I've been working my way up

Mingalabaa. "Hi" in Burmese. You don't have to know that. Everybody will hello you anyways.

Where to start? Missed me? Well, today has been my last day in Myanmar and I'm back in Yagon. It's still a cool city. I haven't been writing 'cause outside Yagon and Mandalay Net costs you almost 3 bucks. And I've been lazy. So I guess it's time to sum up the country. It's not a party capital so it has had a climbing theme. Let me explain.

Like I told you guys earlier, I went to Hpan An on to do I a random pilgrim thing on 772 meter mountain. I went to test my now smoke-free lungs. I was still out of breath after like 10 meters but I didn't get this disturbing pain on my chest like I used to. I guess that's something.

Next was the Golden Rock. There was the one hour climb and my first taste of the massive Burmese internal tourism. The cool thing about this country is that the sites are actually more exciting for locals than for foreign tourists.

The Golden rock is just that, a golden rock. It's supposed to be there 'cause couple of thousand years ago Buddha gave his hair to someone. A pagoda here Yagon has the same story and it's the most famous site in the country. The guy covered it with gold, people took this a bit too far and still add layers on it. So there is a big rock on a cliff on a small mountain and pagoda round it. If it doesn't have any religious meaning to you, it can feel a bit odd. But the hike up was fun with people selling bear parts and all the Burmese ladies admiring my "round eyes" and white skin.

Then a bit of climbing in Bago to a couple of pagodas.

After an real 28-hours-on-the-road-mission I finally did reach Bagan. Well worth it. Got a nice cheap room and ended up staying five days. Bagan is like Angkor Wat but nicer, I think. The temples are smaller but more close to each other so the area is cooler. You get good views on a endless field of pagodas. The roads are paved (thank you government forced labor on tourist sites) and ideal for biking. For one day I hired a horse cart with a German couple to see more remote temples.

The place also so differs from Angkor drastically when it comes to number of beggars, souvenir sellers and tour groups. There is totally enough though.

So, in Bagan there was a lot of climbing to get pictures of the pagoda fields.

Next was the famous Mandalay. On the bus there (which had to wait for me for a half hour, not my fault) I met the lovely Dutch girl, Ilse. We were both were at the same stage of our trips and had a lot of similar experiences to share. She convinced (well, I just told her I'm gonna come with her) me to go the beach for a couple of days. I convinced her to stop at Kalaw after Inle lake.

In Mandalay we climbed the Mandalay hill which was nice, I guess. The city it self is not knocker though. Very polluted and shit. However, we visited a nice monastery and got essential South East Asia experience of being offered tea and biscuits ( pop corn balls with sugar) by a toothless nun who doesn't speak any English. Great. Something I can tick out of my To Do -list. Then we went to see pythons getting a bath in a temple. Again, locals getting kicks out of weird stuff. Then Inwa a town near by. Climbed a watch tower. Not very tall.

In the evening we got to see the Moustache Brothers which was fun. They were ripping us off and making jokes about it. It's a stand up kind of thing with some Burmese dancing and a clip from About a boy. The show is famous because they two of the brothers went to prison for making jokes about the government and bunch of Hollywood stars made a fuzz about it. Rich people wanna do goo stuff too, you know. Now the shows in English and the government tolerates it.

Next destination was Inle lake and there was no climbing. Hardly even walking. We took a boat for the day and went around the beautiful lake. Some places had that great human zoo feeling with the long-neck Karen girls (you know, the ones with the dozen metal rings on their neck) but most of it was great fun. Another weird Burmese thing can be found on the lake. A monastery where the monks have trained cats to jump through hoops. How bizaar. Again.

Then we headed to Kalaw. The trekking HQ. We did a 15 km six hour trek to two villages. There was plenty of climbing. Enough. The villages were nice and everything but it's not my thing. I really love trekking in the nature and seeing people pass me, maybe talk to them for a while, you know interaction in a natural way or something. But I just think it feels odd to treat a village as a site. I don't know. Plus, it's hard to turn down people selling you stuff there. Even though you don't want or need it. Fortunately I'm becoming heartless.

We got out of Kalaw pretty quickly, partly 'cause it was fucking cold. During night time it got down to 4 celcius. The days were T-shirt weather though. We started our odyssey to reach the beach.

After 29 or so hours we finally did. Chaungtan may not be the most pristine one on the Bay of Bengal but it was the only reachable and affordable one. And it was pretty enough. And I'm just happy as kid when there are waves. On my last they there I was unfortunately so badly burned that I couldn't even swim. It was again a cool place to watch the Burmese on holiday. Swimming fully clothed and taking portrait pictures with stupid straw hats. There were also monks begging every morning and ladies trying to sell the same fish whole day.

The staff at our resort was the nicest in Myanmar, possibly on the whole trip. Me and Ilse just laid on the beach chairs right outside the hotel and somebody came to ask what we want for our next meal. So much for being a good traveler and spreading your money around. We were just so tired. It was just nice to not do anything and not to go anywhere. I finished Buddhism explained and Burmese days. Orwell never fails but I still don't know much about Buddhism.

As a whole, I think I saw a lot of Myanmar. But just the touristy stuff. I'm happy I came, I'm happy to leave. It was a bit more expensive than I thought. The other alternative is to take a tour. I'm not judging anyone's way of traveling but I'm saying fuck those people. I'm not saying I spreaded the the gospel of democracy here or anything but people should at least have the decency not come to totally poor underdeveloped country and go around just flying and sleeping in luxury hotels. Plus they are the people the government wants here 'cause they really don't have any contact with the people and most of the money goes straight in to the officials pockets. Plus, they make it more expensive for the rest of us.

