Settling in in Naypyitaw: The Search for the Three Kings Monument

  Well, it's been nine days now since I've moved to Naypiytaw (NPT), the capital of the Union of the Republic of Myanmar. Time to write some stuff down about how I'm finding this strange and interesting town. Perhaps, more importantly for how I like to share stuff, post a video letting you see what I'm experiencing here.

   When sharing my trip up here last week, I said that this place reminded me a bit of Disneyworld, but government style. Actually, a more appropriate comparison for the 'Hotel Zone', my first destination on arriving here, would be the Las Vegas Strip. But without the people. Or the gambling. Or the fun. Kinda plastic and fake; purpose built to impress, nothing organic about it.

   I've discovered there's more to this town than the mega-hotel filled hotel zone, the sparse and mysterious government zone or the Orwellian residential zones. There's a bustling outdoor market not 2 miles from my house. There are many good restaurants. There are regular people here just trying to make a living and have nothing to do with the government.

The Hluttaw Building - The Myanmar Parliament

   When I bought my new motorcycle on Monday, I had to go to Pyinmana, the next city over. See, Naypyitaw was created in 2005. Before it was built, this was marginal scrub land with a little agriculture and that's it. Pyinmana was the biggest city for a hundred or so miles in any direction, and it's NPT's sister city. Older sister. You can really tell when you leave and NPT and enter Pyinmana: the streets shrink from 18 lanes to 2. There's the normal (for Myanmar), ramshackle chaos of shacks, crumbling poured concrete buildings and busyness I've come to associate with Myanmar cities. And, since it's a rural outpost, you still see things like horse-drawn carts and cattle on the sides of the roads. Anyways, I'm writing about NPT, not Pyinmana. Suffice to say, there's a big chunk of real Myanmar just on the outskirts of town.

Pizza waitress, traditional Myanmar style

  One thing I found difficult to deal with when I first got here was how I'm treated by the people. At first, it was because I'm a guest at a hotel which strives to adhere to the highest standards of hospitality. Everything is “Yes, sir. Very good, sir” People open doors for me. They carry things for me. I get treated with the utmost respect in every interaction. At the place where I teach, a government ministry, it's even worse. I can't carry anything out of the classroom. Someone has to do it for me. They bring me everything and treat me like a god. Coming from middle-class America, an egalitarian society which kind of rejects the idea of any sort of aristocratic reverence, this obsequiousness rubbed me the wrong way. No, I don't want to be treated like royalty; that's not how I was brought up and it makes me a bit uncomfortable.

   Well, I've gotten used to it. I realize it's a cultural thing. I'm not putting on any false sense of superiority. It's just the way they treat teachers here, particularly nearly-middle-aged ones like myself. I have to set aside however much it makes me uncomfortable and just let them do what makes them feel more comfortable.

  As mentioned, I've bought a motorcycle. A Kenbo 125cc Chinese-made model. Brand new, under $600. It's the first time in my life I've ever purchased a brand new vehicle (excepting my first motorbike when I was 7 years old, and my parents helped with that). I'm loving it. Share my first significant ride by watching the video below. I set off to find the “Three Kings Monument”, some ways out of town and in a possibly forbidden zone... Do I make it?

Am I Staying in a Haunted Hotel?

On the Road to Mandalay

I've now been here in Naypyitaw, Myanmar for about 24 hours. Unfortunately, the negotiations with the Hilton fell through, and we weren't able to get the rate we wanted... or something like that. In any case, I'm NOT at the Hilton as promised, instead another place which although not as nice, is more conveniently located. It's across the street from BOTH of NPT's only two malls. Given the sizes of the hotel grounds and the roads here, I can zip over to the supermarket and back in under 30 minutes. So, the place has its good points.

It's a toll dog

Unfortunately, it's also kinda small, not a lot of room for my stuff and well, it's not the Hilton. The shower head was clogged. There's no bedside lamp(I bought one). Perhaps, however, the oddest peculiarity showed up at about 3 AM when I woke up to go pee. The window was wide open. I had no recollection of having opened it. What was going on?

