Burma - Myanmar: The Land of “Broken Face Bills”

OK – I know that it is still early in the trip to call a favorite country… but I am doing it anyway…  Myanmar is my favorite.  And it’s on my list of top 3 South East Asian countries…up there with India (who owns my heart) and Nepal. It’s really that great. The biggest question is how will the new influx of tourists that are expected in the next year (now that the UN travel sanctions have been lifted) change this spectacularly untouched and magical country.  It is currently a real WOW!!!! I’ll try and upload my blog for this leg over the next day or so.  We are heading now to Sri Lanka (another internet wasteland) so  not sure how easy it is going to be to get my blog out.. but I will try.

We started off Day 1 - of our 4 Days in Burma / Myanmar – in Yangon (or Rangoon).   Our hotel was AMAZING.. one of those take-your-breathe-away places.  All I wanted to do was sink into the beautiful pool and nap under the umbrellas .. but no.. there were scavenges to do and points to get… so off we went. We ended up spending less than 2 hours of awake-time at this oasis – very sad!! 

Yangon is a big, bustling city but with more character than most and some great Pagodas.  We spent most of the first afternoon going to a market to buy soccer balls and school supplies and taking them to a Boy’s School (euphemism for orphanage of abandoned children).  We played with the kids (Angel organized a complete soccer game with teams and rules and everything) and then handed out the school supplies - one by one - to a group of the 5 and 6 year olds. The look on the kids’ faces, as we gave them a lined notepad and single pen, was like we handed them a bag of candy.  The administrator of the home told us that their allocated budget is 12 cents each day for each kid… TWELVE CENTS..!!!!... It breaks your heart.

My favorite part of Yangon? It’s where "The Lady" lives.  We – of course - had to go and take a picture in front of her house. I’m totally impressed with Aung San Suu Kyi and really wanted to jump the fence and just shake her hand.  Everywhere we went in Myanmar, there were pictures of her and kids wearing T-shirts with her face.  She is clearly beloved by the Burmese people.

That evening we had to go to a meditation center, learn to meditate and then actually meditate for 2 hours.  We arrived at a center to find that it was women’s only.  No panic.  The Head Nun gave us special permission for Rainey to enter.  A very nice lady – with very good English – then walked us through the fundamentals of Thai meditation (which involves a lot of calm breathing and emptying-the-mind). We then did one hour of walking meditation (stepping slowly and deliberately, back and forth, in the yard of the meditation center with over a hundred other women)  That was not so bad. It was the second hour that was my downfall. That session was inside this huge hall – with no air conditioning and temperatures over 100. We had to sit cross-legged on the floor and the Head Nun walks back and forth in front over everyone. She is the designated “No-Wiggle” police.  And worst of all… they made Rainey and I sit in the very front so everyone could clearly observe my total inability to sit still for an hour.  Plus the mosquitos were out in full force.  I tried the “Eat, Pray, Love” concept of watching the mosquito land on you, and bite you, and stay totally still through the experience but abandoned it after the first 3 or 4 bites. Then I entered full itch-and-move-and-crampy-legs phase. Forget calm breathing and empty minds. I was moving and jumping every minute or so.  I give myself a solid F- for  meditation.  I suck at it. But it was quite an experience.

Here’s the biggest problem with Myanmar.  The country is dirt poor and they are apparently determined to make everyone who visits fully experience that condition. How do they accomplish this? They make it impossible to spend money. First, there are no ATMs.  Second, there are no credit card facilities. Third, the little bit of cash that you have scrounged together before you enter Myanmar is consistently rejected because you have committed the cardinal sin of “breaking the face” by folding the bill in half.  Lest you laugh, let me assure me that I am deadly serious.  Every US bill (whether $1 or $100) is carefully inspected to make sure that there is no crease, mark, writing, tear or – worse of all – a fold down the center of the face of the person on the bill. Any “broken face bill” is summarily rejected. And rejected. And rejected.  So you enter Myanmar with what you believe is enough cash for your time there. Then 2/3rds of your money is rejected.  And suddenly… you are ordering street food and seriously considering whether you can actually afford that bottle of water that could save you from complete dehydration.

I am a dumb-dumb head and seemed to have left my laptop computer charger in Burma... URGGHHH... So unless I can figure out a solution (or April can save my butt) I may be out of contact for a while now.  That sucks because I have amazing pictures and stories about Bagan, Mandalay and Ingle Lake... Hope I get to share them.  Here's just one of the photos.... From dawn in Ingle Lake.... And from Mount Popa (outside of Mandalay).. and yes, we had to climb to the temple  on the top (of course) !!!!