Namaste

There are four noble truths in Buddhism... First, life is suffering... Second, suffering is the result of attachment... One who desires only sees manifestations; one who is desireless can see the infinite. All my life I have been in search of Schrodinger’s cat, however, now I find myself in search of Schrodinger’s cat soul. I’m not religious and see most mainstream religions as a tool for control instead of a source for knowledge. However, I am spiritual, and find a lot of truth and knowledge in Taoism and Buddhism. As I continue along “the way” it only makes sense that my next destination was, is, and will be Bhutan and Burma (Burma, referred to as the Union of Myanmar today). Both completely closed off to the rest of the world in the past and only recently opening up to a limited number of tourists each year. Untouched and deep in Buddhist traditions, Bhutan in the Mahayana tradition and Burma in the Theravada tradition, they offer an insight to a way of life and state of mind that has remained unchanged over the ages, and that only a few years ago I would not have been ready to comprehend and appreciate. Now, a few lessons later, I have very specific reasons for this journey, and while I’ll greatly miss my travel companions of past journeys, this time I need to wander alone, catch you on the next cycle... [Begin Northwest Asia Journey]

VIDEO: Trip Introduction

Home
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Previous Destinations
Australia
Southeast Asia (Thailand, Vietnam)
The Alaskan Wilderness
Peru
Africa (Tanzania, Zanzibar, Kenya, South Africa)

Next Destinations
Southeast Asia (Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, South Korea)
Africa (Namibia, Uganda, Botswana)
Ayahuasca in the Amazon (Peru)
Mayan Cosmology (Belize, Guatemala)
Philippines
Jordan
San Pedro in the Sacred Valley (Peru)
Mongolia
Indonesia

- phynntravels@comcast.net

Reflections

"Sometimes there’s airplanes I can’t jump out
Sometimes there’s bullshit that don’t work now
We are God of stories, but please tell me
What there is to complain about?

Oh, this has gotta be the good life"

- OneRepublic

Bhutan opened my soul, Myanmar opened my heart, and together they made for a complete journey. But it is the people that made this journey, it seemed like they were there just for me, that it was all planned out to unfold this way. So that I could grow in the direction I needed to grow, so that I could fill in the gaps that I was missing, so that I can solidify the beliefs of what I have come to understand.

The 3rd nobel truth of Buddhism, suffering ceases when attachment to desire ceases… None of the people I met tried to preach this, but they all manifested it, just by living the way we are supposed to live. They did not have much, and did not want much, but they were happy, very happy. It’s so simple we all over look it.

The 4th nobel truth of Buddhism lays out the path to achieve all this. However, I'm not quite ready to go down that path yet. This journey is over, but there is a whole world out there, with many more lessons to be learned, and many more experiences to be had. I’m not yet sure where I’ll find them, but I know that someplace in the universe they are waiting for me. So for now I’ll wait and listen, knowing that "the blind bird signs inside the cage that is my heart". This has gotta be the good life, my life.

"Free yourself and see the world"
- phynntravels@comcast.net

Unexpected Bonus Day in Incheon, South Korea

I got to Seoul early this morning and had originally planned to fly out late tonight. However, that flight was canceled and I would now have to wait until tomorrow before I continued my way home. Korean Air was kind enough to take care of me. They put me up at the airport Hilton and gave me meal vouchers for lunch, dinner, and breakfast the next morning. At first I thought I might as well head in to town, but after I checked in I crashed and slept until lunch. I guess I did not get much sleep on the red eye and was exhausted from traveling the last three weeks. Downtown is about an hour one way from the airport, so instead I watched the news and then went to go get lunch. I watched the RT as they called out US politicians on all their lies and bullshit. I wondered if the rest of the world so easily gets it, why are Americans so blind to the obvious truth. I think it would help if they traveled more, if they were open to learning from other cultures, instead of comparing themselves to them so they can claim their way is better.

To quote Lewis Black, "The most important part of travel is when you come home, because that’s when you see your country with new eyes. I was amazed to realize that we are the only country that tells the rest of the world, on a nearly constant basis, that we are the greatest country on earth. And that is a little fucking obnoxious."

I headed down to lunch. The hotel had eight restaurants to choose from, I heard a lot about Korean barbeque, so I headed to try some for myself. It was great, and good to finally eat some nice beef again. The staff was great, although they threw me a curve ball when they asked if I would like a paper to read. I said sure, figuring that if their TVs were speaking English to me, their papers must also be in English. I’m not sure if they thought I knew how to read Korean, or that I would just like to look at the pictures, or if the rest of the staff was back in the kitchen laughing at me. But the paper they brought me was in Korean, cool pictures though.

I hung out until dinner, tried some more barbeque, passed on their offer of a paper, and then headed to bed. My internal clock was off again and I woke up early, grabbed breakfast, and then headed to the airport to check in. I went through immigration and made my way to the gate, boarded, and then put on my slippers. My final flight was only 10 hours away from Seattle. Same crappy movie selection, Harry Potter 7 Part 2 – sucked, Super 8 – sucked, Zookeeper – sucked, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides - sucked, Rise of the Planet of the Apes – sucked less than all the others.

I got to Seattle and made it through immigration, no one even batted an eye at the bag of tea leaves that was given to me from one of the families in Myanmar. I figured with all the economic problems in the US they probably did not even have the x-ray machine on. And I thought, we have a lot more in common with other countries then we may think we do, too bad we don’t talk more with each other. And then, with all the lessons learned, all the experiences I had, and all the people I met, this journey came to an end, I opened my garage door and headed inside.

