1892 D and some of the kids from the Bon Pyan Monastery Kids, Thanlyin Village in Myanmar. The girl sitting on the arm of the bench on the left has the local makeup on.
1920 The bride and groom from the village wedding. The picture does not do justice to her dress or her jewelry.
1929 Our horse cart getting ready to go to the next village.
1957 One of the fruit stalls in the local market. I have to say they grow nice fruit.
Feb 12 – Thilawa-Yangon, Myanmar (Burma) Day 1. Yet again, a new port. Yangon, also known as Rangoon, (literally: "End of Strife") is a former capital of Burma (now Myanmar) and the capital of Yangon Region. Yangon is the country's largest city with a population of over five million, and is the most important commercial center, although the military government officially relocated the capital to Naypyidaw in 2006.
Yangon's infrastructure has been neglected over the years and it looks a lot like Thailand did maybe 35 years ago. It has the largest number of colonial buildings in the region today. While many high-rise residential and commercial buildings have been constructed or renovated throughout downtown and Greater Yangon in the past 20 years, most of the surrounding small towns are still very poor.
Yangon was founded as Dagon in the early 11th century by the Mon, who dominated Lower Burma at that time. Dagon was a small fishing village centered about the Shwedagon Pagoda. In 1755, King Alaungpaya conquered Dagon, renamed it "Yangon", and added settlements around the city. The British captured Yangon during the First Anglo-Burmese War (1824–26), but returned it to Burmese administration after the war.
The British seized Yangon and all of Lower Burma in the Second Anglo-Burmese War of 1852, and subsequently transformed Yangon into the commercial and political hub of British Burma. Yangon is also the place where the British sent Bahadur Shah II, the last Mughal emperor, to live after the Indian Rebellion of 1857. Based on the design by army engineer Lt. Alexander Fraser, the British constructed a new city on a grid plan on delta land, bounded to the east by the Pazundaung Creek and to the south and west by the Yangon River. Yangon became the capital of all British Burma after the British had captured Upper Burma in the Third Anglo-Burmese War of 1885. Gosh, first 4 Anglo-Indian wars, now 3 Anglo-Burmese wars. Those darn Anglos are a feisty bunch. By the 1890s Yangon's increasing population and commerce gave birth to prosperous residential suburbs to the north of Royal Lake (Kandawgyi) and Inya Lake. The British also established hospitals including Rangoon General Hospital and colleges including Rangoon University.
Colonial Yangon, with its spacious parks and lakes and mix of modern buildings and traditional wooden architecture, was known as "the garden city of the East." By the early 20th century, Yangon had public services and infrastructure on par with London.
Before World War II only about a third of the population was pure Brumese. Yangon has become much more indigenous Burmese in its ethnic make-up since independence. After independence, many South Asians and Anglo-Burmese left. Many more South Asians were forced to leave during the 1960s by Ne Win's xenophobic government. Nevertheless, sizable South Asian and Chinese communities still exist in Yangon. The Anglo-Burmese have effectively disappeared, having left the country or intermarried with other Burmese groups.
Rangoon University students were the starting point for the Burmese independence movement, with leftist leading the way. Three nationwide strikes against the British Empire all began in Yangon. However, Yangon was under Japanese occupation (1942–45), and incurred heavy damage during World War II. The city was retaken by the Allies in 1945. Yangon became the capital of Union of Burma on 4 January 1948 when the country regained independence from the British Empire.
Soon after Burma's independence in 1948, many colonial names of streets and parks were changed to more nationalistic Burmese names. In 1989, the current military junta changed the city's English name to "Yangon", along with many other changes in English transliteration of Burmese names. These changes have not been accepted by many Burmese who consider the junta unfit to make such changes, nor by many publications, news bureaus including, most notably, the BBC and foreign nations including the United Kingdom and United States.
During Ne Win's isolationist rule (1962–88), Yangon's infrastructure deteriorated through poor maintenance and did not keep up with its increasing population. In the 1990s, the current military government's more open market policies attracted domestic and foreign investment, bringing a modicum of modernity to the city's infrastructure. Many colonial-period buildings were demolished to make way for high-rise hotels, office buildings, and shopping malls, leading the city government to place about 200 notable colonial-period buildings under the Yangon City Heritage List in 1996. Major building programs have resulted in six new bridges and five new highways linking the city to its industrial back country. But they have a long way to go, much of Yangon remains without basic municipal services such as 24-hour electricity and regular garbage collection.
Yangon was the center of major anti-government protests in 1974, 1988 and 2007. These protests have often become violent.