See, Naypyitaw has a reputation for being haunted, which is kind of strange for a city that is only 10 years old. None of the buildings are older than that, but certainly the land is. Land that people used to live and farm on and had taken away when they started creating this capital. I've got two friends who've visited here and had spooky experiences. In both cases, their showers would turn on mysteriously in the middle of the night. All on their own.

This was running through my mind as I stared at the wide open window.

This morning, I mentioned this along with the couple other issues I have with my 2nd-tier hotel room to the head of our corporate department, the lady who coordinates our outside work (not the incredibly cute girl in the video below). This afternoon, on returning from my first teaching session at the Department of Labor, I got a series of visits from the hotel's maintenance crew. New shower head: installed. All the wet bar stuff in the fridge I won't use: gone. They even sent a guy with a screwdriver to tighten up the latches on my window.

Unfortunately, no witch doctor appeared to exorcise the spirits for me.

Here's some clips from the "Death Highway" - AKA the Yangon-Mandalay Road. There is a video there. Just click it. It's not showing a thumbnail because of copyright issues...

Final Observations from Yangon

When I moved in moved into my apartment 16 months ago, I didn't understand what moving into a place next a Buddhist monastery meant. The Thantapin monastery is a medium-sized religious place, housing a few score monks. Ever since I've moved in, however, they've been building a new building: a five story monk dormitory just outside my window. Perhaps because it's not a for-profit enterprise, it's taken more than a year to complete this medium-sized high rise.
It's finished now. Here, on the eve of me moving to Naypitaw for 4 months, they've cut the ribbon, moved the monks into their new home and are now celebrating. One of the final touches was a sound system with 5 humongous loudspeakers. Megaphones. One of these speakers is pointed right at my apartment. Today was the day they decided to announce their announceability. All day, my windows vibrated from the decibels produced from a 10,000 watt speaker 100 meters or so away.

Buddhism is about peaceful co-existence. Peacefulness isn't something that should be imposed on your neighborhood via loudspeaker.

There are no noise pollution laws in Myanmar. Anyone can do whatever they want in terms of what you hear. If I wanted to, I could amplify my ukulele and broadcast myself from my balcony as loud as I wanted. My TV is turned up very loud right now; the (recorded) Pali chants from the monks next door are still louder. Nothing I can do about it.

Tomorrow morning, I move to the “Hotel District” of Myanmar's capital, Naypyitaw. I'll be there for four months, so this is my last night in Yangon for 2015.

I've loved and hated this town. If I allow myself, I can really hate the noise coming from next door. I could have also hated the little problems with the apartment I've lived in this last year+. I haven't shared with you on video too much what I don't like about where I live. In this video, I do.

I'm Leaving Yangon... Again

Yesterday was a momentous day.


Over the last couple weeks since re-aggravating my herniated disc, I've been living with a constant, dull pain. More disconcerting is the increased numbness in my left leg and foot. There's also been more sciatica involved with this recover.

Ouch!

The other night, I was just lying in bed and my foot hurt. I wasn't standing on it. I hadn't injured the foot specifically. I knew the pain wasn't actually in my foot, it's just the nerve connecting my foot to my brain is being pinched by the disc and making it seem like the pain was in my foot. I decided at that point that on Monday, I would head over to the Yangon consultation office of Bangkok's biggest and best hospital, Bumrungrad, and get the wheels turning on finally getting that discectomy operation that would shave off that portion of the disc that's been hurting me for quite some time now.


The doctor saw me without an appointment, and I described my history, treatment and current condition.

Although not an orthopedist, the doctor agreed that surgery would seemingly be the next step, but he told me straight up front, the cost would be around 300,000 Baht ($9000). I'm glad I have insurance! Last year when I got the MRI before my epidural, I was given the MRI results on DVD-ROM. The doctor copied all those files, asked a few other questions and told me they'd send it all off to Bangkok and I'd have more details in a few days. My initial plan was to have this taken care of during my next week off work, i.e., mid-September. The doctor told me the recovery time for this procedure was at least a week, sometimes longer depending on whether or not 'fusion' was required. I figured a week was enough time and was genuinely relieved that I might have a chance of full feeling in my legs sometime soon.


That evening, a call came. It was from our new Director of Studies, in other words, my new boss. I could tell from his tone it wasn't a social call.

