The news- myanmar

When Josh and I first heard a two-sentence bit on NPR mentioning some protests in Myanmar (Burma) last week, we both felt a flutter of excitement, hope, and dread. Most Americans, it seems, didn't feel much of anything. I've been wanting to write about that news story since we first heard it, but ran out of time with all the packing and family/friend-visiting. Now that the story keeps growing (it was on the front page of the NY Times we bought this morning), I feel as though I have to say something!

Please read the rest...
My first thoughts last week were to wonder how many other small news stories I'd ignored through the years. This one meant something to us because we had been to the places mentioned and maybe even met some of the people involved. Honestly, though, I had never really heard of Burma (much less Myanmar) until last year when Josh attended a lecture on genacide at Columbia. I didn't realize when he told me the Burmese government had some of the worst human rights violations in the world that we would be visiting the country the very next year.

When we were considering visiting the country, we read a number of articles/books/opinions about whether visiting Myanmar was bringing our economic support more to the impoverished people or the oppressive governement. We decided the former, and I am glad that we did. If we hadn't, the news story that many of my friends barely "heard" would have made little impression on me, either. Now, I am aware of an amazing people, an amazing country, an amazing landscape, all of which are in dire need of change, and I grow more and more excited as the story makes more and more press.

That being said, we are not excited that the growing news is mostly because the government has turned violently against the peaceful protesters. Of course, the initial thrill last week of hearing that the people were actually speaking out was immediately followed by a sense of dread, knowing the peaceful protesting simply could not last in that environment, so we feared this would be the inevitable result. The last time an uprising of this size occured was about two decades ago and ended in killings, beatings, arrests, and the continuation, as before, of an oppressive military regime. And the country fell out of the news once again.

Obviously, we are no Burmese experts. What we have gleaned from various sources is that the government spends 40% of the country's budget on the military- for the simple reason that if they don't keep the military strong, the people will uprise. We heard that gas prices were constantly on the rise and recently grew by 300%, while cooking oil went up by 500%. This price increase was only barely related to an increase in product costs, and added to the already difficult lives of the people. Already, simple things we take for granted, like new phone lines or license plates, must be bought on the black (grey) market because the government no longer issues them, knowing more money can be made selling them illegally. Thus, the new increases were the last straw, so to speak, and caused Buddhist monks in the capitol and other cities to start marching in protest.

More examples of the opressive regime? A few years ago, while most of the country's people were living in poverty, the marriage of an army official's daughter brought in millions of dollars of wedding gifts. A while back, the government suddenly decided to devalue the country's currency and any savings the people had been able to acquire were gone. There are now no foreign banks whatsoever, no atms, few retirement funds. We read not to use the railroad or visit some newer tourist attractions because they were built by forced labor, minority people who were forcefully moved out of their villages and, if not killed, made to work on government projects. We met a family who had moved to Inle Lake after being forced out of their village, Bagan, where their family had lived in for centuries. The ruins of Bagan were considered the country's best tourist attraction (rightfully so), so the government suddenly decided to clear the village of people. In Myanmar, we had trouble accessing certain websites, even gmail and yahoo, that were restricted by a government trying to keep the people contained. We were also instructed not to speak about politics with the people we met because one could never be sure that an eavesdropper wouldn't turn them in and cause an arrest after we left.

So you can understand our excitement when we heard that the monks were peacefully protesting. It's not like the random protests that happen weekly on the streets of the city we are in right now- New York. No, this was a real event. This was something exciting and dangerous and possibly life-changing for thousands of people. But we were also worried because we knew the government wouldn't stand for it for long. And, honestly, we aren't sure how optimistic to be. You can probably read more informed opinions elsewhere. I don't completely understand the intricacies of American politics, much less those involving world sanctions and military governments. But I do know the people don't deserve the government they have. I know that almost every male Burmese citizen becomes a monk twice in his life, once as a child and once as an adult, so all those men being fired at, arrested or killed, are sons, fathers, friends of other sons, fathers, and friends... and mothers, daughters... But the government is too powerful. I don't see how they can possibly be overthrown and if sanctions that have been in existence for a decade haven't made a difference in the past, why would they now? Unless an army whose livilihood is determined by its bosses staying in power decides to switch sides and mutiny, I don't see how the government can be overthrown. Until China and India step up and stop "helping", I don't see how the government can change.