The most common modern building is the eight-story apartment building. Here's where the kicker comes in. Here in Yangon a building with no elevators is called an apartment building and one with elevators is called a condominium. Condos which have to invest in their own power generator to ensure 24-hour electricity for the elevators. These condos are too expensive for most locals. The reason the 8-story apartment building is so common recently is that in 2008 the city passed a regulation that any building over 8-storys must have elevators. On the plus side these 8-story apartment buildings provide relatively inexpensive housing for many Yangonites. New city codes call for elevators in any building over 6-storys so it's likely that the day of the 8-story apartment is over and the era of the 6-story apartment is here. Yangon does not have any skyscrapers, a now common site in most large South-Asian cities. The tallest building in Yangon, Pyay Gardens, is a 25-story condo in the city's northside.
The east-west grid of downtown Yangon was laid out by British military engineers. The pattern of south to north roads is as follows: one broad 100-foot wide broad road, two narrow streets, one mid-size street, two more narrow streets, and then another 100-foot wide broad road. This order is repeated from west to east. The narrow streets are numbered; the medium and broad roads are named.
For example, the 100-foot Lanmadaw Road is followed by 30-foot wide 17th and 18th streets then the medium 50-foot Sint-Oh-Dan Road, the 30-foot 19th and 20th streets, followed by another 100-foot wide Latha Road, followed again by the two numbered small roads 21st and 22nd streets, and so on.
We will be heading into Yangon tomorrow. Today we are headed to the Village if Thanlyin because it's a national holiday, Union Day, and Yangon will be crowded with celebrants and most public buildings like the National Museum will be closed.
I was about a 30 minute drive to Thanlyin village. Our drive was on some major roads, it would be an exaggeration to call them highways, and some not-so-major roads. We passed through some small villages that always seemed to cause a bit of a traffic jam. We passed a number of temples; the locals prefer to call them pagodas, and several large golden stupas. A stupa is a structure that looks like a hand bell but with a pointed handle. They are supposed to hold a relic from The Buddha to be official but I've seen so many in Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia and other places that I'm not sure there was enough of him to go around.
Thanlyin was the base of Portuguese adventurer and trader Philip de Brito during the early 17th century so while it is small it's also old. Our first stop was the Bon Pyan Monastery. Based on my experience with Roman Catholic monasteries I was unprepared for the number of children we encountered there. When word spread that there were foreigners in on the grounds, kids descended on us from all over. Our guide said that public education was neglected for many years and is still in a shambles. Most people who can't afford private school send their children to the monasteries for their education.
Many of the kids had what looked like a lady's overnight beauty mask on their faces. It was light orange in color and the guide told us it was made from some ground up fruit and was a cure all for all sorts of skin problems. He said when he was young he wore it but as he got older he thought it made him look to feminine so he stopped. I had noticed some ladies by the road wearing it on the drive up but was surprised to see it on the children.
The children were very friendly and at first a little shy. I guess they didn't know what to make of so many white people. When they figured out that we were friendly too they warmed up quickly. As our guide filled us in on the daily life in a Burmese monastery they sat quietly by watching us and smiling when we pointed a camera at them. There was some sort of meeting going on in the upper story of the main building so we had to wait outside to go up. That was absolutely no problem as the kids could have kept us entertained for hours. While we were waiting the guide gathered the kids that knew the Myanmar National Anthem and had them sing it for us.
When the meeting was over we took off our shoes and socks and headed upstairs to meet with the monastery's Abbot. We sat on the floor and made ourselves comfortable. He seemed like a very happy guy. He talked to us through the guide and had a question and answer session afterword. The monks only eat two meals a day, breakfast and lunch. Before each meal they head out into the village with their donation bowls and accept donations of food from the people. They never ask for anything, it's just considered to be a religious duty to occasionally donate to the monk's meals. They are vegetarians so fruit, vegetables, beans, rice and the like are acceptable donations.
He sat on one of four wooden chairs with cushions on the seats. At the right of all the chairs there was an ornately carved gilded wooden chair that had some food stored under it. I don't know if it was a ceremonial chair of if it was reserved for someone special like a Cardinal's chair in a cathedral. At the back of the room was a gilded carry chair with poles on both sides that could accommodate 6 men. The back of the chair was carved like a peacock and over the chair was an ornate Thai style umbrella. After our talk with the abbot we headed downstairs to retrieve our shoes and socks and have a bit more interaction with the kids.
The upper floor of the main building was constructed of wood but it rested on concrete pillars. The first floor was open like the houses on the coast in Texas. In the back of the upper floor was a wooden spiral staircase that led up to the open tiered pagoda the rose 5 ever smaller floors above the building.
