Friday, February 20, 2015

The Mystic Islands of Myanmar (Part 1) [Joshua Burke]

It was such a relief to be finally out of Thailand. We had planned to go to Myanmar (Burma) in December/January, but with continuing problems with the boat we were not able to get to Myanmar until February. Our permit allowed us into the country for 18 days. While we were in Myanmar a Burmese person had to stay on our boat and we could only go so far north. Some of the islands located off Western Myanmar were off limits because they were occupied by the military. We checked in at the port of Kawthoung, which is located across the river from the Thai city of Rangoon on 2/3/15. Arnold, the Burmese person from the Ministry of Travel and Tourism that would be staying on the boat, would be our guide, translator, etc. He ended up being a pretty cool guy, and helped me with work on the boat. He also helped us plan our destinations and pick good anchoring and adventure spots. I split up what we did in Mergui Archipelago into sections.

Arriving at Kawthoung

Arnold and me on Sea Glass

Playing games while on passage.

Diving

One of the main reasons for going into Myanmar was definitely the diving. With it being hard and expensive to get in, most of the reefs and sites had no tourists. I got my dive certification in 2011, and I’m glad I did. If I hadn’t I would not have seen half the stuff I did on this amazing voyage.

Here are all the dives we did while in Myanmar:

2/5/15 Westerly Rock

Max depth 21.3 meters (63 feet)

Time spent 32 min

A fun dive off a rock and has great visibility.

Me with Westerly Rock

2/7/15 the rock off Khiayin Quar

Max depth 19.1 meters (57 feet)

Time spent 37 min

All the wild life!

2/9/15 Shark Cave

Max depth 15.5 meters (46.5 feet)

Time spent 37 min

Make sure you find the cave before you go in the water. Once we found the cave we were running low on air, so we did not go into the cave.

2/12/15 Black Rock

Max depth 25 meters (75 feet)

Time spent 41 min

A fun, casual dive. You can spend forever exploring all the nicks and crannies.

At the surface after diving a black rock.

2/13/16 Taua Rock

Max depth 25.3 meters (75 feet)

Time spent 39 min

You dive over a pinnacle were there is tons of sea anemones.

The tons of sea anemones.

2/19/15 High Rock

Max Depth 17 meters (51 feet)

Time spent 29 min

Not a beginner dive. The current rips around the corners super fast. You have to look out for sea urchins when you grab hold of the rocks.

My favorite dive spot was Westerly rock, (it unfortunately did not have cowboys and Indians on it). However, it did have many fish, coral, and it had a visibility of 40 meters (120 feet). Amazing! Another spectacular dive that we did was Black Rock. This rock is in the middle of nowhere, and therefore had untouched wild life. There were massive moray eels, tons of sea anemones, and I even saw a cuttlefish.

Zooming around on the dinghy after a dive

People

Many of these islands are uninhabited. The ones that have people living on them have villages, dry season fishing villages, or Salone (marine nomads) villages. There are many fishing boats in the area but they live on their boats. However the fishermen do come into the villages for trading, supplies, and repairs. We did go to a village called Galan Village. The people there were extremely nice and we gave many clothes to the Salone and the Burmese school. Arnold also showed us the local temple that was under construction. We met and talked, through Arnold, with the second-head monk in the area. The monk told us that they were going to build a small resort to house the people that would come to see the new temple.

Giving clothes to some Salone people.

A very cute puppy I found.

The temple under construction.

Another village we went to was Lak Ang Village. The village used to have over 700 people, but most of the people moved to the other side of the island and started a new village. Lak Ang Village is a fishing boat village and serves as a regional hub for the much larger fishing company. The company also aids other independent boats that need repairs. The man who ran the 20-boat fleet took us for a tour of the village. The village kept all different kinds of animals such as pigs, chickens, and goats. We also saw two giant wood boats that were under construction.

A big transport boat under construction.

Having fun on the beach at Lak Ang Village.

I'm the fat Momma.

Oink!

At Wale Island (pronounced wali, like the movie) we went in to check out Sa-Lak-Gala Village. The village was a Burmese village and had about a hundred people. On the beach we gave the kids kites and footballs. But what the kids loved were these poppers. You would pull the strings and confetti came out of it in a loud bang. Going through the village we saw some kids playing traditional football. It is a sport like volleyball, but you can only use your feet and head to hit the ball. It looked really challenging.