I just hope this time isn't like last, that instead the protests, the news coverage, the beatings, make a difference. At the risk of romanticizing, let me say that Burma/Myanmar is an amazing country with some amazing people and amazing sights. As the government begins to shut down internet cafes, limit cell phone networks, and the news is harder to find, I hope we don't all forget this country. I don't know personally what I can do about it, what you can do about it, but I would like to think that the world's news means something more to me now.

Where we go from here

When we began this blog it was intended to be a short term venture. We were quitting our jobs, taking a year off, with a concrete trip and simply wanted a way to share some of these experiences with friends and family (and to assure our respective mothers we were safe). We never intended it to live beyond the break that we've taken. Well... things keep changing, as we are about to leave for another journey.

Tomorrow we are off to yet another country, though this one is no where near where we have spent the last 9 months. I am going to attend the University of Durham this upcoming academic year and consequently, we are moving to England! I will be doing a one year MA in theology and religion, an attempt to get some ground work done for my PhD prospects. I want to study 2nd temple Jewish Literature and the program at Durham has some great people there I am hoping to work with. Of course the idea of moving to England is far from unattractive, especially as with all this traveling I've become interested in living abroad for a bit. (Partially just out of curiosity, I keep wondering if I'd like it) Meg during this time will get a job(or that's what we keeping hoping for) in order to fund this voyage. Where she will work is still a mystery... though I think if push comes to shove she'd make a great pub girl. :)

With that in mind we've decided to extend the lifetime of the blog. We are hoping to make some format changes in the blog to represent the different stages of this continually growing change of local. But as we talked about what to do with this thing it still serves the purpose it started out doing and there is something unique to share. We will see what happens but hopefully it will be a good year!

P.S. If you read this and have always wanted an excuse to visit England, we are happy to be your excuse. We will have a one bedroom flat, though we have no idea what our space will be like. But you are welcome to whatever we have.

P.P.S. Sorry for not writing more regularly upon returning home. I'm sure there are scores of brilliant insights and reflections we missed because we failed to write. But honestly, it's amazing how much time trying to visit all you family and most of your friends in a 2.5 week period is. I'm growing rather tired of having friends that I only ever see twice a year. And then add to that the joy that is packing and simply watch your time disappear!

The long road home

We already wrote about the 45-hour trip, but I thought some photos were due...
Airport #1: Port Blair, Andaman Islands, India. Even though the Andamans are much closer to Thailand and Burma, they have no international terminal, so we had to fly back West a few hours to...
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Airport #2: Chennai. Indian airports are so frustrating. Not only do you have to contend with the sharp elbows of non-queue-making Indians but there're also the various stations you have to go through- but only when they let you. Each step involves something (a printed e-ticket, luggage tags, boarding passes...) getting stamped and, since you can only do them so far in advance (for example, they won't let you in the terminal more than 3 hours early for your flight, you can't check in more than 2 hours early, they don't post the gate more than a half hour early...), you never get to just sit and relax! Also, this is where Josh's bag, which had survived over ten flights and 4 months of traveling, succumbed to a baggage handler's dragging and got a bit ripped up!

