Mandalay, Bagan, Yenangyaung and Yangon (or Rangoon) in Myanmar (or Burma)

We thought it would be easy to get a visa in Singapore. We applied for the application via internet, received a number, the forms and a time slot for 8:00 in the morning three days ahead. The young, beautiful and charming lady at the counter looked at us and asked: “Isn't there a Myanmar Embassy in your country?” There is, but if you want to travel during the cold and dry season starting in November, it could take a few weeks, before you get your passport back. Bad luck, if your flight takes off before. The embassy in Singapore only hands out visas to people living there permanently.

We spend two days in Bangkok, obtain visas without any problem and fly into Mandalay.

If you think there are a lot of pagodas and temples in Thailand, you have not been to Myanmar. Do you want to improve your karma and live a better life next time round – build a pagoda, become a monk, donate money and food or simply buy thin gold leaves and stick them onto the next buddha. 

We hear they scraped tons of gold off the statues recently – but we cannot find out what happened to it. The famous Buddha in Mandalay still carries his precious coat – 6 inches thick around hips and waist. Women are not allowed near him, they have to watch from a distance. Men climb onto the narrow base and apply the gold on the body risking to be pushed down two metres by others. It is Sunday and very busy.

Before we get to the Buddha statues in the centre of the temples, we follow hordes of visitors pushing themselves through long alleys with stalls on both sides. I often think of Jesus driving the merchants out of the temple in Jerusalem – he did not get that far East!

Sorry, Buddha statues do not appeal to me that much, whether gold plated, painted or simply marbleous – standing up, sitting or declining. Dressing them (maybe because of the cold season?) does not help either, although the frocks in my opinion are prettier than the statues themselves.

As we cannot decide to get up early and miss breakfast, we also miss the sunrise at

U Bein Bridge, the longest teak bridge in the world. We miss the monks crossing it, a pretty scene photographed against the sun, to be seen in all the guide books about Myanmar. Arriving late on a Sunday has the advantage that the bridge is empty of tourists and full of local people visiting it – how wonderful and spectacular. Families, groups of girls and boys, young lovers – they are all there, finding the sight of us equally exciting as we enjoy theirs. We exchange Mingalaba all the way, smile and laugh. 

The Burmese are the friendliest and most gentle people we have ever met. We walk slowly as this bridge is eight metres above the water, hardly three metres wide, and has no railing. The planks are by no means regular. Most of them are frightfully old, lots of them have been nailed onto the teak later to cover the gaps and are therefore a few centimetres higher.

The monks have all gone, they are probably all at the monastery nearby, where thousands of tourists watch 1.200 monks, most of them young boys or even kids, line up to receive food and eat what they have collected begging in a huge open hall on the compound. We do not get it! What are we, the tourists, doing here?

We talk to Myanmar people who describe monks a parasites. It is often the poorest of the poor who are pushed to donate. During the light festival – full moon, beginning of November, we stay with Eric at Lei Thar Gone (see previous post). During night (and day) it is difficult to catch some sleep. Constant music blares from aching loudspeakers, artists sing and play, comedy shows and theatre performances all through the night until the break of dawn. Not sleeping, we can see light in all the villages below and a constant flow of people going to and coming back from the temples in and around town. The sounds come from several temples around Lei Thar Gone's island of peace. At first we imagine the loudest temple only a couple of hundred metres away – mistake, it is on the Hill next to us! The sound machines must be enormous. All days long during the festive week those loudspeakers announce endless lists of names of those who donated, to remind the ones who haven't to do so. To encourage people and give an additional incentive, lottery slips are sold at the temples.

Despite these critical remarks about the obscurities of Buddhism it is fascinating to experience this devotion – was it not our South American Pope who said: “There is nothing wrong with religious faith, it is the Church which has to change!”

Fascinating was the boat trip on this mighty river between Mandalay and Bagan, with views of hundreds of pagodas on the Sagaing Hills and all along the river. It is like watching a film of rural Myanmar for ten hours – it does not get boring: villages, little towns, individuals houses and huts, people working on fields, women doing their washing in the river, little fishing boats, ships carrying logs of wood and other goods, ferries and every now and then a boat with tourist. It is so peaceful, calm and relaxing.

The hotel informs us the boat would leave the jetty at 6:30 am. The taxi picks us up at 5:45 and drives through the nearly empty city. We drive through thick clouds of dust – women are sweeping the roads. Myanmar looks tidy and well kept despite the poverty – also due to sweeping. It is still pitch black, we can hardly make out the ship. And we are an hour early! At the jetty local business is booming, women offering fresh fruits and all sorts of sweets, biscuits, chips and other junk food, carefully wrapped by multinational companies, contributing to a growing plastic waste problem. We carry our styrofoam breakfast boxes provided by the hotel and enjoy its contents sitting on small plastic chairs on the dimly lit jetty – early morning mosquitoes having a go at us.

