In-Laws in Myanmar

You may have mixed feelings about your in-laws visiting. Not me. I was delighted that Jip’s brother and his wife wanted to fly to Myanmar for a few days. They had never been outside Thailand, and never been on a plane.

Since forever, their daughter had been encouraging them to go somewhere, anywhere—especially during the time when she worked with Emirates Air as a flight attendant, a job that took her to nearly 50 countries.

She noted that her parents had gotten passports years before, but allowed them to expire without a single stamp in them. Now their replacement documents were about to suffer the same fate. “Why not let’s go see Uncle John? He’s right next door in Yangon!” she suggested. And they bit!

Jip’s niece and I made a good tour team. She organized the overall itinerary; I took on the small details. From long experience traveling with Thais I knew to reserve plenty of time for both photography and snacking.  Luckily, the first few Burmese meals went down well. After those successful test runs, we made sure to eat on a Thai schedule—roughly every three hours.

Thai travel priorities in Myanmar differ from those of other tourists. Certain must-see destinations and must-do routines have spread via Thai social media. Following these paths, we were surrounded in some places by more Bangkokians than Burmese. Vendors addressed us in Thai before we even opened our mouths. At the Golden Rock, we even attracted our own “bodyguards.”

A group of young urchins approached us there, promising in excellent Thai to protect us for as long as we stayed. Of course we needed no protection. However, they sized us up correctly as disciples of Thai web forums. These websites claim that the Golden Rock bestows a special blessing on anyone who makes three unique treks to it in a 24-hour period. (Burmese I’ve asked have never hear of this boon.)

We had dutifully booked lodging a short distance away to ease our three pilgrimages. Seeing us set off on the first one, around 5pm, our bodyguards pounced. These fellows were actually pretty entertaining, and so we answered honestly when they asked about what time we would make visits number two and three. Sure enough, they were waiting for us each time. Their flashlights, umbrellas, and good humor always improved our journeys. They earned their large tip.