Testing Security at Heho Airport

I got up this morning and packed as I was heading out, traveling on to my next destination. I was originally going to drive two to three hours to the ruins of Kak Ku, however these have been touched, and are restored and rebuilt, and kind of like going to a museum, not my style. So instead we stopped at one more village on the lake, before returning to Heho to fly out. The lake granted me one last view of its beauty.


As did the people.


My guide warned me that this village was close to the jetty and people would try and sell me touristy items. He was right, and as we approached they swarmed me like bees protecting their hive. Although they all seemed to take a real shine to me. They all approached and said "Special price just for you, almost free, no one else". I felt special, but did not buy anything. Because of the sanctions, anything I bought would be nothing more then a gift for the customs officials.


Oh crap, here come more, break right, right, hurry.


It was not any better on land then it was in the boat, they came at me from all directions.




We worked our way through the "tourist" market, rows of the same trinkets, and back to where the locals were shopping. Now this is what I wanted to see.




Another pharmacy, no prescription needed here.










I headed outside after checking out the high rent slots.






This lady was serious, and way serious about the stogies she smoked.






We were still on the lake, and on structures supported by stilts.


We passed another monastery.








My guide then got as excited as he did when he was telling me about the balloon festival in his home town. Apparently, this monastery is known for its trained jumping cats. Cats that were trained to jump through hoops, well not really, and I won’t even bore you with a picture, but will include it in my video with appropriate commentary. They starve a cat and then hold its food high above the ground. While the cat jumps in the air to get its food, they quickly take a hoop and pass it through the cat’s body. And then they say "I trained the cat jumped through the hoop". This made that balloon festival in my guides home town seem like the super bowl.


And so we moved on, stopping in one more village before going to the airport.




Even through they are on the water, they still have electricity. I'm not sure if this a good or bad idea at this point.






We came across a garlic plantation.






They actually just take a part of the garlic clove and place it in the dirt, and it grows. I never knew that the part I enjoy eating was the same part that grew new garlic.


We then came across some farmers making sugar. Starting with the sugar cane.


They mill it.


And then boil it.


Letting it dry and harden, making sticks out of it. It kind of tasted like brown sugar. Sweet, but you would not want to eat it raw, but rather mix or cook it in to something else.


My flight was leaving soon so we headed back. In Myanmar, flight schedules change daily, so you must call the day before to see when, and even if your flight was flying. It turns out my flight was still flying, but it was now flying out an hour earlier, so it was a good thing my guide called and checked on this.






My faithful backpack and me heading to the Heho airport.


We got to Heho airport and I checked in, one guy took my backpack, another guy stuck a sticker on my chest, indicating my flight. I said goodbye to my guide and thanked him for everything. I then headed to the gate and found a security checkpoint made out of plywood with curtains. A picture of a male on the left and a picture of a female on the right. I opened the curtain on the left and entered with my day pack, which so far has not been scanned by any kind of x-ray machine. Behind the curtain was no one, just a small room with another curtain on the other side, so I walked through and opened the second curtain. There was a small room which I recognized as the "gate area". I was a little confused as I sat down, was that it, did I do something wrong? No one checked me or my bag, but I apparently was at the gate ready to board. I watched a few other people come from behind the curtain, the local Myanmar people never gave it a second thought, but every once in a while a traveler appeared from behind the curtain. They had the same confused smile on their face which clearly revealed their thoughts "Hey wait, did I do that right, no one checked me or my bag, but I’m pretty sure this is the gate area".

I have been in a lot of small, hot, overcrowded, smelly, "airport gate areas" in my life, but this one is the winner. There are no signs, when a flight is ready to go, a few Myanmar people walk through the gate area shouting out the number of the flight leaving, looking for everyone with the correct sticker on their chest. I was again flying Asian Wings Ariways, this time from Heho to Bagan. I heard a number that I was pretty sure was not my flight number, however I watched them all board one of only two Asian Wing Airways airplanes, the second plane was clearly not here and probably miles away. They had different stickers then me, but I started to worry when I saw the plane with the same logo on it that my ticket had, take off without me. There was a kind of official looking guy standing near the door outside and I showed him my ticket, worrying that my plane just left without me.

He said I was fine and we would board soon. I was confused, I could see the entire tarmac and there was not a plane with Asian Wings Airways on it anyplace to be found. But then I heard my flight number being called, and a lot of people with the same sticker on their chest that I had on mine got up and I followed them. There are no pre-assigned seats and no one really checks your ticket. That’s when I realized that even though your ticket may say one airline, that does not mean that is the airline you will be flying. We boarded an Air Bagan plane and took off. I had no idea what was going on or what I was doing, but I knew everyone on this plane had the same sticker as I did, so I figured I would sit back and see what happens.

I looked out the window and there were no lights on the ground, it was complete darkness. But in one short hour we landed in Bagan, which was great because that was where I wanted to go. I got off and not only found my luggage but also found a guy holding a sign with my name on it. My ticket said Asian Wings Airways, my plane said Air Bagan, and my guide’s sign said my name, and things were good.

My guide was awesome, plus he had no interest in any balloon festival, so we headed to my hotel for the night. This hotel was beautiful, maybe too beautiful, and not really my style. It was the kind of place where rich old people would stay. Thinking they traveled to Myanmar, thinking they were meeting the people, thinking they were learning the culture, oh well, someday they will wake up, we all have our own path to follow. It was safe to assume I would not be meeting any fellow travelers here to chat and share stories with.




But it was nice. I had been traveling non-stop for more than two weeks, and now I ended up in a resort spa, so I relaxed, I put on the robe and slippers from my room, and headed to the pool, got a beer and watched the sunset.