the visa run

visas are the bane of travelers.  some countries have more complex rules than others.  Thailand, for example, doesn't charge for visas and it's quite easy to get a 60 day stay with an extension.  you just show up and they stamp your passport.  

MYANMAR FLAG

a visa is just a stamp in your passport that grants you the right to be in the
country. some countries penalize severly for overstaying and will prevent you from rentry if you are a repeat offender.  others like Myanmar just charge you $3 a day for every day you overstay.

in most SE Asian countries, there's a really complex set of rules around when you apply, where you apply, how long the visa is valid, how many entries are allowed on one visa, when you want to visit and of course the type of visa [tourist, buisiness or diplomatic].

for Myanmar, they grant 28 day tourist visas and you can stand in line at the Myanmar Embassy in Bangkok [see my earlier post about that delight] or in late 2014 they launched a VOA [visa on arrival] which can be applied for online and picked up at the airport if you fly in [not available or overland travel].  see, it gets complicated.  

THAILAND FLAG

for a Myanmar Business Visa, with the proper paperwork, you get 70 days in country.  so that's what i came in on.  initially i thought it would be inconveinent and a pain in the ass.  now that my 70 days are up and i need to do a visa run i am thrilled to be getting kicked out.  i am going to Thailand.  i am going to find the fat westerner beach, sit at a luxury resort and imbibe fancy drinks for three days.  then it's back to Myanmar.

check for ants

so, i had a friend over for a cocktail before we went to dinner.  i poured some dinks and then offerred the ice tray so they could decide how much ice they wanted in the drink.  then i said, 'check for ants'.  

there is a bit of a problem with the tiny ants in my apartment and sometimes i'm too tired when i'm filling the ice tray so there may be one or two tiny ants in the tray.  i just throw out the ice cubes with frozen ants.

yeah, CHECK FOR ANTS, is what i said.  it's a new low for me when i offer up iced ants to my friends. 

housing in Yangon

it's quite grim at the moment.  the sanctions have isolated Myanmar from the rest of the world for so long finding housing either temporarily or longer term is a mess.  there just aren't enough hotel rooms or apartments available to accommodate the influx of visitors and expats coming to support development.

i know housing costs are relative to location and Southeast Asia has some of the lowest housing costs in the world.  in Thailand i paid $350US for a very clean and contemporary condo. 

another $40 or so a month for water, electric and cable.  there was 24 hour security and key card access.  the doorman would drop whatever he was doing when he saw me coming on my scooter so he could park it for me.  it is quite comfortable there.


so my first trip to Yangon was a bit of a shock.  the least expensive clean hotel room with ac, internet and hot water was $70US per night.  payable in cash - clean US notes accepted only.

when I was negotiating my contract i knew housing was going to be an issue.  the HR director at my company was tasked with helping me find accommodations.  being that he is a national I thought surely he would come up with some good options for me.  with a couple of friends for support I went with him to look at apartments that were available.  the first was a 3 bed 2 bath apartment on the ground floor.  Partially furnished with one horrible sofa. One western toilet and one Asian toilet (google it if you don't know what that is).  the shower was just a hose coming out of the wall in one of the toilets.  no hot water.  the second toilet - the one with the Asian toilet had a bucket shower.  let me elaborate although it's pretty self descriptive.  a bucket shower is a 50 gallon drum in the toilet room filled with tap water.  a bucket is supplied and the shower part happens when you scoop the water with the bucket and pour it over your head.  in the hallway outside the door was a stack of car tires and several bikes chained to a stairwell.  all were covered in a thick, thick layer of dirt. my HR Director fearlessly went to battle for me against the landlord agent (that just so happened to be his sister) to negotiate that they add a hot water unit in the price of $1200 per month.  oh, and he wanted me to pay the agent a commission of $1200 to secure the rental.  let me do the math for you.  that 48,000 we smiled and i said we'd need to keep looking.  as we are in the car getting ready to leave the 'agent' says there is another apartment in the same complex we could look at - because it was furnished it would be $1400.  we walk over to take a look.  the bizzare pink color of the walls and dirty uphostered furniture were a turn off and i was able to turn that one down really quickly.

three days later i saw the same apartment easily identifiable by the wall color and furniture advertised on the expat connection site for $1000/month.  let's just say the HR guy wasn't helping me.  i've gotten to know him a little better since then and turns out he's what we would call an 'asshole'.

oh, and lease terms are very unflexible.  landlords expect one year of rent plus deposit paid in advance in cash.  crisp, clean US bills only.  if something happens during the lease, a water pipe bursts or electrical problems, the landlord will say 'that is your business'.  it's pretty fucking crazy.  to get housing comparable in comfort and style to the condo in Thailand or my house in the US it would cost $3500US a month in Yangon.

