INTRODUCTION
So here, I'm leaving Asia about 9 months after my return to the land of sausage patties. Steeped in this continent to the point of wanting to explore every nook and cranny, I decided to fly to a destination that I was much talk: Myanmar!
.
Formerly Burma, the country remains unknown or poorly known, and raises some pictures and impressions that I long to experience as close to the land and its inhabitants. All this leaves a mystery, a confusion of feelings that excites my curiosity and stirs my desire to go on an adventure ...
.
The device slung and fleur de sel shotgun, I go to this very peaceful country Kipling once said: "this country will be different from those you know "....
YANGON
.
.
You Myanmar locate on a map: good!
But do you know the capital?
If yes, then receive my deepest respect ... because its no longer the good city of Yangon!
Since 2005, Nay Pyi Taw, an artificial city created from scratch by a paranoid regime after consulting astrological center of the country, planted in the middle of nowhere and appears to detour a bumpy road.
In the night through in a rudimentary bus, I'll find thousands of lamps lit, illuminating the enormity of the country's leaders, with the ostentatious indecency worthy of megalomaniac leaders.
.
Myanmar regime has this feature which gives this shade so particular: land of a thousand riches diverted, yet it houses a rich culture of ancient Buddhism and a multi-ethnic population! Indeed, the largest country in Southeast Asia, with its 50 million people would identify more than 135 different ethnic groups!
But back to Yangon, which hosts my first steps into the ground in Burma. It is good to be back there again on Asian soil, in this strange environment that already greets me with its waves of scent. Strolling among the stalls of fruits and vegetables, I can only imagine the flavors that tingle my taste buds promising.
.
Burmese cuisine is a blend of influences BAMAR, Mon, Indian and Chinese ... A base of rice, curry dishes and many colorful vegetables for dipping in soups! Burmese curries are milder in Asia. Little or no spice preparations, only a masala, turmeric, ginger, garlic, salt and onion, with lots of peanut oil and shrimp paste!
All the senses are stirred by the Indian restaurants rub shoulders crowded street stalls where you can appreciate on tiny tables and chairs and dishes more delicious. The teahouses are a social institution of the first order, welcoming the animated discussions between various snacks and noodles. It also likes the pleasure of chewing betel, or enjoy a good cheroot, the "cigar" local ...
Warning, the sun is here to lead, and I can not imagine what must be the hot season. Also the beginning of the afternoon is often the opportunity to take refuge in a temple, and the country is not stingy ... True symbol of Myanmar, Shwedagon is paid this majestic monument adorned with gold, the pride of the Burmese. True place of worship, the temple is revered and welcomes thousands of people daily. I must say it is not devoid of attributes: it would benefit gold covering this pagoda in the vaults of the Bank of England ... There is also a myriad of diamonds, rubies and emeralds!
Residents came to collect, the more wonderful for tourists (you know those whose third arm is this little camcorder it seems polite to belch at all is somewhat of an exhibitionist ... but nevermind!) flow in the sacred enclosure is permanent. Between flowers and bouquets of nerves, the Shwedagon amazes who go looking for trouble, both for its architectural features and by its many legends.
In this mecca of Theravada Buddhism, the red-robed monks nuns cross adorned with pink, in a glittering gold and magic lights.
.
.
After this initial contact with the country, I must decide on a route, and this is not easy in Myanmar. Many areas are not accessible to tourists. Areas of conflict between government and various ethnic groups are numerous, and the strategic economic activities such as gas and oil. Many places where the military junta does not want tourists and other journalists infiltrate.
The tourist is limited geographically by the government and the vagaries of climate move in "permitted areas". So I allow myself to go to discover the west coast and its beaches, for we must not forget, "it is also the holidays!
.
Chaung Tha
.
.
Première confrontation avec les transports en commun locaux, il nous faudra plus de 6 heures pour venir à bout de ces à peine 200 km qui relient Yangon à Chaung Tha... Je dis "nous" car je fais dans le bus la connaissance d'une jeune top modèle suédoise qui accompagnera le reste de mes aventures! Bon ok, en fait c'est Gilles, un français passionné de voyages avec qui je co-tripperai le reste du séjour.
Chaung Tha, petit village paisible planté sur les rives du Golfe du Bengale devrait être une étape reposante. Ce qui m'attire ici n'est pas la vie nocturne trépidante ou le flot d'un traffic grouillant, but rather the idea of a service based on the life rhythms of nature. A desire to quickly ask me what tempo Burmese will allow me to enjoy all the pleasures, simple and subtle ...
With its beaches completely deserted, its clouds of dragonflies Locusts and colorful, nature is revealed here preserved. We fish off the prawn and barracuda, that will not long be in our plates, decorated with a sauce garlic / lemon / chili ...
You notice the pitcher Clay behind the trishaw? Well you find everywhere in the country along the road. They allow to drink from a fresh water using a cup, at times when the heat becomes oppressive ...
No timetable here or visit to make a run, mais des grasses matinées bercées par le flot des vagues... Et puis entre deux baignades, je découvre à pied des villages de pêcheurs occupés par l'économie de la crevette et du poisson séché, des enfants rieurs et des stupas dorés.
The country life resembles that interview during my travels with his friend Hans, the one where the zebu cart will never be replaced by the tractor ...
Take care of her family, maintaining a plot of land or concoct some tasty dishes occupy widely each other. In surveying the roads of sand and earth, it is a wonder that I do my first encounters ... And what is obvious is the first colored faces of the famous thanaka.
