We're Baaaack!

Contrary to what has no doubt been reported on CNN, Fox News, and all three networks, we have not been captured by pygmy savages, forced into hard labor by the military junta, defected to the Incha tribe, nor have we cast off our worldly attachments to join a Buddhist monastery. The reason for our recent incommunicado state is more mundane: no internet--which we suspected but hoped would not be the case. Actually there is internet, but Yahoo, Gmail and Hotmail are all banned by the government which meant that not only could we not send messages to family or friends, but even the blog could not be accessed, let alone enriched. According to Kim, there are ways around this--she was able to email her husband--but the learning curve for me was too steep. Even the special program that my buddy in Yangon installed on my computer was useless everywhere but there. I guess the rationale is not only to prevent seditious material from escaping via folks like us, but also to discourage locals from communicating with the outside world.

But now that we are once again on neutral territory, i.e., Bangkok, the truth shall set us free. Bottom line: our thirteen days in Myanmar have been probably the most eye-opening of our lives in many ways, although it has not been a trip for the faint of heart. It has been sometimes difficult, sometimes awe-inspiring, sometimes depressing and/or shocking, sometimes beautiful; but always educational in the sense that we, who live lives of convenience, yea luxury, cannot begin to fathom the hardships, the lack of even the most basic facilities, or the resilience of these people. Yes, we read about the poor souls in Africa, Afghanistan, or Darfur, or see their plight on television, but there is nothing like an eye witness look to cement the vision forever in one’s brain.

I’m tempted to scrap the pages I have already written but frankly it would be too much work to re-create them in hindsight, so please understand that what follows, until the present, was written as we went, and without benefit of perspective. I tried to keep up with the blog via Word, but we were so busy all the time that I was usually too tired at night to do anything but go to bed. Such is the rigor of an organized tour--it stops for nobody’s sore feet or aching back.

All in all, Tom and I, as well as our travel mates, loved the tour. Not for the luxury we have been treated to (not much of that), but because we have, however briefly, gotten inside the lives of people who live in a way that can only be described as diametrically opposed to ours.

Here are my impressions.