I’m not that fond of immigration at airports.
It doesn’t matter where you are; in most countries there is little in the way of welcoming smiles or words for the weary traveller.
It’s all the same, Australia, Thailand, US, UK – a total lack of enthusiasm for your arrival in their country.
Considering the history of many countries, its not surprising one expected the immigration authorities of Myanmar, formerly Burma, to regard arriving visitors with suspicion.
What was surprising was the pleasant smartly dressed young ladies sitting behind the desks. “Good morning, welcome to Myanmar, did you have a pleasant flight?”
“Thank you”, I replied. “Ah, you also have cameras here like Bangkok... what do you use them for?
“I’m looking for a handsome man” she says. A sense of humour as well. How things have changed in a few short months.
The central business district of Yangon, the former capital of Myanmar, has newly surfaced roads, modern hotels, shops and restaurants.
The house of famous activist and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is on a busy fast moving modern road. There’s nowhere to now sit on the ground outside hoping to catch a glimpse of her.
However, venturing two kilometres outside the central area and you go back 50 years. The roads are horrendous, and the traffic, including motorbikes, is everywhere (motorbikes are not allowed in the central area, only bicycles and cars).
One travel guide said that Burmese drive at a “leisurely pace in an organised manner.”
I have never read such tripe. Apart from belting along in their old four wheel drives and other vehicles, the only vehicles that drive at a leisurely pace are the old rotary engine trucks and buses, such as you still see in the northeast of Thailand.
They can’t do anything else but ‘leisurely’. They also drive on the right hand side of the road.
There’s nothing unusual about this, many countries drive on the right side of the road, but what is unusual is that the majority of vehicles are meant to be driven on the left. The steering wheel is on the right.
One night, the paranoid former dictator, General Ne Win, ordered all Burmese to change from driving on the left to right – immediately. So the Burmese woke up the next morning and drove on the other side of the road.
Ne Win, who had seized power in a coup in 1962, was xenophobic, capricious, superstitious and fascinated by the occult ‘science’ of numerology.
In fact, Ne Win was superstitious to the point of insanity.
He would cross bridges backwards because he believed it would ward off evil. He consulted soothsayers on almost every aspect of his decision making – and they were crazier than he was.
As Ne Win was concerned that his regime was leaning too far left, soothsayers told him to change the entire country’s roadways from left-lane driving to right. “To counter the leftness” they said.
Most of the roads in Myanmar are pretty dilapidated. You don’t want to have a bad back.
Apart from the city centre roads there is one other, a super eight lane highway stretching 200 km from Yangon to the new capital, Naypyidaw.
There’s a lot of construction happening in Naypyidaw. Huge hotels are everywhere, a gemstone stock exchange trading centre, new shopping centres, theme parks and many condominium and housing estates.
At the moment there are no people there, or hardly any, but they tell me there will be lots of people there soon.
One of the plans to get lots of people there is moving all the embassies from Yangon to Naypyidaw. Also the colleges and universities.
It reminded me of Canberra, the national capital of my home country, Australia, another city built in the middle of nowhere. All neat and tidy, well organised and boring.
Yangon is okay though, the famous Strand Hotel has a happy hour in the cocktail bar on Fridays.
I actually went to Myanmar to look at the industrial estates and shipping areas, but that’s another story.