First thoughts on Myanmar…

As my flight descends I look down to see what is below me and there is nothing but brown haze below us… which is troubling because I’d never seen it and I live in LA, if anyone is going to have a smog problem, it’s LA.  It seemed like no land was beneath us.  We finally get through the haze and the brown landscape starts turning into green areas around water, then to green fields, to some buildings and then I see my first pagoda, a bright, gold pinnacle shining as the sun begins to set.  Then I see another, then another.  Next thing I know it’s nothing but lots of green trees with at least 10 golden pagodas shining in the light.  What an awesome sight! 

After going through immigration and customs, I meet up with Allie and Chris, my travel mates for Burma and we make our way to a taxi.  Now, this is where the adventure begins as the “cab ride” was a very old, beat up car that didn’t have much trunk room – we could barely fit in two packs, had mine sticking out of the trunk and the door couldn’t shut.  We get inside this tiny car and let’s just say the interior could use some refinishing. And some new windows that you could see out of.  Or roll down.  Or even have a handle to roll them down.  Or an engine that didn’t produce a ton of heat that was burning Allie’s shoe and leg.  Or an engine that wouldn’t turn off seven times while approaching an intersection.  The ride was like a nightmare of Mr. Toad’s wild ride where crazy Asian drivers really drive closely  to each other (in American terms, we could call it nearly getting in an accident and fret about it the rest of the day – here it’s a normal drive from point A to point B).  Also, there are no smog checks here, so there is nothing but straight, thick exhaust fumes coming out of the cars here.  Even if one window is rolled down you’re sucking pollution for the entirety of the ride.  Welcome to Yangon, Myanmar.