Borders and Buddhas

From Kyatiko, we boarded a series of pick up trucks to get to our next destination, Hpa-An. The Karen state capital is briefly mentioned in the guidebooks as having some nice hilltop temples and a couple of ancient Buddhist caves. As we had been working primarily with Karen refugees in Mae Sot, Thailand, we were particularly interested in visiting their homestate. We hoped to talk to locals and potentially to members of the government-allied DKBA (Democratic Karen Buddhist Army) during our time in Karen state. It turned out that the head monk we planned to meet was in such restricted territory that it would have been impossible to go there without attracting serious attention. We had every intention of stopping in Hpa-An and assessing the situation, however, en route we discovered that our pick up truck was heading past Hpa-An to the border town of Myawaddy- the very place we had done our visa runs from Mae Sot just weeks before. Figuring this might be our best chance to go to the restricted areas that we had been interested in, we decided to stay on the pick up and see how far we could get.

Kara rode on the bottom of the truck with this group of people while Max rode on the roof. Women are not allowed on the roof, possibly for their own safety, however we also learned in Myanmar culture, its rude for a woman to be sitting over the head of a man. Though much of the ride was filled with friendly smiles, many of the locals were curious and slightly confused as to why we were going this way. Many of these people are migrant workers who will spend their days in the workshops and fields of Mae Sot and the surrounding areas. They require special permits to travel on this road.

After traveling for the majority of the day, we pulled over at a local restaurant assuming we were stopping for dinner. We were then told that the pick up would go no further for the evening and that we would be sleeping in this room, in the back of the store. The 100+km stretch of road between Hpa-An and the Thai border is strictly controlled. Traffic runs one way on alternate days, and no vehicles are permitted to travel after dark. At the time of traveling, which was late June 2009, the KNU (Karen National Union) and KNLA (Karen National Liberation Army) were involved in the final struggle with the DKBA/SPDC for the control of the border area. During our ride, we saw other pick ups full of blue and yellow clad DKBA soldiers speeding past us. We have now learned that the DKBA and SPDC have "secured the border" and finally "defeated" the KNU/KNLA. This is a milestone in Myanmar's political history. Over the last 20 years, the government has slowly widdled away and signed treaties with the many armed separatist movements throughout the country. It is now clear that a new strategy is needed for the independence movement. For many reasons we barely slept that night: we were anxious about what the next day would bring, our beds consisted of a single straw mat, and we heard the most random, unexplained, and indescribable shouting throughout the night.

We didn't make it to the border. We woke up the next morning around 5 am, and continued down the road. We passed many cargo trucks bringing in goods of various legalities from Thailand. After passing a major bridge, the pick up truck was sent to the police station where we were told to disembark and say goodbye to our friends. We pleaded ignorance and no one got in trouble, however we knew that our days of exploration in Myanmar were now over and a serious watch would be placed upon us for the remaining 2 weeks. After a couple of hours of questioning, we were personally escorted by an immigration underling back to Hpa-An. For the rest of our time in Karen state, we were followed and questioned wherever we went. The best explanation we can give you is this, as stated above, "Tamadaw (Armed Forces of Myanmar) And The People in Eternal Unity, Anyone Attempting to Divide Them Our Enemy."

After learning that the political head of the DKBA, who happens to be a monk, lives in a highly restrictive and malaria infested area, and knowing that our movements were now being closely followed, we decided to cut our losses and visit the tourist sights of Hpa-An. Here is Max seen walking through the rice paddies and villages outside of Hpa-An towards some ancient Buddhist caves. Earlier, an SPDC spy had come to us on this fairly quiet road asking us for our passports and where we were going. Before that, in our hotel, another spy had listened to us relate our plans to the owner and on the road here, we passed a check point where our passports were also taken. Kara was pissed off that we were being followed so closely, but Max pointed out that we had knowingly tried to enter a restricted insurgent zone just days before. "Yeah but we told them we didn't know what we were doing and they believed us!" Kara still says. Regardless, we were followed.

At one of the famous caves surrounding Hpa-An. Thousands of engraved Buddhas line this temple, the oldest being more than 1,000 years old. In typical Myanmar fashion, you couldn't tell their age by looking at them.

Buddhas Buddhas Buddhas.

We were a little Buddha'ed out and frustrated with our plans.

But we decided to go to the next cave anyway. After walking for another couple of kilometers, we passed over this bridge where novice monks were playing in the water.

We arrived at this hill top, cave temple that overlooked the surrounding countryside and felt less annoyed and more happy with our experience.

