Mingala ba (hello!)

Pakokku - 12.02.17

km 4051

When you enter a new country there are so many new impressions you have to proces. And in Myanmar there are quite a lot.

The first thing I notice when I land at Mandalay airport in the afternoon is the air: a grey-blue thick soup, not clear but rather with a layer of mist or smoke or is it dust? The second thing I notice is the dryness of the landscape. Occasionally there is a palmtree but overall it’s sandy and dry (later I also discover sunflowerfields - weird). And the third thing I notice is that the men wear skirts. They call it a longyi. It's a long piece of fabric they tie a special way so they don’t fall off.

The currency here is the kyat (pronounced: shat). 1000 kyat is 0,75 euro so you can imagine how many banknotes you have when you get 200 euro out of the ATM. 200 euro is a lot of money for the Burmese. When I eat with the locals I usually pay 1000 kyat, if I add a drink it’s 1500. So my meal cost 1 euro.

What does cost a lot of money is a place to sleep. In Myanmar a tourist can’t sleep in any hotel or guest house he wants. The government has their hotels and that's where you stay (read: where you will spend a lot of money). It’s also illegal to camp or to sleep in people’s homes without permission. Sometimes you get that permission, sometimes you don’t. This means that you have to cycle 120 km in the dark to the next tourist hotel (as happened to Thomas, a German cyclist with whom I’m spending some days)

That special ‘tourist’ treatment can also be seen when it comes to transportation. To cross the river I wasn’t aloud on the local boat, I had to charter my own private boat. 5000 kyat against 200 kyat. Another striking example: I paid 1700 kyat for a bus ticket, Barry cost 2000 kyat. I can get a bit pissed about that, but there is little I can do. But I always make it clear to the people that I don’t agree with the way they treat me. I also noticed that the men (never women) who handle the money, never smile. So surly and cool, barking, looking angry ... and I'll act just the same. But they always win.

Fortunately, there are also loudly called Mingala ba's when I'm on my way. Complete with smiles and waving hands. I am glad I’ve been able to make so many people laugh. To them I’m an exotic animal that rides around in a longyi. That makes them laugh but it's not laughing at (thankfully) and there are no strange looks because my skirt is too short.

And then there's Schanulleke who sits on the back of the bike everyday. A man I bought water from, noticed her and he had to laugh ... laugh so hard I started to laugh as well. We didn’t understand a word we were saying but we laughed together very hard and that’s what really matters.