Myanmar - Rainy Season 2003

The Words

The Whole Story

August 2003

September 2003

October 2003

2003.08.26 Tuesday 12.53

It Has Begun

I am in the air now. The plane left on time and seemed to have no problems. People often seem to be concerned about the hightened security at airports now, but there were no problems. The baggage went through just fine and I got through the metal detector just fine. Since I have the camera and the film in my carry-on, it just went through the regular x-ray machine, not the super heavy duty one for the baggage that the handlers deal with. So the undeveloped film should still be fine.

I haven't been in a plane since I was a kid and I went on a trip to Boston. It was definitely a cool experience. There was much rumbling while it was accelerating on the ground, but I'm used to driving my van with the super-tight suspension. So it was no problem for me. The rise was a very cool feeling. I'm not by a window, but I glanced out one next to some other guy a while ago. There were white puffy clouds beneath us. I can definitely dig this whole flying thing. It's a good thing I dig it. We still have about twelve and a half hours before we land in Tokyo.

Location: East of Amarillo 31000 feet in the air

2003.08.26 Tuesday 19.40

Great Circle

Remember geometry class? The shortest distance between two points on the surface of a sphere looks like a curve if that surface is laid out flat. So, in the flight from Dallas to Tokyo, we are not flying over Hawaii, but over Alaska. I am currently over the Bering Sea and the Aleutian Islands. I still haven't crossed the international date line yet. I think the Aleutian Islands need to finish up first.

I just finished watching a movie called "Tomorrow is Another Day." It was Japanese, but it had the English subtitles, so that helped. It was a pretty funny movie. I definitely liked it.

A point I need to consider: how do I state the time for these entries? It is 7:40 pm Dallas time, 3:40 pm local time, 9:40 am Tokyo time, and 7:10 am Yangon time. I think the biggest difficulty will just be during travel. I'll just use local time where ever I am when not travelling. Especially since that's the time I'll be living on.

Location: 36000 feet in the air over the Bering Sea; 2500 miles from Tokyo; should arrive in 5 hours.

2003.08.27 Wednesday 21.45

Long Travels

It's been a long journey, although not quite as long as it may seem according to the date and time of this entry. We will be spending the night in Bangkok tonight, so I am using Bangkok time. Although it was daylight from when we left Dallas until we arrived in Tokyo, that pesky international date line jumped the date ahead.

The plane from Dallas landed fine in Tokyo after thirteen hours of flight. The flight to Bangkok left a few hours after that. Of course by this time, it's early morning hours according to my body, so I'm a little tired. I napped slightly on the first flight. This second flight was about 5 1/2 - 6 hours. I watched Shanghai Knights and slept most of the rest of the time. The United airplane is definitely more cramped than the American Airlines one. I'm not sure if it's due just to plane size or also seat design. Don't get me wrong; it's not overly cramped. But after 20 hours of flying I'm ready to stretch out for a bit.

Location: 39000 feet above Da Nang, Vietnam; 1 hour from Bangkok.

2003.08.28 Thursday 04.05

Bangkok

Here I am at the Bangkok airport in Thailand. All the signs are in Thai and English, plus they have the symbols that most people in the modern day can interpret without any problems. Some of them are slightly different though. For example, the emergency exit signs are green not red. And the ideogram is of a person running in a mad dash with fire licking his heels. Does this mean do not leave in a calm and orderly manner?

The airport has something called "day rooms" that passengers can rent. It's basically a very small room with a very small bed. But it does provide the opportunity for a shower and some sleep when people have a long layover. But there is a price for this convenience. There is a four hour minimum rental at $39 per hour. Instead of paying that, many people decide to just stretch out on some benches or some mats or even a patch of carpet that is out of the way of foot traffic. This is apparently considered normal and those who sleep like this are not disturbed. It certainly makes travelling much easier when security isn't coming around telling you to move along every few minutes.

I was able to get several hours of sleep on the flight between Tokyo and Bangkok, so I'm not yet needing to take advantage of the numerous sleeping-space opportunities. I did have a sandwich and some coffee in one of the restaurants. They had an outlet near the table, so I was able to recharge the PDA.

