We anchored after sunset last night. This morning, daylight revealed yet another colorful, beautiful day and the shoreline town of Katha which we had visited a few days earlier. It didn’t look familiar, but then it didn’t display any distinguishing landmarks. Today’s plan was to go ashore on the southern edge of the town, where we would board a small bus for today’s adventure, which was only vaguely described as a train ride. Our guides played it pretty close to their vests and did not reveal details ahead of time, probably to allow for real-time itinerary adjustments with security in mind. Boarding the bus, we found ourselves in a bright, colorful, gaudy chamber, with window drapes drawn to keep the air conditioning effective. The driver and his side kick were obviously proud of their artistic decorations as they welcomed us. They must have had great fun decorating their chariot/capsule.
Fun bus ride to the train station.
After a short drive through the southern part of Katha, we arrived at a very small, colonial era train station, which had obviously been preened for our benefit. Police and military personnel were everywhere. In fact, it was the most intermingling we experienced with ‘uniformed’ personnel.
Got my ticket!
Uniformed security everywhere.
Ready for the ride.
Digressing for a moment, it appears that uniforms are a key component in the culture and the caste system throughout the region that includes Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar. When using the term ‘uniforms,’ I mean military, police, guards, and enforcement cadres of all types. All represent levels of power! Men, no women. Ethnic Burmese only, and Buddhist only. Uniforms of different colors and styles, crisply cleaned and pressed, generally accompanied by helmets or visored hats, and sunglasses. They all appear very young, and project an imperious air and stolid, Botox-like expressions. They don’t respond to questions or talk, just point or use gestures. As I’ve mentioned before, these enforcement groups are not focused on protecting the country from outside enemies, but rather focused inward, at the people and ethnic groups within its borders, to maintain order and a guise of stability. Even though Myanmar has opened up over the last few years, most of the gains are restricted to benefit native Burmese Buddhists, not other ethnic nor religious groups.
I believe that our group was quite a challenge for the guides and officials we worked with. All of us had access to the internet and the latest worldwide news regarding Myanmar. Asking our hosts about happenings in Burma, and at times challenging them to understand the ‘truth,’ created a lot of discomfort. What is reality? Truth? This region of the world is in clear disarray, not dissimilar from what is happening in the Middle East, but perhaps on a smaller scale. Let’s consider one situation which is grabbing international notice – the state of Rakhine in western Myanmar. While attempting to get at what is really happening is a futile exercise of sorting through a swamp of misinformation, I have no hope of distilling truth, but rather perhaps give you a sense of the complexity of what is at play.
The Rakhine state dates back many centuries and is home to the Rakhine (aka Arakan) people who are Buddhist, but show no particular allegiance to any other area, including Burma. The Bangladesh Muslims’ move into this region dates back to the 16th century, driven by their reasonable pursuit of a better life away from the extremely poor and overpopulated Bangladesh area. This Muslim group was labeled Rohingya based on the language they spoke. Prior to Britain’s arrival, their population amounted to only about 5% of Rakhine’s population. Cohabitation with the Buddhists was amiable.
As I keep discovering, the reach of Colonial British interference and disruption had no bounds! Following the first of the three British-Burmese wars in 1826, the British encouraged migration of Bengalese as farm laborers to work in the British plantations. It was in line with Britain’s colonial policy to inundate nations with illegal immigrants to be used at a later date to ignite friction. Not surprisingly, the population of Rohingyas (Muslims) quadrupled by 1912. So as we would expect, as the percentage increased, tension between the groups increased.
Let’s fast forward to WWII. The Japanese forces invaded Burma, which was under British rule. As the British retreated towards India, they decided to create a buffer zone from the Japanese invasion, and consequently lit a fuse that would eventually ignite the Muslim-Buddhist tensions – they armed the Muslims, who quickly turned on Rakhine villages, culminating in the communal, Arakan ( Rakhin Buddhists) massacres of 1942. From there, the Rakhin Independence Movement tried to carve out their own Muslim caliphate, but interference by Pakistan, India, and even actions by MI6 and the CIA all contributed to constant instability until 1982, when Burma General Ne Win enacted a new national law, denying Rohingya citizenship and backing the Rakhine people with military protection and encouraging an ethnic cleansing. Many Rohingyas fled to Bangladesh, but sanctioned action against those that remained continued.
