Myanmar Stories part 3 (Rocks and Fire)
30/12/05
Oh my god we set fire to the bathroom.
Yesterday we had a nice bus trip from Yangon to Kinpun (the base camp town for the ‘Golden Rock’ near Kyaiktiyo). I had a long conversation with a pharmacist called Way-Han. At lunch he bought Katie and I coffe and refused my offer to pay. You know you have met someone genuine in a poor country when they buy you something. Way-Han and his wife Choo Choo Win were married in October and were visiting the ‘Golden Rock’ as a bit of a honeymoon I gather. He studied for 5 years to be a pharmacist learning chemistry, physics, maths, botany, and English to name a few.
When we arrived we checked into the Sea Sar guest house and were told that it was the Kayin new year and there was to be a big party in the village that night. We settled in and postponed our rock trip to sunrise.
The party was happening. Many games stalls where, mostly men, were betting on simple games which involved animal pictures or numbers. There was a huge stage with energetic children dancing, mostly in time, in a very coordinated way. There were some food stalls but not as many as I might have hoped for and many tea shops/bars around one side. There was a smaller stage that was obviously about to come alive as there was a sprawl of mats and the people to accompany them. We waited for a while then a primary school headmaster from Yangon introduced himself in a very formal primary school English sort of way. “I would like to introduce myself. I am (sorry I forgot his name), I am a primary school headmaster from Yangon. I am pleased to meet you.” He told us that there was to be a kick boxing match on stage. Katie and I went to get some coffee while we waited for the fight. Mr Headmaster appeared to help us get our coffee (we were doing fine without him though). After our coffee and beggars we ventured back to the stage. We waited patiently for about half an hour before a lady shone her torch at us and waved us towards her. It turned out that she spoke no English but that didn’t bother her, she had a yellow trucker cap, a towel as a shawl some kids running around and two new western friends. She was very smiley and we got by on hand signals. It turned out that it was not a boxing match at all, it was some kind of local musical stage show with a king and a queen. We watched for about an hour and that was enough. The whole experience was quite surreal. Unfortunately to escape the performance I trod on a couple of small sleeping children.
After about 5 hours sleep we were up and ready for a 5:30 breakfast and a 6 am bus/truck ride to the Rock. We were there at 6 so were 5 million other devoted pilgrims. Needless to say we didn’t make it on. Given I am bigger than most people here I probably could have forced my way on but that is really not my style. We waited about an hour for the next lot of trucks to arrive. The site was unreal. Before the trucks got to the platforms people swarmed onto the still moving trucks elbows out in a kind of desperation to get on. One of the sides of a truck gave way and sent the people back to the ground. Now I know why people die in crowd surges at big events and pilgrimages. A westerner and has guide approached us and asked if we wanted to share the cab of a truck with them for an exorbitant fee, so given the situation we accepted the offer. After about 45mins of leg numbing half cab action the truck still hadn’t moved, so everyone changed trucks and we were off.
After the rush.
Picture the steepest road you have ever driven on now make it steeper and pu hairpin turns on it and make it only one lane for two way traffic and oh, make it bumpy and go for 9 miles, you have our road. We made it so did our 40 friends in the back.
After 45 minutes of mountain trucking we walked for about an hour to reach the top. There were heaps of little cafes jutting out into nothingness along the steeper road.
We wandered around and took some pictures of the Gold Boulder. I got some gold leaf and stuck it on the rock (that is the done thing for men), we had a snack and then walked back down. The road was way steeper than the truck road but somehow trucks full of people where going up and down this section too. On the way back down to town we got a ride in the back of a Mitsubishi Canter. 4 sumos might be ‘not so squeezy’, 7 people in the single cab and 32 in the tray… Pretty bloody squeezy if you ask me.
During the decent.
When we came back we had lunch and went back to our room for a shower. There was no power so I put 3 candles on the shelf in the bathroom. After showering we left the candles burning and forgot about them. I don’t know about you but putting candles on a plastic shelf and letting them burn down doesn’t sound like a good idea. It’s not. While we were laying on the bed we heard the souns of breaking glass and looked up to see flames in the bathroom. I rushed in and turned on the shower and splashed water on the fire to put it out. When it was out I realized I had rushed into the bathroom, bare foot after hearing glass break, Thank god I didn’t tread on any. My brain must have been squeezed out of my head on the truck. I took a picture and then went to tell management what had happedned. They asked for Ks4000 = AU$6.00 and that was it. They even came in and cleaned up the mess for us. How nice are these people.
The damage.
Katie and I have both got new friends mine is a little girl with a nice smile and Katie’s is a cat.
