Misadventures

Well, I'm in Burma. So far, the actual travelling around Burma/Im a fablous young adventurer bit has been going a bit strangely. For one, I spent the first week here not doing too much, due to extreme jet lag and my inability to plan things. I finally got a move on and Emma (my friend I'm staying with) and I decided to head off to the southeast of Myanmar last Tuesday to climb Mt. Kyaitkio* and sightsee around the capital of Mon state, Mawlmyaing.* I then decided to grab a burning pan with my bare hand. When thirty minutes before I had to leave for my bus I still started crying when I took the ice off for more than five seconds I decided to postpone our journey - a fortuitous decision in the end since I spent the night vomiting (double sickness! Yay food poisoning). Like the crazy youngster I am we left the next day anyway.

Mt Kyaiktio ( or the Golden Rock) is a gorgeous and ginormous golden stupa on top of a mountain. The pictures make it seem amazing, but that is nothing compared to seeing it in person, expecially when... you hike with your 25 lb pack up what is supposed to be a road but is really a paved cliff face.... for eternity (ie an hour and a half)... after sleeping on the floor in a tea shop for a mere few hours ... after taking a night bus... and arrive to a stupa bandaged in  bamboo coverings and scaffolding since it is being renovated. At least the view was nice!

Me with my disgustingly heavy backpack... and the view. 

The fake tiny stupa. All I had since the real one was basically wearing a burka. 

A cat in a tea shop on the way down.

Emma and I then arrived to the train station just in time for our train to Mawlmyaing and were ushered into the station masters office sweaty and exhausted to say the least.

"Mawlmyaing?" he says - "Of course. Six dollars."

"Oh - we dont have any dollars," we innocently inform him. "Heres some kyat*."

"Oh no," he says. ( his railroad station lackeys all giggle.) "No kyat. Only dollah."

"Oh no", we say. "No dollah. Only kyat."

"No kyat. No dollah. No kyat. No dollah."

This culminates in me (like a good aAmerican) yelling, ZERO DOLLAH and shoving my purse at him. (Meanwhile Emma is politely trying to explain to him that she lives here in the best Burmese she has.)

"Ok," he says. "Wait a moment." He leaves and reappears with another man who stares at us and shakes his head. Then they both leave. To pass the time Emma translates everything the railroad station lackeys are saying about us.  "Cute but stupid. Oh yes very stupid."

Somehow they ended up giving us railroad tickets. And we had a lovely time in Mawlmyaing. Except for how I now have a tennis ball size puffed up burn on my calf from the muffler of a moto taxi. I showed the taxi driver and he got very worried and then I showed him my hand and he laughed.

The view from the train.

Outside the window.

Monk sleeping on the train.

Giant Buddha in Mawlmyaing

p.s. I also got hit on by and subsequently made friends with a group if monks that live on a small island, but thats a story for another time.

*Kyaiktio - Chai - tea - oh
*Mawlmyaing - verdict still out. Alternately Mawl - mee, Mohl - mein, Mal - muh - yang, and Mowl-mane.
*kyat - chat

 Emma and I in Mawlmyaing

Worth it. The view out to Sea.