An incredible day

An incredible day

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Yangon, (Rangoon), Myanmar

It is extremely special that we are visiting Myanmar, or as I will call it- Burma. This country has been governed by the military since 1962. A coup in 1988 simply replaced one military government with another- this one even more oppressive to the Burmese people. In 1990 the military junta that governs Burma agreed to have free and fair elections. They took place and the people elected the National League for Democracy (NLD) to office, lead by Aung San Suu Kyi. Suu Kyi and other NLD members were never handed the reigns of the government and were instead jailed or put under house arrest as political prisoners. The Burmese people under the military government have virtually no basic rights and live in fear. There is ZERO tolerance for any political dissent. The West has economic sanctions against Burma in attempts to strangle the government over time and in this way press for democracy. Sanctions are a very controversial topic�many would argue that this has hurt the people of Burma more than the government. Sanctions on Burma have simply caused the country to lean farther towards China.

This trip to Burma is unprecedented. Semester @ Sea has never docked in Burma. We represent the largest group of foreign students that have been allowed to enter Burma since 1988 and perhaps earlier. By docking in Burma we tripled the amount of Americans currently in the country. Our decision to come here is controversial. Many claim that tourist dollars simply end up in the hands of the military government. Others claim that the extreme isolation from the West in Burma must end if there is ever to be any change, and tourism is a vital link to the outside world for the Burmese people. Semester @ Sea has been as careful as possible in organizing our visit to minimize the amount of money directly going to the government.

I woke up early yesterday morning to witness our ship enter the Ayeyarwady River as it prepared to dock. The green waters of the Indian Ocean became muddy brown as we headed up the river. Flat green rice patties were interrupted by the occasional golden domes and points of Buddhist pagodas. Burma's population is 87% Buddhist.

A team of 7 from the US embassy (even though we officially don't recognize Myanmar) entered our ship to brief us on the current situation in the area.

I didn't get off the ship until around 4pm. There is a 40 minute shuttle that takes us from the port to the city. I headed downtown to stay the night with my friends Greg, Fernanda and Brent. We were dropped of in the heart of downtown and then walked towards People's Park. It was already evening by this time and so we headed north to get away from downtown and find a place to stay for the night. A hotel we picked out of the LP guide was now out of business, so we stayed at another place we saw on the way (after first finding out it was not government owned).

The four of us headed down the street and found a Thai restaurant to eat at. The food was great and amazingly cheap. We stopped for coffee on the way back to the hotel and had a low key night in the hotel room.

Fernanda and Brent left Greg and I early in the morning because both had to meet up with S@S daytrips. Greg and I had breakfast at the hotel and then headed north on foot towards the University of Yangon in search of a glass blowing factory recommended by the LP. Buddhist monks are a common sight all over the city. We walked the streets of Yangon for over an hour and the lack of English street names was making it hard to gauge where we needed to turn to find the glass factory. We gave up and finally asked a cab to take us to the township that it was located in. We had in fact been really close to it. We asked the cab driver to stop when we spotted the small sign for it.

We entered a dirt driveway surrounded by jungle. A few small hut homes were near the path with a few women and children going about their business. We continued down the path a little confused and unsure where to go. To our left we noticed huge mounds of glass scraps from various bottles. There was more and more of these mounds as we continued down the path until finally a man saw us and waved us toward him.

An older man welcomed us to the Na-Gar glass factory. He spoke fluent English and explained to us that this was his family's business since 1953. Na-Gar means dragon in Burmese and is associated with Friday. His father, who started the factory, was born on a Friday and thus named the factory after the animal associated with that day. The day of the week that you were born on is very important to the Burmese and children are often given the name of the day of the week which they were born. The man's name was Sane Ne (Saturday) and the animal for his name is the guinea pig. Sane Ne offered us a tour of his factory.

He took us into a large open air structure where there were many people at work, scattered amongst furnaces to heat the glass. Sane Ne explained the process as several glass blowers molded bottles, bowls, tubes, and other various objects. He had one of the most experienced blowers make a fish that hangs on the wall and holds flowers. It was incredible to see how fast, precise and artistic the blowers worked. Sane Ne showed us around some more and explained the finishing process as well as the business aspects of his factory. He exports through a local exporter to Europe, Australia and other parts of Asia. He has a lot of local customers as well, mainly restaurants.

In Yangon there is a massive reclining Buddha shrine. Sane Ne told us that in 1971-72 his family made the eyes for the Buddha. The massive eyes took 3 months to make and a special oven had to be made to produce them. He encouraged us to go check it out while we were in town.

In the factory there was finished glass pieces stacked everywhere. Back in the entry portion of the factory he pulled out a photo of the astronaut John Glenn and his family. When Glenn was in his 30's he visited and toured the factory. The photo was passed on in the family.

After a few purchases we chatted for a while more and then said our good-byes to Sane Ne and the Na-Gar Glass Factory. We walked away back down the path we had entered and looked at the glass mounds once again on the way out.

Next, we checked out the Chaukhtatgyi Paya where the reclining Buddha that Sane Ne had told us about resides. Upon entering we removed our shoes and socks. Several locals were present and at prayer or meditation. The place was very peaceful and the Buddha was HUGE. As Greg and I made our way to the backside of the figure a man approached us and struck up conversation.

The man inquired where we were from and told us that he was an aspiring lawyer in Yangon. This man told us that he frequents the pagodas and shrines in Yangon in hopes of meeting tourists to practice his English. He told us he hoped to finish his studies and had turned to the internet to try to get an education. The universities in Burma have been closed by the government for 8 of the last 10 years (at any sign of student opposition to the govt. universities are simply shut down). When he felt it was safe, the man started to talk to us about politics. Two guards were in the vicinity but not paying any attention to us. He told us that we were young and had opportunities and that the people of Burma had no such opportunities. He repeated several times to us in a soft voice that the people in Burma were very oppressed by the government. He went on to say that most of the people wanted to leave the country but couldn't. He told us these things in a calm, collected manner. He was simply seeking to inform us. After this conversation he walked with us and wished us off.

We went to another Buddhist shrine nearby and then picked up some lunch before taking a cab to central downtown. Our cab driver told us in the little English that he knew that he did not like the military government.

Downtown, we walked some streets for a while amidst the daily hustle of vendors. We killed a few hours walking the streets occasionally stopping by book vendors to see what kinds of books were available to the locals. Much of them were books on learning English and math. Burmese seem so eager to learn and many came up to me throughout the day just to say hi and practice a few words of English.

Eventually we made it to a clothing market area. Almost all Burmese men wear what is called a longyi. It basically is a tube of cloth that is wrapped and tuck around the waist and looks like a long skirt. This is the traditional dress of the Burmese and I would guess 9/10 men wear them instead of western style trousers. Longyis are ideal in the heat and humidity of Burma. I approached and asked a young man how to tie a longyi and all of the sudden I was surrounded by six or seven young men all eager to show me. They laughed as they taught me and they had me tie the ones they were wearing. They brought one out to me and put it on me and showed me how to tie it, giggling the whole time. I paid for the longyi and they gave me smiles and thumbs up as I left the store. Many locals saw me and smiled as they looked at me wearing a longyi. It was so much fun.

We had a cup of coffee before heading to the shuttle bus back to the ship. Tomorrow I am flying to Mandalay, Burma to stay for 2 days.

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