Nila and the Cat
Oh my god we set fire to the bathroom.
Yesterday we had a nice bus trip from Yangon to Kinpun (the base camp town for the ‘Golden Rock’ near Kyaiktiyo). I had a long conversation with a pharmacist called Way-Han. At lunch he bought Katie and I coffe and refused my offer to pay. You know you have met someone genuine in a poor country when they buy you something. Way-Han and his wife Choo Choo Win were married in October and were visiting the ‘Golden Rock’ as a bit of a honeymoon I gather. He studied for 5 years to be a pharmacist learning chemistry, physics, maths, botany, and English to name a few.
When we arrived we checked into the Sea Sar guest house and were told that it was the Kayin new year and there was to be a big party in the village that night. We settled in and postponed our rock trip to sunrise.
The party was happening. Many games stalls where, mostly men, were betting on simple games which involved animal pictures or numbers. There was a huge stage with energetic children dancing, mostly in time, in a very coordinated way. There were some food stalls but not as many as I might have hoped for and many tea shops/bars around one side. There was a smaller stage that was obviously about to come alive as there was a sprawl of mats and the people to accompany them. We waited for a while then a primary school headmaster from Yangon introduced himself in a very formal primary school English sort of way. “I would like to introduce myself. I am (sorry I forgot his name), I am a primary school headmaster from Yangon. I am pleased to meet you.” He told us that there was to be a kick boxing match on stage. Katie and I went to get some coffee while we waited for the fight. Mr Headmaster appeared to help us get our coffee (we were doing fine without him though). After our coffee and beggars we ventured back to the stage. We waited patiently for about half an hour before a lady shone her torch at us and waved us towards her. It turned out that she spoke no English but that didn’t bother her, she had a yellow trucker cap, a towel as a shawl some kids running around and two new western friends. She was very smiley and we got by on hand signals. It turned out that it was not a boxing match at all, it was some kind of local musical stage show with a king and a queen. We watched for about an hour and that was enough. The whole experience was quite surreal. Unfortunately to escape the performance I trod on a couple of small sleeping children.
After about 5 hours sleep we were up and ready for a 5:30 breakfast and a 6 am bus/truck ride to the Rock. We were there at 6 so were 5 million other devoted pilgrims. Needless to say we didn’t make it on. Given I am bigger than most people here I probably could have forced my way on but that is really not my style. We waited about an hour for the next lot of trucks to arrive. The site was unreal. Before the trucks got to the platforms people swarmed onto the still moving trucks elbows out in a kind of desperation to get on. One of the sides of a truck gave way and sent the people back to the ground. Now I know why people die in crowd surges at big events and pilgrimages. A westerner and has guide approached us and asked if we wanted to share the cab of a truck with them for an exorbitant fee, so given the situation we accepted the offer. After about 45mins of leg numbing half cab action the truck still hadn’t moved, so everyone changed trucks and we were off.
After the rush.
Picture the steepest road you have ever driven on now make it steeper and pu hairpin turns on it and make it only one lane for two way traffic and oh, make it bumpy and go for 9 miles, you have our road. We made it so did our 40 friends in the back.
After 45 minutes of mountain trucking we walked for about an hour to reach the top. There were heaps of little cafes jutting out into nothingness along the steeper road.
We wandered around and took some pictures of the Gold Boulder. I got some gold leaf and stuck it on the rock (that is the done thing for men), we had a snack and then walked back down. The road was way steeper than the truck road but somehow trucks full of people where going up and down this section too. On the way back down to town we got a ride in the back of a Mitsubishi Canter. 4 sumos might be ‘not so squeezy’, 7 people in the single cab and 32 in the tray… Pretty bloody squeezy if you ask me.
During the decent.
When we came back we had lunch and went back to our room for a shower. There was no power so I put 3 candles on the shelf in the bathroom. After showering we left the candles burning and forgot about them. I don’t know about you but putting candles on a plastic shelf and letting them burn down doesn’t sound like a good idea. It’s not. While we were laying on the bed we heard the souns of breaking glass and looked up to see flames in the bathroom. I rushed in and turned on the shower and splashed water on the fire to put it out. When it was out I realized I had rushed into the bathroom, bare foot after hearing glass break, Thank god I didn’t tread on any. My brain must have been squeezed out of my head on the truck. I took a picture and then went to tell management what had happedned. They asked for Ks4000 = AU$6.00 and that was it. They even came in and cleaned up the mess for us. How nice are these people.
The damage.
Katie and I have both got new friends mine is a little girl with a nice smile and Katie’s is a cat.
Nila and the Cat
posted by Dylan at 4:02 PM
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