BIG ASS GENERATOR

in the end, the company i'm working for came up with a workable solution.  they own multiple properties on the same street.  they have a villa that has been used for training classes.  they are transitioning the classes into a new building that was being built so they converted one the rooms in the villa into an apartment for me.  i am a bit spoiled because i walk to work, have 24 hour security, generator and reliable high speed internet.  it's not fancy but i have tons of storage.   the cleaning staff comes in to clean and iron for me three times a week.

THE VILLA

the state of the internet

as i mentioned, most people have adjusted well to life without internet.  it's a little harder for the newer arrivals.  it takes about a day for newcomers to figure out that Traders [a five star hotel downtown] has exceptional service.  the lobby is always filled with foreigners who for the cost of a coke [$4.00] or pot of tea [$3.00] get hours of high speed internet.

there aren't a lot of other options.  the 'internet cafes' are dark, dingy and dirty and don't serve coffee.   the tea shops bare no resemblence to coffee shops in the west.  no internet, no a/c, no espresso machine and no Starbucks.  that's not a complaint and the rumor is that Starbucks will be here in 2016 so that's sure to change the landscape and culture considerably.

my boss likes his coffee western style so i have really good coffee at the office.  the rest of the staff drinks tea or what they call 'three in one' and that my friends is really not yummy.  it's a small packet of instant coffee with dry creamer and sugar mixed in.  

but i digress, recently i was talking with an NGO director who had dsl service installed in his apartment.  the cost $1500 to install.  that doesn't include the monthly charge.  there is no service level commitment so you may have access one day and then nothing for three days.  there is no intention to build out land line access anywhere.  Myanmar is leapfrogging over desktop technology straight to smartphones.

just a few years ago a SIM card would cost $2000US if you could even get one.  so SIM cards were passed around and resold.  i know someone who got a SIM card 18 months ago.  they 'rent' it from their company at $15US a month.  previously the SIM had been used by a magazine so about 40% of the calls she would get were from people looking for the magazine.

the cost of SIM cards and usage have come down immensly.  it may now be some of the cheapest phone time in the world.  i paid $1.50US for a SIM card in October.  i put $5.00US credit on it and with normal voice and data usage i have still not used the $5US.... that's three months.

there are three companies offering wireless voice and data service but the original MPT [Myanmar Post & Telecommunications] still has some level of control over all of them.  it's common knowledge that when there are active protests or anything that could reflect badly on the government the wireless networks of all three go down.  

i am quite thankful every day that i have the access that i do at the apartment. 

sriracha - a taste of home

the most popular, best selling chili sauce in southeast asia is Sriracha.  it's found in every kitchen and every restaurant.  makes sense, right?  it's made by Huy Fong Foods and was created by a vietnamese man.  it's got asian writing on the label.

fun fact:  sriracha is an American product, produced in the US and exported to southeast asia.  so whenever i see a bottle it's just like being at home.

quiz night at the pub

food in Myanmar is not really special.  after being in Thailand where the food is filled with spices and everything is healthy this is a bit of a  change.  they cook with a lot of oil here.  everything is drenched in oil and not the olive oil that is used in the west but peanut and palm oil which as byproducts of crops here so are super cheap.  

unlike Thailand where you can safely eat at street food stalls for very little money, it's just not possible here.  all the street food is deep fried in oil but it's more than fried somehow instead of a crisp coating the food is saturated with oil.  the water here would be toxic to westerners so eating at a lot of local restaurants is also not a good idea.  

there are not a of restaurants with healthy options available that are safe to eat.  one places expats hang out in Yangon is the 50th Street Cafe.  it is popular for thier very western like burgers and good pizza.  on Monday nights they have a quiz night which moves a bit slowly but is a good chance to see westerners.  unlike Thailand i can go days without seeing another westerner with the exception of my boss.


i'm talking to one of the girls who has been in country for about a year.  we are playing that game called 'crazy stuff about Yangon' and surprisingly she doesn't mention internet access.  when i ask her about it she says, 'i'm happy when i have both electricity and water, you get used to not having the internet'.

when you can get to a western style restaurant for a meal it's quite expensive by Asian standards.  a sandwich or pizza and a cocktail is usually around $20US.  few expats have the budget to eat at these places every day.

there are a few traditional Myanmar foods that are really good.  one of those is tea leaf salad. it is an eclectic mix of flavors and textures that includes pickled tea leaves, roasted peanuts and other crunchy beans, toasted sesame seeds, fried garlic and chopped tomato. It’s meant to be served with all the ingredients in separate piles so that you can pick out a combination with every forkful.  

if i'm in the office for lunch usually i order this or a tomato salad which is always good along with some steamed.  when i say order i mean the staff orders for me... the restuarants we order from are used to my orders now as i insist they be made with no oil.  cost $1.30 for rice/tomato salad and $1.40 for the teal leaf salad and rice.

