Burmese Days

 

We fly into Burma in the misty dawn light of 21 December 2013.  Looking down from the plane streaks of low cloud drift between the trees, with rising plumes of smoke pinpointing the villages below.

This is a land that is waking up in every sense.  Not just to herald the cool of another morning but now, after decades of military rule during which the Burmese generals and governments around the world mutually turned their backs on the other, under a relatively new and nominally civilian government the country is gradually opening its borders both to tourism and foreign investment.

Officially these days it’s the Union of Myanmar – the name established by the generals.  But in my mind it is still Burma.  I’m here with Robin and both our fathers fought here in WW2.  The Burma campaign was one of the most horrendous of the war.  Few who fought were willing to talk about their experience, my father among them.  He is one of the reasons why I wanted to visit the country, and I wanted to come now before there is too much 21^st century influence to get a sense of very different culture.

It doesn’t take long to start getting that sense of cultural difference. Yangon Airport’s international terminal is smart and well organised, making it easy to find money changers to change dollars into unfamiliar Kyat (pronounced chat). But we leave the orderly surroundings to find our fellow travellers at the less sparkling domestic terminal.

Because we want to get up close and personal with this amazing country, we are spending the first 12 days of our trip on a bicycle tour that will take us through the Shan Hills, the flatlands of Mandalay and the ancient capitals of Ava and Bagan.

Our cycle group comprises me and Robin, Mark and Jim (two Americans who have sold up home and business to travel the world forever), Barbara and Lisa (from Australia) and Marlene (also American but currently teaching in S Korea). We are flying to Heho, the nearest airport to Inle Lake, where our tour starts.

At Heho we are met by our tour guide (Chan Nyein), our cycle mechanic (Nate Win), Mr Moo and Mr Win who drive the support vehicles, set up the amazing snack stops, fill our water bottles and generally look after us in every way on the road.  They are all part of Grasshopper Adventures, who run cycle and photography tours throughout SE Asia – a company that, on the evidence of this tour, I highly recommend.