Friday, October 26. 2012
Melikha Lodge, Mulashidi, Burma
Up early, I managed to get yesterday’s post sent after several false starts. Apparently Burma has only one server for the whole country and it can be down or overloaded at any moment.
Although this morning was quite cool, we were determined to go rafting on the Nam Lang River. Thomas met us at 9am and off we went to the suspension bridge over the river, about a third of a mile from the lodge. On the pebble bar below the bridge sat our raft all ready to go. Our team today consisted of Thomas and two young men who speak no English and do most of the paddling. I had planned to do a fair amount, but floating and enjoying the scenery was so pleasant that neither Mark nor I paddled much of the 13–mile journey. I would happily have drifted the whole way. We kept up a running conversation with Thomas instead.
He is quite a charming conversationalist even if not all his statements are accurate. This time he told us that 30% of marriages are the arranged, although more and more people are choosing their own partners. Divorce is common and among Buddhist society remarriage is not an issue. There is a stigma in the Christian community regarding marrying a divorced person so Christians tend to stay married. In the rural areas people get married around 23-25. In urban areas they wait longer to save up money before taking on family responsibilities. Public displays of affection are not accepted behavior. Thomas says people are too shy. Both ideas may be true. We have observed shyness in lots of people including hotel staff.
We have experienced intermittent power throughout our trip and Thomas confirmed that there is not enough power sold locally to cover the demand. Many places, like the Malikha Lodge generate their own power. It comes on at 5:30am and goes off at 10:30pm in spite of 5-star top of the line billing. Even our high-rise hotels in Rangoon ad Mandalay had intermittent power outages. We understand from Davies and Ken that enough power is being produced to supply the country, but it is being sold to the Chinese with the generals pocketing the profit. A few years ago there were candlelight demonstrations in many cities in the country where people marched in the dark with candles to demand more electricity. The new government has complied somewhat and more power is available now than during the military junta period.
I asked Thomas if this was the poorest region of the country and he said no. The southern tail of the country is poorer. That is the part of the country that was badly hit by Cyclone Nargis on May 2nd, 2008. Some estimates are that half a million people perished as a result of the storm and the slow response by the government to allow assistance into the affected areas. Recovery is still very slow from what I have read. Here in the north, unlike the urban environments we have seen, poor people have fewer clothes, none of which are ever clean no matter haw many times they are beat on the rocks along the river bank. Their houses are smaller and they have fewer tools that would help make life easier.
Just then, Thomas told us to put on our helmets and get ready to paddle, as we were about to encounter the only Class 2 rapids in the river at the confluence of the Nam Lang and Malikha Rivers. It was fun running the rapids even if they were little. We managed to stay in the main current and hit all the haystacks. It felt like old times for me. Like always, the rapids were over in a minute, we took off our helmets and floated downstream. Around a bend we spotted 2 lodge staff on a sand bar waiting for us to arrive. As we stepped off the raft, we were handed cold towels and hot soup in a mug. Further up the beach, an umbrella was stuck in the sand. Under it were blankets, a table, set for lunch, and chairs at the ready. What a treat. We swam in the cold water for a while and eventually, not wanting to hurry through the moment, sat down to a lunch of spaghetti with chicken and a cold beer. That was followed by chocolate brownies. We went back in the water for another short swim, while everything was packed into a motorboat, the raft having been collapsed and stowed in the bottom earlier. The party was over, but we got a photo of the whole team before pushing off from the sand bar.
The boat driver powered us back upstream through the rapids and on up the Melikha River, as he could not negotiate the turn onto the Nam Lang River. After 20 minutes we were off the boat in a riverside village and transferred to a large van owned by the lodge. Thomas stopped at a friend’s store to show us some locally panned placer gold. Yep. It looked just like the gold that is panned at home.
We passed through Putao Valley with lovely views of the mountains to the west north and east enroute to the lodge. Looking west, India is only 60 miles away at the top of the peak. We saw scrawny cattle grazing in the valley fields. It seems like it should be full of rice, but there is currently no way to get water to the valley so it isn’t even good enough for cattle.
Shortly, we were back at our bungalow. I entered the door to find the big wooden bathtub full of warm water and rose petals. Sitting on the edge of the tub were 2 Pina Coladas. On the floor in front of the tub was a mat with the words ‘Welcome to Melikha Lodge” printed on it with flowers and leaves. What a surprise that was. We wasted no time getting in and soaking, even though neither of us is big on baths.
We relaxed until our early dinner at 6pm. Thomas showed up at 7pm to escort us to a thanksgiving celebration of the harvest. We walked through the village to a church full of people listening to the minister give a speech. We found a place to sit and soon different groups of women were singing and dancing on the stage. At one point a group of women dressed in Lisu costumes came out one by one carrying a different vegetable and introducing it to the audience. They must have said something funny about the vegetables as everyone laughed after each presentation. Then groups of children danced one after another. When there was singing the people lip-sinked to the canned music. It was fun to watch for a while.
Sitting next to me was a man named Simon, who spoke vary good English and talked a lot about the plight of the Burmese people, especially those in rural areas like Putao. He insists that many people are suffering a lot from malnutrition, that too many people are dying of malaria and TB and that the government is not willing to do anything to help. Worse, the government makes it illegal to give medicine and aid to people in the rural areas. There are no NGO’s allowed in the rural parts of the country. He said he was a land broker and made good money selling property. With his profits he is bringing medicine to the villages in the Putao area as that is his hometown. It is very dangerous, he told me, but he does it because he wants to help the people. He is trying to develop relationships with some of the generals, so he can get them to give him permission to bring medicine or, at least, agree to look the other way. Behind Simon was sitting a doctor, who said he has been working in the local clinic for a month as a volunteer and plans to continue for a couple of years. He said he sees 60-100 new patients every day. Malaria is the biggest ailment. He invited me to come and see the clinic tomorrow, so I think I will. We are sure getting a different perspective from the people we are meeting here than we have seen on the surface of things.
Mark had had enough after an hour, so we left at a break between performances. It was one of those evens that appeal mostly to parents and friends of the performers.
It is 10pm and time to stop writing. We are agreed to get up early tomorrow to go the local market that opens at 6am. I will be watching the people with different lenses as I sort through the stories we have heard from Thomas, Simon and the doctor. There are so many layers to poverty and deprivation and each person experiences it differently.
One last story Simon told me was about the school system in rural areas. Kids are required to go to school through the 11th grade. However, the government does not pay for them to go. So parents have to pay. Meanwhile, teachers are poorly paid so they do not teach much in the classroom. Instead they hire out as tutors during the non-school hours and charge to tutor the students so they can earn more. Meanwhile, the students never get playtime as they are always attending school or tutoring classes to learn enough to pass their exams. Further more, parents have to spend extra to pay for the tutoring so they can’t afford to send all their children to school.
I mentioned that I noticed that so many Burmese people seem really shy. He agreed immediately and explained that children are not allowed to ask questions. They must say and do only what they are told. They are all afraid to speak out or step forward for fear of being criticized or punished. They do not develop self-confidence and forever look down or away. He believes the entire education system needs to change before people will be able to assert themselves.
Tonight, I leave you with those thoughts to consider. Julia
Adventures with Julia 