On Bocho Island there was a village called Mo-Kyounk Village. The village had over two thousand Burmese and Salone people living in it. In the village James, Jacob, and I gambled against some villagers in a local game. The game worked like this. You bet money on any of six animals, an elephant, a peacock, a tiger, a dragon, a horse, and a guy we called whipping guy because he held a whip. Once everyone bet, the man running the game rolled three dice. Each side of the dice had a different animal. If one of the die showed the animal that you bet on, you would earn double the money you had bet. It was great fun and I left with more then I had started. We also played soccer (football) with the school kids. They were very good, and our team won barely: 7-6.

Bringing the rest of our spare clothes into the village.

At the local temple.

The betting game.

Yes!!!

Now to talk a little bit about the Salone (Mokken) people.

The Salone people are like the Native Americans of North and South America. The Salone were already living in Myanmar before the Burmese arrived like the Native Americans were in America before the Europeans arrived. The Salone are marine nomads. They build and live on their own boats, never staying in one place for a long time. They have weird superstitions such as never lie on your stomach when it’s raining and if you whistle or sing while traveling a storm will brew. As we sailed through Myanmar we did not see any of the traditional Salone people because during the rainy season they are out in their boats and try to avoid contact with people. The Salone that we have seen have begun integrating with the Burmese and adopting their language and culture.

A salone boy happy with his new clothes.

Hiking

With most of the islands we visited being pretty small or being uninhabited, trails were uncommon. However one island that we visited, Khiyin Quar, had a trail. The island had a resort on it, but it was only open during the rainy season when people came out to surf on the giant waves that came. The trail was quite steep and challenging, and while climbing giant mosquitoes kept trying to land on you and suck your blood. It was all worth it when we reached the top of the mountain. The view was breath taking; you could see the entire island from there.

The easy part of the hike.

Enjoying a break.

At the top!

At Sulak Mau Island we headed into a village to check it out. The villagers were very kind and offered us drinks. We gave them a ball for there volleyball net, and Jacob, James, and I played volleyball with the kids. One of the villagers then showed us the generator and the fresh water lake. We decided then to do a short hike to see the water supply lakes for the main lakes. It was a fun hike, going through the center of the river. There were many animals such as dragonflies and crayfish. The smart villagers took the mountain rain runoff and channeled it to their man-built lakes. That way they could have water all year round and sell it to the fisherman who came to the village.

One of the fresh water lakes.

Don't miss The Mystic Islands of Myanmar (Part 2) where I get dirty, use bat poo, and set a spit on fire!

Thanks for Reading

Joshua

Arnold, Jacob, and I cutting the net that got caught on our anchor chain.

Friday, November 21, 2014

Good Morning Cambodia!!! [Joshua Burke]

Warning do not read if you suffer from long blog posts and history!!!

With a population slightly larger as Washington state, Cambodia is a pretty small and poor country. It is a constitutional monarchy, like Thailand, and tourism is its second best source of income. It has a history dating back to early times and has suffered one of the worst human genocides in modern times. 75% of Cambodia people work in agriculture, 10% work in the tourist industry, and it is home to some of the world's most beautiful temples in the world. So that's why when we had to go reset our visa for Thailand we decided to go to Siam Reap, Cambodia.

Angkor Watt

We were in Siam Reap for 4 days (5 nights), and for the first day we decided to look at what Siam Reap is known for, its amazing temples. We arranged at the hotel we are staying at, Borei Angkor, for a van and possibly a tour guide to take us to the temples.

View from our Hotel.

Siam Reap means Thai defeat after the failed invasion of Cambodia by Thailand in 1431. There are over 90 temples here in Siam Reap. Most of the temples here had a moat and an outer wall that surrounded it to protect the people that lived around the temple. The first temple we went to was a temple called Bayman, which means the temple with many faces, and it was built in 1100. This super old temple lives up to its name. When Bayman was first built it had 200 faces of gods or the Buddha, now it has 148 left. On some of the walls were carvings of Vietnam invaders, or Cham as they called them, attacking Cambodia. Most of these temples were built with sandstone, not ideal, but it was the best material they had at the time. As a result many sculptures, carvings, and parts of the temple are now eroded away. Also, when the Hindu king came into power in Cambodia he had chipped out beautiful Buddhist carvings on many temples and replaced them with Hindu carvings. Oh well.

