Another Semester and Another Vacation

Another semester has ended, my third in fact, and when I look back, it is quite amazing that I've been living in this country for so long already. Yet, It's actually hard to remember what America is like now. I think the best way to explain this is a line delivered by Morgan Freeman in the movie Shawshank Redemption, "He's institutionalized," Red said, referring to Brooks, the old librarian. What he meant is that at first you might not like the walls, you may even hate the place, but after a certain amount of time it becomes a part of you, and then something you never dreamed of happens; life on the outside doesn't make sense anymore. While I haven't spent 50 years in a penitentiary, the analogy works pretty well. It's been nearly 1 year and 7 months now if you haven't been counting and this semester moved a lot more quickly then either of my first two. I owe this to the fact that I am neither ignorant nor going insane, but have simply hit a stable pace and finally understand how things work here. For example, when the end of the semester rolls around and your students deliver their bi-annual 'criticisms' to your boss, that's just part of China. Everything simply makes sense now, in its own strange, Chinese way.

Well, in a couple of days Lindsey and I will take off for Myanmar (Burma) the largest SE-Asian country. If you don't know anything about this place, besides the fact that Mr. Peterman, Elaine's boss from Seinfeld traveled here to live in a cave and smoke opium, here is a short introduction on Burma and why were going there.

The country is led by an insane military junta that is renowned for its human rights violations and border skirmishes with various ethnic groups that are still fighting for autonomy. To this day, the Myanmar government does not have complete control of the country because whole states are held by ethnic armies. The military lost democratic elections that took place in 1988, but then enforced a country-wide crackdown on demonstrations when they did not honor the vote. The rightfully elected president was then arrested and remains under house arrest to this day. For many reasons, various groups see tourism as an act of complicit support of the military junta. Yet, many others believe that travel to Burma can open up the eyes of locals as well as the outside world to the conditions of Burmese life. Lindsey and I think that if people are reminded of the injustices that occur in Burma, and that they are reminded that the widely unpopular military government still exists, maybe change can be wrought. We will be bringing English language materials as well as donating money to Burmese schools, monasteries, and locals as much as possible. By researching the ways that the government receives tourist dollars, we will avoid helping the Burmese government as much as we can.

While social justice is one of our reasons for traveling to Burma, there are a few selfish ones as well. Firstly, Burma is simply a beautiful country with breathtaking scenery and unspoiled forests, rivers, and oceans. It is also purported to have some of the friendliest and most inquisitive people in Asia. Also, it has yet to be fully exploited by the waves of tourists that crush into places like Thailand and Vietnam. It is also highly undeveloped, the majority of cars, boats, and trains plying the country are decades old. The Burmese population is mostly Buddhist and there are still groups of Animists who worship spirits called Nats. One of the things that Lindsey and I cannot wait for is the food. Sitting between Thailand, India, and China, Burma has a mix of all three cuisines. The various curries and seafood that are available for under $1 a meal have me shaking in anticipation.

If any one is nervous, please don't be. The places that we will be traveling are quite safe. I don't think we'll be hitting the ethnic borders to join any volunteer mercenary armies on this trip, we'll save that for our Chechen tour of Russia on the way home. Yet, the possibility may arise where I eat one too many crab legs while basking myself on the white sand beaches of the Indian Ocean and get indigestion, but I'll try to be careful.

If you would like to look at any pictures or learn more about Burma, here is a link. I'll probably add a post or two while were traveling, but we will be leaving soon and counting the time spent traveling through Burma and China we'll be gone about 4 weeks. Oh! I forgot, if you have any questions at all about Burma that you want me to answer...just post them in the comments.

Myanmar Travel Information: Name says it all, also has lots of pictures.