On the Ground in Myanmar (Burma)

Landed here Wednesday morning at about 8:30, coming here from Bangkok Thailand. First order of business was changing money at the airport. I got enough to cover my flight ($100), and to pay for meals, lodging, and a guide for the next three days ($70), and then another $100 in case of emergency, which hopefully I’ll still have and can revert that amount back to dollars. Converted into Myanmarese currency, I received about 330,000 Kyat. All in denominations of 1000. So that’s 330 bills. Daniel and I both feel pretty rich right now, carrying around such wads of cash. ;)

Next we went to check in for our flight to the central region of the country, Heho, where we’ll find some kind of way to the mountain town of Kalaw, and meet our guide, Pho Kyaw (aka Alex). At check in we were informed that our flight had been given to another airline, and it wouldn’t leave until 4 hours later. Check in, by the way, was a rude little corner of makeshift countertops in what was fortunately a wide little hall leading to the next area of the terminal. Anyway, after much changing of paperwork and struggling with various arrangements, all was accomplished by a young lady who was pretty good at what she does. We pulled out our wads of cash and paid for the tickets which had been previously reserved.

Then we went looking for internet access so I could publish my earlier post on Impressions of the Japanese. I was skeptical the ‘net would be available at all in this airport, but was told there is a spot we can connect, though I have to “purchase a set.” On the way to inquire the details of that, a man began asking if we needed a taxi. No. If we needed a hotel. No. Where we were going, where we were coming from. I began ignoring him at this point as I was headed for an information desk. I must have finally mentioned our search for internet service, and he quickly told me about a restaurant/café across the road where he regularly connects with his cell phone. Fantastic! As we headed that way Daniel told me had already recognized that this guy wasn’t just a hawker of assistance, but almost certainly an airport employee. Which later made me realize that if I had continued ignoring him and walked to the information desk, he would have stepped behind it and been the one to answer my question! That would have been an awkward moment!

We made our way across the road to the café. Big long establishment, in old simple construction. A dump, if you saw it in your town in the US, but served us well. We sat at a little outside table in the shade of a roof with insulation as the lower surface. Perhaps 7 or 8 yellow polo shirted teens employed to sit around and watch the foreigners, cut up with one another, answer any questions we had, and jump to our assistance when we needed service. Another 4 or 5 in green t-shirts who cleaned up tables. And one white shirted guy in his 20’s who seemed to be above them all and to whom they all deferred.

After verifying that they had wifi, I ordered “Fish layer with oyster” and Daniel ordered “Chicken with lemon” – we hadn’t eaten all day and it was 11am, and each meal was only $2 US. And it was GOOD. Daniel also had a very spicy pasta based salad, and I added another dish, “Pork with lime.” All very good. The guys were friendly. But after ordering, when I began trying to connect it became clear there was a fee (which really was fine), but that means there is a security key. One of the guys went to retrieve the key, there was a little discussion and delay, and then he came back and apologetically, with a bit of embarrassment but also humor, said in his broken English that “nobody knows it.” Oh well, at least we’re getting food! But then a couple minutes later a 30ish lady came out and had the key for me. Success!

We’ve been killing time since then, walking around the area near the airport, and now writing this entry. Nearly time to board, I’ll see if I can get this posted.

(This was written on Wednesday midday, but now on Saturday is my first chance to post. Wednesday evening through this morning was spent in and trekking around Kalaw. Next post will tell those stories and there will be plenty of photos!)