Saturday, August 27, 2011

Mandalay, Burma: Bagaya Monastery and small, barely alive school

Horse-drawn carriage ride to the Bagaya Monastery. Click HERE for a video of the kids riding in the carriage.


Our fearless buggy driver, a savvy, scrappy boy, not that much older than Griffin


Bagaya Monastery, filled with ornate wood carvings








The over 200-year-old Bagaya monastery is in the former royal capital of Ava and has intricately carved wooden details.







A child in the small monastery school for young children, run by one old, lethargic monk. His lethargy seems to be contagious because all his students slept anywhere they could crash, while one student would take a turn for some one-on-one tutorial squatting in front of the teacher who would lean back, barely whispering corrections back to the student, under his breath.




Another tired student. God, school seems boring and exhausting here.


The tortured, squatting student in front of his monk instructor.


The monk instructor, who sat up smartly in his chair the moment I pulled my camera out. Before and after I took my picture, he slumped back into his chair, barely interacting with the student. Click HERE for a video of the Buddhist monk instructing the squatting student, where the student just does rote repetition of the instructor's words.


Mahar monastery, where the queen housed her monk lover, visiting him in a concubial room regularly.


The queen designed the hallways so the monk could walk counterclockwise in a meditative circle. Now, only young teens meet in the hallways to hide and make out.
Another Mandalay temple, one of the ancient royal cities
The ferry boat we took to the Bagaya monastery and temples
A boy bathing at the ferry dock
The entire family bathed at the dock. Click HERE for a video of the way Burmese families bathe together at the Irrawaddy River.

Typical Burmese woman using a motorbike to deliver goods.
Boat on the Irrawaddy River
One of the usual bikes, used for schoolchildren to get to and from school, with their lunch riding the handlebars.

Outside Mandalay, Burma: Amarapura's oldest, Longest Pedestrian Bridge in Mandalay

U Bein 1.2 kilometer Pedestrian Bridge over Lake Taungthaman
Famously made of teak wood scavenged from the royal palace which had been abandoned in Inwa when the royal capital was moved to the city of Amarapura
There are a couple duck farms on the bridge, herded along the islands and over the water, to return home to their pen at the end of the day, or to be sold at market
Duck Farm
We walked all 1.2 kilometers of the bridge
Duck feeding
Boats on the lake, using a cross-over rowing technique
A local girl walked the entire bridge with us, leaving us wondering if she wanted money, as many poor kids do, but, in the end, it was just a pleasant chat with her practicing her English and observing her same-age American peers with curiosity.
June 15, 2011

Mandalay, Burma: One of many monasteries for over 10,000 monks -- Lunch time!

You get fed twice a day as a monk, once early in the morning and lunchtime, then no more food allowed after lunch. A guide who had been a monk for 8 years said he and the other monks could tell who was sneaking food after the food curfew, by listening for which monk was farting.
You wait in a long line for lunch if you are a monk, practicing your Buddhist patience.
Older monks sit separate from...
Younger monks
They shared their precious yet abundant mangoes with us. LOVE!
Everyone gets a bowl of rice.


The large amount of onions necessary to feed the masses


A big, bad bowl of dried red hot chili peppers - They sure do like spicy in Burma!








The mega-wok required to feed the hordes of monks
Puppies in the kitchen
Drinking fountain
Where the monks sleep
June 13, 2011


Click HERE for a birds-eye view of the many, many golden-topped monasteries and stupas dotting the hills of Mandalay.

Friday, August 26, 2011

Burmese Military Government: “If you think different, keep it to yourself.” -- Burmese Military Government still very much in charge

Our family being taken by a guide to take a walk by a lake in Yangon. But Inya Lake is not just any lake. The guides are prohibited to take you to see "The Lady's" home, where Aung San Suu Kyi (opposition leader) had been under house arrest before and since her party fairly won elections in 1990, for a total of about 15 years of house arrest. Guides know Americans especially love seeing "The Lady's" home. Since the guides are not allowed to take us to see it, they, instead, offer to take us for a walk by the lake. I asked our guide, "So, is that the Lady's home?" I'd get the slippery answer: "Oh, I'm not sure, it's maybe the one on the left or the right." Then, I looked a bit harder and it was glaringly obvious to both of us that the white house with tall fences, barbed wire, and spotlights on it, surrounded by guards was "The Lady's" home. We were both playing roles in a farce written by the military government.
"The Lady's" house
The Military-Government-controlled newspaper propaganda. Almost laughable. Foreign, democracy-supportive broadcasts, like "Voice of America" (VOA) are seen as a threat by the Burmese military government.
Enlarged photo on wall of Buddhist temple -- Military leaders coming into the Buddhist temple grounds to give yet another gold-laden object at a ceremony.
A photo up on a Buddhist temple wall of the military general leaders praying at the temple. The military want to make sure that they achieve two aims by becoming a part of Buddhist life in the country: (1) The generals seem like friendly, accessible people who are worthy of being revered by the people, the same way the people revere their Buddhist monks as leaders, and (2) The military sees the Buddhist monks as a threat, ever since the monk uprisings, so they have insinuated themselves into Buddhist life in Burma.