There are still about four hours before the plane leaves for Yangon, so I may try to squeeze in a quick power nap or two. Caution must be used when tapping into the great potential of power naps. What could be a refreshing pause in the journey of wakefulness could easily turn into a deep recharge cycle. I highly advise not trusting that you will wake up in time. Always set an alarm. Even if you do wake up in time, you can still turn it off. But it will be there just in case. This is how I usually do it when I take a nap during my lunch break at work. And I usually wake up a few minutes before the alarm goes off. But there have been plenty of times where I woke up from a deep sleep when the alarm went off. Bosses seem to like it when employees show up on time. Alarms certainly help with that.

2003.08.29 Friday 01.09

We Are Here

The trip from Bangkok to Yangon was very good. It only lasted an hour or so. I sat by the window just a bit in front of the engine. Looking at the ground, I was able to tell that this is definitely the rainy season. There was water all over the place.

Getting through customs and immigration was amazingly easy. First they took everyone's temperatures with one of those ear thermometers. This was a follow-up to a form we filled out on the plane. The form was basically to try to watch out for people with SARS. Then we went through the line where they check passports and visas. I'm not sure what they were doing behind the counter, but they were able to take care of it themselves pretty well. The visa was not just the sticker and stamp in the passport, but also a couple pages of papers that were folded and stapled into the passport. These extra papers were gone when the passport was returned to me. So, I guess those papers were for that guy. Then we picked up the baggage and went through customs. It was crazily easy. They looked in the carry-on to make sure the laptops were there and noted that. They didn't even bother with looking through the rest. Also, the requirement to purchase 200 dollars worth of FECs was no longer applied. It was not just because we came in on a business visa. There were many others on the plane that were here as tourists. None of them were required to exchange for FECs either. The option was there. But, if you didn't want to, you didn't have to.

U Khin, Dr. Tat, and Siang Hope were waiting for us outside. The baggage carriers got all the baggage loaded up into the cars. It took three vehicles to get all the baggage and people back to the hotel. We are, of course, staying at the Golden Guest Inn owned by U Khin.

I am staying in room 207. It's a fair sized room with two beds, a refrigerator, an end table, a clothes rack, and a table and chair (for all my table and chair needs). There is also a TV. It can get the Chinese channel sometimes. It's kind of entertaining, even moreso when they have English subtitles.

I took a shower and went out with my dad and Siang Hope and his cousin around town. We went to Blazon, Super One, FMI, and a few other places. We ate at a decently nice restaurant. We had chicken fried rice and Thailand soup. It was pretty standard, except the meat didn't seem quite like chicken. Perhaps it was cooked differently. Perhaps it was from a different part of the chicken than I'm used to. Perhaps it wasn't quite chicken. I didn't ask too many questions. It tasted pretty much like chicken, but it was mainly the texture that threw me. It was very tough. The Thailand soup was also good. Tasted just like the Thai soup that I've had in the States.

We started heading back to the hotel, but spent much time at one intersection. There are five streets that come together.

Oops, my battery is running low. That's it for this report. I still want to write about the traffic and the streets in general. I'll try to remember to include it at some time.

2003.08.30 Saturday 06.40

Days and Nights

I am still having a hard time getting my days and nights straightened out. It's more than just the jet lag, although that is a large factor. Before we left I slept less than usual while preparing. The entire trip here had only an occasional catnap. I slept much of yesterday, but I still feel off balance. Most of last night, whenever I woke up, I felt extraordinarily dizzy. I'm still feeling very dizzy. This happens to me at home sometimes, but usually when I'm working a lot and not getting enough sleep. It seems odd to me that I'm feeling dizzy now, because I've just spent the last several days trying to catch up on my sleep. Oh well. Maybe after breakfast I'll feel better.

I'm still going to be reporting about the first day I spent here. (The second day, yesterday, I didn't really do much - I caught up on more sleep and watched some Chinese television.) The smells were not as bad as I feared. Yes, it's pretty dirty, but so are most large cities. The most pervasive odor is that of car exhaust. It's kind of like being stuck in traffic on the interstate. The exhaust just kind of builds up. Only it's like that all the time on the road, not just when traffic is slow. Most of the vehicles appear to be fairly old. Like late 70s and early 80s. While they may not be immaculate, they are still running, though. We had one taxi wait for us while we just went across the street to check on the progress of a printing job. When we came back the driver was under his car working on it. I think he was trying to keep the muffler on, or perhaps try to lessen the amount of exhaust that went into the back seat. Either way, as soon as we came back, he jumped up from under the car, put his shirt back on, and off we went. I thought it was neat that he didn't waste any time just sitting around and took the opportunity to work on his car as it presented itself.

