Last Day in Bagan — And.. Last Day of 2016. 12/31/2016

Set out this morning for the main market in Nyaung U (Bagan has three distinct areas — New Bagan (which isn’t very new), Old Bagan (which is where we are staying), and Nyaung U..  Nyaung U is the administrative center of Bagan and where the airport is located, as well as a lot of hustle and bustle. Frankly, the three areas blend seamlessly into one another and I’m not certain I could say what makes each different. We thought Old Bagan would have all the pagodas and temples but the temples are everywhere… You stumble on them as you drive or walk; they are situated far from the roads and also right on the road (sometimes without any demarcation); they are large and they are small. Some are considered very “important” and others less so. We stuck mostly to the “less important” ones since they didn’t have any crowds, no buses, no one there… just us. And we favored the less adorned ones – all brick and covered with cement or gild.

Anyway, the market was right up there with the best of them. Huge, sprawling, teeny stalls – some with tent like covering; others completely open, vendors all sitting cross-legged on the floor. People shopping for every conceivable kind of food and going about their daily chores. Some tourists (all with iPhones snapping away). Lots of vendors selling textiles, longyis, lacquerware… but the majority of the market is fruits, vegetables, flowers, spices, meat, fish. And of course there are little places to sit on tiny stools to have noodles or other fare. (We are trying to stay away from street food, but not totally successful, in an effort to stay clear of stomach issues now and when we return. We are however eating freely at tiny “restaurants” which are probably on par with the street food guys.)

We bought a few small items to bring home, and then headed for more pagodas. Whenever we pay for a purchase they say “Lucky money, lucky money” and then take the bills (kyat) and dust them over all the goods in their little stall, repeating over and again “Lucky money.”  I always thought this was done with the money from the first sale of the day… so perhaps in each occasion we were the first sale. Or maybe they just want extra luck for their sales for the day. My grandfather (who immigrated from Romania in the early years of the 20^th Century, had a small men’s clothing store in Brooklyn. He, too, as a shopkeeper, was superstitious. Toward the end of each day he would “close out” the register and bundle up the cash from sales, and then sales after that time were considered as sales for the following day. In this way, he always started out the day with a sale already completed. And he had a cash register that kept a running total of his sales, but he kept that covered up with tape – believing that if you watched the totals it would bring bad luck.  Different cultures, different customs — same end point.

We were planning to have lunch at a restaurant called Xanadu, but as we drove up to this very high end hotel, we realized that the new (2005) very controversial “tower” (200’) sits right at the edge of, or maybe on, the hotel property. The tower was built by the former military government as they considered increasing and attracting tourists. But it sits amid many sacred temples. It was intended to give visiting dignitaries and well-heeled tourists spectacular views of the temples and all of Bagan. It was commissioned by a Burmese tycoon. Preservationists (and environmentalists) were outraged from the start, but locals could not voice opposition. Some say that because of this tower (and also some shoddy reconstruction work on damaged temples), Bagan will not achieve its much desired UNESCO World Heritage status, but from what we’ve read, it seems as though, despite UNESCO’s harsh words about the tower, the status will be forthcoming soon. Anyway, once we realized the hotel and the tower were connected (or so we think), we decided to have the taxi turn around and we ate lunch elsewhere (excellent Shan noodles with chicken and lots of accompaniments).

Once again, the majority of tourists appear to be from Germany, France, Spain, Thailand, Singapore, Japan with just a sprinkling of Americans. Kids and even vendors (and taxi drivers) use their very very limited English to ask where we are from. They are surprised when we say “US” to which they always reply “America.” Then if they have a few more words, they always say “Obama” with thumbs up. They also tell you that Obama came to Myanmar (although sometimes in convoluted ways). They also say Trump with thumbs down.

While we have clearly seen a lot and are making some judgements as to what is going on in the country, it’s difficult to really understand the complexities of this place. Without language, we cannot engage in any real conversation, and even if we encountered Burmese people who spoke English well enough to have a conversation, I doubt they’d be open enough to truly say what they know and feel. One thing I will say, is that there is a minimal military presence, unlike Tibet where we encountered police and military (and even security checkpoints) at every turn. As you know, Myanmar was under the rule of an oppressive military junta from 1962 to 2011. The generals suppressed all dissent which was symbolized by the house arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi. The country was condemned by international organizations. A gradual liberalization has been under way over the past six years and the government changed hands earlier this year. There has also been long running rebellions between the dominant ethnic group and the country’s small minority groups.

Htin Kyaw was sworn in as president in March, and this is the first democratically elected government after so many years of military control. The position belonged to Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been associated with the pro-democracy movement and who spent decades under house arrest while she led a nonviolent campaign to unseat the military leaders. But she was barred from becoming President, and the new president is supposedly her proxy. Kyaw is the first civilian elected president. Despite all of this, I’m sure the military wields a great deal of power. Still, young people tell us that whatever English they speak they have learned from American movies – with Rambo and Transformers being the ones mentioned over and again! They also watch international news on television and the Internet (which is not blocked, and those with smart phones have access to YouTube and other social media). The country is highly literate (90%) and education (although poorly funded) is compulsory, beginning at age 5. One taxi driver told us that schooling is mandatory through age 18 and that English is now taught beginning at age 5 (but it is mostly reading and not speaking).

We will have New Year’s Eve dinner at the hotel (as there is a “compulsory” charge for the dinner, so we might as well take advantage of it). Not my favorite way to spend New Year’s. I’m sure that there will be staged performances, and probably a buffet. I’ll report on that in the final missive tomorrow or the next day.. We are close to New Years here… and we leave Bagan tomorrow afternoon (fly to Yangon) We spend one night in Yangon (Sunday, January 1) and then have a marathon flying day on Monday (January 2).. We fly from Yangon to Narita (6.5 hours), then have an 8+ hour wait at the Narita Airport and then fly to Los Angeles (9 hours), go through customs and board a short flight to SFO. We are trying to switch to a direct flight to SFO, but even with all of my status thus far we have been unable to make the change. We’ll keep trying.

Happy New Year… We think we will be watching the ball drop as we pack at around 11:30 am here (it will already be January 1 here) – as ex-NYers this is a must!

Best- Let’s hope 2017 isn’t as bad as we are all predicting.

Fern