Karen Village
Thursday, July 28, 2005
Tuesday, July 26, 2005
A morning in Myanmar
If you ever make it to Mae Sai, the northernmost city in Thailand, you can visit the Union of Myanmar for a day. It costs 250 baht to cross the bridge that connects Mae Sai to Tachileik. Be warned. You'll have to let the Burmese officials hold on to your passport until you return.
Tan and I went over the border to see some tourist traps and go shopping. As soon as we exited Thailand, we saw a line of touts with pictures of day trips. The first man in line stepped up to try his luck. If he got us then he had a morning full of work. We made his day because we didn't have any idea of how to get around. So we hopped into the back of his tuk-tuk, a motorcycle towing a horse carriage with bicycle wheels.
At first, it was much like driving through Mae Sai just with the signs switched from English and Thai to English and Burmese. Then I noticed a sign written by the Burmese government. It said, "We must all do our part to eradicate the illegal narcotic trade." Then we drove by statues of soldiers standing with pride at a "Basic Education School."
Tachileik was obviously poor. The roads had some huge potholes, people's homes didn't look as nice, and the sewer channels didn't seem to drain underground. We drove by kids playing in rubble and restaurant patrons glued to a boxing match on TV, which must be an uncommon luxury. In the midst of this, we saw a hotel and a golf course.
As we drove to our first stop a Buddhist temple, I noticed young monks. They were wearing dark red robes instead of the bright orange color that monks have in Thailand. There were many trees planted by the road and misty mountains were spectacular in the distance. It was slightly raining. Our heads were covered, but the monks were getting wet. One of them wore a sour expression. He probably didn't like walking a long way in the rain.
Our first temple was nothing exciting. Buddha looked different, but nothing seemed very different from Thai Buddhist temples. Then we went to a golden spired temple which is a replica of the famous one in Yangon. We were greeted by Burmese women wearing traditional face powder. The yellow and white powder is worn on their cheeks. It looks like sunscreen that hasn't been rubbed in enough. I read that it is supposed to keep their skin protected from the sun and keep it healthy. I set up the tripod that I had just bought. I'm sure Tan was getting bored while I snapped away dozens of pictures. Tan insisted that we set some birds free. The women had birds in small cages that tourists could release for a few baht. We released about 5 birds.
Our next stop was a Karen village. We were in for a let down. We had to pay extra money to go inside. Tan paid about 90 baht. I paid much more because of the white man tax. It seems to be fairly standard throughout southeast Asia. The tribe lived in bamboo huts with all the modern things. I saw a satellite and a TV in one hut. Our tour guide lead us to the top of the village. We saw six old ladies. Three were Karen people or longnecks. They wore rings around their necks. The others had elaborately decorated headdresses. We took photos with them. They were going to do a song and dance if more people showed up, but no one showed up for a while. We decided to cut the tour short. We weren't impressed, so Tan asked the driver to take us back to the city.
The Burmese outdoor markets were similar to Thai markets. Most of the stores were covered in tents or umbrellas and sold items ranging from illegal DVDs to fake Louis Vuitton purses. Much of the things for sale were probably from China. Pesky salesmen with buckets strapped to themselves swarmed me as soon as I came by. They all sold fake Marlboro cigarettes, and some thrusted pornos in my face. I haven't been subjected to this type of behavior since I walked down Silom road in Bangkok.
Tan bought some jewelry. I bought a plate with an imprint of a Burmese warrior riding an elephant and a t-shirt with the Burmese flag. It was a good tour of Myanmar eventhough it was just a couple of hours.
Tan and I went over the border to see some tourist traps and go shopping. As soon as we exited Thailand, we saw a line of touts with pictures of day trips. The first man in line stepped up to try his luck. If he got us then he had a morning full of work. We made his day because we didn't have any idea of how to get around. So we hopped into the back of his tuk-tuk, a motorcycle towing a horse carriage with bicycle wheels.
At first, it was much like driving through Mae Sai just with the signs switched from English and Thai to English and Burmese. Then I noticed a sign written by the Burmese government. It said, "We must all do our part to eradicate the illegal narcotic trade." Then we drove by statues of soldiers standing with pride at a "Basic Education School."
Tachileik was obviously poor. The roads had some huge potholes, people's homes didn't look as nice, and the sewer channels didn't seem to drain underground. We drove by kids playing in rubble and restaurant patrons glued to a boxing match on TV, which must be an uncommon luxury. In the midst of this, we saw a hotel and a golf course.
As we drove to our first stop a Buddhist temple, I noticed young monks. They were wearing dark red robes instead of the bright orange color that monks have in Thailand. There were many trees planted by the road and misty mountains were spectacular in the distance. It was slightly raining. Our heads were covered, but the monks were getting wet. One of them wore a sour expression. He probably didn't like walking a long way in the rain.
Our first temple was nothing exciting. Buddha looked different, but nothing seemed very different from Thai Buddhist temples. Then we went to a golden spired temple which is a replica of the famous one in Yangon. We were greeted by Burmese women wearing traditional face powder. The yellow and white powder is worn on their cheeks. It looks like sunscreen that hasn't been rubbed in enough. I read that it is supposed to keep their skin protected from the sun and keep it healthy. I set up the tripod that I had just bought. I'm sure Tan was getting bored while I snapped away dozens of pictures. Tan insisted that we set some birds free. The women had birds in small cages that tourists could release for a few baht. We released about 5 birds.
Our next stop was a Karen village. We were in for a let down. We had to pay extra money to go inside. Tan paid about 90 baht. I paid much more because of the white man tax. It seems to be fairly standard throughout southeast Asia. The tribe lived in bamboo huts with all the modern things. I saw a satellite and a TV in one hut. Our tour guide lead us to the top of the village. We saw six old ladies. Three were Karen people or longnecks. They wore rings around their necks. The others had elaborately decorated headdresses. We took photos with them. They were going to do a song and dance if more people showed up, but no one showed up for a while. We decided to cut the tour short. We weren't impressed, so Tan asked the driver to take us back to the city.
The Burmese outdoor markets were similar to Thai markets. Most of the stores were covered in tents or umbrellas and sold items ranging from illegal DVDs to fake Louis Vuitton purses. Much of the things for sale were probably from China. Pesky salesmen with buckets strapped to themselves swarmed me as soon as I came by. They all sold fake Marlboro cigarettes, and some thrusted pornos in my face. I haven't been subjected to this type of behavior since I walked down Silom road in Bangkok.
Tan bought some jewelry. I bought a plate with an imprint of a Burmese warrior riding an elephant and a t-shirt with the Burmese flag. It was a good tour of Myanmar eventhough it was just a couple of hours.
Thursday, July 14, 2005
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