We booked ourselves on a Biman Bangladesh flight from Bangkok and prepared for a once in a lifetime trip to the Land of the Golden Temples. We didn't know really what to expect but figured that we'd enjoy the ride anyway. The flight to Yangon was relaxing enough although the airline itself isn't the most reliable in the world. Loads of crashes!! We got chatting to one of the stewards...actually I scraped his hand by mistake. He reckoned I was a bit of an animal so before we knew what was happening, he was bestowing us with wine and second helpings!! We were hardly going to complain! Talking to our travel agent beforehand, we were prepared for the battle that lay ahead of us.

First of all, Burma - or rather Myanmar - has just recently opened up to tourism. A military regime exists there giving themselves the grand title SLORC (State Law and Order Restoration Council). Since 1962, this repressive system has controlled the country. We were faced with an obvious dilemma - if we were to go to Burma, we would be in a sense helping keep the military men in power by giving them cash! National League for Democracy spokesperson Aung San Suu Kyi had gone as far as urging foreigners from boycotting Myanmar during the Visit Myanmar Year, 1996.

In a wave of political correctness, we took off to Burma with ambitions to fight the system and give all our money to the private sector. NO TOURS, NO FANCY GOVERNMENT RUN HOTELS AND NO FOREIGNER ONLY RESTAURANTS. We were on a mission...give the money to the poor people who had just set themselves up to tourism.

When we arrived at the airport and went through Immigration, we were pushed towards the FEC counter where we were supposed to exchange $300.00 each before entering the country! FECs are Foreign Exchange Certificates - Myanmar's second currency. You have to change dollars into FECs and then, when you get into the city, exchange the FECs for the local currency - Kyats. This system is the governments way of getting their hands on hard currency. The FECs are similiar to monopoly money so it is decidedly funny trying to play life with your 1975 Xmas present from Uncle Patrick.

We were only staying for two weeks so we were going with the Lesbian Relationship Act. We were told by people on the plane that we could exchange $300 between us if we were a couple. Arm in arm, we faced the angry looking creature at the FEC stand. "Three hundred dollar each please", he yelled as he grabbed our passports. I remained calm while Lynne carried out the well rehearsed spiel. "We are a couple.", she said, "Three hundred between us". "NO", he roared. "We will hold your passports then". I waved my credit cards and told him that I didn't have dollars on me. Within five minutes, we were sorted. He scribbled down a sum of money. Lynne silently slid $10.00 under the bar. He gave us back our passports and with a smile and $300.00 worth of FECs, he welcomed us to Myanmar. We could hardly believe it. We bribed ourselves into the country!!!

We laughed ourselves silly all the way into the City Centre of Yangon in between exclamations of delight at the beautiful sights along the way. Yangon is a really dusty, run-down, colonial looking place. We walked around that first evening admiring the colonial style architecture, its many temples, and the friendly faces of the people. The following day, we took off to the market to check out the shopping possibilities!!! VERY CHEAP STUFF! We were in our element as we strolled around the city looking for photo opportunities. Every corner had its own delights.

The Europeans didn't really bother with the Burmese all that much until they themselves started interfering with India. The British moved into Burma and put an end to the squabbling on the borders and their petty fighting. By the end of the 19th century, the British had colonised all of Myanmar. They built railroads, developed huge teak markets and constructed fine colonial buildings which are still in evidence today. As we walked through the crowded streets, Indian, Chinese and Burmese faces greeted us. As our taxi driver pointed out, there is definitely no racism in Burma although the Chinese have taken over the business section of the City and are not liked. The Indians are tolerated but it is definitely better to be Burmese. With the colonising British came the Indians and Chinese. Nearly two hundred years of roots there and they are still not accepted among the locals.....the oul' blow ins!!!!!!!!.

While we were waiting for the bus upcountry to Mandalay, we met Nick, a fellow Irish traveller. I was terribly excited. My first encounter with an Irish guy in months. From Dublin, Nick had spent a year in Australia and then five months travelling around SE Asia. Burma was his last little trip before heading back to Dublin. Like myself, he was returning to reality.

ON THE ROAD TO MANDALAY
18 hours on the music-blaring bus and I couldn't wait for a minute of silence. My ears were tingling with relief when we finally got to the bus station early the following morning. We spotted a cute guy with a placard welcoming us to Mandalay. "Kane Ita and Johnson Lynne, welcome to Mandalay". Our welcoming party cheered as we gathered our bags and were herded onto a pick-up van. Lynne was overcome with emotion. Maybe it was the journey or PMS, but by the time we arrived at the hotel, we were both emotional wrecks. The kindness of the people on the bus .....their curiosity...their surprising knowledge of English. All this added to our tears. Where in Buddha's name would you find this hospitality?? One night in Mandalay was spent having dinner with Nick and his pal, a visit to an Indian Catholic Restaurant for milkshakes and a peek at a puppet show. We were itching to get into the countryside so we took off on a five o'clock bus journey to Hsipaw, twelve hours further upcountry.

Take care,
Ita