First Contact !
We
departed at 6p.m. before the first rays of light were cast on a sleepy city
still deep in its doldrums. The concrete monotonous blocks along the road soon
give way to thatched bamboo huts and eventually to a green sea of padi as
mushroom-cap hills littered the far horizon. We are traveling along the
Yangon-Mawlamyaing highway, the only road leading from Yangon to Mon State in
the southeast of the country. The road from Yangon to Bago is wide and two-lane.
Beyond Bago, the road narrows to only a one-way track which winds through the
countryside past scattered villages over the hills, valleys and rivers. We
passed through several villages and townships, which were completely 'different'
for us but basically all looked the same.
Traffic
is slow, but one has to be attentive all the time. On the roads - and especially
in the built-up areas - pedestrians, bicyclists, rickshaw drivers, bullock- and
buffalo-carts, cars, trucks, buses, dogs, pigs, ducks, chickens, goats and
various other animals all jostle for space. There were occasional close
encounters with buses and trucks transporting diesel oil which our driver would
deal calmly by tail-gating and horning them persistently till they give way to
our jeep. Passing a car and especially a truck or bus is very tricky indeed, as
driving in the country is on the right hand-side but the majority of cars have
the steering-wheel also on the right side. This is a direct consequence of
General Ne Win changing the driving customs from left to right one day in 1970,
supposedly following the advice of his astrologers who informed him he ought to
"move the country from left to right". As in most developing countries
the people seem to have to developed their own set of traffic rules which are
totally unofficial but seemingly very effective as we soon learnt from our
driver. When a vehicle wants to pass another, the driver usually honks the horn
and makes himself visible in one of the mirrors of the vehicle in front.
Normally, the driver of that car will then switch on his direction-indicators:
left when it's safe to pass, right when it's not. If the manoeuvre has been
executed, the passing driver briefly honks the horn a couple of times and/or
sticks his (there are no 'hers' driving in Myanmar) hand out of the window to
say "Thank you". Compared to Singapore, the traffic is leisurely, but
this courtesy coupled with a natural and mutual refrain from the use of abusive
language and hand signs, makes it appear much safer than it actually is.
Long-haul truck drivers in Myanmar is one of the most dangerous jobs in the
country, not only because of the hazards mentioned above, but particularly due
to the consequences if there is an accident. Every accident, no matter how
small, will require the driver to cough up at least 20,000 Kyats, more if the
police get involved. If a victim has any bone fractures and the police are
notified, the erring driver is sent to jail for at least one year, possibly up
to three. Running over and killing a Burmese would result in about 10 years,
killing a foreigner in lifelong imprisonment! And one can rest assured that
sentences in Myanmar are effective; there is no chance of release on parole.
We
crossed the Sittaung river over a creaking bridge which brought us into Mon
territory. The Mons are a different race from the majority Burmans or Bamars who
hail from central Myanmar. They are close cousins of the Thais and Khmers and
are the original inhabitants of the region long before the Burmans who were of
Tibeto-mongol lineage, migrated to the south from Tibet and Yunnan. The first
Mon kingdom was established in the 6 century AD at Thaton holding dominion over
an area stretching from the Ayeyarrwady delta westward across Thailand and down
to the Malay peninsula. The next few centuries were marked by frequent wars
between the Burmans and Mons which culminated in a Burman victory 5 centuries
later when Thaton was sacked and the Mon craftsmen, artisans and civil
administrators were brought to central Myanmar. This infusion of Mon culture and
religion into Burman civilization is a pivotal event in the history of Myanmar
as it gave rise to the Burmese alphabets and script being used today and the
Theravada Buddhism which is the dominant religion in Myanmar.