Myanmar

The country of Myanmar. Have you ever heard of it? If not, that's completely fine because I hadn't heard of it before coming on this voyage either. But dang I'm glad I know of it now because it's an amazing country. To be honest, this is the main country where I was worried about my safety. Even though Amanda and I were constantly on edge about the poisonous snakes we were told about, I felt just as safe as any other country I've been to. A little background info: for about 50 years, Myanmar was under strict military rule and was in complete isolation with no tourism allowed. In about 2010, the country started to change, opened its borders, and in 2015 had elections to elect a president. It is a developing country but is extremely welcoming and has friendly people. For the first day, we docked in Yangon at about noon and I joined a SAS program to explore the city for the evening. Our ship was actually about an hour and a half drive from the city so we had to take buses each time to leave. It wasn't the distance that slowed us down, it was the road condition. They have next to zero machinery so road work is done by carrying almost everything. Definitely a lot of work. We explored some of the city before stopping at the Shwedagon Pagoda. It is a huge temple that is made out of gold and has countless amounts of Buddhas and little buildings surrounding it. We then had a traditional candlelit Myanmar dinner under the stars before heading back to the ship. The next day I had a field class for my intro to theater class. We went to a Myanmar marionette studio. We got to see how they handmade each puppet by chipping wood, painting them, stringing them, and dressing them. We then went inside to eat and watch some performances done by the family who owned it all. The next day I left at 7am to get on a flight to Bagan. Bagan is full of more than 3000 temples. It's an incredible sight. We ventured into some of the more popular temples that have stairs to get a better view of the city. The temples are in Old Bagan but everyone lives in New Bagan. Everyone did live in Old Bagan until 1990 when the government gave everyone 2 weeks to move to New Bagan so they were able to preserve the temples that were essentially in people's backyards until then. We finished the day with a horse drawn carriage that took us back to a famous temple for a beautiful sunset. I bought cute homemade postcards from the most adorable little boy I've ever seen.(pictures aren't high quality but will be posted) The next day we took 4x4 jeep/SUVs out on dirt roads to visit some smaller villages. The first stop was to a village that used to have to walk 2 miles to get water that would be carried back in buckets. The 36 of us, along with the tour agency we were with, had donated money that went to building a water well for the village and we got to be there for the opening. The people thanked us with noodle soup and contagious smiles. I think it's examples like this that really make Semester at Sea special and I'm forever grateful for the experience. We hung out with all the kids for awhile before moving on. We saw clay pot making, cows everywhere, more adorable children, candy made from palm trees, red bean paste making, and ended with a lacquerware shop. I really enjoyed every minute of it(even in 100 degree weather). We all were having water withdrawals so for sunset, we got on a boat and floated down the river. I don't think I'll ever get tired of sunrises or sunsets...that's why I woke up at 5am this morning to get on a moped and drive off to find the sun. After several wrong turns, Amanda and I finally found the one we were searching for and sat at the top of a temple for a wonderful and unique sunrise(the pictures also do not do this justice). We got lost a couple more times for fun and then went back to the hotel to get breakfast and meet up with everyone else. We spent the morning at markets and are now on the plane back to Yangon...I swear I just got here yesterday. Today is day 50 of 104 and that's just crazy. Only India, South Africa, Ghana, and Morocco left(I guess a day in Mauritius, too). Before we know it, you guys won't have any new blogs to read :O haha! So yes, I'm having an absolutely incredibly amazingly wonderful time on a voyage that honestly exceeded my expectations. Thanks for checking in :)
(Posted pictures on Facebook)