It's a bit hard to tell exactly which vehicles are the taxis. Some are obvious with signs like City Taxi on the side. But some just look like some privately owned car. Of course, inside the car there is the sign that has the driver's picture and whatever kind of information is normally on those. But I think I have found another commonality. All the cabs I've noticed so far have a bumper sticker in the back window that says "Drive Safely." I find this quite amuzing as the way that most of them drive is quite unsafe by American standards. I think instead of Defensive Driving, all the drivers have taken a course in Offensive Driving. It actually works quite well, really. We all know how quite often bad traffic conditions on the freeways at home are usually caused by someone being overly cautious. Definitely not a problem here. The thickest traffic I've seen usually centers around traffic lights. I don't think whoever runs those things quite has the nuances of timing figured out just yet. But the traffic is not completely every man for himself. Quite often I see drivers waving other vehicles in front of them. Sometimes this seems to be just courtesy; sometimes nuances of right of way I haven't picked up yet. Whatever the system, it works out well enough for those using it. I have not seen any wrecks yet.

2003.08.30 Saturday 17.26

Adaptation

I think I'm starting to get by here a little better. To be honest, the past few days I have had my doubts about being here. I was starting to wonder how I was going to last til the weekend, much less the end of six weeks. But most of those feelings were due to the fact that I was not feeling well. A lot of the feelings of blah were due to jet lag. But it was more than just that. While I may be suited to live in Dallas, and the people here are suited to live in Yangon, my system has not taken to living here as a native. The tropics really do take a lot out of you. Especially during the summer and during the rainy season. As it turns out, my elecrolytes were getting very low. That was what was causing such dizziness in me this morning. I took some Hydrite in some water this morning, and I got to feeling much better. In case you don't know, Hydrite is a rehydration supplement. It's kinda like Gatorade, but without all the name brand recognition and sports endorsements. The tropics are odd. Water alone will not rehydrate you, although one would think that it would. Re hydrate - water again. But we also need to have electrolytes in our systems. Thus the Hydrite comes into play. It is Sodium Chloride, Sodium Bicarbonate, Potassium Chloride, and a bit of Dextrose Anhydrous to make it palatable. As I said, I got to feeling much better after taking it. I'm not sure if it was just a one time usage deal, or if I need to take several a day. It varies from person to person. I'll start with one tablet every day or every other day and increase if necessary.

On to more news from the day. For breakfast I had something called rice porridge. It is very good. It would have been better with a little black pepper, but the pepper shaker was either empty or clogged. But it was still good of itself. I often like to add more pepper than most people care for. Anyway, later in the day, U Khin drove my dad and me down to Junction 8. It's kind of like a very small strip mall in one building. I've gotten much better at wearing long-gyi. I don't have the folds and the tying exactly right, but I'm getting closer and closer each day. We bought many groceries at the Junction 8, and I did not have to retie my long-gyi at all. It stayed up all the way til we got back home. I did retie it in my room before coming down for dinner though. I think this time I tied it even more correct. I haven't worn any pants since Thursday morning, and now it is Saturday evening. I'm really getting used to this! It's also going to be hard for me to start wearing shoes again. The sandals are very convenient.

A few more quick additions. Along the road to Junction 8 were many instances of piles of stones with a gas tank on top. In the gas tank was usually a branch or some other part of a plant that had leaves on it. Apparently these are places to buy gasoline on the black market. There are only 1 to 3 gas stations per division of the city, and they are all government run. There is a limit of 2 gallans per day that people are allowed to purchase. I'm not sure if the buses and taxis have a special arrangement or if they are limited to that much, too.

I found out the the "Drive Safely" sticker on the window is on all cars. It is basically comparable to an inspection sticker in Dallas. Of course, they do not have emmisions testing, but I think they need to make sure the horn works. Maybe the brakes, too. The way to recognize a taxi is that all of them will have a sign on the door of the vehicle that says City Taxi and some number underneath it. Also, all the taxis have red liscense plates. The non-taxis have black ones.