On our way back to the city of Hpa-An, we stopped at a local store in the village nearby to pick up some snacks, including tea leaf salad in a bag, Max's favorite. Our brief stop allowed the swarm of children who had been following us in the village to catch up and surround us with smiles. One of the older girls spoke English and related our personal details to the crowd.

We caught a pick up from the main road back to Hpa-An without any checkpoints or problems. Max is on the roof and Kara is holding on and being held on to in the back of the overstuffed truck.

The next morning we took a rickshaw out to the "Water Lake Monastery" seen here. The centerpiece is a stupa-topped limestone formation in the middle of the lake. Behind the monastery is a limestone mountain that we are about to climb.

Even though it was raining on and off the whole day, Max is stoked.

The monastery is a kind of animal sanctuary, housing many rabbits, hamsters, and fish. Kara pets one of her furry friends before leaving to chat with some disillusioned youth who had just been deported from Malaysia.

Monks on a truck.

It had stopped raining and we had totally underestimated how tall the mountain was. After another passport check at the base of the hill in which Kara listed her name as "YOU ARE STUPID" without any problems from the illiterate SPDC spy, we began to climb the mountain. The landscape was beautiful and bizarre, sometimes looking like a mythical forest.

Many of these colorful crabs, yes, crabs, were spotted on our walk up the mountain. We have never seen forest dwelling crabs and were rather surprised.

After over two hours of climbing straight up, we reached the top... and the inevitable stupa. We were initially disappointed to enter a cloud of white mist, completely obscuring our view.


When the clouds finally cleared, it was absolutely gorgeous and worth the effort.

We only had a short time to take in the breathtaking scenery that is Karen state, as it was getting dark. We managed the steep descent and got back to our hotel without any problems. Having only a week left on our visa, and feeling very watched in Hpa-An, we decided to leave for Mawlamyine.

Mawlamyine is the former capital of the British empire in Myanmar and current capital of Mon state (next to Karen.) Kipling and Orwell were both posted here during the colonial era. The city itself is a thriving trade post and is home to many different ethnic groups including Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, and Indians. We were limited in our options for traveling further into Karen state, and heard there was a giant waterfall nearby, so we took the bus down river from Hpa-An and stayed for a couple of days.

Local tea house. Though very basic in appearance, to the right of this shot was a large LCD screened TV that was playing Italian fashion TV via satellite all day long. The three times we went there, Kara was the only female in the crowd of eager male spectators.

Downtown Mawlamyine is basically a series of makeshift markets selling anything from fruit to laminated anatomy posters. Seen above is the main road along the river. This is the main bazaar, however the selling grounds spread like tributaries through the tiny alleyways of the city.

There is a large Muslim population in the city, and the call to prayer can be heard in most parts of town.

Even the rickshaws are classic here.

Mawlamyine is situated in the Salween river delta, seen above. The river has provided the city with panoramic sunsets and bustling trade routes for centuries.

Local ferry boat operators hanging out at the docks. If you want to visit the villages on the river islands and beyond, you must obtain a permit. We didn't try.

There is also a large Chinese population here. Max played this hacky-sack like game with the members of this clan one night.

Our umbrella broke one day, giving us an opportunity to visit the umbrella repair man. In Myanmar, if your umbrella brakes, you do not buy another. There is a whole industry of spare parts and repair shops to fix one's umbrella as new umbrellas are expensive and fixing them is cheaper. Umbrellas are a must in Myanmar's blazing sun and pounding rain. People take great care in the folding and storage of their umbrellas, developing a whole etiquette that had been unknown to us. Max must have looked like he was struggling one day with closing his umbrella, so a nice man took it upon himself to teach us the art of umbrella maintenance.

Beetlenut in the market. Everyone chews this stuff like its their job.

A fellow traveler in Inle Lake had told us about this waterfall outside of Mawlamyine. We hopped on a pick up truck and took the hair-raising hour and a half journey to it.

At the bottom of the hill was a kitchy fish.

Walking up to the top of the waterfall, we could hear the shreks of joy from the hundreds of children playing in the pools below.

At the top we were surprised to find another pool under the prominently placed stupa. This is where Kara officially coined the phrase "Myanmar: Forced Pilgrimage," as we didn't even know there was a stupa or temple out here at this waterfall.

The clifftop pool came with a view of the marvelously flat countryside.

Kara swam in full clothes, as all Burmese women do. While most men also swim fully clothed, Max decided it would be ok to take off his shirt.

