Countdown to Myanmar - ideas needed please!

[Richard Barrow]

Betti rang to say she has arrived safely at the airport here in Bangkok. She flies back to Chiang Mai this evening. Unfortunately, her relations might be stuck at the airport due to flights to Europe being cancelled. And they don't speak English!

[Betti]

I'm back home now. I need to go to work tomorrow morning and there is a huge backlog of errands to run (I was in hospital before I left CM 4 weeks ago), but I promise I will write about Burma as much as I can. I suspect I will need more space in my laptop just to be able to download my photos - thousands this time.

[Betti]

first, to answer a question I didn't get to answer yesterday - the water festival in Burma, which they call Thingyan.

I arranged the whole of our stay (became quite messy this way!) so as to avoid the 4 days of water throwing (lasting from April 13 to 16). it is said to be most boisterous in Mandalay and Yangon, quite like Thailand according to photos. I did catch quite a bit in Yangon on the 16th and it is nowhere near as bad as in Chiang Mai of course. there are lots of "mobile units" roaming the streets with noisy youngsters, all the main roads have hoses and dancers and partying, BUT, very importantly, it is well possible to get around in a taxi and do some sightseeing as there is not much traffic (though not much to see in this city, Shwedagon pagoda being the only noteworthy must-see place). it is not safe to walk around the streets carrying a camera or valuables that are not sealed. usually people are respectful - a lot more respectful than I have seen in Thailand. the elderly and the Muslims, Indians went all dry, as well as people who were obviously dressed up smartly. it was mostly the pickups in the main roads and small kids in the side streets. they obviously enjoy going after farangs. after leaving my stuff in a safe place I really enjoyed walking around the neighbourhood and getting wet - it was very hot. I had never had truckloads of youngsters howling after me and coming at me with buckets and hoses quite funny. I didn't see any other farangs around. they use clean tap water and only some places add ice (which I think is sneaky and nasty). whenever I got into a little fight I was given a bucket to use. I had strangers coming up to me to wish me happy new year, one guy even kissed my hand. some like to rub ice on people's back, never an inappropriate touch. all the young males were pretty drunk but somehow the whole thing didn't get as wild and scary as in CM, not by far. it was nice.

we had spent April 13 to 15 in Bagan (accommodation in the village of Nyaung U). these are small rural areas with a small population and all the youngsters get crazy about the water festival but it is easy to avoid it and keep dry. there are 2 roads connecting Nyaung U and Old Bagan, one goes through villages, the other one is a country road. there are absolutely no people and houses along the second one. so if you ask your horse cart driver to take that one, no problems. if there are naughty kids along the road, just ask the horse cart driver to tell them not to splash and they won't. our horse was totally terrified of water so the driver yelled at the kids well ahead and they all listened. we only got hit by a stray bucket or two from kids near some of the biggest temples. inside the temples it is totally safe to carry a camera because there is no water throwing. outside it is enough to keep it in a semi-waterproof backpack, just in case. I didn't see many grownups participating in the water fights around here, it is mostly kids who do listen when someone asks them. if you want water fights, you can always walk down the village road after temple hopping and join in. so, it was a good decision to go for Bagan. I am pretty sure it would have been impossible to do sightseeing and take pics in Mandalay or Yangon at this time. Bagan is ideal for this time because you don't miss out completely on the activities but you can pretty much go ahead undisturbed with sightseeing without having to worry about cameras etc. a good compromise.

new year is on April 17th, when there are no more fights. I timed this so that we got to go to Shwedagon paya with all the crowds. it was very uplifting.

btw, there is 1 week off for all government and offices. many people go home so it is essential to book flights or buses or trains well ahead otherwise you will get stuck. also, very differently from Thailand, absolutely everything closes in Yangon for the holiday. meaning no travel agents to change money, no handicrafts market, no restaurants. we had to resort to the filthiest Indian eateries that remained open and pray that we don't end up with something nasty. (I would rather starve than eat street food in Burma.) and of course there are not even little shops where you could buy a roll or a packet of chips or anything that's not a proper meal. thankfully my mother always likes to carry around what she calls "emergency supplies", some oreos bought 2 weeks beforehand in Krabi, a can of tuna, stuff like that. I think this was the first time ever that I was allowed to eat the emergency supplies.

I haven't found a whole lot of info (while planning) about travelling during Thingyan so I hope next time someone does a search also finds it useful.

sounds like I need to get a proper card reader to be able to download all the photos I took. the USB line cannot deal with more than 1000 images at a time, it seems. just something to keep me busy, again, not that I don't have enough laps to run anyway. I should not have decided on the 8GB card, should have got a bunch of smaller ones instead. but I had no idea.