Myanmar At Last!

Myanmar at last!

I remember quite a few years ago in Regina we welcomed in a large number of Karen refugees from Burma/Myanmar. I never got to know any of them personally, but my family and some friends did. From their stories the country began to be on my radar and I started to pay attention whenever it was mentioned. My main motivation for coming here though was actually to add another country to the list of countries I've been to. It's not a very noble reason, but it does help me leave my comfort zone and go to new places I probably wouldn't have before.

On arriving in the country and taking a minivan with 5 other tourists, we began to see more of what it was like. At first the poverty was most apparent, then the astonishing beauty of the undeveloped countryside, then the death-defying driving of the vehicle we were in and other vehicles, the inundation of temples and monks everywhere we went, and the quiet beauty of the people in this country.

It is a country in recovery. There is a lot of building happening, and entrepreneurship all over the place. The country has really only been open to tourists for a few years. Our travelling friends said "In ten years, this country will look way more like Thailand. Now is the time to visit before the major tourist transformation." So Jetaime and I feel pretty lucky to see it now. We will likely come back and visit in a few years.

The coolest moment for me was coming to a little Chinese noodle stall last night that Jetaime had been to last year. They recognized her right away! They chatted for a bit and I was able to understand about a third of their conversation. Haha, and I liked the part after Jetaime said we got married and the lady replied "他很帅” (He is handsome!). But the coolest part of that was seeing how Jetaime made enough of an impression on a shopkeeper that she would remember Jetaime many months later. I so appreciate her friendliness with everyone she meets, and I've learned a lot from the way she gets to know people as good friends even if she will likely never see them again.

- David Hepting