Myanmar people and some observations

 Let me share with you this. I love Myanma people. They are the most honest and wholehearted people I believe there are in Asia. They are open minded, yet devoted to tradition and family values. They are hard working and smart. They have the internal integrity that is passed from generation to generation and it does not get forgotten or traded for something else.  

 

Local football event between two villages in Kachin state. Everyone supports their teams!

A family resting on the steps of one of the temples at Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon. 

People share space with much lower tolerance in Myanmar, there are no boundaries of your personal space. For example it is normal to keep leaning on someone on the bus or use their body parts to support yourself. A person can be a total stranger as long as they are the same sex. It is also normal for men and especially teenage boys to walk streets holding hands or shoulders.

Two friends on their way to the village, Rakhine state, Mrauk-U ancient stupas.

People are very supportive of each other, helping one another happens all the time without asking. If your bag needs lift or shifting from place to place, if you need to support yourself better, if you need anything of your convenience Myanma people are very helpful and forward thinking.
They will often times think for you and offer a better solution to the one you have already. I have been exposed to this naturally when travelling by roads, I was swapping sits to increase my comfort, I was given a hand in supporting my rucksack for good several hours, I was served free breakfast and free drinks. I cannot count all the occasions when people have been extremely helpful. People are genuine and open minded. If they approach you with sales it's mostly tactful and well mannered. If they see you walking they will ask where are you going to and whether you need transport (taxi, horse cart, etc). From the tone of their voice you can tell that it is a mix of trying to be helpful and offering their service. I never felt under pressure with their approaching me, it was rather cheerful and spontaneous. Maybe the fact that Myanma people very happy people because it comes from Buddha teaching..they never stop smiling even if they are really tired/stressed etc. It comes from their culture that one cannot upset another so they do everything to obey that rule. They are great hosts and entertainers, however government limitation and poverty are making things more difficult for them than we in the West are used to. For example, there is almost no friends or family visiting like it used to. People in countryside are too poor and generally visits need to be declared. Overnight staying is out of question unless there is a permit given in advance. A tourist staying over in a private house or a place without an adequate license would impose serious problems with local police including imprisoning.
Every bigger village or town has a local chief commander whose solely responsibility is to ensure government policies are obeyed and reporting back on villagers activities to his superiors. Nothing can pass unnoticed. Local people cannot move freely, they are subjects of government relocation politic and are given no choice if there is a decision that they have to move their house to a new place. For example this is how New Bagan local population was built. They handpicked people to move from Old Bagan and they had to obey.

Casual conversation at market place in Yangon.

That reminds me reminds me a lot socialistic times in Poland. The police hour in Myanmar is gone but it feels almost like it has been swapped for yet another form of control. Interestingly people do not fuss about their first free election and the democratic government. In fact people I talked to could barely remember which year the elections were held. This was stunning for me as at home the anniversary of first free elections post Soviet time is always a big thing. Maybe I can dump it on expense of fact that the freedom did not come to people of j Myanmar fully. It is true that military and police are less oppressive and they withdrawn from the streets back to their stations but the regulations and law enforcement hasn't changed. People are allowed to live a bit better due to tourism flourishing and this is probably the only relief. In order to see the real Myanmar life you really need to make deeper connection. On the surface none of the misery is visible. Under polite and smiley faces we Westerners cannot read what is laying underneath. What are the burdens of every man and woman. How people are going hungry, how they substitute meal with sugar candy and glass of water. There is also the other side of the story of the thriving new businesses in Myanmar. New Burmese middle class is getting wealthier. Whether money get distributed rightly that is another story. And how many of these Burmese businessmen and businesswomen are really making the money to work for their country and their own people, this I cannot tell. I don't think anyone can.

Family visiting one of the Bagan temples.

Some examples? The actual hotels are sparsely owned by local people. It is the Chinese or people from other provinces of established in my enquiry origin. People working for the hotel are underpaid. Even though prices at least quadrupled in the last two years people are still getting the same wages.

A fisherman with his dog - Aye Yar river in Bagan area.

Money collected from tourism does not get declared in full, there are official government rates for logging for tourists but if hotel is taking more money they declare on my the minimum amount. What is happening with the rest of it ? For instance a common price for Yangon middle range hotel during shoulder season is ~50$. The government rate says ~20$...an average employee gets 100$ of a monthly salary. The managerial level or really experienced staff can get up to 300$. You see the ranges between income and spending?

Showing support to everyone in need, daily routine providing food to monks and nuns is very much followed by all the Myanma people.

It is important to be aware of where your money goes and try to be conscious on how you are going to spend it. The Myanmar's transformation is far from completion with the military regime still claiming 25% of government seats automatically and the rest available being a subject of free election. The political scene is not going to change much as they are enforcing new regulations preventing NLD from getting the actual power (I.e. Aung San Su will not be able to run for reelection as they just established a law saying that nobody whose children are not Myanmar citizens can run for seats or presidency). I drifted a bit from my observations of people's life to the political scene, this was inspired by talking to an anticorruption agency operating from London who participated in a conference held in Yangon, dedicated to changes in Myanmar. Very interesting what the man had to say. I think part of traveling experience should be dedicated to understanding the local society and its national situation. We are ought to be at least aware if not supportive. I apologize if not all the facts and numbers are straight. Information I get to share comes from talking to people and getting their views, filtered by my own bias and background on Myanmar that I had obtained beforehand. I do not mean to offend or upset anyone.

Live goes on with road or without.. Typical Burmese road, very good condition I would say as all the holes have been patches and it has been sprayed with water to stop dusting.

Road traffic outside of big agglomerations. People travelling on bikes mostly, the lucky ones have trucks or cars, if they do transport people they are usually heavy overloaded with humans and cargo.