Airport #3: Singapore. Is this a department store or an airport??
Airport #3 still... trying to sleep a bit.
OK, one last Singapore shot. Our bags weren't checked beyong Singapore but we wanted to change our clothes. We also wanted to stay in the amazing transfer terminal after our 9pm arrival, but if we left to get our change of clothes, we wouldn't be able to check in until 3am. So... we were told we could just leave them and find them in the morning. Sure enough, after a night in the Singapore airport, we went through immigration to a completely deserted baggage claim area and there sat our bags- all alone on the floor!
Airport #4: Tokyo (we forgot to take one INSIDE the airport except for the photo below...) Also, did you know it's over SEVEN hours from Singapore to Tokyo?? That's on top of the 11+ flight from Tokyo to the USA! Good thing our butts are well-accustomed to long-distance travel! Airport #4: Tokyo. I had read about these toilets that would play a flushing sound for shy Japanese pee-ers, but I didn't realize how funny they would be to see in person!
Airport #5: Detroit. Finally! The USA!! (we got taco bell...)
Airport #6: Grand Rapids, Michigan! Home! We were picked up by my mom, sister, and her kids. Here are Ian, Lucas, and Kendra (Gavin was feeling shy).
And the aftermath...

Expectations, the Andamans, and the final moments...

Welcome to the final stop on our trip. We had been looking forward to this last week for a long time because it was supposed to include beautiful beaches, good diving and a final moment of rest, one last time with just the two of us before returning to "home"... whatever that is now-a-days.
Read my ramblings about the final stop...
Our voyage to the Andaman Islands was something we had been looking forward to for a while. Well, we hadn't been looking forward to the Andamans in particular but somewhere "resort like" at the end of our travels, a final vacation from our vacation. We didn't decide on where to go until a few weeks before and didn't buy plane tickets till the week before (as Meg already mentioned). We originally were planning on visiting the Maldives, but as we kept adding everything up, the price kept coming in too high... (much to our disappointment- not only did it cut out a whole country but also a pretty unique one), so it was off to another island chain instead. It's a rough life, I know. A lion fish. He has fins (I think they are fins) that stick our from behind his head making a great "mane." I was going to get closer but I thought he might have been poisonous... so I didn't, for better or worse.

Additionally, the goal of this final island visit was a "resort-like" experience, a deviation from traditional backpacker protocol and a chance to let someone else take care of us. We had spent enough time being cheap and wanted a final moment to relax and enjoy where we were because soon it would be back home... back to school and back to jobs. So after finally deciding on the Andamans, we picked a guest house online, booked ahead of time and caught a plane to the Andamans. Off we go to our final "resort-like" place...

A clown fish on our of our dives. I have grown to love clown fish.

Unfortunately, we were going to be disappointed upon arrival. The most obvious problem was the weather. September in the Andamans can be a little hit and miss, seeing as how it is still late monsoon season. So a solid sheet of grey greeted us when we landed, right where the beautiful blue skies were supposed to be. Adding to that was the hassle of getting to Port Blair which involved a 4:00 AM flight from Chennai (which itself is an eight hour train ride from Bangalore). Now despite arriving at 6:30 AM the flight still got us to the main island too late to catch a ferry that morning to the smaller island of Havelock where we were staying. So, after hanging around the airport all night, we got to hang around the docks from about 9:00 AM till 1:30 PM. Then, our lackluster ferry took another three hours putting us onto the final island around 4:30... and it's pitch dark at 6:00, giving us just enough time to find our guest house and unpack (all of India is on the same time zone, despite the Andamans being closer to Thailand than India!)

After all of this traveling (and waiting to travel), when we finally arrived the island was covered in a solid drizzle... great. We made it to our guest house and while the spaces were fine it wasn't quite what we expected. Still not a big deal. But we began to walk around some, and while the guest house was solidly above our normal accommodation, it still fell short of our "resort-like" requirement. On top of this Meg was feeling a little sick. It just kept getting better.

Note the solid grey sky. This is the weather that greeted us upon our arrival to the "tropical" Andamans, and it was one of the better moments because it wasn't raining! Also, we decided this was a weird ferry as it really felt like a small cargo ship where the cargo bay had some chairs and (non-working) fans mounted inside.

I have to say it was a bit of a disappointment to walk into a place that we thought would be a relaxing haven before having to deal with life back in the states only to be let down continually across the board. That first night was rather rough; we debated leaving or finding another place but ultimately we thought that seemed rather short-sighted. We decided to give day #2 a shot before making our decisions. The biggest solace we had was that at least everyone said the diving was good... it was just the time outside of the water that was tiring and leaving something to be desired.

