Of Era Bygone - Myanmar, Inle Lake

Sept 14, 2011

Written in: Nyuong-Shwe, Inle Lake, Myanmar – on a porch of an incredibly welcoming and tranquil Queen Inn by the river

Of Era Bygone

Imagine Asia how it is often portrayed in the historical films – as it was 50-100 years ago. Golden pagodas and stupas rising up amidst the untamed jungle lush....sarong-clad men and women bathing in the river, fishermen dancing with their paddles [a unique leg-paddling style] in the slender canoes,

 barefoot maroon monks of all ages making their rounds twice daily for alms, hand-driven rice industry in blossom amidst the flooded patties where aerial root tomatoes blossom in endless rows,greenish-white bark-based sun paint on the faces young and old,

 smiles that give you an instant suntan,

 towel-wrapped heads, 

brass rings around long necks, 

the 5 AM river bustle of the farmers bringing their colourful goods from the floating villages to the local market....

Myanmar harbours many natural resources – some of the world's best gems being amongst them. Though, I'd say the most precious treasure of this golden country is its beaming-heart people. 

From the first step into this country, when a smiling emigration officer who happened to be a bright-faced young woman has generously complimented my necklace and joked with me, and a savvy 18 year-old boy from MotherLand Inn [that I e-mailed about my stay just a few hours ago] welcomed me with my name on a sign at the airport, I felt embraced by them. Their gentle touches are in all kinds of unexpected places – it is in helping a woman with her large rucksack...in sharing sunflower seeds with a neighbour on a boat,

in a little crochet key-chain that the Matriarch-Inn-keeper has made herself as a gift for her guest [me].... Burmese hospitality compares only with Indian and Nepali, in my experience. Hospitality that is based on being human – not the $$$. Simple gentle kindness that seems to emanate from the earth here and embraces by the people walking it.

The spirit here reminded me of being in the North of Laos. It may also have something to do with the strong Buddhist culture here. Cellular Buddhism, I'd say – you know – when it's not something one does once in a while [“say ten 'Hail Marys' once in a blue moon, and you are forgiven” - how one traveler I met put it] – it is there when a 2 year-old girl prostrates before a Buddha at the Shweddagon Pagoda – this is where the family hangs out on a Sunday, picnic-style.

 It's there when the monks stop by the door regularly and one fills their bowls with rice and bananas.....even if the family hardly scrapes enough to eat for the day.

 It is there in the belly-breathing I see most men doing – they study with the monks regularly, and most practice anapanasati meditation to some extent. It is in the roughly 5 monasteries per little village – as every man and woman is to become a monk at least twice in life – once as a novice [ages 10-19], and once upon turning 20 [when one can choose to be ordained as a monk]. But most of all, it is in the simple acceptance of “the way things are.” People here don't fight the Current of Life. When the sun shines, they smile. When it rains, they shrug gently and laugh that “bad news lasts no more than 7 days” [a rough translation of an oft-used Burmese proverb]. And so it goes......

Unlike the many Asian countries receiving the brunt of the tourist flow, the locals here are not jaded. Words like “innocent,” “authentic,” “present” come to mind. They are genuinely curious about the “outside world,” as most of them have never seen it. It might come as a surprise to some that most Myanmar people have never traveled around their own country – not even to the most famous places [like the Golden Rock, Shweddagon Pagoda, Inle Lake, Mandalay, Bagan]. The reason? Most likely – the cost of travel. I'd say, it's more economical than in most of Asia....and, yet, just to give you a rough idea, a simple train journey between Yangon and Mandalay would take one month of the average local's salary. That's right – about 1000 kyat [pronounced more like “jet”] or 1.5 USD/day – is what an average person lives on here. Enough for food for that day. No weekends off. No vacations. These people work every day and make barely enough to eat. Some not even that. That certainly put things in perspective for me – I've never seen that level of “economy” that close. It is in the eyes and the words of a 23 year-old woman who is in a life-less arranged marriage with 2 children. She says with sadness that if she wasn't “given out” by her parents in hope that her husband would bring some income into the family, she might have attended college. “Marriage – no good,” she says with acceptance, as she rocks her 4 month-old baby - “work too hard...”

Another thing about Myanmar is its language. Consistent with the Zen vibe of the people, it's based squarely on a circle – no pun. Nearly every letter is some form or combination of circles - circles with little bits missing, circles kissing, circles on top of circles, circles dancing....You know that posch club chain – cocoon [LINK] – the way they stylized the word to consist of just circles with some segments taken out? Well, when I got here, I got where the designers could have gotten that idea. The whole language looks like that.

Alas, in stark contrast to the beautiful people, the military's [“Junta”] presence is tangible and not so gentle. One's passport is inspected for even the shortest of the bus rides. Every bus passes a number of military gates. The “men in green” are there at the Golden Rock in the same glass sanctuary as the mantra-chanting worshipers – enforcing the over-sized sign of “LADIES PROHIBITED” near the entrance to the Golden Rock, just as they are at every other cultural landmark of significance.

ASIDE: In Burmese Buddhism, men and women have not been created equal. A woman cannot become Buddha. She needs to first re-incarnate as a man – and then she can attain Buddha-hood. Though, as one local explained, women can technically attain Nirvana, just not Buddhahood. I was a little surprised – as, I thought, once one awoke, one was “awake” - as in, “Buddha” [literally].

In contrast to the people, who embrace the white-faced guests as family, the Junta definitely lets the pale faces know where they stand – and reminds them of it at every opportunity. Like that Japanese kanji for “geigin” [there is “country” and “person,” but the person is outside of the “country” box - “out-lander,” in short]. This juxtaposition can be a bit jarring at first.

Money is a bit of a strange subject here. If you don't look Burmese, expect to pay in dollars for every service emanating from the Junta [I.e, rails, cultural landmark fees etc.] And not just any dollars. They better be just printed and crisp – or else. Most other things one can pay for in “jet” [kyat] – and some of those are so close to disintegration, that are given to you in a plastic bag. The contrast is reall amusing. More on the money “fun” later.