Knowing very little about this country before we arrived I thought I would be prepared for anything, but I ended up being quite surprised. I spent most of my time on Inle Lake in an area of the country known as the Shan state. This is an entirely rural area sparsely populated by villages. The lake is shallow and large at the bottom of a valley and many of the inhabitants live on the lake- that is, they have houses built on stilts over the water and use long, shallow boats as their main source of transportation. We spent a great deal of time touring around different parts of the lake in boats, visiting markets, pagodas, and monasteries. I know that nothing I say about the place will spark even the slightest bit of comprehension about the beauty of the area, but it was truly magnificent. Being the end of the monsoon season everything was very green. Looking out across the valley and up on the mountains you could see various gold spires that are the mark of a pagoda (Myanmar is supposedly the land of a million pagodas), the weather was rainy so the mountains were shrouded in mist, and everything about the way of life was simple and graceful- the boats, the rice fields, the monks (I swear I could FEEL the Buddhism in these people)… I know this all sounds too good to be true, and in a lot of ways it was. The country has some serious problems, they just weren’t obvious in that area.
I’ll share a little of what I learned about the country since I found it so fascinating: it is currently under military rule and has been for some time. It used to be a British colony and was apparently very prosperous and productive as the #1 rice producer in the world, but after receiving independence the country kind of recoiled within itself because the people were so afraid another foreign invasion and the economy pretty much crumbled. Myanmar is now one of the largest producers of heroin. The government is supposedly taking action against the issue, but is also reported to be receiving large amounts of $ from the drug lords through the back door. The people have been subjected to the ridiculous laws and whims of the regime, most significantly when they decided to hold democratic elections and Aung San Suu Kyi, a member of the National League for Democracy party, was elected by an overwhelming majority, and the military placed her under house arrest and went on running the country.
The city of Yangon, our port, was a busy, crowded place with not a lot of apparent wealth and tons of street vendors and markets, although a lot of the stuff isn’t really anything worth buying. Our first day in the city we met a man who was eager to both practice his English and tell us about his country, so he showed us his favorite restaurant for dinner, after which he took us to the nearby Sule Pagoda and led us through a short meditation session. It was great to have such a willing and informative guide, and the pagoda at night was strikingly beautiful, with all of the gold spires lit up against a black sky. Although it was interesting to experience my first Asian city, I was relieved to spend most of my time in a rural area. I felt much more at ease there and was able to enjoy myself, a big relief after India which in retrospect was a rather trying experience.
well, that's pretty much everything. the school work is starting to pile up and a lot has to be done before we arrive in Vietnam. I hope everyone is doing well and i love hearing from you.
-katie
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