Later that day we were informed that we weren't too far from the world's largest reclining Buddha, or at least one of them. Figures are disputed, and this one is not officially finished. Regardless what Guiness may decide, this Buddha is FLKAJSDLAKSJDLASKJD huge!

Kara could not capture is length with one shot.

Max is dwarfed by the ear alone. You can walk inside of this Buddha. It was one of the creepiest places we have ever been. It is completely filled with unfinished and abandoned sculptures depicting the previous lives of the Buddha. There are nails and rocks everywhere. The wind rustling through the massive cave like structure creates terrifying moaning sounds and unexpected banging noises sing throughout the rooms. With no disrespect to the Buddha, we felt like we were in a horror film. It got dark and Kara got scared, so we left abruptly and made our way back to the main town.

On our last day in Mawlamyine, we walked to the top of its major hill and visited the main stupa. Max looks like a California dude here. He is a California dude.

Walking down the temple steps, we had a beautiful encounter with this bird sized butterfly. As we look back through this entry, we realized a lot of things happened to us over the couple of weeks we spent in the south. Our time here showed us some of Myanmar's most beautiful scenery, as well as the ugly face of its military dictatorship. With only a couple of days left on our visa, which we ended up overstaying anyways, we headed back to Yangon one last time. With us we took new visions of the hopeless and hapless state of this nation. Throughout Myanmar our days consist of amazing and beautiful tourist experiences punctuated by depressing and sobering views of the daily life of the Burmese people. We're still fumbling through a way of explaining our experience.
Kara and Maximilian

Kyatiko- A Happy Entry about a Golden Balancing Rock.

After a pit stop in Yangon, we decided to head south towards Karen and Mon states. Only a 4 hour bus ride and couple hour pick up truck ride away, we landed in Kyatiko, home to the amazing balancing boulder-cum-pagoda, naturally. This bizarre natural phenomenon is one of the holiest pagodas and pilgrimage spots in Myanmar. Posters of "The Golden Rock" can be found in restaurants and shops throughout the country. We planned to stay only for a night en route to points further south. Posted above are school children, preparing for the journey up the mountain.

Waiting for the truck to take us up the mountain to see the Golden Rock. The huge pick up trucks seat about 50 people on minuscule wooden benches. This lady was Kara's friend and had traveled with us on one of our smaller pick up trucks to get to the town.

Here is Max seen waiting on the truck before the rest of the children came aboard. We arrived in the town around three pm and wanted to see the boulder and get out. The last truck to go up the mountain left around 4, which at that time, we thought was perfect timing for our plan.


The ride up. Bumpy, foggy, and beautiful, all at the same time. We climbed steep hills for about 30 minutes before reaching the top.

After being dropped off at the top around 5, we learned that the last bus going down the mountain left at 6:30. To get to the rock, you must walk an additional hour or so up the mountain. For some reason we thought we would be able to make it down to the last bus in time. No, that didn't happen. We climbed into the thick of the fog, and arrived at the Golden Rock just in time to see nothing and also to be stranded on top of the mountain for the night.

But we were not alone. Here is our Argentinian friend whose name we can't remember now, even though we spent the night with him on top of the mountain. Though we had already paid for our cheaper hotel at the bottom of the mountain and all of our stuff was there, we couldn't get down to sleep. Our only option was to stay at one of the two or three luxury hotels on the top of the mountain, that charge a whopping $60-100 USD per night. We were able to negotiate with a nice Indian hotel owner for a $30 room for the three of us. Thank you, Chennai man.

The next morning, the fog cleared and we got to see the Golden Rock in all its glory. The view of the surrounding area was equally stunning. Other less grand balancing rocks dotted the hillsides below. The rock itself was worth the trouble, as it really is balancing so precariously. Honestly, we don't know how it survives the elements without falling. So, maybe it is holy. According to legend, the rock maintains its equilibrium due to an expertly placed hair of the Buddha himself that enshrined the pagoda on top of the boulder. Legend states that the Buddha spent many years walking through Myanmar. We don't really know about that.

Mountain top village.

"Ladies Are Not Allowed to Enter" the holiest part of the rock area. Men are allowed to walk up and paste gold leaf on the rock itself. Women aren't even allowed in the best viewing area. Kara thinks this has nothing to do with the teachings of the Buddha. Kara, not happy, shown above.

We came, we saw, we rocked.

See? We told you it was a happy entry about a golden balancing rock!
No human rights abuses here! (That we know about.......?) But we couldn't help talking about that sexist "no ladies" thing. We tried folks, we tried.

