First of all, I wish everybody a happy, healthy, nice, good, prosperous, and fun 2009!
Mawlamyain (also written Mawlamyine, Moulemein, and Mawlamyaing amongst others) and Hpa-an had been on our “to-visit list” for a long time. We already tried to visit here in 2007 but due to an unkept promise to cover for me by a fellow teacher in return for me covering for her one day, we didn’t have enough time in July/August. And of course it wasn’t an option anymore after October due to me being 6 months pregnant…. But finally we managed to get there. It wasn’t as long as we would have wanted but we had spent way too much money in Bangkok. That place is getting seriously expensive! And we hadn’t given the whole New Year a big thought either; at least not here in Burma where New Year is in April. But apparently the hotel sector has caught on anyway. Prices for a hotel room in Mawlamyain and Hpa-an were among the highest we have ever paid here in Burma. In Mawlamyain we still had a very decent room for that with a river view and all, but in Hpa-an we even had to tell the staff to clean the room again (and how to do it). Of course we could have changed hotels but there wasn’t a lot of choice in Hpa-an and we did require a room with private bathroom (we didn’t think it would be a nice thing for everybody involved if we had to take a baby with a big poo-poo diaper to the showers along a corridor if need arose. Hence our trip being much shorter than we had anticipated. Especially since we had wanted to go to the beach (Setse) for a few days. But when we called to check on availability we heard the prices they were charging and so decided to go straight to Hpa-an after Mawlamyain. It’ll be for another time….
It all began with an interesting train trip from Yangon to Mawlamyain. We thought the train might be easier with Xenne since it would allow him to stretch his legs every once in a while. And walking is the big thing for him at the moment. He does it every chance he gets (or just tries it anyways). The views were very nice but I felt a little apprehensive when the train, on leaving the Yangon station, started to dance all over the tracks. Now imagine a big, open window and a train that sways all over from left to right while you try to hold a squirming 1-year old on your lap. When the train also started to bounce up and down the thought crossed my mind that it was going to be a long long 9 hours. The bouncing wasn’t so bad once we got used to being thrown up in the air (literally!) every once in a while. And Xenne loved in. He positively tried to jump up and down on his dad. It was the swaying that eventually convinced me that it was a once-is-enough experience when one of our suitcases came down from the rack. And I’m not talking about a big suitcase, just a carry-on airplane sized one which did fit in the rack. So think about how much that train must have moved for a thing like that to come down! Luckily nobody got hurt. But I was glad when we finally pulled into Mawlamyain station. Xenne on the other hand had seriously enjoyed the trip. Within an hour after we had left, he had himself installed on some old lady’s lap and was happily eating cake. As I said before, he loved the bouncing and he had no problem falling asleep with the swaying. And of course, he made sure he always had someone who played with him. Even the monk who was sitting behind us couldn’t resist the temptation…
The next day we had a fairly leisurely stroll around Mawlamyain. We visited 2 nice pagodas with the second one having fantastic views of the town. It wasn’t easy getting the stroller up to the pagodas, luckily Xenne did much of the ‘climbing’ himself (read: me putting him on the next step). And we had instant baby sitters once we were on top where there were always people more than willing to keep Xenne busy while we had a look around which was a nice reward for the climbing up with baby and stroller (which we didn’t want to leave at the bottom of the stairs). The second pagoda actually had an elevator which we wanted to use but when we asked we were told that it only worked when there was electricity…. After all that walking Xenne was tired so we went back to the hotel so he could have a nap. KK used that time to buy tickets for the ferry to Hpa-an for the next day. In the evening we took a nice, relaxed stroll along the riverside and enjoyed the views of the islands, the hustle and bustle of the island ferries coming in (there are a fair amount of islands in the Thanlwin river) and every once in a while there was a nice, colonial house to be admired. Unfortunately a big part of the river front has been torn down and it is big building site near the main market (which ‘accidentally’ burned down completely a few weeks ago) where new (and in my opinion ugly) buildings are constructed.
On our second day in Mawlamyain we visited Shampoo Island. The name comes from the fact that the yearly royal hair washing took place here (or they just got the water here, I’m not really sure but it has something to do with hair washing, royalty and ceremonies. It is a small island covered with stupas and a big pagoda. There is a small community of monks and nuns that live there or who are there for meditation. And every day a few women from Mawlamyain come over to clean the place. But here the monks were working too. Something I don’t see often. Some monks were cutting wood, some monks and nuns were busy in the kitchen area and even two monks were painting the pagoda gold. Xenne played in the area near the pagoda while I had a look inside the main building to see the treasures of the place like a jade Buddha, a gold Buddha and some old wood carvings.
Later that day we took the ferry to Pha-an. It wasn’t very crowded which was nice since all you have is space on the deck to sit on. So we spread out the only blanket we had (which we had with us in case it might be a bit cold somewhere) and sat on that. After we had ourselves installed (read: marked our territory by using the stroller and suitcases as borders between which Xenne could play) KK went back ashore to do the necessary shopping because this boat obviously didn’t offer anything in the area of edibles or drinkable liquids. Xenne and I weren’t the only foreigners since we were in the company of 2 German couples. One couple (elderly) travelled with a tour guide and they had the 2 only available chairs.
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