The weather slightly on the mend. It is bright and sunny but off to the left you can see the ever threatening clouds. Though even with the weather like this the place was still quite beautiful.

The thing was, though, that it all got better. MUCH better. After hitting an emotional rock bottom that first night, the weather improved, the guest house felt more like a resort when the sun was out, the food was pretty good, and the diving was great. At the end of the second day I had really enjoyed myself and as the weather continued to improve, I enjoyed myself more and more. It was such a relief to have built myself up to expect the worst, based on the first day (and the reports we kept hearing about days of rain), only to be relieved as things got continually better. We went from slouching and downtrodden, to elated and constantly commenting on the beauty of the place. The place, like the beautiful weather, just got better and better!

An Anemone.

A clown fish checking me out as I float above his home.

A view of the beach with the tide out and beautiful weather. Many sections of the beach were covered with mangroves that sat right where the sand met the sea.

In the end we had a great time, the weather was quite good (two days of clouds, the rest were all clear, hot, and sunny), the diving and visibility were good, and our accommodation was relaxing and restful. We left feeling quite content with the time we had spent there. It still wasn't a resort but it did come closer to that ol' "resort-like" qualification. We got tans (as much as pale Meg can while also on an anti-malarial that causes photosensitivity!), we ate alot of food, we slept... it was good.

Playing with a hermit crab. (He didn't like me much)

I'm never sure about the name of these crabs but they range from several millimeters wide to a couple of inches. They dig holes and then push out the sand in the form of smooth round balls and they litter the beach. There were stretches where we couldn't even walk along the beach without stepping on their holes.

The Andamans also served a nice purpose as they allowed us a means to prepare to return. We have now spent 8 months away from our traditional responsibilities and roles. We have worked "fun" jobs, we had time off, we did what we wanted, and I hadn't thought about school for most of that time. The Andamans were a moment to say goodbye to the lives that we had been able to lead for a bit, reflect on what we had learned about ourselves (for example, that I follow a hard line better than Megan but she is much more gracious than I am), and simply have a moment to breathe before it all ends.

Starfish... I was tempted to live a childhood fantasy and t0 use them as throwing stars but I didn't think it would work as well as it does in cartoons.

A crocodile fish. They are REALLY hard to find(I often still don't see them even when pointed out) and look quite prehistoric.

During our stay at the Andamans I was both quite happy and incredibly sad for this trip's finality. There were parts of traveling that had started to wear me down which had especially come to light in India (the continual bartering, everyone trying to get a bit more cash, constantly having to figure out our next steps), so I was looking forward to relief from that. At the same time I also knew that while the end of the trip would bring some relief it would also be the end of something we had been talking about for several years. It was the end of a dream, and when a dream ends it is both so fulfilling and disappointing. After all, if you've been dreaming about something for years that's now over, what do you have to dream about? Where do you go when you reach a life long goal, and at the end of the road there is simply an end?

We considered this our final night while laying on the beach and watching some amazing shooting stars. It was a melancholy moment. We had (more or less) finished this achievement of our lives, and while there are future plans, they are as-yet unconnected with how we've spent the last year. The time, work, and energy spent here and for this trip is all self-contained, lacking a broader impact to the professional parts of our lives that we abandoned. With all those emotions I spent most of the time in the Andamans trying to figure out HOW I should feel, as happiness and sadness went hand in hand as our plans were drawing to a close. In the end though I was happy about going home, sad about leaving, scared of what was to begin next, and feeling so fortunate to have been able to do what we did.

A final view from our dive boat. It turned out to be simply beautiful, despite our early fears. Thinking about it now, I still long for those beaches.

