New Year's Eve in Mrauk-U
Our "boat" turned out to be a 4WD SUV.
Four foreigners who had all arranged to buy boat tickets ended up in a car together to Mrauk U. Of course. Because that's how things roll in Myanmar.
At the Sittwe airport, I befriended an American traveling alone who told me he already had a private boat lined up to Mrauk U. I had been planning to spend the night in Sittwe and then take the public ferry up the river the next morning, but I'm always open to changing my plans when the opportunity arises. Not having a fixed plan is my favorite way to travel. That's when the most unexpected and best things happen. It turned out there was a German couple who had also hired the same private boat. So next thing you know we all piled into a car, which I thought was going to take us to the jetty where we would catch the boat. It turned out that we were actually driving to Mrauk U. No apologies or explanations by the driver, we just were going by car. Maybe they figure it shouldn't really matter much how, as long as you get there.
By car, we still did get a view of river life. But I was actually really disappointed about not being on the boat, until I met a Canadian family on the same flight who went by boat and said it was cold and miserable. By the time they arrived in Mrauk U, I was already fast asleep. Even though the road is 22 miles short of being finished, it took us three hours by car instead of seven by boat. I guess some things work out.
Mrauk U has been really magical, especially during sunrise and sunset when the fog (probably combined with smoke and pollution from the burning trash) sits in between the little hills. On top of almost every hill is a little paya or pagoda.
I hadn't seen any photos because I had decided to come only a week and a half before. But a lot of the other travelers had seen professional photos and came specifically to capture the same scenes. I saw one guy looking a at a professional photo online over breakfast, comparing to see whether or not he had the same shot.
One of the unique things about Mrauk U is that people live and farm amongst the ruins and pagodas. Women are carrying their water from the well, people are threshing (?) and drying their rice, women are washing their clothes, men are herding their grazing cows. So in addition to visiting the religious sites, it makes for interesting small town people watching.
Throughout town, there has been either Buddhist chanting blaring or this song that is getting played constantly here to commemorate the defeat of the last Rakhine King by the Burmese Army on December 31st. In the Rakhine State, there is never a New Year's Eve celebration because it is a sad day for the people. So New Year's Eve was marked with prayers and a candlelight vigil of sorts with speeches about the defeat of the King and exhortations for the people to regain their past glory. Definitely didn't pick a party town for New Year's Eve...
Four foreigners who had all arranged to buy boat tickets ended up in a car together to Mrauk U. Of course. Because that's how things roll in Myanmar.
At the Sittwe airport, I befriended an American traveling alone who told me he already had a private boat lined up to Mrauk U. I had been planning to spend the night in Sittwe and then take the public ferry up the river the next morning, but I'm always open to changing my plans when the opportunity arises. Not having a fixed plan is my favorite way to travel. That's when the most unexpected and best things happen. It turned out there was a German couple who had also hired the same private boat. So next thing you know we all piled into a car, which I thought was going to take us to the jetty where we would catch the boat. It turned out that we were actually driving to Mrauk U. No apologies or explanations by the driver, we just were going by car. Maybe they figure it shouldn't really matter much how, as long as you get there.
Mrauk U has been really magical, especially during sunrise and sunset when the fog (probably combined with smoke and pollution from the burning trash) sits in between the little hills. On top of almost every hill is a little paya or pagoda.
I hadn't seen any photos because I had decided to come only a week and a half before. But a lot of the other travelers had seen professional photos and came specifically to capture the same scenes. I saw one guy looking a at a professional photo online over breakfast, comparing to see whether or not he had the same shot.
Comments
Post a Comment