For the last 9 days we traveled through Myanmar, Chin state with a group of 8 persons, organized by a local travel agency. Chin State is the least developed state of Myanmar, at the border with India.
It appears we are pioneers, this is the first trip ever to Chin state with a group of foreigners for this travel agency and we are part of a very special trip. As Chin State is a low developed state, our goal is to explore options to create employment in this region.
Chin State is sparsely populated, and a large part of the population lives in small villages in the mountains, far away from the outside world.
We took a domestic flight to Kalaymyo, close to the Chin State border. The airport is different from any airport we have seen so far, and handles only one flight a day, all manual. Luggage is carried inside and our details are registered in large books, in triplicate.
From Kalaymyo, we drove into the mountains, the group divided and took two 4x4 vans, and arrived in villages where the last time foreigners were seen, was 20 years ago. We even visited a village where the locals said they had never seen a foreigner before.
We traveled with 3 local tour guides (multiple guides as this trip is the first time for the travel agency in this area) who told us a lot about the background of the country’s population, standard of living, nature, the history of the Christian belief in Chin State, and the Buddhist faith that also has its influence.
We drove all day on a bumpy road until we arrived in the first mountain village, where we were greeted warmly by the people on the street and from the local hotel. The mini hotel room where we stayed, was more like a wooden box than a room, and the only thing in it, was a single narrow double bed (4 x 6 feet, small for a tall Dutch couple). The space next to the bed was so limited that we had to shuffle around the bed and there was no room for our bags.
Sanitation is somewhere outside, a restaurant or breakfast doesn’t exist in this place.
Because the whole group we were travelling with seems to love adventure, we had fun at this very simple hotel.
The villagers love to see western foreigners and we notice they all have a lot of fun because of our height, most of them barely come up to halfway our upper arm or shoulder. No matter how poor the people may be, they almost all have a smartphone. So many pictures of our group were taken and probably posted to their Facebook pages the same day (Myanmar’s internet is mostly limited to Facebook only)!
In Chin, there are many churches, so we visited one in this village. We received a warm welcome and it is nice to quickly relate to people on the other side of the world.
The next day, we traveled further, but needed to switch to a four wheel drive truck, to take us over pothole covered roads, to the next destination. For several hours we had to stand in the back of the truck, but this is the only way to reach these remote villages.
We visited two schools/pre-schools where there are hardly any means to entertain or educate the children. Most schools (almost all) are in the hands of the the largest religious group of the country, so if you do want to have non-religious education then you may have difficulty to find a school for your child. If parents want educational or religious options, they have little or no choice for their child and their child will have little future opportunities.
As this is the poorest area of the country, most parents do not have the financial power to start a school themselves. To provide these children with education, there are passionate teachers who teach with a very limited (close to nothing) salary and there is no budget for educational material. During our visit to these schools, we bring educational material and some entertainment for the children, things such as coloring books, pencils, pens, toys, balloons, soap bubbles and the like. For us very ordinary things, but for the children and teachers a great gift here. We play with the children and it is great to see how much fun they have.
We are amazed by the beautiful nature, the number of children in the villages and the friendliness of the people and we have some very special meetings with the people from Chin. As there are no restaurants, we eat with the locals. The people are incredibly friendly and hospitable.
After a few days, we can predict the meal. The tables are filled with steamed rice and dry chicken (the chicken we hear in the morning is not there anymore in the afternoon) with different vegetables from their home gardens, mostly with a bitter taste. Most families live in single room houses, where families cook, eat, sleep and live together. Some have a small separate room to sleep.
Cooking is prepared with a large pan on a wooden fire. Unhealthy, but that's the way it works here, people know nothing else. Most houses’ front doors are literally open and some houses don’t even have a door. “There is nothing to steal”, says the local guide who grew up here.
Poverty is also visible when we arrived at the border crossing to India. A very busy trade route between Myanmar and India. We are surprised and shocked to see hundreds of people who work very hard to have a meal in the evening. Especially women have a hard time in Myanmar, and that is clearly visible here. They unload trucks with heavy bags of vegetables and put them on a cart that they then have to push across the bridge by hand. All manual, in the rain, no fork lift, no motorized cart, nothing but a group of women.
Back in Yangon we say goodbye to the travel group - they go back home, we stay in Myanmar for a few more days before heading on to Nepal.
The owners of the travel agency took us to a restaurant for lunch the next day and told us all about the business possibilities and impossibilities in Myanmar. They started a successful business several years ago and are a great source of information. They have strong business insight, a successful company and a broad network. We are very grateful we have met with them and we definitely want to stay in touch.
After four weeks of Myanmar we say goodbye to this beautiful country and it's really friendly people; we are grateful for all the advice and for the place where we could stay for a while. It has been a very intense month in which we have met many valuable and very friendly people. We have a lot to think about and will need time to give all our thoughts and impressions a place.
Meanwhile we are in Nepal. We have been in Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, and were forced to stay a few days longer than expected as public transportation to Pokhara appeared to be unavailable due to the 10-day Dashain festival. Dashain is the most important festival in Nepal where families reunite and bring offers to the Hindu gods (this is not a good time for the goats and oxen in the city). So, we took our time to explore the city by foot. The results of the 2015 earthquake are still very visible. There are gaps in the city center where houses once stood, ancient temples are still being restored and numerous houses have wooden pole reinforcements for support and to prevent collapse. A devastating disaster has really taken place here.
After the Dashain festival we go to Pokhara to meet with friends who are active in Nepal since 2016. We will elaborate on the projects in our next blog.
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