Kara and Maximilian

Hsipaw and Slovaks

Hsipaw, pronounced "see-paw," is a tiny farm town and trading post near the border of China in Shan State. Once considered part of the hinterland and controlled by the ethnic separatists, the Shan State Army, Hsipaw is firmly established stop on the "off the beaten path" path. When we were in Mae Sot, we both read a book entitled "Welcome to Burma... and Enjoy the Totalitarian Experience" by Timothy Syrota. He spent some time in Hsipaw and recommended it as a destination where one could get to know the "Real Burma." Though the book was written over ten years ago, the main attractions remain the same. The town has grown, benefiting from increased tourism, and to a larger degree, increased overland trade with China. This was the first place in Myanmar where we saw Western commodities and finished goods, such as Sprite being sold at almost every small road side store. Day and night, huge trucks trundled through town on the Lashio-Mandalay main road, which is one of the nicest and well-maintained in the country, largely because of the tolls imposed on large vehicles coming from China. Most people living in Hsipaw are ethnically Shan and speak the Shan language, which is more similar to Thai than Burmese. Our tiny knowledge of the Thai number system allowed us to understand prices for goods and rooms. There's not much to do in Hsipaw other than to catch up with community gossip (more on this below) and trek around the beautiful surrounding foothills. Unfortunately during our stay here, both of us managed to get very sick and once better, the monsoon's rains ruined our hiking plans. Enter Hsipaw:

Here is Max being led by a pair of children to the "Shan Palace." Both the Lonely Planet guidebook and the "Welcome to Burma" book had recommended a tour of the modest mansion that used to be home to the last Shan prince. When we arrived at the locked gate, surrounded by overgrown shrubs and weeds, we weren't sure that we were at the right place. The children yelled until a teenage boy came to meet us at the gate. He told us that his grandfather, Mr. Donald, who is the nephew of the last Shan prince and who had been the caretaker of this palace, was in jail and that the palace was closed until further notice. We later learned that while Mr. Donald was charged by the SPDC with giving false information to tourists, the real cause behind his arrest was his invitation to join a Shan State council that was thinking of contesting the upcoming elections. The Shan Palace in Hsipaw has since been closed so that the SPDC can not have another reason to arrest other members of the family for "speaking out" to tourists. His arrest was recent and tourists still come to see the Shan palace regularly, not knowing about Mr. Donald's 7-year jail sentence.

One of the few "musts" in Hsipaw is a walk up to... you guessed it... a pagoda! We walked a couple kilometers over this bridge to the mountain that houses a famous and quiet hillside stupa.

Of course it started raining when we arrived to the top, however the views of the surrounding Shan countryside were worth the trip. We walked back home in the rain and got lost in the small, un-lit villages leading back into town.

Over the next few days, we hiked to a waterfall, got lost in rice paddies, met another cool couple from Brooklyn traveling around the world, and ate lots of Shan noodle soup. Like we said, our movements were limited by the weather, general sickness, and the government. We are sorry to say that we really don't have any more pictures from Hsipaw, but you aren't missing too much. We have no regrets about coming here, but let's just say it wouldn't make our top ten list. Moving on from Hsipaw, we went on a marathon 24 hour bus trip, backtracking to Mandalay, (bus seen above) and then on to Inle Lake. The mountain scenery as we wound our way back to the plains, was a highlight of our trip to Hsipaw. After a long and exhausting journey, we arrived in ....

Inle Lake!
Inle Lake is touted as one of the most beautiful places in Myanmar. Considering that we can't see all of the country, we can't really argue. Inle Lake lies cupped between low hills in the center of Myanmar and is also the starting/ending point for many treks around local villages. Though the lake and villages surrounding it are in Shan state, the people who inhabit the area are largely Intha. The Intha people literally live ON the lake and have developed unique farming and fishing techniques to suit their environment. The clear blue water dissolves gradually into marsh land with no clear shoreline. We stayed in the village of Nyaung Shwe, which is the established tourist jumping off point for day tripping on the lake.

We stayed at a wonderful guest house called the Aquarius Inn. Lovely staff, massive orchid garden and best breakfast in the country. Stay there if you go to Inle Lake. The manager's son hooked us up with two other travelers who were planning on going on a boat trip the next day. He mentioned they were from Slovenia. Imagine our delight when we found out that they were actually Slovaks! (Just in case you don't know, Kara is always really excited to meet citizens of the small former Eastern block nation often mistaken for its phonetically similar Slavic state as her family is from Slovakia.) The next morning we got on a boat with the lovely Slovak sisters (Max is outnumbered 3 Slovaks to 1) and were off to see the lake. Seen above is Yarka.

