Preparation for Myanmar (Burma).

So I've recently just experienced my first ever vacation overseas, in Myanmar and there seems to be a lot of bullshit stuff that goes into this whole passport visa stuff and I thought it would be good to compile all the little things we did that helped a lot in our 10 day travelling around Myanmar. And the most important step is always the preparation.

So i spent the whole week before leaving Malaysia, just READING about Myanmar. About transportation, places worth going to, prices, budget inns, budget everything. It would be safe to say that a RM 50 budget per day would serve just about right, WITHOUT shopping. Hotels are relatively cheap, even on peak season (November to March) about 12 USD per night for a double room, 4 or 5 for a single room.

For a 10 day stay, 2 places are ideal to visit. Yangoon itself is really not quite worth it for more than half a day perhaps. Its just KL dirtier, dustier, less shopping malls, and really nothing much to see except old abandon buildings that used to be owned by the previous government.

Things we needed BEFORE we left :
1) Visa -- You have to have a visa to visit and people have told us that its better to steer clear from occupations related to the media or any kind of camera work to ensure a smooth application. We don't know how true that is but maybe you can try. Its about RM80 for 4 months, and takes 5 working days inclusive of the day of application. The express one costs RM 150 , and takes 2 working days.

2) Not many clothes, but sweaters and thick jackets -- If you're travelling in the peak season, its the cold season in Burma, which means temperatures drop drastically at night and at Inle Lake and further up north, it plummets to sub zero because we saw frost on the ground and couldn't believe we survived the cold with a simple sweater, shorts and no winter clothes..as torturous as the night was.

3) Small change -- So in Burma, the currency that is usually accepted is Kyats (pronounced cat as in paint in Malay) or USDs. They are fairly concerned about the condition of your USD notes though so it's advisable to get good notes when you change your money. Notes with no major creases and folds on them. And it's also advisable to have small change because vendors and such hardly have change to give it back to you. Hotels will always be able to give you change though in USDs. We took about 80 Dollars of small change consisting of 1 USD, 5 USD and 10USD, and that was more than enough for the entire trip. And the best thing to do is to change the dollars into kyat in Burma as you get a better price!

4) Bring enough cash -- For a 10 day trip, we (two of us) spent about RM 1400 for both of us, inclusive of accommodation and transportation and food, and this is with a comfortable amount of shopping. Also, when we were there we found out from another travelling tourist that money was not allowed to be taken out from ATMs in Yangoon, not now at least. It may change in the upcoming months but for now it has not and the money you bring from home is all you have to last you throughout the trip, so budgeting would be wise. And also, we were forced to pay USD 10 each as airport tax before checking in for departure. This money obviously goes directly to the oppressive military government. Although we made a big fuss about paying the amount (we had the money in malaysian ringgit), and that we were not informed, and that it was not written anywhere in the airport or on the departure card, we eventually had to give in when they started using the walkie talkie and seeing our names highlighted in green had us a little shaken up that we may not leave the country if we pursued the matter.

Growing Up and Away

As i sat there, all i could think about was the slow moving time and the beautiful stitches on people's shoes. Then it struck me, have i out grown this?

I could no longer understand it. It was as if I was brought back 10 years, and made to live life through those years again. It made me wonder though, is this not okay? That we remain in our youth or childishness and not change because correct me if I'm wrong, the one thing we always ask when it comes to men and boys and boyfriends and husbands is : How/Why did he change?

But thinking about it, i think its worse when people DON'T change. When things seem to be at a halt for more than 10years. Because awesome things and significant learning and wisdom, surely comes with growing? Growing changes someone from a 10 year old girl to a 18 year old woman? But what happens when we reach 18, or 21 or 30 and we never actually changed from being 10 years old.

The world we have today.

We have world leaders thinking life is like a video game where countries could be bombed away and everything would be okay. We get grown ups that don't take responsibility for their actions. We get grown ups who are in fact kids. So how then does a country or a society grow as a whole? That would mean being stuck where we are today, for the next i dunno how many years?

I think even in relationships, its when you don't grow together and think that all you really need is to be stuck in those wonder years of your 20s, that problems and issues seem to creep in. Its when two people grow together,as hard as that may be, and discover new things and new knowledge that they didn't have in their 20s, that's when relationships have a chance of lasting.

So, we need kids who GROW up. We should be able to sit in a group of 15 year olds and then see the difference when we sit in a group of 21 year olds. Shouldn't we?

What is my problem with Tamil movies?

