Myanmar- The Artist Formerly Known as Burma

With classes wrapped but, and a romantic group Valentine’s week trip to Bali complete, it was time to head to the country formerly known as Burma, now known as Myanmar.  In 1989, the country changed its name, as well as the names of many cities (such as Rangoon to Yangon), and in 2006 moved the capital from Yangon to a remote city newly named Naypyidaw.

Thailand’s western neighbor, Myanmar is ruled by a military junta.  However, in the last 18 months, it has begun to open up a bit, holding elections (although the validity was questioned), and releasing National League for Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest.  This has resulted in easing of economic and travel restrictions for the country. 

Teams Kellogg and Kenan-Flagler merged together to form a super-team, added two friends currently living in Asia, and set off on a week-long adventure to Yangon, Bagan and Inle Lake.

While I would never confuse Thailand, Cambodia or Indonesia with being the United States, traveling to Myanmar was a whole new ballgame.  The country is clearly decades behind Thailand in most respects, however the people were extremely friendly and seemed genuinely excited to be able to share their country with foreigners.  A very interesting and unique experience to visit a country that is just seeing a wave of tourism and foreigners enter the country.

Our trip in photos:

Yangon:

During a tour of Yangon, we passed by the Telegraph office. And yes, the telegraph industry is alive and kicking in Myanmar, its apparently a great way to reach many villages.

No big deal, just our lunch being filmed for a scene in a South Korean major motion picture. (Ok, we're not sure how big a movie it is, but she is an actress from Korea, and she is a terrible waitress)

 

We still have some work to do on pulling off the different Buddha poses

A brigade of floor sweepers move as gracefully as Olympic curlers

Shwedagon Pagoda

Marsh and the rest of us were enjoying a nice dinner in Yangon.  Little did we know that 8 out of the 9 of us were also getting food poisoning from dinner.

Bagan: You want temples, they've got temples.  During the 11-13th century, over 4,000 (possibly 10,000+) temples were built in 13 x 8 km area. We also explored our hotel rooms and the pool fairly extensively for a 24-48 hour period.

Pagodas before sunset.  Ironically the sun was setting on the health of most of us as well, and we would be out of commission for a day.

Sunset on the river boat after a visit to a nearby island

Me 'n Mar (shal)

Taking a break from biking around Bagan

While not as large or grandiose as Angkor Wat, the sheer number of pagodas, as the group Berlin belted, could lead to one’s breath being taken away

Inle Lake: The second largest lake in Myanmar. To get to our hotel we flew to Heho, took a 40 minute drive to the river, then took a river boat another 45 minutes. Our own version of trains, planes, and automobiles.

Sunbrella = SPF 77

Wow, what a great shot of a fisherman as you leave the river and enter Inle Lake.  Turns out, this guy is paid to pose at the lake entrance; however there were many real fisherman on the lake.

Our hotel, the Golden Inn Cottages #2 (but #1 in our hearts)

Welcomed by 5 employees playing an assortment of percussion instruments, I couldn’t help but think of Cold Stone employees singing after a patron tips $1.07

Making a splash

Possible location for a Corona commercial

Myanmar uses the phrases winery and wine, very, very loosely

Clutch market buys, keeping the head protected from the harsh sun

My first time being cold in SE Asia: a sunrise boat ride at 884 m elevation in February while wearing a t-shirt

I'll attempt to add some more photos later.

 

Ballin' in Bali

Finished up class this past Saturday with a grueling 3 hour investments final.  Celebrated by A) getting a Blizzard from Dairy Queen (although the large here is smaller than an American small), B) visiting Chinatown to see the preparation for the New Year, C) taking a 6am flight to Bali, Indonesia.

Twas the night before New Years and all through the streets...

Bali is a fairly touristy island in southern Indonesia.  We had three and half days, so we decided to first head to Ubud, which is in the middle of the island, with the intent of getting a better sense of the true, less-touristy Bali. 

Kecak Fire and Trance Dance

The first night we walked around the town, and discovered a beautiful view of a rice paddy.  We quickly pulled out our cameras (well I still don’t have one, but I would have) and took photos of this “rare” view.  (We would, in the next 3 days, see about 10,000 of these incredible rice paddy views.)  We then went to see Kecak Fire and Trance Dance.  Again, we wanted to see the “real” Bali, so somehow this led us to decide we should go to what is clearly a tourist show.  The show was somewhat of a Bali opera, with 65 men chanting while a story that I couldn’t entirely follow unfolded with people in costume dancing.  The chanting was impressive, and it ended with a guy kicking a bunch of smoldering embers, so something for the whole family.

