Face to face with Anyar

It's unthinkable at first for me when preparing the journey to a traditional Myanmar village in Uplands--widely known as Anyar--that our old chap Ko Phyo a Yangonite would drive the motorcycle like a local and speak with somewhat Anyar accent. Face to face with Zagyan, which is the native village of the Myanmar best-known poet Sayar Tin Moe and a birthplace of the classical singer songwriter Kamye Ko Aye Kyaw, at one late evening in December embraced by chills and dusty plains was a new exciting experience, indeed. 
He's been there as an SMO for three years since leaving a large hospital in 2009 and doing very well widely accepted by many surrounding villages. "An HA and an LHV left Zagyan after I arrived, saying their income was gradually reduced," he said, after coming back from a 2-hour OPD schedule, which is twice a day. A good medical care by a good doctor, I reckon accordingly. About 7 in-patiens were occupying the separate male and female wards, all staying like a family. It's learned from Ko Phyo that there's only few clans in Zagyan as all are related in some ways or another, though it might exaggerate the actual condition. Villagers, including the headman who treated us tea and samosa at the morning after my arrival, are unexceptionally generous, helpful and good-natured as compared to citydwellers. He had to pay K. 30000 for a month for having meals every day, a price reasonable in areas like these. Dinner was served the same preparation as the restaurant owner, with several bowls of curries and fresh bowls peanuts.
The price for dinner in Myingyan the nearest city was also relatively cheap. Myingyan was my first stop after 8 hours of hi-way drive from Yangon. Sein Gabar express bus arrived timely at 5 pm, and it's a good thing to be able to contact with Ko Phyo via mobile phone throughout the trip. Gladly seeing him at the bus terminal I foresaw some few days of taking a backseat in his motorcycle, that was said to have been bought as soon as he's in Myingyan.
Anyway, his driving skill was impressive, and I can't help naming him the champion of dirt roads. As the area was mostly underdeveloped, transport roads were still under construction. Those linking village to village were completely sandy and as to their explanation these are sandy creeks during a short period of monsoon. One couldn't drive in such deep dirt roads, about 50 cm among some jungles, in normal speed without prior experience--some breakdowns and falls would be unavoidable. With his bike, we had travelled Bagan-Nyaung U and Myingyan-Popa hi-ways, which are two-way lanes, in better condition than villages' bumpy and dusty roads. A day in Popa, another day in Bagan and Nyaung U, the most famous places around his village. 
Bagan was seen hardly changed since my first visit 12 years back, so also was Popa. One remarkable thing was more foreign visitors and quality restaurants at cheaper price--just K. 2500 each for buffet lunch at Shwe Myanmar Restaurant near Thatbyinnyu Pagoda.

I stayed at his second home for nearly a week and come back after visiting nearby town called Pakokku, across the Ayeyarwaddy River. Many visits in a short period really.

To A Village Near Nyaung Chaung Thar

"The bumpy road is ahead," he said, "but just 10 minutes." In complete darkness, there's only the headlights of our motorbikes.

It was almost 8 pm  in mid-June, with tiny raindrops falling on my face. I was standing at the junction close to Nyaung Tone, on the highway linking Yangon and Ma-U-Bin, accompanying my friend Dr Wai Zaw on his way back from Yangon, to visit his workplace. That's a village with a local station hospital called Chaung Gyi, or Big Creek.

In fact the town Nyaung Tone, at the helm of the Delta region, is just two-hour drive from downtown Yangon. Nyaung Chaung Thar, a recently popular resort destination is just day trip from Yangon, is just close by. But it's another half an hour or so to the west to reach Chaung Gyi.

Only some scattering population, and most infrastructure far from 21st Century sophistication. Their main business is heard to be cultivation of betel leaves steadily exported to Yangon. There's no power, and only diesel generator or solar power can be used for electricity like charging your mobile phone or laptop computer. He said that there's a newly-built ridges at the edge of the village, so as to prevent the flooding of a bypassing creek. What a disaster if the creek overflow in our sleep, I wondered! 

It's anyway a sound sleep at that night. It's also a kind of relaxation, getting away from the mounting stress in the city. The village may also be a different experience for my friend who's transferred from faraway northern Shan state a year ago. For me it's definitely a different journey. Tribute, Sayar Wai Zaw!

Where Destinations Converge

For most long journeys, my first option is to go by bus. It’s convenient: some 10 years ago, I might be with a Walkman, later with an MP3 player, and sometimes also with some of the latest issues of Newsweek or an old short stories book. My bus journeys usually start from a main bus station. In Yangon, such a bus station where most long-distance travelers flock together is termed ‘High-Way Bus Terminal.’

That reminds me my first encounter with this term written in the former Sin-ma-laik main bus station nearby Hledan, Yangon. Some time around 1997, I had to go there several times whenever I travelled back to my native. Another popular main station for hi-way buses at that time was Saw-bwar-gyi-gone, much close to the Mingalardon Airport. There, many local bus lines heading downtown ended their commutes.

Later perhaps from 2004, my monthly homeward journeys started from the new location of main bus station Aung Mingalar, in the outskirts of North Okkalapa township. With a few smaller stations in between, that is just a 20-minute bus drive from my school and more frequent trips home ensued from then on.

Only recently did I reach another popular, but a rather low-profile, main bus station called Dagon Ayar near Hlaing Tharyar for travelers across Ayarwaddy. I first landed there during my visit to Pathein. In Pathein too, the local bus terminal was seen very far away from downtown. To compensate this, there’re shuttle vehicles linking the out-of-town terminal and city center free of charge. I’ve also remembered suck kind of bus terminal called Man-Su bus station in Lashio, northern Shan State, for travelers and buses coming to and from Mandalay or Mu-Sae. Another bus terminal I still could recall is that of Sittway, the capital of Rakhine State. Other popular bus terminal I also reached include Oakthar bus compound in Bago, Kywe-sae-kan bus terminal in Mandalay, etc.

One thing in common for all these bus terminals is that food and souvenir prices there often exceed market values. It’s advisable to buy some papers or journals or food well in advance; it’ll be economy if you don’t try to buy these inside the main terminal compound. Some businesses booming inside and around the bus terminal I’ve reached include consumer goods store, inns, cybercafés and teashops.

Sometimes I just find myself waiting endless hours in a bus’s office, wishing I was in a nice air-con bus. Sometimes I had to make calls or send sms to friends saying good-byes or so before my departure to another destination. Sometimes it’s also good to get new friends waiting for the bus in such outlets. The same holds true for a foreign station I reached called Larkin bus terminal in Malaysia, just a bridge across Singapore, via Woodlands Bus Interchange. They called it ‘Interchange,’ where travelers proceed to another destination by buses or trains.

For all my travel experience, these key public transport stations are also nothing to be neglected. Whether it’s called hi-way bus terminal or interchange, I will never forget these starting points of my long journeys in my life.