My wife and I had the unique opportunity to live and work in Myanmar for about 6 months in 2004. It was the experience of a lifetime and one that I thought worth sharing with Global Expats. While I was there I wrote a Travel Log detailing our experiences.
We were hired to teach English as a Second Language at ILBC (International Language and Business Center) which is a highly regarding educational institution within Burma. It caters largely to the military's children. We were there totally legally on work visas.
We were living in Bangkok, Thailand when we were hired.
What follows is part 3 written 5/19/04. I said previously that there were only 3 parts. I lied. There will be at least 4 and possibly 5 to this series. I've been looking through my notes and I've got more to share. Hope you enjoy part 3!
Taxi Tales
written 5/19/04
Having lived 12 years in Bangkok, which officially has the worst traffic in the world, I'm used to a multitude of harrowing and perilous taxi rides. Some of you receiving this travel log have visited us and experienced first-hand the joy of riding at breakneck speed at night during a monsoon rain with all the windows fogged up on the flooded streets of Bangkok. These are the kind of rides one remembers with distinction and if survived, have the affect of making your life seem much longer and sweeter.
These rides were prime motivators in our wise decision to purchase our own car and brave driving among the crazed taxis plugging the streets of Bangkok. It was basically the lesser of two evils. A calculated risk of survival. Since purchasing the car we have avoided hailing a cab with a vengance.
However, driving our car across the border into Myanmar is impossible under current circumstances. We are once again exposed to the unpredictable skills of the taxi driver. This time the Yangon driver.
Now, one must realize that Myanmar does not have the modern, well-developed infrastructure that Thailand has. Here one must stretch the definition of a road. Also, Thailand has a modern fleet of air-conditioned metered taxis that provide relative comfort at fixed prices.
Yangon provides just the opposite. Every ride is a test of negotiation shills. Each time the price must be haggled over with agreement being reached only after stopping 3 or 4 taxis.
Every taxi is in various stages of disrepair. We have yet to ride in an air-conditioned taxi. Many doors don't open, although many don't effectively shut either, flying open around every corner. Most windows neither roll up or down but are perpetually stuck in their last resting place. Scores of windows are missing all together. Like clockwork it rains its hardest when we leave school for the day. I'm contemplating commuting with a bar of soap and taking a shower on the way home!
Taxi seating ranges from floorboard comfort to a spring up the crack posturepedic experience. One driver offered a beachy resort kind of feel as his driver's seat consisted of a lawn chair!
The most highly hued skill taxi drivers possess is the ability to change a bald flat tire for a full of air bald spare tire at Indy 500 speed. But the true genius of each driver has to be his ability to keep the damn thing running. Mix and match, scrapyard-salvage repair is the name of the game.
The silver lining in all this is that most taxis don't possess the ability to drive at race car speed as they do in Thailand. They do, however, have the ability to expel huge plumes of black noxious fumes with every touch of the accelerator, as does by the way, almost all other types of vehicles on the road. Makes the tuk-tuk of Thailand seem like a clean-air vehicle! Our only saving grace is there is not nearly the traffic here as in Bangkok.
This kaleidoscope of black-face black-shirt travel experiences provides us with hours of inspired 4-letter conversation. Continuous cussing takes practice you know!!
In spite of all this please be advised that we are having the time of our lives!