We love the architecture of most temples and even more of the pagodas (maybe because we cannot go inside, but have to climb them instead – beautiful views). Visiting Bagan with its 3.000 ancient buildings is a must, do not miss it, it has to be seen to be believed. We spent several days there wandering, cycling and horse carting – enjoying the place in total amazement.

For rest and enlightenment in between we found the garden restaurant and bar of the Thande Hotel in Old Bagan, not under the Bodhi Tree, but under the huge and shady acacia, right on the bank of the Ayeryarwaddy.

Because of the main holiday season, we have problems booking a hotel in Bagan and a flight to Yangon. Bookings are not accepted unless you pay on the spot. We are running out of cash as ATM are rare in this still young holiday destination Myanmar. One has to carry wads of cash. 300.000 Kyats (EUR 240), the maximum we get out of the machine (credit cards only!!!), is supplied in brand new notes of 5.000 Ks => a pack of 60 notes. Also accepted are US$ notes, providing they are brand new and definitely have not been folded before. Even better hotels sometimes will not take credit cards. So unless you do not want to carry bank loads of Ks into remote corners of the country, unspoiled US$ come in handy.

Our plane to Yangon is operated by Mandalay Air. Our travel guides regards all Myanmar Airlines as not quite up to standard – amongst them Mandalay Air is the worst. We survive the 70 minute flight with one of those ancient turbo-props.

Yangon is big, six million people live there. Do not go there first, because the outstanding Shwedagon Pagoda on a hill just outside the city centre might spoil the fascination visiting all its smaller sisters all over the country, even that of Shwezigon in Bagan. The ninetynine metre high building in sunset and all lit up later on and all through the night, makes our hearts jump. We soon ignore the masses of temples around it and only remember that some of them where so full of buddha statues of all sizes, that at first we mistook them for showrooms selling them!

The city is bustling, the markets are full of stalls and people, narrow and absolutely splendid. Used to highly sterile butcher's and fishmonger's, we would probably become vegetarians, but still buy at the markets if we lived in town.

Thank you Myanmar for a lovely holiday, your friendliness and thousands of smiles. May you develop slowly and not make the mistakes of so many other countries. The temptations of mass tourism and money are strong, please resist them as long as you can.

Myanmar, Eric Trutwein and the Lei Thar Gone Family

The Lei Thar Gone Guesthouse and 
The Light of Love High School in Yenangyaung, Myanmar
Eric Trutwein - his projekts and his dream!

“Lei Thar Gone“, a “Gentle Breeze“ welcomes us when we get out of Nye Nye's car after a two hour drive down South from Bagan. It's more than a guest house, a garden on a hill with breathtaking views onto the mighty Ayeyarwaddy River and its banks, just outside the small town of Yenangyaung. The rooms are spacious and well furnished, most of them in semi-detached bungalows with little terraces and air-conditioning – in case you come during the hot season. Mid-November, the beginning of the “cold” season, opening the mosquito-proof-windows brings sufficient gentle breezes to sleep well.

Eric Trutwein, despite his German great grandfather's surname, is a true Burmese. Eric used to be a well established engineer and manager in the Myanmar Petrol Industry, who after retirement returned to his home town and started several projects to improve the poor living conditions in the villages. There are not enough jobs available to allow families to earn a living. There is never enough food and they cannot afford to repair their houses.

People fled their villages because they had to walk miles with heavy containers for their daily supply of water, a task mostly carried out by children. Today several villages are connected to the water system which Eric built and families are returning to their old homes. Eric helps to build houses and provides rice for the poorest of the poor.

Goat-banking is one of his fascinating ideas: Families receive five goats and start breeding them. When their herd reaches the magic number of fifteen, five goats are passed on to another family in need.

Because of malnutrition, diseases, AIDS, no affordable medical care and in some cases the backbreaking work people have to do in order to survive, a lot of them die young and little children are left without their parents.

Eric started his engagement with thirteen orphans.

In July 2013 the “Light of Love High School” opened with an official license by the local government for a pre-school and eleven grades. One hundred pupils, most of them orphans or with only a single parent, are brought to this beautiful site on the hill next to Lei Thar Gone by a school bus every morning.

