A trip to Zelpaga in hot April

My country, Myanmar has a very unique and long tradition of celebrating its new year!  Strange to say that the new year always falls in April and the new year day exactly is 17 April.  Before the beginning of the year from 12 April to 16 April, for four days, Thingyan festival or the water festival is celebrated in the belief that the stains or misfortune of the year is washed away and a person starts brand-new in the coming year.  Man! Thingyan was supposed to be celebrated in a gentle way but then it changed year after year.  People used to sprinkle water in the past gently.  With the new technology and resources available, new sprinkling equipment such as pressured pump and water balloons replaced the gentleness of the festival.  It turned a little volatile each year.  And with a new year coming, Thingyan always makes me realized I am getting a year older, not necessarily on my birthday!

This year 2013 is very hot!  Not only the equipments in sprinkling water is changing but also is the weather.  Global warming!  I am not an environmentalist to say that but then I can feel the heat.  It is so strong.  But people are so motivated.  They are not afraid of this extreme heat.  They are willingly to be splashed by water in any means.  They got drunk men or women, old or young, nothing to be cared about.  Critics and conservatives comments younger generation is beyond the call of tradition.  Some take the photographs and posting on facebook, twitter and all social networking that you can think of and merely saying this should not be the case.  I wonder why those critics are taking up so much of their time, being in the heat, taking the photos of those who they think unpleasant and wasting their time and money for posting it on internet (unlike other countries, this country needs a committed patience for you to post photos and video clips on the internet).  

I started my new job on 1 April.  Well, it is not April fool!  It is real.  And unfortunately my workplace does not observe the whole holidays of Thingyan like other government agencies.  So the holidays was cut off - only 3 days!  But then I want to read to cope with new procedures, how to minimize the effects from other disorganized people from the workplace.  You all know there are morons everywhere.  I am not an extraordinary person but then the more people get disorganized in the workplace, the more I am seen as genius.  It does not mean that I am genius but when there are too much morons then it goes without saying you become someone efficient.  This is universal truth and I am not blaming or accusing anyone by writing like this.  Don’t feel this personal.

And in this season which I mean from 11 from 20 April of every year, whenever you switch on a FM or a TV channel everything is about Thingyan festival.  I have nothing to say because this is the wonderful time of the year.  But then, nothing new, songs, dance, movies and everything is like last years.  Just performers got old and changed  in songs and dances but well, you know movies were shot, kept forever and transmitted every year.  It is the same thing like Christmas!

To avoid all these things, I and a couple of friends decided to visit a small village 2 hours drive from Yangon for an overnight trip.  This village is reputed for its sensitivity for lesbians and gays (transgender) though it is very remote.  In fact, we had been there one time and stayed in the village for a couple of hours.  The honesty, hospitality and serenity of the village and its villagers attracted us to make another trip to that village and we all agreed to go there and now it becomes the best time to go there when you want to stay away from the complexity of the urban development.  We all are going there!  This time for an overnight trip.

On our first trip, we had to take taxi from town to the Pansodan Jetty and from there, we took the ferry to the other side of Yangon river.  We spent an hour on a rented van to go to another township and from a riverside of that township we took a very small boat to cross the river.  We reached a village but it was not yet our destined one.  From there we took another boat to get there for 20 minutes.  So it was too many of sectors and boats and taxi and van.  So, it was so remote!

This time, we looked for other means to reach there and fortunately we found that we can go almost very near to the village by car.  There we can take motorcycle taxi through the farm fields and arrive in the village.  On 14 April, we took a taxi; well rented it the whole morning and headed to the village and tooke motorcycle for about 10 mins.  The route was really cut short and thank God!  I don’t need any crossings over waters...  When we arrived in the village early in the morning around like 0945 the village was already awake.  Some kids splashing water here and there.  And we did have so much fun talking to the local gays, guys and girls of all ages.

We stayed and get settled at a gay friend’s house.  He is in his late 40s, unmarried and lives with his biological brother who allegedly is gay but then still in the closet.  In that sense, I would have to say he is very understanding and accommodating.  We learned about the village and their livelihoods mainly rely on farming, gardening and fishing!  The village is home to 10,000 inhabitants and the majority are Buddhists.  There are 5 monasteries in the village.  

Unfortunately, there is only one school which offers beyond-primary means you only can be there up to Grade 9 (Seventh Standard) and if you want to go further you have to do it in the nearest township which is 20 min and 5 min boat trips (one way) to the nearest jetty of the township.  The rainy season is a disaster.  It is natural for parents who have not been well educated and so worried for their children for unexpected accidents withdraw their children from going to school after Grade 9.  It is the saddest thing I experienced during this trip.

The village was also hard hit during Nargis Cyclone in 2008.  According to the villagers, there were no casualties apart from a woman who visited the village from another place.  The water level rose and everything had gone.  Villagers were left stranded for a couple of days during which they had no food and were had to feed on coconuts and other fruits floating in the water.

The village is now well recovered and I can feel the efforts and perseverance of the villagers in reconstructing this village.  A smile on the face of each villager, I think, is a symbol of the village.

A huge thing that I noticed from that village is; unlike other places, gays are not degraded in the society.  Men and women embraces well with the gays.  In this post, I use the term gays which is a representation of both gays and transgenders.  A gay wears longyi (sarong) like a woman and is in high-heeled shoes.  They are not educated and they don’t specify themselves as transgender or gays.

The village community regards the gays as part of them, as human beings and no one is reluctant to invite gays visitors into their house.  Holy cow!  Once I thought the discrimination is there because there are a lot of uneducated people around us and they think gays are a disgrace of the society.  Why it is not true in this society?  Tell me!  Some are poorly educated and some don’t even go to school.  But why?  It still is a puzzle for me!

Our local gay friend cooked so well and he cooked chicken and potatoes for us.  Hearing that we were in the village, another elderly gay in the village sent fried noodles, eggs curry, fish paste and sour soup for our lunch.  It was so wonderful.  We had lunch to our fill, relaxed and made the house our home.

Around like 2 pm we went to celebrate the modern water festival in the village.  The villagers - men and women of all ages danced to the song and are splashed with water.  I can stand no more of Opa Gangnam!  But, the villagers like that.  I realized that I cannot really hide from those music.

We danced together with the villagers and returned to the house we stayed, had shower and had traditional massage which is really strong and I don’t think it is good.  We went to the ancient pogoda and were told that there are the images of monsters which was actually 9 but then you could never count it correctly.  Some said they got 8 and some 10.  I counted myself, it turned out 14.  :-)  So, don’t you think it is a little peculiar than it should?

We spent sometimes on the pagoda and walked back and had some walks in the village.  Everyone was so welcoming.  The day ended quite peacefully, with in depth interview to our host on his life encounters.

We thought we would never be able to fall asleep for a move of bed but then we slept so well and when we got up it was already 0630 in the next morning.

We went to have breakfast in the village and I kind of notice that the food are not that hygienic.  But what do you expect?  I am ready to take everything that would stabilize my day.  In the afternoon, we were invited to go the monastery where there is merit making ceremony.  We had very good lunch there.  We got a lot of attention as we are not from the village.  Again, no gay was degraded by the monk or anyone.  We had a little visit around the village sat in the cold drink shop for a while and drank sugar cane juice and the clock finally stroke to the time we have to leave.

With no phone coverage, no TV and nothing at all, it was such a peaceful night we spent in that Zelpaga.

Do we plan to go there again?  Yes, we do and I will tell you more on the next trips.

David (pour toi) | 16 Ape 2013 @ 1459 | Yankin | Yangon | Myanmar