Well here I am, in Myanmar, the so called Golden Land. I feel more like a stranger in a strange land. First impressions, it looked very different as soon as I exited the airport. Hardly any traffic, even though it was about midnight on Friday. Along a couple of main roads, still no traffic, then a mind boggling series of twisty alleyways, no cars, no lights, no people. Weird! Finally arriving at my hotel, I turned the aircon up to max, had a quick shower and sacked out. Even though I was supposed to leave Adelaide at the gentlemanly hour of 1pm, the body clock was now saying 3.30am, and I was fairly knackered.
My plane was delayed by about an hour, for "safety reasons". Suits me, fix it on the ground, guys. Nine hours and two movies later, I arrived in Hong Kong. I didn't have a window seat and couldn't see a thing. A view of the lights would have been nice, since the only other time I have ever been to Honkers was 1977, a lazy 41 years ago, and I had my twenty fifth birthday there. I imagine it must be vastly different now. The airport certainly was. Back then, I flew into the old Kai Tak airport, down below the buildings, looking up into people's lounge rooms, and thinking the wingtip was going to collect somebody's laundry drying on one of the umpteen balconies. It was certainly memorable!
This time I arrived at gate 60-something, and had to transit, go through security again and then make my way to gate 504. None of the money changing places would touch Burmese currency. Hmm, there's a clue. I could tell the flights to Myanmar left from a forgotten part of the airport. I walked for miles down endless corridors, many of the shops were shut, hardly anybody else around, save the odd guy leaning forlornly on a mop. I was starting to see tumbleweeds blowing around, and half expected to see a skeleton or two. Finally made it to the end, where there was a waiting shuttle bus full of diesel fumes. A mobile gas chamber. Across to another terminal, miraculously without asphyxiating, this one even more deserted than the first one, for a by this stage 45 min wait. Finally got aboard and we started moving again at last. The plane took so long to get out to the runway, and made so many turns, while passing umpteen other buildings and parked planes, that I thought the pilots were seriously considering driving all the way to Myanmar.
At one point in the journey, I was able to look out and see forty or fifty strange sets of lights, like inverted letter V's, lit up in red. No other city type lights were visible, and I would love to know what it was all about. Guess I'll never know. In the baggage hall, the overhead sign said collect the bags from carousel number 3, but they came out on number 5. I then tried to get some money changed, but the change guy was just closing, despite a busy terminal. This is Asia, folks, and it moves to its own rhythm. So my prearranged guide who I had only just met, lent me 50,000 kyat, which sounds like a lot and looks like a lot, except it isn't, apparently. So hopefully I can pay him back tonight. So far I haven't seen anything I might want to buy. Exiting the airport, every cop I saw (and there were quite a few despite the late hour) was tooled up with the ever popular AK-47, Russia's greatest export. Although these might have been cheap Chinese knock-offs. Its a serious bit of gear though.
So after a good night's sleep, I ventured out into the daylight to see where the hell I was. Its a dog's breakfast out there. Not a straight bit of road to be found. Fearful of getting lost, I only walked so far, then doubled back. Then I tried the other side of the hotel, and kept going till I reached the point I had turned around on the first go. I have just walked around the block, and I feel very proud of myself. My conclusions thus far:
Burmese writing. It's like I said.
Now that's a drain! Just be grateful you can't smell it.
That's my hotel, The Classique Inn, I'm in the bit on the right. How about those columns !
Here are some random shots from my walk this morning.
See what I mean about the paint and the razor wire. Pretty handy security gates and all.
Ritzy neighborhood, eh?
PART 2
The tourism bit has started. Just visited the Schwedagon Pagoda, and its mightily impressive, and the place was packed. To give you a sense of scale, the top is 99 metres above the bottom, that's about a 30 storey building. Like a lot of the stuff I've seen, its all in the timing. Unfortunately the main stupa was covered in bamboo scaffolding. Apparently every three years they have to renew the gold leaf. And there is so much of it, it weighs in the tonnes, apparently. The top of the spire is encrusted with diamonds as well. It appears to me that all over the world, deities are not to be pissed off and in fact they deserve to be appeased with nothing but the best, lest they turn their wrath on the general populace. I much prefer science, and speaking of which, the scaffolding itself was even better than science, it was a work of art. They do this all over Asia, and its amazing. Too much damage would be caused in this case using conventional steel scaffolding, especially if you used boofhead Aussie riggers. So horses for courses. It was late in the day and the light wasn't the best for photos, but enjoy.
Neat clouds, huh?
Technology marches on. The latest LED disco lighting flashing garishly around a statue of the Buddha. I'm still trying to figure out what he might have thought about it. It's a bit over the top, but I reckon its alright ! I'd like to put some lights like that on the bike.
Interesting that you have to take your shoes and socks off, leave them at a counter, and walk around the whole area (which is paved with marble tiles) in bare feet. It doesn't pay to think too deeply about what you're walking in, because there were hundreds of people there. When you collect your shoes, they give you a few "wet ones" to wipe your feet. They instantly turn from white to black. Eerck! Etiquette demands the same at my hotel, although its a lot cleaner. I don't like it, but when in Rome...
Finished the night off with a visit to a much busier downtown area, where it was buzzing. Much more of what had been lacking in my suburban retreat. I must be getting soft. Really, I mean it. I've eaten street food all over Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam with no ill effects, but I wasn't prepared to eat any of the food on offer in this street. Lots of sartee type stuff which I wasn't prepared to gamble on. Maybe it was the indescribable stench coming from the overfull dumpsters at the entry to the street that killed my appetite. I settled for beer, and there was nothing wrong with that.
