About 20 years ago, I crossed the Burmese border through the Chinese frontier town of Muse. At one of the checkpoints along the route, I heard the tap-tap-tap of a Morse code machine.
This time, flying into a new and expanded Yangon International Airport that looks like it could be anywhere, there’s access to free WiFi and I am able to get a local 4G SIM card for 3,000 kyats (about US$3).
Ask anyone and they will tell you that mobile, WiFi and access to affordable data have been the biggest game changer in this country of 54 million people in the last four to five years. It’s given the Burmese people access to all the trappings of the connected world – social media, messaging, ride-hailing, online shopping, video games, even payments in this largely cash-ruled society.
Johnnie Walker has stepped aside for Samsung. Oppo, Mi and Huawei are the new trio on the block. Cafes are popping up everywhere, with colonial buildings being re-interpreted for modern use.
Recognised for Best Adaptive Reuse by Yangon Heritage Trust, the Burma Bistro has become a must-visit much like China House in Penang. Its eclectic mix of colonial and contemporary is made for today’s breed of travellers looking for experiences. Plus, its food is not bad at all – both Burmese and Western dishes – and I particularly like the sugar cane mixes.
Another place worth visiting is Hla Day, a non-profit social enterprise retail outlet supporting local artisans. Indeed, Yangon today has all the ingredients of a weekend getaway – food, spas, shopping, culture – for urban folks living in South-east Asia looking for affordable escapes beyond the staples of Bangkok and Ho Chi Minh City.
Get on a 50-minute flight to Loikaw in Kayah state though and it feels like you are stepping back in time. Okay, not quite to the age of Morse Code – even the small provincial airport at Loikaw offers free wifi – but a couple of hours out of the main town and you’re in frontier territory of remote hills and mountain ranges, lakes and ethnic tribes, where roads have to be navigated with four-wheel drive and permits needed to enter certain territories.
With a population of around 300,000, Kayah is home to nine ethnic groups, making it the most ethnically diverse state in the country. I am told that the population is 50% Christian and 50% Buddhists so you see as many churches as pagodas in this state.
It was only recently opened to foreign tourists and the majority of travellers to make it here are from Western Europe (Italy and Spain at this time of the year, as well as Germany and France) and the US, although numbers from the latter have dwindled recently.
I’d been meaning to visit Loikaw to experience the lodge built by former Expedia executive Jens Uwe Parkitny and his wife, Swe Yi Myat. Jens, with his interest in photography and Chin tribal women, visited the town almost a decade ago when he recognised its potential – easy access to Yangon, proximity to the famous Inle Lake, interesting ethnic diversity, scenic landscapes and a frontier feel that would be attractive to intrepid travellers.
What was lacking was international quality accommodation and so they bought a plot of land by the lake to build their dream. Their 12-room Loikaw Lodge By The Lake, which took three years to build and has been operating for two years, offers an oasis of style and comfort in a space that never lets you forget you are in Myanmar. Brother-in-law is the chef who used to work in Abu Dhabi and Yangon (Governor’s Residence) and its restaurant has become the go-to place for local diners as well.
Recognising the appetite by guests for experiences, they offer day trips to tribal villages nearby. These tours are part of a Community Tourism project initiated in 2017 by the International Trade Centre (ITC), part of the Netherlands Trust Fund, to ensure local communities get involved in as well as benefit from tourism.
Local villagers get to choose what they wish to share with visitors – from jewellery-making to weaving and musical performances – and a local tour guide must be used. A percentage of fees goes towards the village fund.
In the first village of Phan Pet, about an hour outside Loikaw, we meet our host, Daw Mu Htan, belonging to the Kayan tribe known for their neck rings and silver jewellery. In her 70s, she’s the last one in her village who still knows how to make the brass rings. While there are younger women still wearing the rings, you sense this tradition will disappear as their youths become more exposed to the outside world.
In a nearby village, we learn about spinning and weaving from another Kayah grandmother who shows off the lacquered black rings round her legs. There are sub-tribes within tribes here who are identified by the different accessories they wear. These rings are made of cotton, which she spins into rings and dips into black lacquer. She wears them proudly, saying they are never removed and she’d feel incomplete without them. Again, she’s the last of her generation to make these black lacquered rings.
For a musical interlude, we pop into another house to a bamboo guitar musical performance by a husband-and-wife team who’ve been together for 70 years, they make beautiful harmony together. Again, he’s the last of his generation to make the bamboo guitars, the first time I’ve ever seen this type of musical instrument, and you’re always mindful of the fact that you’re probably witnessing a slice of disappearing history.
To finish off the tour, we have a home-cooked lunch prepared by Daw Mu Blan who shows off her ITC certificate that shows she’s successfully completed the community-based tourism management and operations training, which means she’s observed the proper hygiene standards of food preparation.
The village of Htay Kho is further away and we learnt there was a landslide the day before, and our guide Philips wasn’t sure if we could get through. But we set off anyway on the two-hour journey. This village is in what is considered “white brown” territory which means you need special permits to enter and movement is restricted. Up to a few years ago, this territory was strewn with landmines planted by the different factions but with the ceasefire, landmine clearing started. Several checkpoints mark the route, all manned by different armies.
A landslide had indeed rendered part of the road unpassable but all we had to do was wait 20 minutes while workers cleared the road right in front of our eyes, and we were off again. Htay Kho is home to the Kayaw tribe, known for wearing brass rings round their knees. Although they are largely Christian, they still practise animism and you see hunting shrines and skulls of animals hanging outside their doors.
The head hunter tells us he shot the last tiger 13 years ago and sold it for 1.3 million kyats (about US$845) to the Chinese. “The Chinese buy everything,” the villagers laugh. Today, they hunt wild boar and birds and, as wildlife disappears, some even use their muskets to shoot fish.
In the early 80s, tribal tourism was big in northern Thailand and I always felt an unease visiting these villages back then. Somehow it felt exploitative – you went in there, gawk at the villagers, took photos and left. There was little interaction with the villagers. With this Community Tourism model, there seems to be more engagement and the hosts we met seemed empowered, telling us their stories with dignity and pride. No one tried to sell us any stuff. In fact, we had to ask and often, told they had nothing ready to sell.
What was striking was the strong role women play in these communities, and they hosted us with grace, dignity and charm mixed with curiosity about us as well. Mostly, they were curious as to where I was from – there are still very few Asian travellers who get up here, the majority of visitors they get are Westerners.
You know though as change and connectivity sweep through Myanmar, these experiences as they exist today will either disappear or evolve into another form but at this moment in time, I am thankful for the privilege to still be able to experience a slice of living culture that represents ancient Asia.