My first trip to Myanmar 1994

I had the opportunity to visit Myanmar way back in February 1994. I attended a mangrove workshop organized by UNEP. There were three of us from Malaysia, Dr. Zaaba, Dr.Wan Sabri Wan Mansor (UPM) and me. The trip was a new experience to me although I went back to Myanmar at least 4 times after that for official business. I will write about my other trips to Myanmar later insyallah. Actually we were invited to attend the workshop by U Wai Lin who was working with UNEP Bangkok at that time. We met U Wai Lin when we organized an international course in Sabah the previous year. I supposed he was impressed with our work and decided to invite us to Myanmar. When I first step down in Yangon, U Wai Lin was there to greet us. Since the workshop was jointly organized by UNEP and Ministry of Foreign Affairs Myanmar, we were given special treatment. No need to que to have our passport stamped. Someone from the Ministry did that for us. The airport was the old one which is located beside the new airport. It looked like the airport in Lahad Datu. We were taken to our hotel in Yangon. It was a small but comfortable hotel opposite a Buddhist Monastery. My room has a window facing the monastery and that's where I spent my early morning watching monks walking along the street in a straight line and the nearby residents giving them food. During my first trip to Myanmar, there were not many hotels yet. In fact our hotel was actually a double storey bungalow converted into a hotel. Forgot the name of the hotel but I think it was Green Jade or something. Exchange rate was 1 USD to several hundred Kyat. And the rate of exchange keep on getting bigger when the value of Kyat keep on falling. Almost every man I saw in Yangon wear Longyi or sarong. Even the contract workers who were building a new hotel in front of my room wore Longyi. It's amazing how the Longyi can cling to their waist despite the squating, carrying bricks, climbing ladder etc. During my 5 days watching them working, never did I see any Longyi dropped down. But I supposed they must be wearing something underneath.....

Our workshop was held at the World Trade Center in Yangon. We also had part of our workshop on a riverboat which cruised along the Irriwady River from Yangon to Bogalay. It took three days to cruise down to Bogalay and back. Our riverboat was modified to include an open air bar with karaoke and live band performance and dining area. It was an excellent trip and you should experience this if you visit Yangon. I saw a lot of waterfowls in the river during the trip. It's a wonder that big ships can reach Yangon port which is 60km upstream using this canal. Central Yangon has quite a few colonial buildings, most distinguished by large columns in front of the buildings. Most of these buildings are painted white and were used by government departments in Yangon. The interior are still the same, high ceiling fans and large open space, each separated by high wooden racks. One can imagine the scenario in the early 1900 once you stepped into one of these buildings.

Apart from the riverboat cruise, the Forest Department made arrangements for the three of us to visit Popa Mountain Park. We took a domestic flight from Yangon to Bagan. It was a Foker but was flown like a fighter jet. We found out later that the pilot was an ex-fighter pilot. The ticket has no seat number- free seating. But for the VIPs, they can send someone to book their seat before the other passengers started boarding the plane. During check-in, you have to stand on a large scale with your luggage. Usually only your luggage is placed on the scale but here both the luggage and the passenger. You won't believe how the duty free shop in Bagan airport looks like! The whole duty free shack was made of thatch and no floor. But I supposed things have changed over the years. Bagan is an ancient city, some say that it is more ancient than Angkor Wat. I called Bagan the land of pagodas. There are thousands of pagodas, big ones and small ones. Some of these pagodas are still being used to this day. Someone told me that if you were to jumped out of a plane over Bagan, the possibility of you landing on top of a pagoda is 99.99%. Don't believe me...try jumping out of a plane over Bagan. Another interesting fact is that every pagoda in Bagan has a story. Normally, the scriptures will tell about the owner of the pagoda, date built, number of slaves used for the construction and what kind of donations received from friends etc. I find this very interesting and amuzing but very informative. The trip to Popa Mountain took several hours. We passed stretches of dry and barren area. Apparently, a reforestation project was being carried out during our visit which involved the local villagers. Each household taking part in the project was given rice in place of Kyat. Toddy palms can be seen along the road to Popa Mountain park. We stopped to buy a bottle for our host. We also stopped at a village for a drink. We saw a crowd gathering around a large well filling their container with fresh water. Later we found out that the well was the only source of freshwater for the villages around the area. People come in bullock carts twice a day to get their water supply. Bagan is located in the dry and arid zone. We arrived at Popa mountain park early evening. There's a temple on top of a volcano plug which is frequented by pilgrims from all over Myanmar especially during certain months of the year. The few days in Popa mountain park were spent visiting traditional villages and handicraft centers. The houses in the village were mostly made from thatch or dry grass with a simple wall. Bagan is also famous for its lacquer wares. If you ever visit Bagan, don't miss the traditional villages (if they are still around). We finally flew back to Yangon and stayed a few more days before leaving Yangon for Kuala Lumpur. I will write more about my other trips to Myanmar in the future. I will try to post some photos of my trips. I need to scan my photographs and slides. The scanner is still under my eldest son's bed covered by dust I think. See you soon.