11-4-19 - Welcome to Yangon!
/Day 141. Kyle & Leanne joint blog. Yangon, Myanmar.
The first 24 hours in a new country can usually be a bit unsettling for us. After Vietnam’s naked guy incident and the China’s authoritative government warnings not to leave the hotel after 5pm, we are becoming used to what we will just call “border transitional syndrome” (BTS).
Today’s BTS is worthy to note. We left the beautiful Vinpearl with very little drama. Our transfer van arrives for our three hour van trip to the Hanoi airport and we arrive an ample 3.5 hours before our scheduled flight to Yangon, Myanmar. Flight on time. Even checking luggage was easy with the dedicated “Family Check-in” line at Vietnam Airlines (a first!). Dare I say, we are all quite pleasant today. A real feat when travelling with five teenagers.
Even landing in Yangon with the 20 Buddhist monks on our flight, we breeze through Passport control and customs like a flowing river (Kyle has nailed the e-Visa once again). We even figure out how to get two taxis ordered via the Grab app. But then it starts to go straight downhill. Neither of us can find our taxis. Finally Leanne locates her but gets accosted by “fake porters” who try to help her get the bags in the car and then demand a tip. Then when she arrive at the hotel, she realizes one bag is split open at the zipper thus ruining the bag. This a big “No Bueno” as we need to replace the bag in time for our next flight in three days.
Kyle finally locates his grab taxi and they are off. At a red light, a woman with a child banging for money starts banging hard on the cab window next to kids in the back seat cab demanding money. As much as we want to help, these countries have a very strong opinion that tourists should not give them money along the lines of they want to teach a man to fish as opposed to giving him a fish. The taxi is not 500 meters from the hotel when SLAM!!!! The taxi is rear-ended by a small truck that crashes right into the crew. It was a pretty hard hit but fortunately no one was hurt. The taxi and truck have to pull over and spend the next 15 minutes discussing and exchanging information. If this was the Amazing Race, Kyle definitely would have been eliminated.
We have researched Myanmar and been peppering the kids with facts about its history which is quite unique and interesting. In terms of its more modern history, the country was named Burma up until 1989 (more on than later). During the 19th century, the British and Burmese fought a series of Anglo-Burmese wars that resulted in British colonization and by 1886, all of Burma came under British rule. Myanmar was devasted during WW II with Japanese troops invading and British administration collapsing. The end of WW II and Japanese rule led to Burma’s independence in 1948. However; in 1962, a military group took control of Burma through a coup d’état. Different military groups ruled from 1962 to 2011. In 1988 widespread protests were violently suppressed and the military government changed the name of the country from Burma to Myanmar. During this period of military rule, Myanmar became one of the world’s most impoverished countries. In 2011, the military junta was officially dissolved following a 2010 general election. It is fascinating to us to come to this country which has only been opened up to tourists in within the last ten years.
Of course, there is the matter of the US Embassy’s travel current advisory warning US citizens not to travel to Myanmar which Kyle completely ignored in planning the trip. The travel advisory points out areas of civil unrest and armed conflict between the Burmese military and various ethnic groups (mostly related to the Rohingya crisis). Kyle points out that the flaw in the system is that State Department must give a country one overall rating. Most tourists aren’t going to get past the travel advisory in the headline and the words armed conflict despite the fact that Yangon and Bagan (the cities we are traveling too) are not included anywhere in the advisory. Kyle points out that, “it’s not like a Somalia travel advisory. These travel advisories are written so scarily, I’d be scared to travel back to the US upon reading it.”
Leanne is more than a little concerned by Kyle’s approach to the Embassy travel advisories as he is currently planning the Middle East part of the trip next year. “Don’t worry, Googling the safest cities to visit in the Middle East is way more informative that the travel advisories.”
The hotel has provided a Do’s & Dont’s For Tourists booklet in our rooms. Were not sure is this was specifically provided because we are American or if all tourists are afforded the same educational opportunity. Either way, we head to bed excited to explore and learn more about one of the least developed countries on our trip.