moghina is a popular breakfast food.  it's Shan rice noodles in a fish broth.  as a vegetarian i can sometimes get someone to make this with a vegatable broth and it's very good.  the Shan rice noodles are one of the most popular foods here and are used in a lot of different combinations.  

so, people don't come here for the food.  you'd think i would be losing weight but there is little chance to excercise but more about that later.

there are a couple of things that are striking when you first arrive in Myanmar. 

the first is what the men wear.  about half of the men wear the traditional dress.  it's called the longi.  patterns and styling reflect different ethnic groups and are worn for both formal and casual occasions.  after a while it seems normal because you see this everyday. 

the second thing that pops out at you is the paste the women wear on their faces. thanaka is a yellowish white paste made from grinding the bark of a tree.  the women of Myanmar are as vain as the western women and value a clear complexion.  the thanaka is a natural sunscreen.  it's common to see the young girls wearing it as well as the older women.  i see it everywhere on the streets, markets and shops but not in the office or other professional settings.

the third thing is the betel chewing.  areca nuts are chewed inside a betel leaf and are a mild stimulant like drinking a cup of coffee.  like chewing tobacco the saliva is not ingested.  instead they spit out the red juice from the nuts and the streets are covered with disgusting patches of red spit.

  

besides being carciongenic the effects on the teeth are also quite brutal.   a lot of places post notices prohibitting it.

i'm back

i have taken a contract in Myanmar which has kept me busy for the last month.  now that i have settled into my apartment and the position i'm ready to share what's it is like to live in Myanmar as an expat.  i am living in the Yangon - it was the capital for many years but the ruling military regime moved the capital to Naw Pye Taw in 2005.

inle lake

sunrise on inle lake

just wow, my expectations weren't really high but the lake is incredibly beautiful and quiet.  perhaps just the quiet is what is so shocking in the country filled with chaos.  i ended up staying in the same place as the swiss guys and shared an afternoon boat tour of the lake with them.

they were read up enough to tell the boat driver which spots they wanted to hit.  i ran into the swiss girls from the yangon - bagan train and we make plans to meet up for dinner.  we ended the tour parked on a floating pile of plants and watched the sunset from the middle of the lake.


being on the water felt fantastic and the swiss girls and i book a boat to go back out for a sunrise.  it's just magical and there isn't another boat around.  the guest house i stayed at packed breakfast for me so we shared that out and headed to the south side of the lake to the local market which moves between five locations on the lake.

we were the only foreigners around and the market wasn't so impressive so i even wondered if we hadn't explained which market we wanted to go to.  near the market is the Hpaung Daw U Pagoda.  the pagoda houses images of Buddha that have been covered in gold leaf to the point that their original forms can't be seen.  although the monastery is open to all for veneration, only men are permitted to place gold leaf on the images.  that's why in this photo the women can only sit and watch and pray.


as we headed back out to the middle of the lake in the boat i realized why we were the only ones at the market.  boat after boat after boat filled with tourists were headed in as we headed out.  perfect timing!  

i didn't enjoy the monastery where only men can put gold on the buddhas but was surprised after a hike up to Indein to find an amazing complex of pagoda and memorials.  it was worth running the gauntlet of vendors selling junk that line the temple grounds.

in Nyaung Shwe there is a place called the French Touch and they run documentaries about Burma in the evenings.  

the third day i rented a bike [they had good off road bikes] and did a tour around part of the lake taking the ferry across to the winery.  yep, i found the one place in SE Asia where there is a winery.  it's called Red Mountain.  the wine isn't going to win any international awards but it is certainly drinkable.  more about wine in Myanmar another time.


there is plenty of touristy stuff to do and buy on the lake but easy enough to avoid.  in so many of the villages i traveled through it felt like the priority was survival and here i found a community that was thriving.  there are floating gardens with rows and rows of tomatoes and other vegetables which make their way to the local market.




there is also a 2 - 3 day trek from Kalaw to Nuang Shwe which is hugely popular.  there are home stays along the way as it's travels overland through some villages.  everyone i spoke with had a very positive experience doing this.  i was still recovering from some of the blisters from the Hsipaw trek so i did not do it.

We women foundation

as i have traveled around  the country i've made an effort to talk with the  locals and learn how the changes over the last few years are impacting their lives.  in the urban areas there is an excitement about the possibilities but in the rural areas there remains an oppressive air polluted by the violence against ethnic minorities, extrajudicial killings, land grabs and other human rights violations.

now, more than ever, it is critical to empower women to step into positions of leadership to create meaningful change.  the We women foundation is doing exactly that.  they take a holistic approach to supporting women through secondary education.  they have a pre-university program to prepare women for school and they provide scholarships to get the women through school.

please take a moment to learn more about We women foundation here.
then think about what you spend on a dinner out, a bottle of wine or a round of golf.
join me in supporting We women with a donation.

ad revenue from this blog for the month of December will be donated to We women foundation.