To Inle Lake
I had to wake up at 4am to catch the local bus from Bagan to Inle Lake. The 250km journey took 12hrs, in a creaky, fragile minibus that lacked air-conditioning. When I fell asleep, there were only 10 people occupying the bus' 20 seats. I had been placed behind the driver, right on the engine with very little leg room, but the driver was adamant that I not move. I found out when I woke up 2hrs later to find the bus full of people. There were at least 30 people inside the bus, some standing, while there were another 10 on the roof. One person had two chickens in his lap.
The drive was beautiful, but slow. The narrow road winded up through the mountains past logging sites and a constant caravan of precariously teakwood laden trucks inched past us. Our driver was suprisingly cautious, but this may have been since his minibus couldn't manage more than 30km/hr. We passed two wrecked buses that served as a reminder of how tight the roads were. I patted myself on the back for buying a $65 plane ticket back to Yangon - the 22 hr ride back was supposedly one of the most dangerous in SE Asia.
I had an interesting conversation with some other travellers today who had some local Burmese friends. While I knew the country is isolated, uneducated, and oppressed by the corrupt, inept government, it wasn't until I head their stories that I realized the depth of it. Most of this information came from an American who is teaching English in Yangon.
- Many Burmese believe the Earth is Flat and is one of four islands floating in space. They cannot believe that someone has walked on the moon.
- They believe that what they see on TV (including shots of NYC and other cities) are representations of the future. Cities like NYC cannot exist.
- There is no concept of sex-ed. They believe it is a "courtesy" to wear a condom for the first two times, but that they are unnecessary after that. As a result, HIV is rampant.
The Military Dictators have no real education. Examples of their policies:
- Declaring certain note denominations worthless, thus wiping out life savings overnight.
- Deciding that since many people cannot afford basic necessities, that the solution is to increase public servant wages by 300%. Then, in order to fight inflation, sending men with guns to force shopkeepers to keep prices steady.
- Deciding that teachers make "enough" so it is illegal for public teachers to supplement their income by teaching privately. This backfired once the generals realized their children could no longer get a good education.
- Declaring that instead of driving on the left, the country should drive on the right. Accident rates shot up as most cars have the steering wheel on the right.
- Imposing a $20K tax on imported cars. The country's fleet is old, falling apart, and quite unsafe.
- Gas is $1/gallon, but you are only allowed 5-10 gallons/week, depending on "need." It is prohibitively expensive on the black market.
The drive was beautiful, but slow. The narrow road winded up through the mountains past logging sites and a constant caravan of precariously teakwood laden trucks inched past us. Our driver was suprisingly cautious, but this may have been since his minibus couldn't manage more than 30km/hr. We passed two wrecked buses that served as a reminder of how tight the roads were. I patted myself on the back for buying a $65 plane ticket back to Yangon - the 22 hr ride back was supposedly one of the most dangerous in SE Asia.
I had an interesting conversation with some other travellers today who had some local Burmese friends. While I knew the country is isolated, uneducated, and oppressed by the corrupt, inept government, it wasn't until I head their stories that I realized the depth of it. Most of this information came from an American who is teaching English in Yangon.
- Many Burmese believe the Earth is Flat and is one of four islands floating in space. They cannot believe that someone has walked on the moon.
- They believe that what they see on TV (including shots of NYC and other cities) are representations of the future. Cities like NYC cannot exist.
- There is no concept of sex-ed. They believe it is a "courtesy" to wear a condom for the first two times, but that they are unnecessary after that. As a result, HIV is rampant.
The Military Dictators have no real education. Examples of their policies:
- Declaring certain note denominations worthless, thus wiping out life savings overnight.
- Deciding that since many people cannot afford basic necessities, that the solution is to increase public servant wages by 300%. Then, in order to fight inflation, sending men with guns to force shopkeepers to keep prices steady.
- Deciding that teachers make "enough" so it is illegal for public teachers to supplement their income by teaching privately. This backfired once the generals realized their children could no longer get a good education.
- Declaring that instead of driving on the left, the country should drive on the right. Accident rates shot up as most cars have the steering wheel on the right.
- Imposing a $20K tax on imported cars. The country's fleet is old, falling apart, and quite unsafe.
- Gas is $1/gallon, but you are only allowed 5-10 gallons/week, depending on "need." It is prohibitively expensive on the black market.
posted by Ace at 2:57 AM
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