My plane was delayed by about an hour, for "safety reasons". Suits me, fix it on the ground, guys. Nine hours and two movies later, I arrived in Hong Kong. I didn't have a window seat and couldn't see a thing. A view of the lights would have been nice, since the only other time I have ever been to Honkers was 1977, a lazy 41 years ago, and I had my twenty fifth birthday there. I imagine it must be vastly different now. The airport certainly was. Back then, I flew into the old Kai Tak airport, down below the buildings, looking up into people's lounge rooms, and thinking the wingtip was going to collect somebody's laundry drying on one of the umpteen balconies. It was certainly memorable!
This time I arrived at gate 60-something, and had to transit, go through security again and then make my way to gate 504. None of the money changing places would touch Burmese currency. Hmm, there's a clue. I could tell the flights to Myanmar left from a forgotten part of the airport. I walked for miles down endless corridors, many of the shops were shut, hardly anybody else around, save the odd guy leaning forlornly on a mop. I was starting to see tumbleweeds blowing around, and half expected to see a skeleton or two. Finally made it to the end, where there was a waiting shuttle bus full of diesel fumes. A mobile gas chamber. Across to another terminal, miraculously without asphyxiating, this one even more deserted than the first one, for a by this stage 45 min wait. Finally got aboard and we started moving again at last. The plane took so long to get out to the runway, and made so many turns, while passing umpteen other buildings and parked planes, that I thought the pilots were seriously considering driving all the way to Myanmar.
At one point in the journey, I was able to look out and see forty or fifty strange sets of lights, like inverted letter V's, lit up in red. No other city type lights were visible, and I would love to know what it was all about. Guess I'll never know. In the baggage hall, the overhead sign said collect the bags from carousel number 3, but they came out on number 5. I then tried to get some money changed, but the change guy was just closing, despite a busy terminal. This is Asia, folks, and it moves to its own rhythm. So my prearranged guide who I had only just met, lent me 50,000 kyat, which sounds like a lot and looks like a lot, except it isn't, apparently. So hopefully I can pay him back tonight. So far I haven't seen anything I might want to buy. Exiting the airport, every cop I saw (and there were quite a few despite the late hour) was tooled up with the ever popular AK-47, Russia's greatest export. Although these might have been cheap Chinese knock-offs. Its a serious bit of gear though.
So after a good night's sleep, I ventured out into the daylight to see where the hell I was. Its a dog's breakfast out there. Not a straight bit of road to be found. Fearful of getting lost, I only walked so far, then doubled back. Then I tried the other side of the hotel, and kept going till I reached the point I had turned around on the first go. I have just walked around the block, and I feel very proud of myself. My conclusions thus far:
- I was reminded of Bangkok, circa 1977. Very foreign and tourist/user unfriendly.
- It is really easy to get lost.
- If there are any shops or bars or restaurants, they are very well hidden.
- If you sold paint, you'd be out of business in three months. But if you sold razor wire, you'd be laughing.
- The Burmese written language looks to me like every possible word is nothing more than a variable length combination of the words coco, cocoon, swoop and the numbers 6 and 8.
- The all pervading stench coming from the very deep, open drains is not possible to describe without causing offence. (Sure, I could give it a go!)
Burmese writing. It's like I said.
Now that's a drain! Just be grateful you can't smell it.
Here are some random shots from my walk this morning.
See what I mean about the paint and the razor wire. Pretty handy security gates and all.
I saw lots of very big trees around this part of town, probably for the shade. Lots of them are being being attacked by strangler figs, like this.
Ritzy neighborhood, eh?
PART 2
The tourism bit has started. Just visited the Schwedagon Pagoda, and its mightily impressive, and the place was packed. To give you a sense of scale, the top is 99 metres above the bottom, that's about a 30 storey building. Like a lot of the stuff I've seen, its all in the timing. Unfortunately the main stupa was covered in bamboo scaffolding. Apparently every three years they have to renew the gold leaf. And there is so much of it, it weighs in the tonnes, apparently. The top of the spire is encrusted with diamonds as well. It appears to me that all over the world, deities are not to be pissed off and in fact they deserve to be appeased with nothing but the best, lest they turn their wrath on the general populace. I much prefer science, and speaking of which, the scaffolding itself was even better than science, it was a work of art. They do this all over Asia, and its amazing. Too much damage would be caused in this case using conventional steel scaffolding, especially if you used boofhead Aussie riggers. So horses for courses. It was late in the day and the light wasn't the best for photos, but enjoy.
Technology marches on. The latest LED disco lighting flashing garishly around a statue of the Buddha. I'm still trying to figure out what he might have thought about it. It's a bit over the top, but I reckon its alright ! I'd like to put some lights like that on the bike.
Interesting that you have to take your shoes and socks off, leave them at a counter, and walk around the whole area (which is paved with marble tiles) in bare feet. It doesn't pay to think too deeply about what you're walking in, because there were hundreds of people there. When you collect your shoes, they give you a few "wet ones" to wipe your feet. They instantly turn from white to black. Eerck! Etiquette demands the same at my hotel, although its a lot cleaner. I don't like it, but when in Rome...
Finished the night off with a visit to a much busier downtown area, where it was buzzing. Much more of what had been lacking in my suburban retreat. I must be getting soft. Really, I mean it. I've eaten street food all over Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam with no ill effects, but I wasn't prepared to eat any of the food on offer in this street. Lots of sartee type stuff which I wasn't prepared to gamble on. Maybe it was the indescribable stench coming from the overfull dumpsters at the entry to the street that killed my appetite. I settled for beer, and there was nothing wrong with that.
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