“We're starting a course up in Naypitaw which we're asking you to teach, it's a 16 week assignment” he told me (or at least something fairly close to that). Immediately, I thought 'no'. They've asked me about working in Naypitaw in the past, and although I was initially interested a year or so ago, now, not so much; certainly not for 4 months.

“It's 8 to 10 AM, Monday through Friday, so 10 hours a week. We'd put you up in a hotel, and you'd have a one week break halfway through. We're also considering a food allowance as you can't cook in the hotel room. The course would be taught at the hotel itself...” He kind of trailed off a bit, gauging my response before asking me if I'd do it or not.

See, that's the thing. I signed up for a job in Yangon. Not in Naypidaw. I know companies relocate employees all the time without necessarily getting the consent of the employer, but that's not something my company would force on me. I was somewhat free to refuse.


Getting paid the same for less than half the work I do now? Staying for free in a modern, luxury hotel? Getting to see an entirely different part of Myanmar? That sounds like a nice gig, right?

Naypidaw isn't known for its heavy traffic

Well, no, not really. You see, Naypidaw is like the Siberia of Myanmar. It's a created capital, less than 10 years old and still quite deserted. There's nothing to do there. I wouldn't have any friends there. I've made a comfortable life for myself here in Yangon which I'm enjoying quite a bit. Again, my initial reaction was no. Besides, I've got these health things I need to take care of. I'd be forgoing my September break if I took this Naypidaw job (it's scheduled to start on 17 August).


Then, I started to think about it. I want to see Naypitaw, even if living there doesn't sound thrilling; but then again, when will I ever get a chance to live in such a strange place? There might be nothing to do, but I've always been good at entertaining myself. The internet is much faster and reliable up in the capital. Living in a luxury hotel... hot water, room cleaned every single day, a gym, a pool, that'd be nice.

Plus, my employer has been good to me. I feel like I still owe them something for sending me off to do my CELTA.

It's like a gov't Disneyland with no one visiting

Readers of my blog may remember me mentioning Dean, an American friend who stared here in Myanmar at the same time I did. He went and taught in Naypidaw for most of last year up until this last March. I called him to ask him some basic questions like how do you do laundry? Where do you eat? Those kinds of things. It turns out Dean just got another job in Naypidaw and will be there starting in September, so I wouldn't be without any friends. I decided to consider it and told my boss he'd have an answer in the morning.


I think what ultimately made me lean in favor of going was one moment when I was coming out the back room of my apartment. My foot kicked the big plastic tub I use to catch the leaks from the roof, the air-conditioner shut off as it does 30 times a day due to the inconsistent voltage of the Yangon electrical grid and I spotted a cockroach on the wall. All those happened simultaneously. \Yes, I like my place, but I don't like those things.


I still had demands and needs before agreeing. I met with the company brass this morning and told them I'd need movers. With or without the surgery, my back won't allow me to move most of my stuff. I've pre-paid for my apartment for a year, so it's just going to sit here while I'm gone, thus I don't have to take everything. Still, I've got lots of musical instruments, electronic equipment, books... stuff I don't want to be without. I'd need movers. They agreed to this.


We also agreed to make the mid-term break two weeks instead of one, so I'll be going to Bangkok in October for the surgery instead of September. I think I can live with that. I found out I'm most likely to be living at the brand new Hilton in Naypidaw. I would have my own car and driver. $10 per diem food allowance. Most importantly, I got guarantee that 16 weeks would be the longest I'd have to be there. They wouldn't re-assign me to another stint in Naypidaw once this one ends.


So, I agreed to do it.


Second week of August, I'm moving to Naypidaw.

I don't know if that's the pool or for decoration, but that's the Naypidaw Hilton... 

Finishing Up the Malaysian Journey

I've been back in Yangon for ten days or so now, and although the back is still a little sore, it's much better than before.

I have two videos to share from my time in Penang.  There would have been more, but again, at the start of day 4, everything changed.


With about 24 hours left in the country, I suddenly felt a lot better! I was able to get out and see a bit of the national park, the night market and felt fine when I headed back to the airport.