The famously nice Burmese are also very poor so the walking ATM thing is very strong. Today like two people ripped me off. In one case a monk was heavily involved. Well, it's not big money, less than a euro combined but it's more the principle. But at least I learned I was born on Friday which means my lucky planet is Venus and my lucky animal is a hamster.

Traveling here is hard but can be done. A big part of the fun is that there are no tourist bail outs. No tourist buses, most of them look like their trying to set a world record every time they set off. A lot of shitty roads and all that of course too. No credit cards so you really have to make you buck last. You are still a wonder to many locals. People wanna take your picture and wanna practise their English.

The government thing is weird too. It's a lot of passport controls and you are not allowed to go everywhere. There are a lot of ministries and military stuff. People are either so poor that they don't care, (that's what the government wants and is keeping them that way) or they are a bit richer and they seem to treat the whole thing as a necessary evil. "It's too risky to do anything about it so let's just bend the rules" -attitude is strong here, I think. That's only natural of course. If you work hard to get a bit ahead, you also have more to loose. It's just a shame that now most of the country's population are living in the same way as they did 50 years ago. A lot of things seem to not have changed since Orwell's Burmese days. The guy on the next computer is up loading porn though. The wonders oft he world wide web.

So, tomorrow I should be flying out and might be greeted by a familiar face in the evening. Cool.
I would like to end with a Mark Twain quote which an American guy I shared a room with told me yesterday: "Don't let schooling come in the way of you education".

Ps. There was also too much Indian food involved.

I will not let thee go unless thee bless me

The same Bible quote in two books in a row. Read Zadie Smiths On Beauty. It' pretty great.

I'm still in Myanmar, in Bago now. I've been doing pilgrim stuff - climbing to places that is. In Phan an, on the 772m climb I really had to tell myself it's usually worth it. I guess it was. There was a cute kitsch monastery on top. And it was quite, nobody was shouting "Hey you, where you go?!"

Climbing the golden rock was less challenging but with sore muscles, it was something. But well worth it. And on the way back I met a burmese christian couple who wanted to take their fellow christian to dinner. They were a bit disappointed when I had no idea how to say grace.

There has also been a lot of time spend on pick ups and one major bus brake down. Talk about rubbing shoulders with the people. Tonigth I start my mission to reach Bagan. Doing good.

Right then

It's my second day in Myanmar. It's fucking amazing. I've never seen anything like it. Yagon is an unbelievable city. Anyone who tells you otherwise is wrong or doesn't enjoy the same things as I. Walking around, taking in the atmosphere, smelling and seeing weird stuff, watching the people and admiring the beautiful houses. Are they beautiful is of course a good question since the ancient colonial buildings with bright colors have seen better days. But that's the way I like it. You don't need activities here. Every evening you're still exhausted.

This place is just so colorful in every way. Everybody is wearing longyis. Actually, not all, some have saris, burkhas or even western clothing. Everybody loves sitting in tea shops, anyways. People have weird paint on their faces. I guess for sun protection. Street food is good and almost free. Everything is deep fried, though. There are churches, wats, temples, synagogues and mosques here. It's nice to hear the call for prayer again. The place definitely has chinese influences and I can imagine it's also a lot like India. Some how it also reminds me of Egypt.

It's just so far from the Kafka-like place I had in my head, when I thought of Myanmar. People are more openly anti-government than I expected. And at least here the internet works in a normal way.

However it's also a hars place. It's very dirty, everybody spits red disgusting stuff around. There are a lot of beggars and people stare at you. Men shout at you (nice things though). The cars are older than I am. There are holes on the streets.

I don't wanna get into any kind of trouble here. The guy I changed money with told me that the guy I spoke earlier to just went to jail. Or I misunderstood, don't know. Changing money is funny business. Black market rates beat the official ones so well, that everybody uses them. Plus it's fun. You sit in a tea shop and get feeling your doing business.

When I was leaving Bangkok I was seriously questioning could I do the third world thing any more? All the chaos? Mosquitoes? (still not taking anti-malaria...)_ It was just so nice to have all the things Bangkok has. But when I got here I realised, fuck yeah, this is what I love. It's just so fucking different from home and in fact, anything I've ever seen. And in a way it's not. People go on living even though the governments suck every where (okay, this one sucks big time). Anyway, you can buy Avril Lavine posters and listen to local hip hop here.

The other side of it is that I am really tired. I miss home. I'm fucking lonely. There I said it. It's not all fun and games. I'm so sick of making new friends. I miss the ones I have! I don't think I would have made this far or this for this long if it wasn't for the internet. It's better to be on-line than just to keep all in your head. God knows I have had more than enough time to reflect on this trip.

But don't be worried. It's still fun and I'm learning. Hope you are too.

As a closure, I would like to recommend a excellent book, specially for traveling anywhere. Karen Blixen's Out of Africa.

Big News and Commitments

http://www.basso.fi/uutiset.php?id=1432

Tomorrow it's of to Myanmar - maybe. Unfortunately by plane. If karma and the officials are on my side. We'll see.

Few days ago I ran into Flo, my old pal back from Siberia! And Franziska came here to spend a couple of days with me. With friends Bangkok is even cooler!

Yesterday me and Franziska went to this roof top bar on Khao San. Being in the most touristy area in Bangkok, we didn't expect much. However, we found a huge thai band of the cutest guys I've seen in a while playing some disorganized but fun music. We were the only people there not involved in it some how. The beauty of Thailand. If you understand the concept of thai rastas, you know what I mean. Cambodia doesn't exactly have that.