From: "Angie Eng" <angie_eng@hotmail.com>
To: mailing list
Subject: global ho-ho!
Date: Sun, 24 Dec 2000 11:53:30 -0500

Merry Xmas to all...

India is infamous for her 4 P's: Poverty, Politics, Poop, and Pus. Add Pagoda and you have Myanmar, formerly Burma. We just flew into Bangkok via Yangon to spend a merry hot and humid Christmas before we head toward Calcutta. A summary of our first month's travels...


Portable snack shack, Burma on the road

Imagine traveling for 10 hours on a 1970's hand-me-down Japanese bus packed with locals and their year supply of rice, fermented veggies and dried fish on a bumpy dusty road. Then jumping in the back of an open pickup with 30 Burmese, racing up a steep mountain to witness the sunset and a big golden rock supposedly "floating" atop a cliff1. Exchange the rock for a 72 foot tall Buddha multiply this by 1 million and divide the dimensions in every possible fraction and you have Burma. The kitsch of their Vegas-like temples adorned with more eye candy than Disney on acid is a stark contrast with the tans and browns of the bamboo huts; yellow thanaka2 painted faces and dried rice patty fields.


One giant sexy Buddha!

Under control by a military dictatorship, SLORC3, Myanmar remains an isolated country with the Western world smuggled in by opium and gem trading. Myanmar has an abundance of natural resources and at one time considered the richest nation in all of South East Asia. However, the military junta rules Myanmar with an iron fist, preventing any Western influences and involvement in politics and daily life. All Western contemporary literature and pop culture is prohibited in the country. Nonetheless, a Shan hill tribe bag with the words and logo "Nike" embroidered across it sums up the global pervasiveness of Western powers that be.


Girl serving corve. The villagers don't like tourism because they are constantly having to renovate the temples from the yearly earthquakes. Corve is a form of government slavery.

By the side of the road they sing while they break rocks with a sledge hammer. It is time to serve corve4, a forced labor which existed in all of Southeast Asia and enforced in Burma today. Don’t let the singing fool you. They are not having fun out there in the sun. They would rather be inside singing karaoke, chewing betelnut5 and drinking tea. If I had a choice to serve an army active in war (as required in many other countries) for a year or break rocks, I'd have to choose the sledgehammer over the gun. Virilio6 had said, in the age of technology, we are constantly in war. This was the case for many countries in Asia.


More burmese snacks, fried swallows, yum!

In a country the size of Texas, there are over 50 insurgency groups in Myanmar. As a tourist you witness the peace of the locals selling goods in the markets, farming with oxen, riding horse carriages, fishing in dug outs, praying in temples, cooking noodle soup on the street, singing American cover songs in Burmese. At home you read novels of drug warlords, hill tribes battling it out with governments and themselves, military torturing locals, spies, CIA, but rarely do you catch a glimpse of these incidents. Instead you seek out the exotic; transvestites dancing traditional Burmese and going into trance (Nats7), a trek with a maimed local (shot by a drunk army man) to the tattoo parlor, singing karaoke with your jeep driver and the prostitutes in a Hmong village or attending the night festival with teens drunk on rice wine shooting rubber bands and Chinese origami owls.

It’s the old ones that rule Asia as opposed to the teen pop stars in tight jeans and Day-GlowTM make-up of the West. Here, the older one is the wiser and therefore more respected. An outsider is accepted by being referred to as a member of the family (sister, brother, mama, papa, auntie, uncle) Other compliments include statements such as "You look fat!" in place of "You look good!". Models of Burma are opposite of those in the West. They are plump, chubby cheeked middle aged women with wholesome smiles as opposed to Western waif models with sullen expressions. Their Buddha like smiles are infectious, you begin to lose your overworked frown, suspicious squint and shrugged posture. Gradually you witness your own aura transforming into a "travel glow".

Like a giggling islander and a Buddhist student combined, all experiences even out to a continuous series of daily bliss.

1. Kyaiktiyo is a 7.3 meter high pagoda, resting atop a huge gold-gilded boulder, precariously perched high on the edge of the hill. It is located in the northern area of the Kayin State. Hundreds of local Burmese make a special pilgrimage to see this pagoda which is regarded as one of the holiest Buddhist sites in Myanmar.
2. Almost all women in Burma and children wear thanaka, a cosmetic made from tree bark. The pale yellow powder is applied to the face and arms to beautify and protect the skin from the sun. It also often looks like American Indian war make up, at least to the foreign eye.
3. SLORC-State Law and Order Restoration Council is the military junta which dominates Myanmar. The regime, now called the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), remains in power for almost a decade.
4. Corve, a form of unpaid mandatory labor is enforced on every Burmese citizen. Each person must participate in corve by working in such areas as road construction and monument restoration. Those who can afford to pay the government are exempt from corve. The temples of Bagan have been restored by forced labor. Therefore, many locals are against the restoration of the temples.
5. Betelnut is a palm nut from the areca tree. The hard nuts are chewed casually like chewing gum and produces a reddish juice which locals will spit out. An unappealing habit, chewing betelnut is very common and an addictive stimulant. Many locals have brownish-red stained teeth from chewing betelnut over the years. It is common to see someone spray a stream of red juice from there mouth on the streets.
6. Paul Virilio began his career as an architect, but now is a prolific public intellectual in France known for his writings on media and communications technology. His books include Pure War, Speed and Politics, War and Cinema: the Logistics of Perception, Desert Screen and The Art of The Engine. The reference here applies to his theories included in Pure War.
7. Nat worship is a traditional religion from pre-Buddhist times. Nat worship is belief in spirits. Some nats are the spirits of important people who have died. Others are associated with particular places. Some nats protect people; others are destructive, possessing humans who then become outcasts. To ensure safety, people make offerings to the nats. If you are lucky to spot a festival with transvestites dancing to traditional music and going into a trance, most likely you’ve come upon a Nat ceremony.

There's actually 9 people in this family guesthouse called 'Four Sisters.'
You can spot me with my socks pulled up like the Germans do.

That's quick assimilation for you. Burmese hilltribes. I used there potty which consisted of a wood structure you squatted over while a pig opened his mouth below. Hyper fast recycling system!


Brian had a harder time blending in.