Me in front of a carved demon. The moat that surrounds Bayman and the ancient gate are in the background.

Us inside Bayman.

The naga or snake (it had seven heads that represented the rainbow) and the singha or lion are engraved on all the temples, for they were the guardians of the bridges and the gateways. Also carved onto the walls of the temples were apsara or celestial dancers and twala bala or male guardians. The garuda is a half man half wing creature and is the guardian of the sky in Buddhism. They were sculptured holding up the Buddha or heaven.

The Apsara or celestial dancers.

The next temple we went to was called Taphrom and was the temple that they used to film the movie Tomb Raider. The temple was overrun by nature and there was a giant tree growing out of the center. You had to be careful when you walked through the temple, otherwise you could trip on a root or vine.

Us in front of the tree that grew out of the middle of Taphrom.

Taphrom

In the afternoon we went to the temple in which Siam Reap is best known for. Angkor Watt, or city temple, is huge and took 50,000 workers 37 years to build. Like the pyramids in Egypt, the kings of Cambodia built bigger temples then the last king to make them selves look more powerful. Angkor Watt is the biggest temple ever built in Cambodia. It is amazing. It has carvings of the gods and demons using the snake to churn the oceans, battles between the gods and demons, and carvings of heaven and hell. I also went to the tallest tower where above I could see around for miles.

I have had that shirt FOREVER, and I finally got to go to what is drawn on the back, Angkor Watt.

The gods and demons using the snake to churn the oceans.

Amazing View!!

After a breakfast buffet the next day our guide, Pitchet, took us to see a reclining Buddha, the waterfall, and the land mine museum. They were located on the outskirts of Siam Reap. On the way we passed tons of acres of rice fields and their farmers working in them. The Buddha was carved on the top of a high rock and the temple was built around it. So many people wrote their names on the back of the Buddha that they had to put a sign up.

The reclining Buddha.

Our guide, Pitchet.

Before going to the land mine museum, we headed to a giant waterfall. The first temple for Siam Reap was built in this area. It was so much fun swimming in the refreshing water and going under the waterfall. Unfortunately I did not bring my camera, so I was not able to take pictures.

The land mine museum was about the land mines that were placed in Cambodia during the Vietnam war and the civil war in Cambodia. One thing I did not know about the Vietnam war was that many of the Viet Kong hid over in Cambodia and disguised themselves as villagers. The U.S. then carpet bombed eastern Cambodia. Unfortunately not a lot of the Viet Kong was killed and entire villages were wiped out by the bombs. They estimate that 260,000 Khmer people (Cambodian people) were killed. Some of the mines that were placed in Cambodia were placed during the Vietnam War. But most of them were placed during Cambodia's civil war (1970 to 1999).

The landline museum.

Cambodia gained independence from France in 1953 after being under their rule for 90 years. In 1960 prince Norodom Sihanouk was elected as head of state and from 1964 faced an underground Marxist movement, the Khmer Rouge. In 1970 the prince was overthrown by a coup headed by Lt-Gen Lon Nol who supported the U.S., and he pledged to throw out the communist forces. However the prince left the country and formed a government in exile, supported by the Khmer Rouge. Forces loyal to the prince, mainly Khmer Rouge fighters, gained control of Cambodia's capital, Phnom Penh, in April 1975. Cambodia was renamed the "Democratic" Kampuchea under the control of the main Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot. It is estimated that 3.5 million people were killed in over 3000 killing fields around the country under the communist regime. Mainly the educated were killed and many more were forced to work on agriculture. About the prince...... he was placed under house arrest. After a series of invasions of Vietnam by the Khmer Rouge, the Vietnam army invaded Democratic Kampuchea (Cambodia) in 1978. By 1979 the Vietnam army captured Phnom Penh and the Democratic Kampuchea was renamed the People's Republic of Kampuchea. However the Khmer Rouge still fought on, especially near the Cambodian/ Thailand border, and Pol Pot was still alive. The Vietnamese also had to deal with anti-Vietnamese fighters founded in 1982 led by, now free, Prince Norodom Sihanouk. They had the backing of the Chinese government. Meanwhile thousands of refuges left Cambodia to the safety of Thailand. After the withdrawal of Vietnamese forces in 1989, the country of what we know today, Cambodia was formed. The Khmer Rouge still fought on. When the UN tried to make peace between Cambodia and the Khmer Rouge in 1992, the Khmer Rouge rejected it. Finally in 1997 Pol Pot's comrades rejected him on show trial and Pol Pot was sentenced to house arrest for life. He died in 1998, and the Khmer Rouge was defeated in 1999.