Now many would think me unfit of commenting on anything remotely Tamil or Indian. That's probably because i don't pray, or wear sarees every day, don't believe in marriage and the thalli, and yes because my spoken Tamil needs more than just a little work. But just to set the record straight, I think I'm probably more Indian/Tamil than people would like. I've lived through the culture, the rituals, the praying, and then i lived through the internet, the reading, the feminism, the books and grew. Put me on a checklist, and i would tick off 5 or more than the streotyped Indian characteristics. I have wavy hair, big eyes, long lashes, dark skin, i eat with my fingers (cause i love licking them after!), i talk too loud, i love the noise and chaos that comes with people and relatives, i like mashed up vegetables, i read and write Tamil? But wait, those arent actually just Indian are they? Maybe the physical features, yes, that's just DNA and genes, but everything else is just me as a person. I must have been influenced of course, by my parents, but also by my friends? my teachers? books? the internet? and yes...movies!

Also contrary to popular belief, I have seen quite a number of Tamil movies, most by force i would have to say. But at the same time, i would like to thank my Mom especially, because i sincerely feel i would be unapt to comment on Tamil movies if i wasn't put through each 3hour musical every once or twice a week. I've seen enough tamil movies to tell me that they all have a pattern. Ok let's forget the 5/6 songs in each of them, cause okay a little dance never hurt anyone? And the unrealistic fight scenes, where the hero takes on 10-20 people and flies through the air, stops in mid-air and delivers a kick that knocks them all out!

But the one pattern that is totally unacceptable are all the Indian women portrayed in ALL of these movies. The storyline of each movie is usually about the same old same old i-love-that girl but i'm a parayah. I've seen some awesome movies too i will admit, but definitely nothing revolutionary in the past 10 years or so? Ok maybe one comes to mind, and biographies aren't always that bad. But the idea, that the old movies that were awesome WAS awesome because it dared to tackle social issues way back then, it dared to be different. Now, yes we do have movies about men and women of different castes getting married, but after what? After a 20 minute fight scene, at least one girl being raped or molested, an evil father, and then the HERO (cause that's the way real life is, we all need a Hero to save us!) rescues the girl and ties that thalli. What message is this? That all men are supposed to be born Heroes that every girl needs? That racial discrimination can only be settled by a 20 minute fight scene? And what happens to all women?

I understand that it caters to the Indian majority back in India, but that is the whole issue here. Not just for Tamil movies but for movies in general. Media has so much of responsibility to influence and educate the public and here we are sending them all the wrong messages! I am not saying there are no SUCKY english movies , yes there are! But today i shall tackle Tamil movies, and the one major flaw i do not see in english movies, the role of women in society. Women in western movies have evolved! Beyond the point that now SEX, is no big deal! Yes they have sex, but then they also have awesome careers and amazing lives. Correct me if i'm wrong, but the main argument for Western movies coming from a Tamil movie fanatic would be that : Women sleep around, and that degrades our society and our values! Women have affairs, and that degrades our society and cultural values!       But really, who are we kidding? Everyone has sex! And there's absolutely no reason why it's only totally unacceptable that women have sex or have affairs!

And I for one, am totally fed up, with the society that has been created by Tamil movies and its likes, even here in Malaysia. I've never been able to walk anywhere without one guy singing a Tamil song to me, or screaming at me to look at him or whistling as i walk by, or say demeaning vulgar things about my body and how he'd like some of my sugar! When did harassing women become okay? When did it become the norm? I believe Tamil movies only fuel this on. It only makes it okay, that THAT is courting, and soon i WILL as all Tamil movies, drop something on the ground, pick it up and look into his eye and fall in love with him. I believe Tamil movies contribute to the abused women sitting in the corner of a house somewhere, thinking that the biggest sin would be to get rid of the "thalli" and leave her husband. I believe Tamil movies contribute to a woman being slapped across the face and thinking that its okay because it is the right of a man or a husband. I believe Tamil movies tells women that if they're raped, they should feel so ashamed of themselves that they might consider suicide, or to marry the animal that raped them. I believe Tamil movies only further enforce the male supremacy attitude that is stopping Indian women from developing as people, as contributors of a country. I believe Tamil movies only fuel on the ego that is MALE and unravels all the work feminism has been trying to achieve in the past 50 years!

I am OKAY with ridiculous story lines, but i feel social issues that matter, like FEMINISM should be addressed in Tamil movies, if we're ever going to change the mind sets of the community we're in. For once, I want to like a Tamil movie because it addresses that women are just as likely to be HEROs and to save the day, or better that we are human beings like men that have careers and personalities and contributions to the country and the world and not only be in the movies to fall in love, to marry, to be raped, or to be saved!