"Same Same, But Different"

We made our way to Mandalay via an overnight bus (more on that later) and visited the surrounding ancient cities. We met Jeff (an American currently living in Japan and teaching English) and shared a taxi for 2 days checking out Amarapura, Sagaing, Inwa, Mingun and Paleik. All interesting but I would have to say that the high light was our visit to Mandalay Hill to watch the sunset. We were joined by some of the local kids who were again, very eager to practice their English.

Many of the tourist sights around Myanmar include, "free of charge", children who are supposedly off from school for the summer. These "students" walk with you around the site and point out/explain the various points of interest. "I just want to practice my English" is the usual line, as they lend a helping hand up a step or run to grab branches from a tree for you to stand on so that you don't burn the bottoms of your feet (you must take off your shoes at all of the temples/pagodas and depending on the time that you arrive, the walkways can get blisteringly hot!). At the end of the "tour", they ask for some money to help with their "studies" and if you say "I'm sorry - no" they politely remind you that they just spent the last half hour carting you around. Giving or not giving is another post and I'll leave it to that.

My point is that the kids at Mandalay Hill were "actual" students. We were wary when they first approached us as the standard "What's your name?", "Where are you from?", "How long you stay in Myanmar?" hit us from all sides. But as they looked at their sheet of paper to ask us another question, we knew that something was different.

Their assignment was to go up to what looked like people that speak English and engage in casual conversation. Armed with a set of 100 questions or so, we ended up sitting down at the top of the sunset viewing platform with about 10 kids - going through their sheet, helping with pronunciation and just laughing. Great kids. After the sun went down, we were asked to meet their teacher.

The teacher (don't have his name committed to memory - sorry) was of course very nice and seemed to be very appreciative of the time that we spent with his students. Apparently, it's very rare that he gets Americans that visit the area so it was nice to hear the accent (vs. a French-English or German-English accent which is most common).

Quick side note as I step onto my soap box - Most stats that I have heard (and now seen) state that only about 20% of Americans own passports. Here's one page that I found that has some interesting links http://www.gyford.com/phil/writing/2003/01/31/how_many_america.php . Get out and see the world!! I'm not saying that Erin and I are pioneers (not even close as Europeans have always and continue to travel extensively throughout SE Asia) and that what we are doing is so right. What I'm saying is that there is more than just America. We are getting such a bad rap outside of our borders right now that more often that not, I say that I am from the Philippines (Erin sometimes says she is from Canada but only when approached by complete strangers - along those lines, Canadian backpackers often sew Canadian flag patches on their backpacks so that they are not mistaken as Americans). It's just easier to avoid the conversations about politics and Bush that can often follow the "Where are you from?" greeting.

I think that we are very much an insular country that has a very narrow understanding of how the rest of the world lives. That then leaves us with judgments that have been shaped by what we see on CNN (if that) which can be often wrong or guided by some sort of political agenda. I think that this is what is wrong with America(ns) today. We lack the ability to understand that people are different but more importantly to "let" people be different. A common saying throughout SE Asia is "Same Same, But Different". If that makes sense to you, then get out and see the world - so that you can experience and begin to understand AND accept our differences. I hope you'll find what we have - that by in large, people - regardless of race, religion, sexual preference or political affiliation - are truly peaceful, kind hearted, loving people. Children are a great reminder for this as they don't pre-judge people and often love unconditionally. So I'll step down now and get back to them.

The teacher was so excited to have American-English speakers that he asked us if we would visit his classroom the following evening. After a full day of sight seeing - Paleik (Snake Pagoda), U Bein's (world's longest teak bridge) and Sagaing Hill (we were lucky enough to catch a local festival celebrating a novice monk graduating to full fledged monk) - we ended the day by talking to the classroom about home and our travels, introduced them to Mr. Blues, played charades and word association games and just simply had a great evening. No sales job. No one asking for money, food or "Buy postcard? No sales today. You buy from me. Lucky money". Just people wanting to learn English and spend time with foreigners in their land. Thank you!

