Myanmar (March 08)

We had hit a few speed bumps in planning our time in Myanmar. 

First we had booked a tour that Oceania canceled without informing us.  Fortunately we caught that one before we left home and had made other arrangements.

Upon boarding the ship we were told that our arrival time in Yangon would be noon.  The day we left Cochin it was revised to 3:00 PM, severely compromising our plans.  When Pam asked, she was told that the port had unilaterally changed our time.  A few hours later the ship's captain told us that the time had been changed due to the tide.  This smacked of falseness.  Tides can be predictable years in advance.  It stretched credibility to believe that no one had thought to check the tide when setting up the itinerary for the trip, making arrangements with the port agent, arranging tour times, etc.  

Pam & I have not been impressed with Oceania's communication skills thus far this trip and Myanmar was just latest example of why we feel that way.

As we approached the mouth of the Yangon River, through the haze we saw numerous lines of fishing vessels.  We hypothesized that they were aligned perpendicular to a current.  Each streamed a large seining net off one side of the boat.

At the mouth of the river, the water became heavily laden with sediment.  There were ships anchored awaiting a slot to head upriver as well as considerable traffic on the  river. And no, the boat in the center of the collage of river traffic was not sinking, it was just full of cargo; most likely fish.  When empty, these boats have considerable freeboard. (For landlubbers, that means you can see a lot of the side of the boat because it is floating higher in the water.)

Our pilot came from an anchored ship, arriving in a "basic" craft.

We docked in Thilawa, south of Yangon.  This was a bit of a surprise as we had thought we would be going to Yangon, but had learned that the sediment transported by the river and the substantial tidal fluctuation made that impossible for our ship.

In a tidal current cause by a range of more than ten feet, the ship pulled into the pier.  A system of flags we could not figure out was used to help the pilot and captain gauge the docking maneuvers.

We were greeted by an impressive turnout of tourist police, apparently orchestrated as a photo op.

As we waited for the ship to complete a lengthy immigration & customs clearance, from our balcony we could get our first look into interior Myanmar. 

Oceania having flip-flopped their scheduled Myanmar tours to such an extent that we were dissatisfied with the suite of tours we could arrange through them, we had arranged a private tour of Yangon.  This was particularly fortuitous given the ship's late arrival. 

(We arranged the tour through Jeanny (sm@shoreexcursions.asia) at Shore Excursions Asia (www.shoreexcursions.asia) who was most helpful and seemed genuinely concerned that we have a good experience.  We did.)

Our guide Thanda (kennavara@gmail.com) and driver YeYe met us at the bottom of the gangway.  We got into a comfortable van and were on our way.

Our first stop was the Chaukhtatgyi Reclining Buddha. 

We drove past the party headquarters of political heroine of Myanmar, Aung San Suu Kyi.  It was not an impressive building or location, but it was apparent that both our guide and driver regarded it as a special place.

We arrived at the magnificent Shwedagon Pagoda in time to see it transition from daytime to nighttime. 

(There is so much information available on this pagoda that I will forego factual information about it.  Further, I will rely mostly on my photos to recount our experience.)

Pam poured water over the day of the week on which she was born.  How did she recall which day?  Our guide Thanda had a app for that on her cellphone.

The gaudiness and at times carnival-like atmosphere at Shwedagon Pagoda were in no way disrespectful to the deeply felt religious significance this site has for the Buddhists who worship here.  A more accurate description might be a celebratory atmosphere unfettered by the omnipresent solemnity ubiquitous toreligious sites in the Western World.

In was fascinating to watch this amazing structure transition for day to night.

Having purchased a sheet of it for a few small coins, I put gold leaf on a Buddha representing my birth month.  (Fortunately my memory is still good enough that I did not need Thanda's app to figure that out.)  It was debatable whether I got more gold leaf on the statue or me.  Pam did better.

We spent another hour wandering around.

young nuns praying

As we drove away from Shwedagon Pagoda, I commented on the view.  Moments later, at the insistence of Thanda and YeYe, I was standing in the middle of a busy street with cars barreling towards me as I got a picture of it. 

We drove past Sule Pagoda.  It was undergoing renovation.  Although we had seen impressive examples of bamboo construction scaffolding in numerous other places in Asia, the size, shape and complexity of the scaffolding surrounding this pagoda was remarkable.

We continued on to Mahabandoola Park, where we disembarked the van.  We admired the architecture of some of the old colonial era buildings (including city hall, high court and telegraph office) as we walked along Mahabandoola Road and then Pasodan Road, exploring the night market set up on the sidewalk and spilling into the street.

We turned onto Strand Road, arriving at The Strand (Hotel), a world-famous hotel built in 1901.  I would have liked to get some interior pictures, but that was a bit too touristy in this grand dame.

Our last stop was to view the  Karaweik Palace Restaurant barge on Kandawgyi Lake.

Having thoroughly enjoyed out tour, making us that much more disappointed that it had to be accelerated due to the ship's late arrival, we returned to Thilawa about 10:00 PM, saying good-bye there to Thanda (right) and YeYe (left).  They did a great job.