It's been a while. Why? Because I've been working hard on finishing Jacks. It's going well. I'm pulling 7 hour days of scribbling in The Atlanta, working through the chapters, sewing the complicated threads that hold the funny shaped book together. It's slightly weirdifying and I'll be glad when its over, but I'm thankful for the momentum and focus this place inspires.
To take a break, I flew over to Burma for a few weeks, hired a motorbike and tried to get lost in the countryside. It might have been a reaction to missing Bhutan and wanting to get back tot he villages. The experience certainly was similar in some ways: smily faces, small communities, Buddhism, pagodas everywhere and hardly anybody trying to scam you (I don't think anybody in Bhutan ever tried to rip me off).
Of course, the two countries have one very massive difference - their governments. Although there is a reformist leadership in Myanmar now, you still come across rather disturbing aspects of control. They had a list of who lived where and they'd do night time 'raids' to see if anybody was not where they were supposed to be. If you stayed over at your cousins house, for instance, they might end up in prison for their hospitality. Up in the northern territories where I was, it was normal for the locals to have to pay protection money to the rebel Shan armies. Not just money, but men. They would leave you with one son and take the rest. I kept coming across villages with no men in. As usual, it's the normal people who get caught between the rock of the leviathon and the hard place of the freedom fighters. Civil wars are terrible things. Many that I spoke to didn't like either side and just wanted to be left alone to work their farms, dig up gold or just raise their families.
I won't write too much here because I'm considering putting a little e-book together about the adventure, but the bike definitely opened the country up in ways that backpacking wouldn't have. With a tiny 15l rucksac and the freedom of the bumpy roads I found myself in the company of gold-miners, soldiers, teachers, tea factory workers and bridge-builders, slept in chicken farms, restaurants and pagodas, found random festivals, musical and cultural and even managed to get lost in the jungle in the middle of the night (where I found the pagoda to sleep in).
Anyway, here's a few random pictures:
Of course, the two countries have one very massive difference - their governments. Although there is a reformist leadership in Myanmar now, you still come across rather disturbing aspects of control. They had a list of who lived where and they'd do night time 'raids' to see if anybody was not where they were supposed to be. If you stayed over at your cousins house, for instance, they might end up in prison for their hospitality. Up in the northern territories where I was, it was normal for the locals to have to pay protection money to the rebel Shan armies. Not just money, but men. They would leave you with one son and take the rest. I kept coming across villages with no men in. As usual, it's the normal people who get caught between the rock of the leviathon and the hard place of the freedom fighters. Civil wars are terrible things. Many that I spoke to didn't like either side and just wanted to be left alone to work their farms, dig up gold or just raise their families.
I won't write too much here because I'm considering putting a little e-book together about the adventure, but the bike definitely opened the country up in ways that backpacking wouldn't have. With a tiny 15l rucksac and the freedom of the bumpy roads I found myself in the company of gold-miners, soldiers, teachers, tea factory workers and bridge-builders, slept in chicken farms, restaurants and pagodas, found random festivals, musical and cultural and even managed to get lost in the jungle in the middle of the night (where I found the pagoda to sleep in).
Anyway, here's a few random pictures:
2 comments:
Where is the obligatory picture of you AND the bike I ask you?
okay okay - i'll put one up. It's more of a moped than a bike tho ;-)
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