Victims of Pol Pot's regime.

On our third day here in Cambodia we took most of the day off, except for the afternoon. Mom and Dad decided to go in a helicopter over some of the killing fields, temples and parts of Siam Reap. I have not been in a helicopter since I was little in Hawaii, so I was super excited. Siam Reap is beautiful in the late afternoon from the air.

The helicopter.

Ready for takeoff!!

Angkor Watt from the air.

Siam Reap.

Farmland.

We only had one more major thing to do, so on our last day here, (we left the next morning), we went to go see the biggest fresh water lake in SE Asia, Don Lae Saw. Our new guide, Dee, told us that the river that separates from the lake goes inland during the wet season, and changes direction during the dry season. Pretty neat. After taking a half a hour boat ride, we arrived at the village that lives on the outskirts of the lake. We took a canoe around the houses on stilts and on floats, and through parts of the mangroves. Before going back to our hotel however we stopped for lunch and visited a temple that honored those killed on the killing fields.

Don Lae Saw.

The village.

Our guide Dee.

Before I end the blog post I will tell you about the money here.

Everything here you can buy with US dollars and most of the touristy stuff here is in western prices. The conversion from the US dollar to the real is 1/4000. So if you decide to come to Cambodia make sure to bring US dollars!!!

Thanks for reading

Joshua

Sunday, November 16, 2014

Cambodia - Siem Reap [James Burke]

In Cambodia I went to Siem Reap which in the Khmer language means Thai defeat. The Khmer people named this city because the Thai people invaded Cambodia in 1431, but they failed. This city has ninety temples you can visit and there are 1million people in Siem Reap.

Here I went to the three main temples. The three main temples are Angor Wat, Bayon and Ta Phrom. When I was done with the flights to Siem Reap we got on to a bus and we got dropped off at a very nice hotel Called the Borei Ankor. The Borei Ankor has great rooms and a cool pool. Mom and dad let us have a room to ourselves.

The day after I arrived we went on a tour to see the three main temples. The first temple we arrived at was Bayon. Bayon once had over two hundred faces of Buddha carved in to the wall. Bayon now has 148 faces remaining. Bayon is 800 years old.

The second temple I went to was Ta Phrom. Ta Phrom is also 800 years old. Ta Phrom was made because the king of Cambodia wanted to make a temple for his mom so he forced the Khmer to build Ta Phrom. Ta Phrom is also being invaded by nature.

The last temple I went to was Angor Wat. Angor Wat is 900 years Old. Wow that's old! Angor Wat means city temple in Khmer. The king wanted Angor Wat built and it took over 50,000 people and 37 years to build. When we left we went back to our hotel and watched tv then went to bed.

The next day I went on a helicopter ride over Angor Wat and the Siem Reap area. It was my first helicopter ride. When the helicopter lifted off I could see the Khmer land scape it was very flat. I only saw two big mountains. On one of the mountains was a temple. And then I flew over Angor Wat which was really cool. Then I flew over a lake that really looked like an ocean. After that I flew over over the floating village. After I landed I got out. It was very cool.

The day after that we went to the floating village. First, I hopped on to a boat and went to the floating village. When I got there all the houses were on stilts in the lake. The Khmer got around by boat. Then I saw real floating houses which was really cool. Then I docked on one of the floating houses and got a boat ride paddled through the floating village and the mangrove forest. I really enjoyed Cambodia and it's nice stuff.