We arrived in Burma yesterday morning, after a three hour night sleep. We exited the plane into a small but modern airport that was quite crowded. We were greeted at the visa on arrival services by a woman with a sign with our names. After waiting in lengthy lines to get into the city, we left the airport. It was hot and musty. Our cab driver spoke English. After watching the documentary Burma VJ, we expected that any talk of politics would be taboo, but the movie was from 2007 and outdated. Chen, our driver, almost immediately launched into talk of the first free elections consumated one day before our arrival. The government loosened its restrictions on censorship of the media only in the past year, and numerous men roamed the roads selling papers with large color photos of Aung San Su Kyi, the recently liberated opposition leader whose party took 44 our of the 45 available seats in the previous day's election. The country is being liberated and we bought a paper as a keepsake.
It's truly interesting being in Yangoon. Everything about it is like a capital city, except for the government itself. It has an international airport, the largest population, etc, but no skyscrapers. This used to be the capital, but after numerous demonstrations and pro-democracy ambushes, the government built a new city strictly for government officials, that they dubbed "The City of Kings." (Naypyidaw) Yangoon is the first city we have visited in Southeast Asia without motorbikes, normally the preferred method of transportation. Motorbikes were outlawed in the city as a result of ambush attacks on government vehicles. Drivers would approach a vehicle, bash it with a pipe, and disappear into the crowd. Additionally, the student body of the university has been moved out of Yangon as they had a history of protests and dissent.
However, things are changing here in Yangoon. The liberalization of the media and free elections are two large steps forward in the social progress, and optimism is palpable. Walking through the streets, everyone greets us and many stop to talk to us. Our jaws hurt from smiling at everyone so much. We think our visit, and other westerners' visits, are a sign of the good change that is coming. In every shop, there is a picture of Aung San Su Kyi, and in our guest house there is a photo of her shaking hands with Hilary Clinton. She is the first Secretary of State to visit Burma in over 50 years.
Drinking tea on the street after dinner, we were approached by local students who spoke perfect English. One told us about his life: he grew up as an orphan and was separated from his sister for most of his life. Now as a college student, he returns to the orphanage to teach English on his holidays. He lives in a monastery and invited us to visit the head monk the following day. This monastery was closed during the 2007 protests (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Burmese_anti-government_protests ), known as the Saffron Revolution because of the monks' involvement. He was incarcerated at this time for 6 months for his role in the protests. The monastery was just reopened a few months ago. We are excited to go and visit tomorrow.
