Floating on a wave of hope for a new beginning

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This was published 7 years ago

Floating on a wave of hope for a new beginning

By Kerry van der Jagt
Young nuns in prayer, Myanmar.

Young nuns in prayer, Myanmar.Credit: Danita Delimont

It's sunset on Taungthaman Lake, just outside of Mandalay. Standing tall at the back of the wooden boat the oarsman settles into a steady rhythm, his long arms rising and falling like a dancing crane. In the distance the U Bein Bridge is a dinosaur skeleton, all hips and ribs stretched out in the afternoon sun. Eyes closed against the warmth I take in the sounds – the creak of timber, the sluice of water and the soft humming coming from my boatman. Today, 87-year-old Mya Aye is happy, perhaps happier than he's ever been.

Less than two weeks earlier he'd voted in Myanmar's first "free and fair" election, with Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) winning a landslide victory against the ruling Union Solidarity and Development party (USDP). "It was the first time in my life I'd voted," says Mya Aye, his face flushed with the memory.

Our local guide Mu Mu is similarly jubilant, proudly showing us the scrap of ink still left on her pinkie finger, the telltale sign proving she had voted. "I was so excited the night before the election I couldn't sleep."

Buddhist monks in boat in front of U Bein bridge.

Buddhist monks in boat in front of U Bein bridge.Credit: Martin Puddy

This restrained excitement becomes a defining feature of this, my first trip to Myanmar. Years earlier, when Noble Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi asked the world not to visit as a show of defiance against the military junta rule, I'd stayed away, but now, with Myanmar firmly on the road to democracy, the time has come for me to see for myself what I've only ever read about.

After five decades of brutal military rule (which turned a resource-rich nation into one of the most impoverished on earth) the recent election marks the final step in democratic reforms that began back in 2011, and with it, hopes that tourism will help guide the country out of poverty. While international visitor numbers have increased from 300,000 in 2010 to over three million in 2015, a target of 7.48 million in 2020 has been set by the "2013-2020 Myanmar Tourism Master Plan". When you hear, 'come before it all changes' you'd better believe it.

Myanmar is already experiencing more flight connections, upgraded airports, easy online visa applications and a slew of new and renovated hotels from increased foreign investment. But the question remains – can the new government balance mass tourism with environmental and cultural concerns, and more importantly, will the economic benefits flow down to the people?

Myanmar (Burma), pagodas on Irrawaddy River banks.

Myanmar (Burma), pagodas on Irrawaddy River banks.Credit: Getty Images

I'm travelling with Scenic, a tour company that prides itself on "giving back" to the communities it visits, and while my trip is by land and air, in September this year Scenic will launch the purpose-built Scenic Aura, a boutique cruise ship with just 22 all-balcony suites for 44 guests. Cruising the Irrawaddy River between Mandalay and Pyay it will stop at iconic sites, but also out-of-the way places often overlooked by other travellers.

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As part of Scenic's "enrichment" program we visit Sakyadhita nunnery school near Mandalay where more than 100 student nuns live and study. Here, among an ocean of flowing pink robes we learn that only 4 per cent of women in Myanmar spend time in a nunnery, compared to males who are expected to become monks twice during their lifetime. "Many of the girls come from poor families," says Mu Mu. "Entering a nunnery gives them a chance to escape poverty or gain an education."

Scenic helps by donating money towards the daily meal so the nuns do not have to source food themselves, thereby removing pressure from the local community and allowing the nuns to spend more time on their lessons. In return, we are welcomed to join them for their midday meal of soup, fish, vegetables and rice.

A firl selling herbs in the market.

A firl selling herbs in the market.Credit: Getty Images

But first there is work to be done. My chore is to ladle the sticky rice into the nun's dishes as they enter the dining hall. One-by-one they glide up the stairs on bare feet, shaven heads bent and eyes downcast, until that perfect, unscripted moment when each looks up and flashes me a smile of gratitude.

If joy is the first thing I noticed in new Myanmar, then gratitude is a close second, with Chei-zu-tin-ba-te, meaning thank you very much, the most repeated phrase I hear. "We are grateful visitors are coming back," says Mu Mu, as we board the small local ferry to cross the channel to Ava (or Inwa) the island that served as Burma's capital five times between 1365 and 1842.

Horse-drawn carts are the traditional mode of transport on the island, but in the last few years farmers have recognised there is more money to be made from hauling visitors than hay. After some negotiations we are away, our sturdy pony Why-Why taking off at a brisk clip, eager as we are to get away from the waterside commotion.

The Ancient City of Bagan, Myanmar.

The Ancient City of Bagan, Myanmar.

Within minutes we are in a rural backwater, plodding through banana plantations and fields of corn clotted with crumbling stupas and golden pagodas. Every corner brings a new surprise – the all-teak Bagaya monastery, the 'leaning tower of Inwa', which is all that remains of King Bagyidaw's palace complex, the Maha Aungmye Bonzan royal monastery temple and remnants of the city walls, with its requisite Hair-Washing Gate. "I'm proud when I visit Ava," says Mu Mu. "It reminds me that Myanmar was once a mighty nation and can be again."

I see more of this renewed pride at the markets on Inle Lake, where, among the stilt-house villages and floating gardens a rotating market operates, with each village taking turns on a different day of the week to ensure the tourist money is spread around. We visit Heyar Yawrma by long-tail boat, buying goods directly from artisans, many of whom have come down from the surrounding hills, their characteristic headwear and face paint indicating various ethnic groups.

A stall keeper shows me how to apply to thanaka to my cheeks, explaining, through an interpreter, that teenage girls had stopped using it in recent years, as they wanted to appear more 'modern'. "But they learned quickly it is the best thing to stop pimples and blemishes," she says, flashing her bloody stumps of betel nut-stained teeth.

Afterwards we enjoy a cooking demonstration in a family home before puttering back to Nyaung Shwe on the lake's edge. From here it is a short mini-van ride to Red Mountain Estate, one of two wineries in the region (the climate is similar to Burgundy in France). By now, nothing will surprise me, not even a vineyard run by a Frenchman, producing award-winning wines and offering tastings in the late afternoon sunshine. In a bid to support local suppliers (and because the wines are good, particularly the sauvignon blanc and chardonnay) Scenic Aura will offer Red Mountain wines in its onboard restaurants.

In Bagan I rise in the dark, picking my way through the inky fields to gain a vantage point for the much-anticipated sunrise. In the distance a fireball sun breaks the horizon, illuminating the rash of pagodas glowing like candles in the early morning fog, while overhead the sky is strung with magenta baubles, hot air balloons hanging against a coral curtain.

Happiness, delight, gratitude and pride – I've seen it all during my trip to Myanmar – but now, sitting alongside a local woman who has paused beside me on her way to work, I finally feel it. Myanmar is flush with hope for a new beginning.

TRIP NOTES

MORE INFORMATION

www.Go-Myanmar.com

GETTING THERE

Singapore Airlines fly from Sydney to Singapore with connections to Yangon; see www.singaporeair.com. Australians travelling to Myanmar require a visa; see www.evisa.moip.gov.mm.

CRUISING THERE

Scenic offers an 18-day Mystical Myanmar cruise and tour, which includes a 10-night cruise on the Irrawaddy River on board Scenic Aura which will launch in September 2016, one night at the Mandalay Hill Resort in Mandalay, three nights in Yangon at the Sule Shangri-La Hotel (Club Room) plus three nights at Inle Lake at the Aureum Palace Hotel. Prices start from $10,845 per person twin share; phone 13 81 28 or see www.scenic.com.au.

Kerry van der Jagt was a guest of Scenic.

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