Beautiful stone houses, well designed and solid. Everything is so clean and tidy. Something we admire Burmese people for. Despite extreme poverty they look after themselves, their houses and their yards are swept regularly.

Marie, the French Head Mistress decided during a visit in 2012 on the spot to come and do the job voluntarily for one year and will most likely stay on. She welcomes the kids before they go to their classes and many give her a long cuddle to start the day at school. It is obvious, Marie is dedicated, she loves the children and is very enthusiastic about her job and the whole project. In the future, when business at the Lei Thar Gone Guesthouse will have picked up, its profit is meant to finance the entire school. At the moment funding for the pupils, their families and the school is provided by Eric and several foreign associations. (www.kin-bir.de / www.hirtenkinder.ch / www.enfants-de-birmanie.org)

On our arrival at the guest house we meet Therese from Switzerland who helps to run the place for two months and trains the local staff so that they will be able to take over and run it themselves. Two months seem short but Therese is sure it will be a successful start, we already profit from her work and the staff's progress. Therese also works voluntarily.

At 3:30 pm we walk over to the school.

At the gate we are met by a little boy. He has seen us while playing with his friends. He takes Hanne's hand and leads us into the school yard. Again we experience this extraordinary friendliness that comes natural to Burmese people.

A few trees provide shade, we sit down and look around. Some of the girls artistically hop in and out of a rubber band. Some boys play football. All of them magically come closer to the tree under which we are sitting. Then a few boys sit next to Hanne and engage her in a conversation in English. It works! We learn their names and tell them ours, find out about their age and which grade they are in, that they like the school and which subjects they learn. A few minutes later two of the older girls dare to sit next to me, one is in grade six the other in grade seven.

All the pupils, most of the teachers and the head mistress wear a simple but beautiful school uniform, a purple longyi for girls and most of the boys, plus a white blouse or shirt. The longyi I bought for myself still causes considerable hassle when I try to fix it round my waist. For women it is easy, they just wrap the thing around them and tug it in. Men have to produce a big knot in front of their belly. Without this knot I am afraid to look like a woman and without a proper knot the garment just drops. One of the older teachers feels sorry for me and he gives me a lesson in: “How to fix a longyi …..”

The following day we are at the school early. Some of the children live locally and arrive before the bus. Temperatures are definitely well above 20 degrees C. but some kids wear jackets and cardigans – the cold season has started!

After nine Marie shows us around the school, we are introduced to all the students and teachers, the time table, subjects, etc..

It is an enormous task to organise everything from scratch, but we are certain Marie will succeed. Even if problems should come up – everybody is so friendly, staff and pupils. We never saw anybody being aggressive or even upset – paradise compared to most schools I have been to. During the visit we are careful not to stand in the sun, every little draught is welcome – the cold season still feels extremely hot!

One morning Eric drives us around a few villages, we meet some of the families, see the goats, Eric's water works and the houses made of wood and bamboo-mat-walls which preserved with oil will last up to forty years. A new house costs between 800 to 1200 US$. Why can't we all put some of our Xmas money together and sponsor a new house for a Burmese family?

On the way back we pass one of the government's water tanks, its leaking, the water runs down the unpaved road and produces big cuts in the sandy surface, simply destroying the road! In moments like this even Eric, our gentle host, can show anger.

One late morning, the sun is blazing, we walk into the town centre of Yenangyaung. Along the main road and in the streets around the market we pass endless little shops and eating places. Unlike in other Asian countries nobody tries to sell us anything, we are free to look around and even taste, everybody smiles, we are invited to take photos and of course we smile back and buy things. Communication is difficult, even asking for a bottle of water shows no direct response. But it is so easy, just follow them to the fridge and get out what you want!

These freshly deep fried vegetables and other things, which come in different batter and forms, simply taste delicious. The traditional Burmese soup “Mohinga” we experience on our last morning for breakfast – prepared by Eric – we appreciate the treat.

One late afternoon we climb down the hill and walk through the villages in the woods below to the Ayeyarwaddy. It is not so easy as one would think – this isn't a direct walk as we cannot cross the muddy area between the sandstone hills and the water, but we get there in the end. The river is always lively with people farming on its shores, fishing or simply enjoying the scenery as we do.

During all our excursions we do not see any other Caucasian faces except those of Therese and Marie and our own!

Eric tells us he has one dream: that all his students speak English, good enough to build and live a better life for themselves and their families.

We are sure Eric, your dream will come true – your love and dedication will let things happen and dreams will be fulfilled.

Thank you all you lovely people of the Lei Thar Gone Family – we so much enjoyed every minute of our visit.

Mingalaba - Hanne and Thomas Jung