Myanmar | Yangon, Mandalay, & Bagan
YANGON PART 1:
The first day I had in Myanmar was completely free since my travels didn't start until the second day. Our ship was ported in Yangon, but the ship itself was about a 45 minute drive from the city center. Luckily, Semester at Sea provided free shuttles every 30 minutes from 9 am to 11 pm! My friends and I got on the first shuttle bus of the day and headed into the city center right away. There, we walked around a mall to buy some snacks for the ship, visited a small street market to purchase elephant pants, and then headed to the Shwedagon Pagoda.
The Shwedagon was absolutely stunning. The floors were made of some sort of white stone (I'm guessing marble since the sun was BLAZING on us and the stone was still cold enough for us to walk on barefoot) and the buildings were all gold and grand. There were so many little sites to pray with buddhas decorated everywhere. There are a few pictures on my Instagram if you want to see! We spent about an hour wandering the grounds and taking photos before taking a $2 taxi ride to an urban mall. It was $2 for four people...so we each paid 50 cents. How crazy! We ate lunch at the mall since we wanted to play it safe with food and then shopped around a little before going to a local tea house. We had dinner at the tea house which was absolutely amazing! My friend Chris and I shared some type of curry, skewers, coconut rice, and chocolate samosas for dessert. Following dinner we headed to a rooftop bar for a quick cocktail and view of the city before boarding the shuttle bus back to the ship.
Shwedegaon Pagoda with Maria, Mollie, Sanjay, Sara, and Julia
MANDALAY & BAGAN:
I was on the "Mandalay and Ballooning in Bagan" trip. My neighbor Max, my friend Jackie from Chapman, and my new friend Alana were on my trip so I was pretty excited about it! We boarded a 7:00 am flight from Yangon to Mandalay and got no breaks the rest of the day until we went to bed. We were able to visit some more pagodas, a wood carving factory/shop, a silk factory/shop, and the U Bein bridge to watch the beautiful sunset. Unfortunately, my friend Andrew got really bad food poisoning in Mandalay — he threw up in my shopping bag on the bus! I was terrified and definitely had to face my fear of vomit. He was lucky I had the bag and was able to empty it and give it to him!
U Bein Bridge at sunset with Alana
The next morning, we woke up very early and boarded a boat that Semester at Sea had chartered for us. We were able to watch the sunrise while sailing down the Irrawaddy River. It was so surreal — it made me feel so thankful for the things I was/am able to experience! We had breakfast on the boat and sailed down the river for a few hours before reaching a small village known for its ceramics. I was able to watch some women make pots and interact with locals and their children. We then re-boarded the boat to have lunch and sail the rest of the way down the river to Bagan. I kept thinking to myself "it's crazy that I'm able to say I spent a day of my life sailing down a river in Myanmar". Upon reaching Bagan that evening we went to a private dinner at a local restaurant next to a huge temple. The other Semester at Sea programs were also there so I was able to meet up with my other friends! We all stayed at the same hotel that night (the night before my 21st birthday), where my friends pitched in to buy me celebratory drinks and cake that I was able to share with the Semester at Sea community...including some of my favorite staff and faculty friends that I've made on the ship!
Celebrating the eve of my 21st birthday with professor Glory Burns
The next morning, on my birthday, I woke up at 4:45 in the morning to get ready and board a bus to go to a hot air balloon site. Our large group separated into smaller hot air balloon groups based off of different weight combinations, met our captains, and had breakfast. We then stood on viewing platforms and watched the staff blow hot air into the balloons. It was nothing like I had ever seen before. There were several groups going at once so everywhere I turned there were balloons inflating. It was amazing! We then boarded our hot air balloons and started to rise. Rising up in the air was one of the most breathtaking things I have ever experienced; the sun was rising at the same time, there were tons of temples and pagodas on the ground below me, and other hot air balloons on the horizon all around me. I was so happy in the hot air balloon that I began to cry! The ride lasted about 45 minutes and throughout the entire ride I was never able to overcome this overwhelming feeling of joy and appreciation. When we got to the ground we were each given a glass of champagne and a certificate and hat that certified us as successful hot air balloon riders! After such a spectacular morning, we spent the rest of the day visiting more temples, visiting a monastery where we got to play with kids, and flying back to Yangon.
View from hot air balloon
Celebratory champagne
Monastery children
YANGON PART 2:
On my last day in Myanmar I participated in a program called Thanylin Local Life & Service for my Global Studies field class. We rode rickshaws into a local market where our tour guide gave us slips of random words. The words were written in English, but were written in the way you are supposed to pronounce Burmese words. We had no idea what the papers said and our task was to pronounce the words to locals in an attempt to get them to understand and help us. We were each given a small amount of Burmese money to purchase what the words were — which ended up being a variety of fruits and vegetables! After gathering all of our items we boarded a bus to visit a local monastery to participate in a school engagement. We presented the monks with the fruits and vegetables we gathered upon arriving at the monastery and then headed to a large hall where we formed an assembly line to prepare snacks for the children. We set up over 100 bowls of snacks and then spent an hour or so playing with the kids! It was a super fun and rewarding day.
Myanmar, like many of the other countries I've been visiting on Semester at Sea, surprised me. I remember when I first committed to the Semester at Sea I was disappointed when I realized that I was going to be spending my 21st birthday in Myanmar, but now I couldn't be more thankful. It was a once in a lifetime experience that I will never forget.
