Travel Memoirs: Where Time Stood Still

I was in Yangon, Myanmar (aka the old Burma) for the past 3 days for work. It is one of my favourite countries, despite the political turmoil that had been brewing in this rich country for years.

Time seemed to stand still in this resource-rich country - although I note with regret the increasing numbers of cars and taller, newer malls this trip.

As the plane descended into Myanmar, I was struck once again by the rich, fertile green lands that spread in total flatness, with not a single hill or mountain in sight, a luxuriant land speckled with meandering streams, and from the plane, I can literally observe how the majestic Irrawaddy River dissects the country, flowing from North to South. Try as I might, I could not detect the damage done by Cyclone Nargis because all I could see was dense green landscapes and sprawling emerald rice fields, as abundant and verdant as the famed jade that Myanmar is known for. But when speaking with the Myanmar people during the trip, I learned that the damage of Cyclone Nargis was widespread and severe - and totally under-emphasised by their callous government. Travel by foreigners to the Irrawaddy Delta is now restricted.

It is a land of highly religious people and it shows in the ready smiles and warm hospitality of every Myanmar person you meet. A land where on the roads, you see groups of monks from little boys to older men and graceful nuns decked out in pink flowing robes. I love their night market where the hawkers sell their wares of live chicken and vegetables in stark candlelight, as power outages are so common here. Where you can still get into a taxi with a hole on the car's floorboard. And where 20 to 30 men squashed themselves into a small lorry, some standing outside the lorry, just beside the wheels.

These are mere facades to deeper troubles in the country - where the rich and the poor are universes apart. Where government doctors earn only US$70 a month and salaries of US$300 a month for a private practice doctor is considered wealthy. It is saddening that this is a land of immense natural resources - full of jade as well as precious stones and gems of all kinds, not to mention their very fertile land - and yet, with a greedy government that usurps all these resources to benefit their own kind. Where all the citizens shun clear of talking about their government with the many plainclothes spies around, and where they speak of the government to foreigners like me in hushed tones, in a resigned manner. The common saying of "One cannot choose one's parents" can be applied here, where these souls are born into different destinies in a government system forced onto their wills. Yet, their resilience and cheeriness touched me.

The media and communications blackout shrouded the country like a black cloud - no mobile connection for non-Myanmar telephone numbers, where it costs US$2,000 to own a cell phone for the Myanmar people and where all the major news websites and web emails are banned through the Internet.

Still, for a foreigner like me so used to information explosion everywhere, this communications blackout is a halcyon reprieve for me. Sometimes I wonder, will we be more happy without being exposed so much to global information? Are we all over-exposed to too much information?

Anyway, the most enjoyable part of my trip is coming home to see Little Bee sleeping fitfully with her chubby cheeks and her sweeping lashes. I am now looking forward to fetching Big Bee from school, eager to see her expression of surprise as she hopped down her school bus :)