Right I have been in Myanmar 10days. The further north I travel the more commercial it gets. It is the rainy season and I am today in Bagan. Yesterday I spent the day catching up on my computer, and today I have hired a bicycle from the hotel, and planned to do a bike-about. But it is raining this morning .. so I thought I would write these thoughts down. Bagan is weird. It has a strange feeling about it. Maybe it is tourism fatigue. It is all about money, it is not expensive though, but highly commercial relative to other parts of Myanmar. People are also very commercially minded... and nearly everyone speaks English.. which is a really big thing relative to other regions in Myanmar.
Here a few personal observations:
1) We arrived by bus and were dropped off in Nyang-u a few miles from New and Old Bagan where most visitors stay. It took nearly an hour to pick up passengers from various locations/hotels in Mandalay and I had assumed we would be dropped off at a central location in Bagan. Also normally at these sorts of "high visitor traffic" areas you have a throng of taxi cab drivers hawking a sale. Here none. One pick-up driver which we were all supposed to use. This did not feel right so I decided to walk, normally I find something or someone. Not here. I stopped by a hotel and asked if they could help me with a bike taxi. They offered to bring me to my hotel for 80% of the price I paid for the 3 hour journey from Mandalay to Bagan. Again .. not a lot of money .. but again not right and I decided again to walk. A long walk/story and the outcomes captured on the video page. But this is not the point. The point here is "spiritual tourism".
2) When I just wrote this term I immediately Googled it to see if this term really existed. Of course it does and here is an article by the Huffington Post on it.
3) So Bagan with its tradition and heritage is right in the middle of this. In Yangon with the Shwedagon Pagoda, as a foreigner you have to pay to enter. They have a special booth and employees approaching non-Burmese looking people and asking for Entrance Fees. Also here in Bagan, you can buy a pass which allows you into all the temples. Down south folks were happy and proud of their temples. Working industriously renovating and improving their pagodas and temples. And when I visited they were always smiling and quite a few times wanted to take a picture of me. Here further north it is different. The vibe here is very different.
4) As mentioned one of the reasons for my detour to Myanmar was to pay respect to the meditation tradition that I practice. A meditation tradition which remained pure for generations in Myanmar and in the last couple of generations becoming more available to ordinary people. I know and when discussed with locals and employees working at these places, that the message of the Buddha was free for all. I am not sure there are other spiritual places in the world that governments charge foreigners for entrance. In Yangon I saw an Anglican church and went in. It was a hot day, it stood out in this country of Buddhism. It was beautiful inside, I made a donation when I left.
5) As mentioned to the Board of Trustees of the Shwedagon in Yangon. Money is important and it takes resources and money for upkeep and maintenance. But there is a better way to have a win-win for all. Welcoming all tourists and spiritual seekers and leaving them with the core message of why these wonderful shrines were built in the first place.
6) So spiritual tourists welcome, it is a reality and the buddha was a very practical man himself. Contributions for upkeep and wear and tear very welcome. But the message should not be discriminatory based on ones nationality or faith. As mentioned to the officer of the board of trustees. It is just how you package and present it. And as the saying goes ... there are many paths ... we are blessed that the message is there and has been passed on by many generations in Myamar/Burma. The wrapping or packaging not perfect ...but nor is/was mine.
p.s if you really really need and have to visit some the big tourist ones and are practicing the tradition you can bring a letter with you and this can help.. Or just go to the places where you are welcome to practice! 🙂