Myanmar !!!!

To be deep and thoughtful for a moment, it is crazy to watch the power of language or no language at all unfold right before you. In all of the ports we have been so far, there have been people who speak English, vendors that take US dollars, and signs with English words. As foreign travelers, we are incredibly lucky to speak English and have this advantage. On the other hand, we don’t need words or any language to interact with people- instead, we only need a small woven ball that Rachel bought in a village to start a pickup game of soccer with some guys outside the airport in Bagan who spoke no English at all.  

Now, back to reality. Another country down and its almost March. Myanmar was special, eyeopening and really hot. We had a slight detour: one of the crew members had a medical emergency so we stopped in the middle of the ocean and waited for a small Burmese ship to pick him up. I obviously watched the whole time from the 7th deck, as they transferred him, the surgeon on board, and one other passenger onto the small ship. He came back two days after and thankfully is doing well. 

Because of the current events and previous civil wars in Myanmar (previously known as Burma) there was some concern about traveling there. I felt really safe the entire time and found the people to be welcoming and positive. 

Anyhoodles, we docked at a port about an hour away from Yangon, so the first day we took the shuttle to the city and walked around. Its hard to explain what Yangon is like- some parts look just like a city you would expect and other parts are really run-down. None of us had service or any clue where we we going, so we ended up having lunch in restaurants with a view of the whole city, along with about 500 other SAS kids. We walked through a few markets and the city center and ended up at the famous Strand Hotel for high tea. We ordered a hamburger and then Myanmar style high tea. We finished the burger in 3 minutes, but the high tea meal took a little longer due to the interesting smelling salads and fruit jelly. 

The next morning we woke up at 5am, met Wah Wah, our amazing tour guide and left for the airport. Shoutout to Emma for making it through another flight on a propeller plane! Bagan is an ancient capital of Myanmar. We saw about 5 incredible and unique pagodas, two with insane gold stupas and solid interiors. We took a horse carriage through the desert, which is literally scattered with pagodas. After lunch and ice cream, we checked into our hotel, which was beautiful. Then, we took a small river boat to another side of Bagan where we explored two villages. The first stop was at a weaver’s hut, where we saw intricately woven bamboo. We ended up playing in the back dirt alley for almost an hour with a bunch of kids that kept running up and joining. The next stop we saw cotton being made by women who work 7 days a week, 8 or 9 hours a day. The colors and weaving were brilliantly done. On the river boat back we watched the sunset right above us. 

The next morning was an early wake up call for hot air ballooning. Wah Wah was so excited to come with us. Hot air ballooning was more graceful and calm than I expected. We were literally floating above Bagan, watching the sun come up and illuminate all the pagodas scattered around. It was honestly one of the most amazing experiences. We landed on a sand bank and our pilot Nick form the UK said that its tradition to have champagne after every balloon flight, so naturally we all had 3 glasses before 8 am. 

After a breakfast buffet and some time to pack up, we left the hotel to see two more temples. We stopped at a market, bought another pair of loose pants for $3 (honestly a life saver for multiple reasons). That afternoon, we went to a monastic school in a very poor village. We met with a monk for a few minutes. He shared with us his intentions in running this school: that students should have a Buddhist and academic education to become competent leaders and capable of making decisions. SAS has visited this school in the past and as a tradition, they always bring donations. We helped pass out new pencils, pens and toothbrushes to the children. The kids were so happy to receive these gifts, they all bowed and thanked us saying “jei zu ba.” 

We got to the airport and found out that our flight was delayed. With no Wifi and very, very limited food options, we started a game of pick up soccer outside on the dirt. We had no way to communicate with the airport workers that started playing with us and they were yelling in Burmese, so we nicknamed them Kobe, Beckham, Tip, and Fountain. We made it back to Yangon and said bye to Wah Wah. 

On our last full day we had a tour of Yangon. Our tour guide was kind of odd and didn’t really speak but saw the Schwedegon Pagoda, the biggest and most famous pagoda in Yangon. We had a great lunch, saw some fossilized teeth in the Yangon National Museum and hit our breaking point. That night we stayed in  an amazing hotel that I found on Wikivoyage and booked over email. Honestly, I was concerned my plan would backfire but it turned out to be an amazing hotel, with a pool and working wifi. I opened my computer and didn’t even know what to do with working wifi. 

We had an early night, a full breakfast buffet the next day and relaxing by the pool. We took a taxi back to the ship and got lost a few times, but made it back with time to spare before on-ship time at 2000. Myanmar was definitely one of the most interesting and different places we have traveled to so far. Yes, some parts of the country and government are really backwards, but the people were so welcoming and the experiences were really eye-opening. 

Next stop: India.

If you’ve made it this far, thanks for being a #loyal reader. xx