After Mandalay, we took a relaxing boat ride down the Aryeyarwady River to Bagan - temple central (42-sq-km plain dotted with some 3000 temples). Putting it bluntly, we're temple'd out! The sites were impressive but they've lost their "WOW-ability" factor on us. We've seen enough gold covered payas to last a lifetime (could be considered unfortunate but it's the truth). Here are some pictures nonetheless.

The last two places we stayed at in Bagan and Inle Lake (where life happens on the water) were well out of the traditional budget travelers monetary range but being on the road for 8 months now (what was the over/under line on that again?), has not calloused us but actually softened us. We gave in and stayed at 2 "nicer" hotels. Bagan's hotel had a swimming pool and the best buffet breakfast to date ($28 per night) and Inle Lake was right on the water with mountains as our backdrop ($35 per night). We've come to realize that we are NOT the hard core backpackers we were 10 years ago and the conversation for need of familiar amenities has been a frequent topic of discussion lately.

With that being said, we are off to Dhaka, Bangladesh today (4/2) to spend some time with Erin's high school friend and husband (Heather and Sam Bretzfield). After that...who knows. We may be going to Spain but with the loss of wind in our sails AND the fact that practically everyone we know is having or recently had a baby (making me think that we are ready - Erin has been;-) may cause us to pack it in and head home. We'll see. Since we're talking about kids (again), the children here are awesome! It's just that easy.


FMP

Dive! Dive! Dive! - Mergui Archipelago

From Yangon, we hopped on a twin propeller plane to Kawthaung (Southern most town in Myanmar). This is the jumping point to the 4000 islands that make up the Mergui (Myeik) Archipelago. The flight runs once a week (Saturday) and since our live aboard did not depart until Sunday, we had one day to kill. Putting it nicely - there's absolutely NOTHING to do in Kawthaung. There are 3 "hotels" and the only reason that the town survives is because it is the place where foreigners from Thailand spend a couple of hours/dollars after jumping over the boarder only to re-enter Thailand 1 hour later with a new 30 day visa. Our $20 dollar room had no electricity until 6PM (we landed at 9AM) so with the heat, we both took at least 4 showers that day. We did have a nice view of the bay though and sunset that evening.

That night, we had about 8 boys who were apparently living on the streets surround us during dinner. We were the odd foreigners who actually stayed a day (vs. jumping in a long tail back to Thailand) so they were full of questions. Some of the questions were asking for food (not money) but like any kid, they just wanted to laugh and be loved. They got a huge kick out of my one and only card trick and were eager to learn the new hand shakes/high five combos that we taught them. Erin, bought dinner for them later and they scarfed down their meals like it was their first in days. They were all very appreciative and it just made us feel sad because all of them were good hearted boys. 3 of them walked us back to our hotel later and 2 of them made me walk in the middle with my arms draped over their shoulders as they danced, laughed and sang while passing the local karaoke lounge. Got on board the trimaran"Gaea" the following afternoon. Met Dave and Kat and the rest of the crew and were pleased to find out that we were the only 4 on the boat that week (usually caters 8 divers). The diving was first class and we were still able to see new things. A manta up close and personal on the first day,

followed by a leopard shark, 5 ft. bull shark, cuttle fish, octopus, new species of nudibranch, and stone fish - all firsts for us.

We also met Kuhn Penn who is the Gaea's newest crew member (saved him after his mom was taken - too cute) and even Mr. Blues got wet after being certified.

Thanks to Josh (and Jason) for taking great care of us over the week. And also to Captain Mee, Miss Taw, Aow Aow and Joe for the great food and nightly "game". Another unforgettable week! Dave and Kat - We'll see you at Sloshball 2006 if not the Galapagos first!

Back in Yangon for a day and half. Applied for my Bangladesh visa today and we are on an overnight bus (15 hours) heading north to Mandalay, Bagan and Inle Lake later today (3/20). The Internet is fairly new technology here so times between posts will be longer than usual. Thanks for checking in on us though!

EJP & FMP

P.S. - Our thoughts and prayers are with Dave, Wendi, CJ and families. We love you guys. Please know that we are thinking of you during this time.