPER nice! Modern and am very impressed with it!!! Glad to see it is up and coming :-)
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