Back from Myanmar

Note- I wrote this with the idea of having our photos included in the blog, but yahoo won't let me do it. So, where ever there is a red X, that is a photo that is on our yahoo photo site (link located at the end of this post).



I must say, having no access to a computer or phone for a few weeks was a nice treat. But, now it has been so long I don't feel like I can even began to explain what has happened in the last month (this is why it has taken me over a week and about 6 separate sessions online, trying to finish).

We loved Myanmar, in fact it is the best place we have been to this whole trip. The people were incredible. So nice, kind, friendly, and funny. We met tons of people, everyone wanted to talk to us, stare at us, and even pinch us to see what we felt like. It was the kind of travel experience that I think is rapidly becoming extinct. (god I sound like a cheese ball)

It was also interesting to visit a country run by a brutally oppressive military regime. (shit, now I sound like like Conndie Rice.) In 1990 a woman by the name of Aung San Suu Kyi won the national election by a landslide, but the military refused to recognize the election results. Aung San Suu Kyi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, which focused world attention on the military's repressive policies. She is the daughter of an assassinated general Aung San, who was revered as the father of Burmese independence, and she is currently under house arrest.



The Burmese are not allowed to discuss politics and if caught can be imprisoned or executed. But, a lot of people we talked to wanted to (quietly) discuss politics very much. And they all had the same things to say, the military government is terrible and Aung San Suu is a hero who should be in power. It made me want to cry to see that everyone agreed with this, but they are powerless to change it.

We even went to a comedy/ theater show put on by a comedy troupe called the Moustache Brothers. Two of these guys spent 7 years in jail for telling jokes about the government. They are now banned from performing for locals, but are somehow able to do shows for tourists in their home.



Years ago the money for Myanmar all had a picture of Aung San Suu's father, the most revered figure in Myanmar's recent history, but the government replaced his picture with animals and declared all the old money useless. To this day people carry the old money around in their wallets with his face plainly visible.



What was also interesting was what people had to say about the US political situation. Most people, in fact I think all, love the US (or at least the idea of freedom which they link with America) and were very happy when we said we were American. But, then there were those who were aware of what was happening in the states. One night two monks came up to us and started practicing their English (fairly common thing for Asia). Talking to silly monks was pretty funny, so we chatted for quite awhile. As it got late we said we were going to head back to our hotel, but we had gotten lost while talking, so the monks asked around and guided us back. Before we could go up to our hotel they invited us back to the monastery to meet their teacher.

Their teacher turned out to be a monk of 13 years, a highly educated man (typical for monks in Myanmar, in fact the monks are some of the most outspoken supporters of democracy in the country), he spoke perfect English (and in the true Myanmar style, lots of catch phrases and puns like "might is right", or "easy as pie", in fact they have whole books of these in Myanmar), and was very aware of American politics. Eventually he brought up the US and asked us the question that we get asked everywhere we go... "So, you like Bush?" After we make faces that would scare small children, he gave us a familiar response but a bit more well spoken. He said, "I think Bush is against democracy and freedom."

Let me remind you who we are talking to at this point. This is a Buddhist monk living in one of the most brutally oppressive military regimes in the world today. A country that censors it's media to the point that people (in Myanmar and abroad) don't even know how many people where killed in the tsunami (last I checked the govt' claimed only 60 died. I met someone else who said 17 villages were totally wiped out.) A country which (for what it's worth) made Condy Rice's top 5 of "Outposts of Tyranny". And this guy is telling me that my president, the fucking "leader of the free world" is "against democracy and freedom." Must say it made my day! The American people don't know, but at least this guy in a monastery in some backwards oppressed country does!

When I told him about how frustrated our political situation makes me and a lot of my friends, and how angry and frustrated and so close to losing our minds we get, he said simply, "keep cool." Keep cool. And he was cool. He would talk about how shitty life in his country was, and he would still be laughing and smiling. He knew that to let it get to him would be the ultimate victory for the military regime. For now, he will "keep cool." It won't stop him from talking about the problems, or from teaching his disciples and foreigners, but he isn't going to let it get in his head and rot his view of the world. This is the greatest lesson I have learned this whole trip (I must say there have been others before this man who have taught us the same lesson.)



Take a deep breath, we are shifting gears (this is what happens when you take 8 sessions to post a blog...)

One of the things that we found most interesting about the country was their belief in spirits. Although they are Buddhists they still hold onto a old form of spirit worship. They believe there are tons of these spirits (which they call nats (you may have noticed a lot of these guys and gals on our photo page) but there are 37 main nats. These main 37 are the spirits of people from Burmese history who died a tragic death, the others are not specific people. As I'm sure you know, Buddhists believe in reincarnation, when you die you come back as a human or an animal depending on if you were naughty or nice. Well, in Myanmar if you were really really good, you can also come back as a nat.



These nats are thought of as guardians, and if you are nice to them (ie build a nice shelter for them to live in and provide daily offerings) they will protect you and look after your well-being. Some times people feel that they need to bring in the big guns and have someone channel a powerful spirit to fix a problem they may have. This is a crazy ceremony that costs a whopping $200 (200 times an average daily wage) called a 'nat pwe'. We went to one, and it was hands down the most interesting thing we have ever seen. Yes, ever.

There were about 7 musicians and 4 transvestites. One of the transvestites was the leader and he/she was the one who channeled the spirit.



To do this he/she would dance around drinking a bottle of rum, smoking cigarettes and yelling and getting the band all worked up. The other three (wo)men would bring him rum, hand him cigarettes already lit, and generally look after him and yell and clap. The music would build and build and it was so loud and would put you into a trance. This particular spirit liked to drink, smoke and gamble, so that is why the dance used all of these things to channel him. There was also lots of money being thrown around.

At one point the spirit offered to pour rum down my throat, which I regrettably turned down. He/she/it also offered Natalie and I both two oranges, which we did accept.

The music was insane. It sounded like medieval hard techno, but louder and weirder, I guess sort of like Tom Waits mets full moon party. They banged on tuned gongs, lots of drums (most used for rhythm and one guy played a set of about 15 tuned drums for melody), one guy played a flute like bagpipe sounding thing, and one guy sort of sang/ rapped/ talked.



All of this craziness was amplified and came screaming distorted and convoluted through these two massive club style (third world looking club style mind you) speakers in a room no bigger than our living room. Fucking mad. Enough to make us believe.

The coolest part (for all of you nonbelivers out there) is that this guy gets totally smashed, I mean you see him put down a lot of rum. He stumbles around and looks like someone sucking on a bottle of rum. But, (I must admit that we did not witness the end of the performance so we can not attest to this but have read accounts that claim it is true) when the spirit leaves the body of the spirit medium, (the crazy dancing transvestite) the medium is instantly sober, meaning that the medium was not drunk, it was the spirit who was inhabiting his body. So apparently, this guy walks off like nothing happened. No shit, the craziest thing we have ever seen (good thing I am traveling with a "nat"!)



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