We arrived in Yangon, Myanmar after a nearly two-hour flight from Ho Chi Minh City. My custom check was made quickly by a middle-aged male officer who was chewing betel making me so surprise.
October was in rainy season, so the weather is cool, very different from what my friend told me when she arrived here in summer, under the blazing hot sunlight. Through the window of the bus from the airport to the city centre, Yangon City looked impressive with full of green plants, ancient pagodas and cars. Mr Coco, our group’s tour guide said that the government forbad transportation of motorbikes in the city. In recent years, the quantity of cars has increased so fast and so the traffic jam usually happens in rush hours. I could see cars lined up along the streets and moved slowly.
However, it’s rare to see traffic police on the street and there was also no loud car whistle like the streets in Vietnam. Mr Coco said that in Myanmar the drivers use rarely their car whistle. Mr Hoang, a young man in our group shared that he had occasion to visit Yangon two years ago and this time he was very surprised by its quick and strong changes “Yangon now have more cars, more new buildings and more construction works in the city”, he said.
The strong and pure tradition
There is no where like Myanmar, the country of pagodas, where the traditional culture is showed strongly in the daily life. Men still wear Longchy, a traditional long skirt in dark colour while women wear colourful skirt called Thummy. Our tour guide also performed us how a Myanmar man wore and tied a Longchy in different situations even in the case they play football.
From the countryside to the city, I was impressive to see children and women – from young to old – apply on their face with natural Thanakha powder, taken from bark of Thanakha tree which is very effective in anti- UV sunlight and make their skin bright and smooth. Children were painted with circles while women painted rectangles on checks and forehead. Actually, Thanakha powder is used as daily cosmetic of all women in Myanmar.
In early morning, I walked along the street to see the life of local people, to see monks arranging in a long line to walk around collecting alms. Then I visited Shwedagon Pagoda in the centre of Yangon, known as Golden Pagoda, a great symbol of Myanmar. The Shwedagon Pagoda has the history of more 2500 years and famous for its glorious beauty. I took my time to visit this pagoda two times in my trip, one in early morning and one in the late afternoon to be able to enjoy the whole of its beauty, sitting to hear monks and local people praying to learn their spirit life. Actually, Buddhism imbrues deeply in the traditional culture, in the daily life and also in their characters with closeness and honesty.
Mr Le, a Vietnamese tour guide shared that nearly three years he made tours in Myanmar for Vietnamese tourists, the most wonderful thing was that no tourists complained to be stolen anything. Even a tourist in his group forgot her wallet including passport and 800 US dollars at the shop in Bogjoke market in Yangon. Then the shopkeeper returned to her.
Services with sincerity and hospitality
It is said that Myanmar is the country of pagodas, of teak forests, of pure tradition, and of honest people. Comparing with other ASEAN countries, Myanmar is the new open-door tourism market. So, most of infrastructure and services for tourism are lack and in the beginning period of building. However, tourists are exciting to explore a different world with wildness of natural landscapes, the intact preservation of cultural heritages and sincerity of people which many modern countries have lost.
Khoi Nguyen, a Vietnamese young tour guide who travelled 31 countries in the world, told me that besides of many-thousand-years Buddha cultural heritages, he had profound impression with local people. “They are making tourism service from their heart, with honesty, sincerity and hospitality which also a precious heritage in Myanmar”, Nguyen said, “Everything of modern world seems not to impact yet much to this land”.
Nguyen also told his unforgettable experience when he took a group of tourists in an adventurous tour by bicycle to Mandalay, the second biggest city of Myanmar where is about 700km from Yangon City. His group didn’t book the hotel in advance. It was dark when they arrived in the town and he could’t look for the hotel room to stay. Then, a taxi driver who he suddenly met in town volunteered to help his group. He called many hotels and even drove around the town to help Nguyen to look for but no hotel was empty. Finally, he found a house of local people who agreed to share their room for tourists at reasonable price of only 30 US dollars a night.
Our group spent a 4-day tour to visit some the most famous pagodas in Myanmar such as such as Shwedagon Pagoda, Shwetha Lyaung Buddha (Lying Buddha Statue) in Bago and Golden Rock Pagoda in Kyaikhtiyo, During the trip, the assistant driver made us very impressive with his elegant attitude and lovely smiles on his funny face with Thanakha powder. Whenever our bus stopped at a sightseeing or restaurant, he always stood by the bus door to help his guests step down safely, to cover the umbrella for guests when it was rainy or sunny, then to offer wet towels for his tourists to clean their feet after walking by bare foot visiting the pagoda. I thought such assistant drivers were really great tourism makers in this country.
Photo source: Thanh Van