There was music playing from an enclosed area just down from the monastery. Our guide had sent one of his helpers down there to get permission for us to visit. It was A Burmese wedding and the bride and groom were happy to have us come in and meet them. The happily posed for pictures and gave us little gifts packs of tissues. I'm assuming this is a custom as the girl passing them out had a large basket of them. They were a very cute couple. She was in a long orange dress that was decorated with small pearls and gold and silver brocade work. The dress was bare shouldered and she had a very sheer orange floor length robe with embroidered roses over the dress. She had a beautiful necklace of horseshoe shaped links set with diamonds and an orange stone at the open end. The groom wore a high collar white shirt with Chinese loop and knot closures over an orange longyi. I'm not entirely sure that longyi is the correct term for the tied kilt-like long garment they wear. That may be the term used for the women's version, I just can't remember the term for the men's.
After greeting the bride and groom we headed out for a walk through the village. We passed stores, gated houses and smaller homes. At one place we passed they had 6 huge vats cooking over wood fires. We stopped to ask what they were making. The man dipped a snow shovel sized strainer into one of the vats and lifted out a huge pile of rice. No telling how many pounds of rice he had going. When the rice was done they scooped it into large baskets that would allow it to drain. I'm not sure what they did with all that rice but it could have fed a small army.
The streets are mostly dirt. Only the main street is paved. Our guide told us that in Yangon and much of the country, motorcycles and motorbikes are prohibited but here as in most small villages, they are allowed. Many riders are solo but some are couples, the lady always rides side-saddle in the back. If a woman is riding alone of course she assumes the traditional straddle seating. Sometimes there are three or four people on a motorbike. They use them to transport building materials. The rider holds whatever supplies they are carrying on his shoulder. Sometimes it's 12-foot lengths of PVC pipe, no problems. Like many places, Viet Nam, Italy, etc. they buzz around like angry mosquitos. I'm sure there must be accidents but I've never seen on anywhere we've been.
The one consistent embellishment every home, rich or poor, has is drying laundry. It gives the relatively colorless building a splash of excitement. Dogs and cats roam the streets in significant numbers. None of them seem to pay any attention to humans, although they do scuffle amongst themselves, the dogs anyway. A few snarls and a yap or two and it's usually over. Must be a territorial thing.
After our stroll around the village we boarded 2-wheeled horse carts to drive a short distance to another village, two people to a cart. When we were pulling out our horse got too close to the cart in front and reared up, tipping the cart backwards as a significant angle. Both D and I were quick enough to grab hold of something to keep from getting the dump-truck treatment onto the dusty street. The horse settled down and there were no further incidents. It was a pleasant ride in the open air. It's warm but not hot and the breeze generated by the carts movement made it very pleasant.
We rode out of Thanlyin and through the country side for about a mile and a half to the next village. The only sign I saw was in the Burmese alphabet so I have no idea what its name was. There we dismounted for a stroll through the local village market. We saw fruit, vegetables, huge bags of rice, cloth and flowers but no meat. That must be in a separate market as it often is. The most unique thing is saw in the market were wreath-like arrangements of green leaves. They looked more like a flat brimmed hat without a crown. Our guide told us that they are betel leaves. Here, as in many Southeast Asian and Island countries some people chew betel nut. It's very hard on their teeth and dies their teeth, gums and sometimes lips a very bright red. It's supposed to have a sedative effect. I'm not sure what they do with the leaves. The vendors with the leaves also sell the nuts. Maybe they make tea out of the leaves I'll have to ask.
Waiting for us as we exited the market street was a long row of trishaws. A trishaw is basically a bicycle with a side car attached. The side car can hold two passengers one facing front and one facing back. Because we European descendants are each almost twice as heave as a Burmese person, we rode one passenger to a trishaw. I asked my driver if he was strong by pointing to my arm and flexing it. He flexed his arm in the strongman pose and nodded. I was more interested in the strength of his legs but I wasn't going to quibble with him. It was a nice ride out to the edge of the village where our bus was waiting to take us back to the ship.
It was a very enjoyable day with the highlight being the kids at the monastery.
The entertainment was a local Burmese Folkloric show. They were great! Our tour guide from this morning acted as the emcee. Accompanied by their own traditional instruments they performed several dances. The costumes were gorgeous. Rather than a dragon dance or lion dance, they do an elephant dance. Two men in an elaborate elephant costume performed various dance steps and acrobatics. The hit of the evening was the puppeteer. I don't know how many strings he had on his puppet but it could do anything a human could do and some things we can't. The agility of both puppeteer and puppet brought the house down.
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