Myanmar (Burma)

Trip Start Dec 26, 2007

Trip End Ongoing

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Flag of Myanmar Myawwady, Myanmar
Friday, March 21, 2008

I caught a bus from Chiang Mai down to Mae Sot, a small town on the Thai-Myanmar border. I found a place to crash for the night and the next morning woke up to find out about the possibility of crossing over in to Myanmar. I found out real quick that it wasn't going to work out. The owner of the guest house where I was staying let me rent a bike from her. I told her what I was wanting to do and she told me that it isn't possible. There is a road that goes from the border all the way in to Yangon. However, the government only controls the part near the border and the part closer to the capital. The road section in between is controlled by Karen rebels, a minority group of people who want their own state and have been fighting for independence since 1949. Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, is ruled by a military regime notorious for their human rights abuses. There are large refugee camps in many parts of Thailand near the Burmese border and also numerous NGO's working with the people. As with most military regimes, the country is very difficult to access and impossible to travel around independently

Buddhas and Burmese Buddhist flags

. The government restricts where people are and are not allowed to go. This is one of the things that makes this country even more intriguing to me.

The border is divided by a river connected by a bridge where people can leave Thailand and enter Myanmar for the day. No one is allowed to go past the city limits however, without permission from the government. Most people use this border just to leave Thailand at the end of their visa so that they can re-enter and get a new 30 day visa. I paid 10 dollars to enter Myanmar and took the day to explore the town. Even from the small amount of the country that I was able to see, it was obvious that Myanmar is a very unique place. The country is located between India on the west and Thailand on the east. The physical appearance of the people was almost a perfect mix of Indiand and Thai. They were obviously darker than Thai's but not quite as dark as the people in Inda. It was very fascinating to see. Unlike in Thailand, not only the women but also the men wear the traditional sarong (a type of skirt). Another obvious difference is the use of thanaka. Thanaka is a white colored paste made from adding water to a type of wood that has been ground into a powder. The people put on their faces in different designs for cosmetic reasons. It is also used to protect the skin from getting darker. I've always found it humorous that in the U.S. and in many western countries people always want to be darker so they lie in the sun, go to tanning beds and put on lotions to make themselves darker

temple in Myanmar

. In Asia where the people already are darker, they want to be whiter. So they stay out of the sun, wear long sleaves and pants, and wear creams that are supposed to lighten the color of the skin. We all want what we can't have.

As soon as I passed immigration, I was met by a Burmese man offering to tour me around for the day. His English was good and he didn't ask for much money so I thought he would be a good source of information as well. As he showed me around the various temples in the town, I asked him about a lot of different things. He would generally answer confidently and knowledgeably about the questions that I had. However, whenever I asked him something about the government he would look around quickly and say that he shouldn't talk about political things.
At the end of the day, I was glad that I had crossed the border in to Myanmar but it only left me with a desire to see more of this mysterious country.