On Leaving Malaysia

Wow. What a place. I really enjoyed my week in Malaysia, despite half of it being spent flat on my back due to injury.

Penang was such a mixture of cultures. Along with the Malay people, there were so many Indian and Chinese folks. I've never had better Indian food than what I ate in Penang. I got to observe Indians and Chinese talking to each other, and they used English as much as Malay. They call America the 'melting pot' of cultures because so many ethnicities come together and get melted together. I'd call the part of Malaysia I was in the 'salad' of cultures.  The different ingredients remain distinct, but mix together to create something more. There's no melting going on there.

I've got another 15 months on my contract here in Myanmar, but I would certainly not mind making Malaysia a future home. I speak the language, and that's a huge plus.

In part two of the journey, I chronicle my first full day in Penang. I visit an interesting museum, a historical fort in what was England's first permanent settlement in SE Asia, a dim sum Chinese restaurant and finally Batu Ferringhi, the beachside community on the northside of the island where I ended up hurting myself and had stay for the rest of the trip.

Back in Agony

Well, the second half of the journey didn't go as planned.

Sunset at Batu Feringghi Beach

Thursday morning, I woke up, reviewed the suggestions here and possibilities I'd considered and decided to circumnavigate the island by heading south into the hills. I packed up my stuff into my backpack, lifted it up onto my back while twisting... and **RRIIIPPPPP***

I didn't actually hear it, and it didn't immediately cause me pain, but by time I'd checked out and got on the motorbike, I knew I'd just aggravated the herniated disk in my back. I got to the end of small street the guesthouse was on and the pain became unbearable. I had to stop the bike, drop the backpack and lie down on the concrete. I was writhing in pain. I tried sitting up, still no relief. Standing was excruciating too. All I could do was lean on the bike's seat, supporting my weight with my arms.

I've been dealing with this disk issue for two years, and this was the worst it had ever felt.

After a couple minutes, I realized I was completely helpless. I couldn't move. I tried calling out "TOLONG!" (Malay for HELP!) to people nearby. They just looked at me funny. I gestured people over with my hands, still they didn't come. Hmmm... I was disappointed by the locals. Finally, a couple western tourists came walking by and I asked them if they wouldn't mind walking over to the clinic that I'd seen half a block away and telling them I needed help. A few minutes later, the clinic van shows up and I stumble in.

Turns out it was a government clinic and they didn't have any injectable pain killers, the only thing that was going to help me at the point. They gave me some pain killers and allowed me to lie down on my side, the only position I could take that wasn't excruciating. After an hour or two, I was able to get back on the motorbike, a taxi took my luggage and I made it to a private clinic where I got shot up with motrin and cortisone.

I wasn't going anywhere, so I thought If I was going to convalesce, I'd do it someplace nice. I checked into a 4 star hotel prepared to do nothing by lie on my back for 4 days.

After the motrin wore off, again I was in agonizing pain. I like traveling alone; it gives me the freedom to do whatever I want when I want. The downside was now. I didn't think I'd be able to get on that place in 4 days. I couldn't sit up for 30 seconds much less the 3 and a half hours of flight time from Penang to KL to Yangon. What was I going to do? Another epidural? Medical evacuation? I was alone, desperate, in agony and stuck in a small town (Batu Feringghi) in a country where I didn't know anyone. I could barely get to the bathroom much less to a hospital or wherever else.

Via FB, I posted my plight and got some good advice. Jimbo even went as far as researching accupuncture clinics in Penang and suggesting I have the hotel staff call them and see if they'd do a housecall.

The next day, after a night in which I couldn't sleep for more than a few minutes at a time, I made my way back to local clinic. This time, they gave me a double dose of motrin and more cortisone. FOr a while, I felt better! Today, it's still very, very painful, but now I got Tramadol and some hope. After another day of doing nothing but reading and watching Malaysian hotel TV (which sucks), I'll be hitting that clinic on my way to the airport for a final injection which hopefully will keep me from screaming in pain while stuck in my narrow airplane seat.

Back in Yangon, it's time I start making arrangements for the discectomy surgery (in Bangkok) that will end this condition I've suffered with so long.

So, that was Penang.

At least I was able to make the weekly ukulele video before the pain began.