Do not drink the cola that is a product of Myanmar. It is quite nasty. The beverage selection here is severely lacking. You can have lots of water, but only bottled water. This is something that is common knowledge to the people. Even the people who live here do not drink the city water. It's not like Mexico where it just gives you the runs a bit. It could make you severely ill, maybe kill you. I think their filtration system is non-existant. Well, they may have some grating to get the larger pieces of poo out of the system. Anyway, the bottled water is good. I bought some tea bags for hot tea while at Junction 8, and it is good. The coffee is not too bad. But it's all instant. They have no brewed coffee at all. They do have some American brands though, so it's not all bad. But it's still instant. But seriously, the sodas are lousy. Yes, it might be possible to get some Coca-Cola products, but they will probably be imports from Thailand. The product of Myanmar cola is quite nasty. You know how you can buy the department store brands of soda, and it's not quite as good as big name brands, but it's not too bad? At least it's not so bad that you don't mind buying it again because it's half the price? Well, this is just utterly putrescent. I think I'll just go without sodas entirely instead of drinking this stuff. Of course, that's not too difficult. I don't really drink sodas very often. But it is nice to have one every now and then. I'll just have to wait til a then instead of a now.

2003.09.01 Monday 06.05

Danger, Will Robinson, Danger!

I must give you this warning. Beware the Burmese curry. It tastes okay, and, of course, taste preferences will change among different people. But it really messes up the bowels. And it's not just your avergage run of the mill Montezuma's revenge. It's ballistic. You see, curry is not the same thing here as it is at home. I ordered chicken curry from the Burmese curry portion of the menu. I was thinking it was something like chicken chunks, curry seasoning, maybe some vegetables. It wasn't. Burmese curry is just the meat portion of the dish. They do put some spices on it, and there may be some actual curry in the spices. But the worst part is the oil. It is literally submerged in oil. I was able to get a lot of the food and spices out without having too much oil left on them, but it's still way more than my system was used to. This was Saturday evening that I ate this. Sunday morning my bowels were in an uproar. They were upset not only because of the unusual spices, which is quite understandable, but because of the large amounts of oil in the system. It all passed through, although it passed through somewhat... vehemently. Anyway, all the other food I've had here has been quite good. But it's mostly been very similar to Chinese food. I'm still going to try out new and different things. But I'll stay away from the Burmese curry. I highly recommend to all that read this that you stay away from that particular bowel adventure also.

2003.09.01 Monday 19.42

It's All Greek to Me

Today was the first day of Greek class. There were fifteen students there. I figured since I was going to be there anyway, I may as well learn a new language. The first day went pretty well. First we went over the basic parts of English grammar. We did this so that when we approached the various parts of speech in Greek, we would have a basis for comparison. We went over the vowels, then the diphthongs, then the consonants, then all the letters again. We briefly touched on the accents, but we're not going to go into that too much just now. So, tonights homework is to learn the alphabet, learn the sounds each letter makes and what it looks like, and learn eight vocabulary words. It's certainly nice to be doing something productive. Sure, I've got a lot of reading done since I got here. But as much as I enjoy reading, I still like the occasional change of pace.

The Greek class was being held at City Star Hotel. It was on the third floor, or second floor according to the elevator. The elevator had Ground, 1st, then 2nd. So it was the third floor up. We had lunch at the restaurant on floor 1. It was very tasty. It was chicken fried rice. The chicken fried rice here is very similar to the way it is made by Chinese restaurants in America, but it does have a few differences. The biggest difference is that it includes some kind of pepper that reminds me of jalepenos. They're fresh, not pickled. It adds a spice to the meal that I really enjoy. Also, the rice is cooked slightly different. I'm not sure exactly how, but I like it also. For dinner I had something called Twelve Kinds Soup. I think it's called that because it has twelve different ingredients. I doubt I could name them all, but it includes carrots, cauliflower, leeks, cabbage, and many other vegetables. I highly recommend it. It is a very brothy soup, so be prepared to eat a lot of broth after all the stuff in it is gone. But it's a very nice broth. It tastes like mostly vegetable, and it is not overpowering. It goes especially well while eating a rice dish.

One quick addendum to the culinary advice: the soda of Myanmar is not as bad as I had previously made out. I think that must have been a bad can I tried. I'm not one to try something once and instantly decide it is always that way. I understand some batches of food turn out better than others. Turns out it's that way with sodas, too. It's not the same as American sodas, but it's not downright repulsive either. I'd still rather drink the hot tea or cold water, though. But that's just me. Like I said, I'm not that big of a soda drinker to begin with.