Date: Thursday, October 29, 2009, 10:25 PM
#8 COMING HOME TO BURMA
Warning from hotel 2009
Please note that credit cards and traveller cheques are not accepted in Myanmar and that visitors must be bring sufficient cash (best in US Dollars, but Euros also increasingly accepted) to change and make any purchases and payments. Please bring New US Dollar bills ("big heads" instead of "small heads") and with series numbers not starting with CB as these are not accepted in Myanmar due to rumours these series are counterfeit.
I first saw Burma was in 1974 when I was sent there to replace the “operations manager” who was returning to the U.S. The title is bigger than it sounds since the operation consisted of one pilot, me, one mechanic and one helicopter and some local staff. At our other operations the crews rotated in and out of Singapore but this operation you were required to live in country because the Burmese wanted it that way. It was fine with me. Burma was a closed country and we were told that there were only 26 non-diplomatic people living in the country. I do know that there were only about 16,000 tourist a year coming to the country, because for entertainment, we would go to the airport just to see someone different. Four hawks setting on the benches, myself, Frank Fee the mechanic, and 2 mechanics from Hughes Air West that maintained the countries only jet, a 727.The country was like a time machine. Large old British mansions that had not seen painted in 20 years. Beautiful parks that had been over grown. There was nothing from outside the country unless you left the country and earned money to bring it back, but you where not allowed to leave the country. No car dealerships, coca cola, no umbrellas, a local beer that was rationed, basically nothing from the outside. What the Burmese missed most was news. This was long before satellite TV and cellphones. They used short wave and listened to the BBC and the Voice of America. When I traded in the helicopter for an airplane and started flying into restricted areas where no foreigners were allowed I had long conversations, mostly me recalling all the news that I could remember. Being a fresh former British colony most of the people spoke English, which added to my love of the country and people as I could easily communicate with them. They have been oppressed for many, many years and I attribute most of this to the fact they are such a kind and gentle people.
I know going back that many, many things have changed. Where there were 2 old rundown hotels, the old British Strand Hotel and the Russian built Inyea Lake hotel, there are now many highrise hotels and guesthouses. The drug trade funds most of these. I am sure the infrastructure has improved in the city but will be old and lacking in the rural areas. But…here we go!
Two little war stories to tell you about the old days. An executive was in town and having dinner at my house. He wanted to call someone at the old Strand Hotel downtown but when he picked up the phone all he heard was music. I told him to just say into the phone “please get me Mr. Stancil at the Strand Hotel”. He could not bring himself, being an executive, to do something that out of the box, so I walked over, took the phone and said “Get Stancil at the Strand and turn down the music’ and handed the phone back to him. After he finished his call wanted to how I did that. I explained that all our movements and phone conversations where monitored and I had bought the guy who sat there all day waiting for me to make a phone call the radio because I felt sorry for him.
When visitors were staying at the Ineya Lake Hotel, I would meet them there for a drink. They would order rum and coke or scotch and got what they ordered except the coke part. I would order anything but would get Drambuie. There was a shortage of everything but Drambuie and I was treated like a local and was only served what they had the most of.
I send this in advance of our arrival to Burma, as internet availability is unreliable.
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