.
of plant origin, we draw the paste cosmetic friction of branches of "trees thanaka. Mixed with water, the powder obtained allows women and children, but sometimes boys, to be adorned with a thousand different ways. Besides its function cosmetics, use a multi thanaka millennium, protecting it from sunburn and fungal attacks.
Chaung Tha sera l'occasion pour moi de faire la rencontre d'une brochette de voyageurs, de Gaetan le breton à Ezio l'italien en passant par Robert le retraité de la SNCF. Meetings that will sometimes look like movies like "The Old Guard", to name one ... And it is unlikely that the laughter will be shared with this band of merry men! Patrick is not expected? A thought for Hans-Robert ...
.
BAGAN
.
.
.
After this stage of relaxation (assumed and deserved after a season of grueling work), I'm ready for the cultural stage of stay unorganized. This step, it will Bagan, which should make me discover one of the most fascinating parts of Myanmar, one of Buddhism. For lest we forget no, 90% of Burmese are Buddhists!
The Bagan and some 4000 temples invite me. Near sites of Angkor, for its area and its impressive number of temples, palaces and multiplies the site stupas scattered around the area dry center. The buildings here are mostly brick, this which gives the limits of this comparison, especially compared to the titanic aspect of the work done in Cambodia.
rare vegetation and arid, temples scattered, small sandy paths, bicycle back is to Gilles and I, like Don Quixote and his famous squire (but in what sense?) roaming the plains of this part of Burma.
57 years and what maintenance! It seems that eating rice and canned travel in Asia!
If the spot is very popular with visitors, its vast size allows us to escape paths traveled by horse-drawn carriages full of tourists followed their brand new air-conditioned bus (to return to the air-conditioned hotel after the trip ...) . And the effort will be rewarded with breathtaking views of this wonderful landscape, sunrise on the roof of a lost temple in the middle of fields of peanuts sitting in bath Ayeyarwady River in Myanmar ubiquitous, equivalent to the Mekong Laos ...
Nature and human structures form a kind of symbiosis here, domes appear reddened by the sun mushrooms of all kinds on this earth where the Kings decided one day to inform their conversion to Buddhism.
Bagan is also a great market, lively and colorful, so characteristic of South East Asia. Lanes where we negotiate rice, gold, spices, meat and fish ... in which it is good attend! Between temples and markets ("odds" as they say in Britain), I going about, I going about (a nice word to combine ...) in my professional photographer!
Bagan is also famous for its lakes, made the traditional way with Natural Products and sacred knowledge. A visit to the workshops is the best way to understand complex work.
.
Scales of another era, the walls of "blue", anything can arouse the curiosity of the photographer picking their way between flies, come in packs of sliced meat suck relaxed by the suffocating heat.
.
Bagan also saw himself more than he says ... Reagardez the Paya Shwezigon. This elegant bell-shaped Zedi has served as a model for many stupas in Myanmar.
.
.
.
LAKE INLET
.
.
Step touristiqu e inevitable, this fertile area in central Canada is home to a large tranquil lake, the nerve center of the region. Again, the stage is no need to sign previous. After 12 hours of bus very "local", a buttock in a vacuum the other on the plank that serves as headquarters, we arrive willy nilly at Inle Lake.
22 km long, 11 wide, the lake is invested in a life intense and lacustrine ingenious based on agriculture. Its shores are marshy and movement between the villages of houses on stilts is not more than canoes and motor boats close to the "long tail boat" Thai. And here is what impresses the eye when one crosses the lake at dawn ...
.
The lake is narrow waist of mountains and rolling hills, where the more adventurous there are developing crops with vines, with grapes imported directly from France and Italy. Of course, taste the wine Burmese in operation at noon does not refuse ...
.
.
cycling in the surrounding villages, to see how to make the best known of cheroot country meetings in monasteries, and the chance of being invited to a dinner party in honor of the ceremony a future young friar.
we navigate to the hour of Burma, and boat that takes us on the lake at dawn turns out fantastic, timeless! The birds begin to stir over calm water, surrounded by buttercups and reeds.
Each channel borrowed small colored shapes arise and not identified, then another ballet is set up . One of the fishermen, the true image of Epinal in the region, with their way of paddling with the foot and big fish trap.
And then there are those who scrape the bottom of the shallow lake, in order to highlight these algae that constitute a breeding ground and a wonderful medium for growing tomatoes intense lake. And for that I was old agronomist, is beautiful to see, all these guardians of overgrown evergreens feet in the water ...
.
.
The lake is a pantry and a growing medium, and of course a bath in the open.
A few km from the city of Nyangshwe, still cycling, I came face to face with an ancient monastery, where the scriptures are recited in chorus by dozens of novices. The place is impressive in appearance and I realize once again éoulés centuries in this country by the teachings of Buddha. Monks in Myanmar are in number 500 000 (equivalent to the number of soldiers) and are considered the only civil institution in the country.
.
.
.
As I already see my stand up pancakes on a hillside to the lake, or lead an ascetic life in a monastery like this, it is already time for me to head back to Yangon, then one for the north pole ...
.
.
.
CONCLUSION
.
.
.
Myanmar saw himself more than he tells.
is above all an authentic experience, which is deserved.
.
The country is rich, but wealth does not benefit its people.
With its oil, its gas, its gems and teak, Myanmar could have been included as an Asian dragon at other times. But the Chinese stranglehold on strategic parts of the economy, the military dictatorship, the Burmese deprive decent infrastructure and freedom expression.
.
Toise bient weeks is too short to understand this complex country, but we can glimpse the reality behind a thirst for hard living, and this pragmatism Asian acceptance "Buddhist" situations that make them more humane and that Burmese more welcoming.
