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kimby
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Burma/Myanmar and Vietnam notes
« Thread Started on Jan 11, 2011, 6:00pm »

This is the intro to a travelog I wrote after our trip to Burma/Myanmar in 1993. I will post the day to day entries for the two countries separately.

"December, 1993

We had a great time in Asia! The weather was about perfect, warm and humid with almost no rain, the people were very friendly, and the scenery was beautiful. Quite photogenic, with lots of local color. Except for a bout of food poisoning and a few minor snafus with airlines, things went very smoothly. No pickpockets or lost baggage. And great mattresses, too, much better than most North American motels.

Myanmar (Burma) and Vietnam, though both Buddhist Asian countries, are different from each other in a lot of ways. Even their Buddha images are different: Burmese Buddhas are slim and serene-faced; in Vietnam the Buddhas are Chinese-style, jolly and obese. In Burma, everyone, men included, wears sarongs called "longyi". In Vietnam, everybody wears pants. (Even the dressiest women's clothing, the "ao dai", is a long silk tunic top, slit up the sides to the waist, worn over baggy trousers.) Though it was once a British colony, hardly anyone in Burma speaks English, except for "hello" and "bye-bye" which many people use interchangeably. There are so few American tourists visiting Burma that we often felt like honored guests. (Or curiosities: they sometimes asked to take our picture!) There has been almost no outside influence on Burma in decades, under a very repressive government. There's a great deal of poverty, but the Burmese people don't seem to know they're poor, yet.

In Vietnam, many people speak at least a little English and foreign tourists are much more abundant. Instead of guests, we were treated more like customers. The standard of living is higher in most of Vietnam than in Burma, but so is the urge to get ahead. Everyone in Vietnam has something to sell. So many capitalists, for a communist country! Everyone recognized us as English-speakers and called "hello" to us (even little babies that probably are just learning the word in their own language), but after a while we began to feel like parrots!

We found no animosity toward Americans in either country. Even the "Museum of American Atrocities" in Saigon has been renamed the "Exhibition House of Aggression War Crimes". Signs of the war are almost non-existent. Except for occasional bomb craters (now ponds), many old army trucks, and a few crippled or burn-scarred beggars, little remains to remind one of the war. And since over 75% of the population is under 25 years of age, the people don't seem to dwell on the war like we Americans do. We were a little surprised by some of their terminology. What we refer to as "the Fall of Saigon", is known in Vietnam as the "liberation"! The "communist takeover" of South Vietnam is the "reunification". And instead of "allies", the U.S. soldiers were the "American aggressors". But still, they don't seem to hold it against us. In fact, the kids in Danang, on finding we were Americans, said, "to-tally awesome", in perfect valley-speak!

This wasn't the cheapest trip we've ever taken, but our free tickets to Bangkok helped keep the cost down to an average of $250 a day for the two of us for 23 days. Burma was a little cheaper, Vietnam more expensive (over $300 a day for two), Bangkok, lots cheaper. We arranged hotels and domestic transportation with a local travel agency in each country. The Burmese tour, with "Flying Dragon Tourism Business Company, Ltd." in Yangon (Rangoon) included everything except food (our request) and souvenirs. We had a car and driver as well as a guide for the entire trip. The Vietnamese company, Vinatour in Hanoi, was a little less generous. Only hotels, domestic flights, and a car and driver some of the time were included. We even had to argue with them about including admission fees to the sites we had requested visiting in our itinerary! (Lesson: spell out every single thing in writing before you agree to a price!) We had no guide in Vietnam by choice. And since we don't eat enough to justify the expense of including meals in a packaged tour (and we didn't like the idea that all our meals might be at hotel restaurants) we opted to do meals on our own. We brought some supplies (granola, peanut butter, cup-o-soup, etc.) from home and bought other groceries as we went, saving our food money for big dinners and some lunches. Worked out pretty well, and much cheaper than the tour price for meals. For comparison, packaged tours to Asia booked in the U.S. run about $200 per person per day, not including air fare to Asia. So we did okay. Independent travellers, who pay as they go, can do much better. But the convenience was worth it."

« Last Edit: Jan 12, 2011, 5:40pm by kimby »

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hwinpp
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Re: Burma/Myanmar and Vietnam notes
« Reply #1 on Jan 12, 2011, 8:12am »

Quote:

Myanmar (Burma) and Vietnam, though both Buddhist Asian countries, are different from each other in a lot of ways. Even their Buddha images are different: Burmese Buddhas are slim and serene-faced; in Vietnam the Buddhas are Chinese-style, jolly and obese.

The populations follows two different styles of Buddhism. While Burma (and Laos, Cambodia, Sri Lanka and Thailand) follow the ascetic Hinayana style (small vehicle), China, Japan and Vietnam follow the more permissive Mahayana (greater vehicle) style.

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kerouac2
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Re: Burma/Myanmar and Vietnam notes
« Reply #2 on Jan 13, 2011, 6:34pm »

Kimby, I didn't get to Vietnam until 1996, but I think you would be surprised enormously by Vietnam if you returned there. They really, really want to please tourists and even though they have their 'hard' side (which I kind of like compared to the placid limpness of the surrounding countries), it is quite easy to get what you want at an excellent price.

Can you imagine that in 3 trips there, I have still not entered the Rex Hotel to go to the roof?

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kimby
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Re: Burma/Myanmar and Vietnam notes
« Reply #3 on Feb 7, 2011, 9:10pm »

Jan 13, 2011, 6:34pm, kerouac2 wrote:

Can you imagine that in 3 trips there, I have still not entered the Rex Hotel to go to the roof?

Not one for tourist trends, eh?

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