VIDEO: Trip Conclusion

The Mini-Monks of Yangon

I got up and got everything together, then had some breakfast while I waited for my guide. She arrived and we went to go get gas, you are only allowed a few gallons a week, that is unless you buy on the black market. My guide remembered how interested I was when I exchanged money on the black market so she thought I would find this interesting as well, and it was. Even though they are out in the open and everyone knows where it is, they said no pictures. The police know about it, but as long as they continue to get their weekly envelopes, they can’t ever seem to catch anyone. With the minor excitement behind me we headed to the Shwedagon Pagoda, said to hold eight hairs from Buddha. However they were locked in a secret cavern underground and no one has seen them.




This place has a lot of daily visitors, not tourists, but local visitors. There are eight days on the Buddhist calendar, Wednesday being divided in to morning and evening. Depending on the time and day you are born, you come here to pray at one of the eight temples around the Pagoda.


The structure ahead is supposed to have the secret entry to the underground cavern, but it was locked.






We then headed to the market.


People eating breakfast.


Jackfruit.






The seafood section, with actual fish and crab that had not been flattened and dried, it was fresh.


Looked good too.




Until I got to this lady, she specializes in fish head soup.


The fresh meet looked pretty good as well.




The special cuts are in back.


You can buy any part you like, the face, ears, and intestines. I was going to get a replacement liver but was not sure how to get it through airport security.




Boy, that’s a whole lot of something.


The market was pretty busy and most people sell everything they have by the end of the day, which is good because they have little refrigeration options.






She cleaned the fish.


And he cleaned the dishes.


We then went down to the docks and watched them unload rice.


Sellers come in and hand out different colored sticks to people looking for work. A person goes to the boat with the colored stick, grabs a bag of rice, and returns to the seller, dropping off his stick. This way everyone gets the same count.


We then made a quick stop at the world’s largest reclining Buddha.


Yup, that’s big alright.


We then headed to the Kalaywa Tawya monastery, where the novice monks reside. Each day they head out in to town and ask for food for themselves for the day. They return and line up for lunch. If someone comes up empty handed or a little light, one of the head monks helps to evenly distribute today’s rations. The younger kids typically bring in the biggest haul.








They are not allowed to talk while they eat.








And of course shoes are to be left outside.


On the other side live the nuns in training. They also go out for food but typically do not do as well as the monks and often have to get additional food from them.


Not only that, but they also get stuck with having to do everyone’s laundry.


It was getting close to my flight so we headed to the airport. I said goodbye to my guide and checked in. I was flying Bangkok Airways from Yangon to Bangkok, and then Korean Air from Bangkok to Incheon. They were able to check my luggage all the way to Incheon even through it was two different airlines. I no longer had to worry about my luggage and had over three hours in the Bangkok airport. Finally, I had nothing to do but get a Singha beer and Thai pancake. What a perfect way to end the trip, so good that I enjoyed two of each before I boarded my flight, taking some time to begin to process my experiences. My flight left around 10pm and got to Seoul around 5am in the morning. I put on my slippers, dialed up some crappy movie, had a glass of wine, and tried to get as much sleep as I could before we landed.

VIDEO: Day 9 - Yangon

Mt. Popa and the Plot for Outbreak, Part II

I had one last day in Bagan before I would begin my way back home. We would drive to Mt. Popa this morning, about one and a half hours. Along the way we made a few stops, one was at the post office, where mail was once delivered by train. The trains no longer run and the concept of mail is gone. In fact if you have a government job and you are not doing it well, you end up here as the station master, with nothing to do but watch the hours tick by.


Another bus passed by.


We then made a much more important stop at a roadside distillery. They take the palm fruit and first grind it to extract its oil.


Distilling it to make Arak, an alcoholic spirit around 120 proof.


Of course I gave it a try. It was a little funky, but I figured nothing could really live in it, so I finished off my sample. They also make candy from it, however I was plenty good with my sample shot and did not need any more.


We continued on and I needed a bathroom stop about 10 minutes down the road. But soon Mt. Popa was in sight, with the Taungkalat monastery on top.


They were working on the road so we had to get out and start walking at this point.


In fact even those with cars were walking, but for different reasons.


We continued on towards the base of the mountain.




This place had a lot of monks and a lot of monkeys.






There are a little over 800 steps to get to the top, so I took off my shoes and began heading up. Even if you for some reason don’t see the monkeys you will know they are here because the stairs are covered with their number ones and number twos, and you’re barefoot.


A nice view and a nice number two, oh and a nice monkey.


I was not sure how to proceed, there were monkeys all over the steps, can I just walk around them, will they attack me, I moved cautiously. They mostly ignored me, however they often fought among themselves right in the middle of my path. Not wanting to get in the middle of their misunderstanding, I waited, then walked around the blood stains.


Almost there.


Last few steps.


At the top were monks and monkeys, the monkey is on the left.




I already had a number of monk pictures so I focused on the monkeys.










OK, maybe one monk picture, but I’m going to go for something here, me taking a picture of a monk taking a picture of a monk, thats gotta be some kind of art thing right?


A few last views before I headed back down.




Heading down.


As long as everyone stays where they are I’ll be good.






We then went and had lunch with a view.


I had some more time before my flight back to Yangon, so I asked my guide to take me to some more ruins to explore. We made one last stop in Bagan before heading to the airport in Nyaung U.












I got to the airport and checked in, thanked my guide, and then actually went through a real security checkpoint. We walked out to the plane and took off. It took about an hour and half to get to Yangon. I headed to the same hotel that I was at on my first stop in town, checked in, and went to sleep. I had one more day in Myanmar tomorrow and then would continue my way home tomorrow night.

VIDEO: Day 8 - Mt. Popa