June 12, 2011 Visit to Burma (Written and Adapted on November 26, 2011)



Burmese Military Government-Controlled Newspaper Propaganda:

“People's Desire: Wipe out those who inciting unrest and violence.”


I know the military government is no longer officially in charge, but let's get real here -- the military is still completely in charge of Burma. Let's first go back a bit in time --

In 2007, the Burmese monks rose up against the government, with protests in the streets of Yangon. To the world, the monks seemed fed up with feeling oppressed and the lack of free speech from the military government. The initial spark came because an elder monk, who had been critical of the government, was thrown in jail. The military government (now a civilian government, but in name only) reacted brutally, shooting at the monks and more. Even people watching on the sidelines had photos taken of them by the military and were thrown in jail. Those jailed were not allowed to see their families, who also did not know where they were. If they were released from jail and returned home, they were different, mentally ill people, suggesting torture may have happened in jail. And, their families were not able to make a living because the government made sure their families paid a hard price too. Supposedly, at least 2000 political dissidents are still in jail now. They are given non-political charges like stealing. That may change now that the Burmese government is trying to win international public opinion back. The government's recent "flickers of change" (quote from Obama) have managed to convince the ASEAN nation leaders that Burma deserves to be the next ASEAN chair, in its rotating chair position.


Still, the suppression of the monk uprising wasn't that long ago. Brutal suppression of dissidents and minority ethnic groups continues. How does living in this kind of fear, even if it is a bit milder, affect a community and its interactions with each other on the ground? It breeds mistrust and paranoia. One of our guides explained that you cannot even trust your neighbors since they dress as a common man but are really spies for the government. The mistrust extends to the rampant corruption practices by the military government wanting to control everything. You have to pay brokers if you want anything, even to buy a piece of land. But, unlike the U.S., the Burmese brokers are an extension of the military government, and you have to pay a bribe to the government broker to buy the home.

Our guide believed that even friends can’t trust each other, because when it comes to money they will turn on you. They smile, turn on the charm, then they will take your money behind your back, he said. 


Even our most cynical guide believed that there was some, small perceptible change now that the government was no longer officially controlled by the military. He judged the change using the "Tea House Indicator." Tea houses are a haven of late-night male citizen conversations criticizing the government. When the military government was at its worst, tea house conversations had to be whispered, since it was believed that spies were planted at nearby tables, waiting to overhear and report dissident conversations. After the military stepped down recently, the guide felt more comfortable chatting openly with his friends at his local tea house, because there seemed to be less government spying going on.

Our guide also had a very different view of Buddhism in Myanmar, compared to “the people.” He thought the Myanmar people gave millions of dollars to the Buddhist temples to gold-plate them because they prayed to Buddha like he was a god who could grant their wishes to make them more money. But, it seems like Buddha’s writings do not suggest he wanted to be prayed to like he was a god, and he didn’t think praying should be used to get things. Desire for anything, including money, went against Buddha’s teachings.

Interestingly, after the 2007 Buddhist monk uprising and suppression, the generals made sure that the generals were painted into murals of them praying at Buddhist temples and giving inaugural golden temples to "the people." The oppressive government is trying to use Buddhism as a way to control the “people,” along with using the words “democracy” and by using the education system to control them. 


In the military-controlled newspaper, the word "democracy" was used very differently than in most democratic nations. In the military-controlled media, democracy is operationalized as: A democratic people do not do "uprisings." They wait until the constitution is changed. If you wait for the constitution to change, I’m not so sure it will ever change, at least not the way you want it to change.


As far as education goes, the educated are a threat to the government here. How so? The 1988 uprising against the socialist government was led by the university students. This military government took over after the student uprising had overthrown the socialist government. Then, the military government learned from the weaknesses of the socialist government. The military then changed the entire university education system. Before the military government, there were 5 very large universities in Myanmar. When the military got in power, they saw the congregation of large groups of students as a recipe for unrest and dissent. So, they broke up the universities into a few hundred universities scattered nationwide.


What’s wrong with having so many small universities? When there was only 1 medical college in Yangon, pre-military, all the high quality teachers were located in Yangon. Post-military, there are multiple medical colleges all over Myanmar, staffed by many more professors than pre-military, leading to lower quality professors being hired. Now, people are scared to go to the doctor – people have lost respect for medicine, as a result of the military-led changes in the university system.


Such change is all a part of the military’s efforts to squash free speech and unrest. Same is true for the cost of cellphones and the internet system. Cell phones are over $900US, if you factor in cost of sim cards and the phone itself. Only the very wealthy can afford cell phones. It’s said that the military is keeping the phones expensive to avoid human rights issues from leaking out of Myanmar. The internet is hard to get access to and it’s said that most Myanmar people are not allowed on yahoo among other sites. One guide said each email received and sent is checked by the government, even thought that's hard to believe. There is probably selective screening of certain, threatening citizen's emails.


Parents are complicit with the government suppression of free speech too, with one guide’s mother saying to him from a young age:


“If you think different (criticize the government or Buddhism), keep it to yourself. Do not tell anyone.”