Turns out there are a number of rice paddy vistas to be found in Bali

The next day we took a “bike” tour of the area.  This primarily consisted of us viewing rice paddies, standing under trees filled with Herons, and coasting down hills for about 1.5 hours.   I somehow managed to avoid falling, although my bike maneuvering skills were severely tested.  

Riding through the rice paddies

Noticing a trend of rice paddy backgrounds

The Luawak: they apparently have quite the nose for the best coffee beans

One other highlight was a visit to a coffee plantation (surprise surprise).  We got to see how they roast their coffee beans and tasted 7 different coffees, including Luwak, which is one of the most expensive coffees in the world.  Why is it so expensive?  Because the coffee beans have been eaten by a luwak (like a mongoose) that then, pardon my language, shits out the beans.  This then sells for around $30/cup.

After our ride we then drove to Seminyak, where we were staying near the beach.  We rented a villa that included our own pool and a chef for breakfast, all for $40 per person per night! 

Arrows, sling-shots, blow darts.  This man sells it all!

Our first full day in Seminyak saw us head to the beach.  As soon as we staked our place on the beach, we were swarmed by people trying to sell us hats, pirate-kites, beverages, and one guy hawking an assortment of weapons.  Bow and arrow, sling-shot, blow dart-gun, you name it, he had it.  I was confused as I imagine the vast majority of people on the beach have to fly home, and while I haven’t checked, I imagine blow darts might catch the attention of TSA.  We then headed to Tanah Lot to watch sunset. Despite some clouds, we still caught an impressive sunset on the Indian Ocean.

Tanah Lot

Sunset

For our last full day, we wanted to relax on a nice white sand beach, so we chartered a driver for a 2.5 hour drive across the island.  After getting lost and driving down a road that is reminiscent of riding Indiana Jones at Disneyland, we emerged at a quiet, secluded white-sand beach with crystal clear water.  We practically had the beach to ourselves, and saw sting-rays and dolphins.  To cap off our final night in Bali, we headed to the larger town of Kuta for dinner and drinks and found Bounty, which is a club that is pirate-ship themed, but that I mistakenly thought was actually located on a galley.  

White sand beach- pretty much what you'd expect

Bounty: Not an actual pirate ship, it at least had a steering wheel

Forgive me for the poor layout of this post, I'm trying to publish this before heading to Myanmar, where we may not have any internet access. 

Phnom Penh

Marsh, Kristina and I flew to Phnom Penh and spent a day and a half before heading north to see Siem Reap and Angkor Wat.

Don't be jealous of our room's majestic river view

Phnom Penh is the capital and largest city in Cambodia, with a population of around 2 million. As we drove to the River Palace hotel in the city, I noticed that from what I can tell, there are four main modes of transportation in Phnom Penh.  Bicycle, motor-bike, tuk-tuk or Toyota/Lexus.  Seriously, I'm not sure what Toyota did or when they entered the market, but from driving around the area, they seem to have at least 2/3 of the cars on the road. 

Once a high school, the Khmer Rouge turned it into a detention facility

On Thursday we visited the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum and Choeung Ek (The Killing Fields).  I did a little bit of research on Pol Pot and Cambodia before the trip, but was still shocked by what I saw.  Tuol Sleng used to be a high school before the Khmer Rouge turned it into a prison, interrogation and torture facility.  Over 17,000 people passed through the facility between 1975-1979, and only 7 survived. We had an amazing tour guide named Hang Nisay, who was our age and spoke English very well.  After the museum we drove about 20km outside of town to the Choeung Ek, where thousands of people were sent to be executed.  Several times during the day I was reminded of visiting Auschwitz and Dachau, and couldn’t help but feel lucky to be born in the late 20^th century in the United States.

Our amazing guide Hang Nisay

Tuol Sleng

To lift our spirits, we decided to take an hour-long sunset river cruise down the Tonle Sap/Mekong river for $5.  Well maybe cruise is the wrong word. Extremely slow float is probably more accurate.  Provided a nice view of the Royal Palace, National Museum and a number of other wats dotting the riverside.

Ruining a romantic moment for the couple on the left

For dinner we went to a French restaurant named La P’tite France.  Even though Cambodia was a French colony until the 1950s, and the restaurant was one of the top-rated French restaurants, it couldn’t hold a candle to Friends restaurant.

Apparently Tomato Gazpatcho is French for Marinara sauce in a bowl

To get to Siem Reap, we took cab.  Another interesting experience.  Pretty much 4.5 hours of us playing the game chicken with buses, cars, tuk tuk, motorbikes and the occasional cow or motorbike carrying swine.  A great way to see the Cambodian countryside and see briefly what life outside a city is like.

Not quite pigs in a blanket

                                                               
                                                            The drive to Siem Reap