Fisherman on the lake. We were surprised by the amount of traffic on the lake. Villagers from the surrounding areas use the many motorized long tail boats as ferries, lorries, and fishing vehicles.

The long tails also serve as kitchy tourist shops. Boats would paddle up to our long tail and would literally attach themselves to our vessel. These resourceful "pirates" sold anything from little Buddhas to Fanta.

You might be wondering what there is to do on the lake for 8 hours. Shopping. In all forms. For the first couple of hours of our trip, our boat guide took us from one workshop/showroom to another. On the lake itself are hundreds of bustling cottage industries, catering to the ever-growing tourist market. Each boat driver has their own network of shops they bring you to, as a large commission is given for each tourist delivered. We initially enjoyed seeing the different crafts being made as we wouldn't have gone to these shops otherwise. Seen above is Kara and Mirka talking in one of the silver shops. Inle Lake is known for its beautiful silver. Kara's minimal Slovak got quite a workout over the course of the day as the sisters would speak nothing else to her, encouraging her to get better in her family's tongue. Though Max didn't understand anything, he was all for it.

One of the unique fishing techniques mentioned above is "foot paddling." Though motors have replaced the paddle for long distance trips, local fishers and farmers use leg work instead of their arms to move themselves along the lake. The paddler stands on the back of the boat and wraps one leg around the paddle. Using their arm for leverage, they move the paddle through the water in one graceful dragging motion. Seen above is a foot paddler maneuvering through tomato plants. Tomato plants and other small vegetables are grown literally on the surface of the lake.

Our boat negotiates one of the small canals that penetrate the surrounding marshland.

Here are some traditional stilt houses. We were puzzled by the amount of effort expended bringing the land to the lake. Why don't these people just live on shore we asked ourselves. We still don't know. Tradition? For tourists? Is there some advantage we can't see? Regardless, very interesting.

This workshop made all sorts of fabrics, one specialty was made from the fiber of lotus root.

Though we were interested in seeing the process of spinning and weaving, the Slovaks were not as impressed and stated that they could find this in Slovakia in their grandmother's basement.

After seeing many workshops, we asked our boat driver to take us to a less commercial destination.

We arrived at a small village town and asked where the pagodas were. We can't remember the name of this place however it housed some of the oldest temples in Myanmar.

Just like in Pagan, this site is constantly being restored so that worshippers can come here to pray for the next thousands of years. Beautifully antiqued temples sat next to freshly painted pagodas in this space.

Our last stop for the day was at the famous Nga Phe Kyaung Monastery, more commonly referred to as the "jumping cat monastery."

For some reason, the monks and caretakers of the monastery have trained the many cat inhabitants to jump through hoops. Some of them can jump very high. Weird and interesting. Besides the jumping cats, the monastery itself is in a serene setting and houses some exquisite Buddhist shrines.

Here a local farmer tends to her tomato plants. Watery beds of soil are held in place by bamboo poles on the surface of the lake. Maybe the hydroponics make for better tomatoes. For whatever reason, Inle Lake is the biggest tomato producing region in the country. The tomato curry we had on dry land was delicious.

Max and Kara on the boat at the end of the day.

The next day we chose to rent bikes (ouch, our asses) and ride out to get a view of the lake from above.

The road was really bumpy.

And it started to rain.

But 2 hours later, we made it to the top of the hill. What would a hill in Myanmar be without a pagoda? Max sounds the bell 6 times to announce we have arrived, in traditional Burmese fashion.

We spent another hour enjoying the view from above and talking about what we had learned the previous day and the questions we still had about the lake community.

Later that night we said goodbye to our Slovak friends. Also pictured is Kawtar, our friend from Morocco.

Before we left Nyaung Shwe, we decided to wander through the markets. We happened to be in town at the same time as thousands of monks, as there was a large "monk exam" going on. Festival markets had been set up in the streets surrounding the main temple. We met some monks and chatted secret politics with them. We also bought tanaka, seen above in its raw and natural form.

Here is the tanaka seller, crushing a sample for Kara to wear.

Inle Lake: We came.

We saw.

We laked.

After much debate about our next destination, we made the final decision to extend our time in Myanmar and head South. Check in next week as we visit more pagodas, more beautiful places, and attempt to cross into restricted teritory.

K and M