Beautiful Banglaore

I suppose this is old history now, but we have to at least mention our stay in Bangalore, India since it was, after all, one of our longest stays in one place! We spent one of our final weeks with our friends, Brad and Elizabeth. Brad and Josh went to school together at Drew in New Jersey, and he and Elizabeth are in Bangalore for two years while Brad continues his studies. We didn't do too much touring in Bangalore, instead spending way too much time on logistics: catching up on the blog, making plans for England, booking flights for our trip to the Andamans... But we also got to catch up with Brad and Elizabeth, see how their lives in India were going, and enjoy some good food!

An example of how we spent much of our time... If Josh looks annoyed that's because it took us 3 days, countless phone calls and visits, just to book a plane ticket to the Andamans. Ah, India- what should take 15 minutes takes 3 hours!
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Brad and Elizabeth picked us up at the train station, and we headed to the Leela Hotel to celebrate our arrival and the departure of their good friends, Fanny and Niko, who were leaving Bangalore to return home to France. We went from a 24-hour train ride to a 6-star hotel (those exist?) for the most amazing brunch we'd ever tasted/seen. This is a photo from their website, since we were too busy stuffing our faces to remember to take photos ourselves! It felt so strange in the middle of our super-budget travels to glimpse the decadent ex-pat and ultra-rich Indian lifestyle, but it did taste good!

The extent of our tourism- the state capitol building in Bangalore. We did have fun riding around with Brad and Elizabeth on their bikes, and the weather was fantastic!
Elizabeth is volunteering for a company that develops cottage industries in nearby villages, providing a source of income for neighborhood women. We went with her to a block printing village one day where she delivered some cloth and looked at some new designs. These bags were drying when we arrived.
One of the hand carved wood blocks. They dip the block in ink, carefully place it on the fabric, and then pound it in place. Here they are printing a white block on white curtains, which turned out really nice. Elizabeth is in the background.

The "factory" is in a great building with lots of natural light. The women on the floor are embroidering or adding sequins and beads, while the tables in the background are for block printing. It was very interesting to see this place and these women. It really reminded us how important it is to think about the things we spend money on. A little fair trade store in Holland, Michigan may seem so far away from the people who carefully crafted the products for sale. But those sales make a real difference in the lives of those involved. These women, as with most poor women in India, have little to no way of making money and their husbands' income often goes, sadly, to alcohol rather than to their children. Poor Indian women tend to have little education, are often illiterate, and are rarely "in charge" of their lives, much less small businesses. These little industries not only generate income, but they create a sense of belonging and empowerment for those involved. It was exciting to see the possibilities in the women here.

One woman was nice enough to print a little auto rickshaw on a shirt for our nephew.
Part of the main street in the village was paved.
We went from Bangalore to our final week in the Andaman Islands. Here Josh is waiting for our very last Indian train!
We rode second class straight East to Chennai in order to catch a flight to the Andamans. Check out all those fans! (It was still hot...)

The mail

Yesterday we recieved a package we mailed ourselves from Kuala Lumpur on June 26. A little worse for the wear, only one small item fell out (a 2" miniature Petronas Towers, much to my dismay. If you see one laying around a post office- it might be mine!) and a number of things we completely forgot about made it to the USA! Isn't the postal service amazing?

Bird!

At long last... here he is!

First an introduction. This is Bird. I met Bird my senior year of college. I don't remember how exactly he came to live in my bedroom or how the tradition started, but Bird has now been around the world and has photos to prove it. A few rules have developed:

1. Photos must be taken of Bird at locations that are representative or typical of an area or easily recognizable by the average global citizen or, in some cases, a narrower sector of the population (but still recognizable/significant). This supresses the urge to take a picture of photogenic Bird at every last temple, sign, or ruin.

2. Don't waste film. This isn't compose 20 shots and take the best one. This is take a photo, blurry or not, and that's the photo. Of course, this has changed slightly with the acquisition of a digital camera. Now we attempt to stifle the urge to take and take and take and then delete and delete.

Anyway, here are Bird's photos from the last 9 months.

(bird. Not Bird. sorry couldn't resist this one)
















(ha-ha. Get it?)