But, lets make things more complex and convoluted! According to our guide, Tu, in order to make sure the military remained in power after the recent ‘democratic’ vote in 2014, the military junta reportedly issued one million white cards to Rohingyas, which allowed them to remain in Rakhine state, contingent on their voting for the military slate of candidates. This obviously enflamed tensions in the region, with stories spreading throughout Burma of police officers killings, raping women, and justifying a military response to further eject the Rohingyas. The state is now locked down, inaccessible by any outsiders to understand the situation or to provide help. As I said…a mess that impacted, albeit minimally, our itinerary.
Our Upper Class awaits our boarding.
Ready to depart.
But lets get back to our adventure of the day. After securing our mock tickets from the ticket window, we were guided to the train, which we learned, was dedicated solely to our group. We were invited to board the ‘Upper Class’ coach – the only coach except for some empty freight cars behind us. It seemed that there were several factors at play – to make sure our group was safe, to make sure we took away a very positive impression of the country, and to isolate us from the general population and therein preserve the way the government had positioned us and our western ideals. The choreography for the day included balloons, streamers, and jade flower wreaths for each of us. A glass of champagne? YES! A tea sandwich? YES! One of our ship’s attendants put on an ‘official’ conductor hat so he could check and punch our tickets. It became obvious that the community was awarded a role in creating a memorable moment. They came out, beautifully dressed, bringing their toddlers and young children to enjoy the moment, smiling, waving – was it staged? Was it a little over the top? This cloak of merriment could not completely camouflage the attention to security by multiple flavors of uniformed police in constant contact with our ship’s security manager. Our awareness of the conflict with the Muslim community in Rakhine state, the fact that our itinerary had been changed a couple of times, and that we had a film/photography team and a travel writer documenting all our activities as base material for a tourist marketing piece promoting Myanmar, were all in play.
Everybody hang on!
People came out to wave and attempt to catch one of our balloons .
Prior to pulling out, we were given a safety briefing: no seat belts, and no oxygen masks, but we were advised to remain in our seats because this was going to be a rock’n’roll ride – side to side, up and down. If we wanted to move around, we should always have hold of a seat back or the luggage rack. The train track was laid down in 1897, and basically was never upgraded. We would only be traveling at about 10 mph, for the hour and a half journey. Since all the windows were open, we were repeatedly warned not to stick our heads or arms outside the window (thanks to Disneyland for training all of us to keep everything inside). The jungle was literally brushing against the train. Despite rigorous compliance, I could not escape the occasion jungle bush reaching through the open window and depositing a moist, kiss on my cheek, and perhaps dropping a leaf or two as testimony of the encounter. The train stopped several times, to allow the crew to cut back or remove branches and trees. The jungle tries to reclaim any open area –overnight.
Beautiful countryside.
Farms in the valleys.
Dense jungle was up against the train. Keep hands and arms inside!
As we reached the station in Naba, more fun theatre. The station was packed with people, well dressed, waving and smiling women and men, handsomely dressed children, a small band and a dance performance by a young girl or boy. I opted to walk out of the station to secure some interesting photo shots of the train engine and surrounding area. I didn’t get very far, before two security people chased me down and gestured me to return to the station. After the show ended, we headed for the bus which had driven up from Katha, to take us back with a short stop to visit a teak forest.
Welcoming party at the Naba train station.
Kids examining the tea sandwiches we gave them.
Special entertainment at the train station.
Almost all vehicles we’ve been on have had the steering wheel on the right. Despite the country’s history as a British colony, people drive on the right side of the road. This bus was unusual because it had the steering wheel on the left. Our guide, Tin explained that the country did in fact drive on the left side of the road until 1970, when General Ne Win ordered the whole country to switch to the right side of the road – overnight! Why? No one knows for sure, but Tu offered three theories: General Ne Win wanted to move the country further away from its British history; the General had a dream which recommended he change the driving side; or that the General’s wife’s astrologer suggested the country would be better off by changing the driving side. My bet is on the third one…the most fun. You can tell the age of a car or bus based on the side of the steering wheel. Most are very old. Almost all vehicles brought into the country after the military takeover were imported from Japan and were all pre-owned. So seeing a new and right steering wheeled car is rare. This will undoubtedly change as the country continues on its path of openness, allowing more imports and sufficient wealth to pay for them.
Our tied up ship did not thwart the daily chore of washing clothes.
Tonight’s entertainment.
It was definitely a fun day. The staff was wonderful. The day ended with another performance by members of the crew, which included a famous Burmese story told in dance – in this case performed by two attendants, one of which cross-dressed (he was the conductor on the train!).
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