SI MONTHLY NEWS June 2006 Host report
From SI Exco News
Greetings from Myanmar.
In late 2004 Myanmar was first added to the long list
of countries with resident SERVAS hosts. My family
and I have met a wide variety of SERVAS travelers
since that time, and recently I reflected on our past
year of SERVAS visits.
I am a teacher in Yangon with two teenage children, and live with my mother and brother in the type of extended family dwelling that is common in my country. Up to the recent past, overnight visitors have not been allowed in Myanmar homes, and for that reason we registered as day hosts. In fact, as it turned out, a SERVAS traveler did spend a night at our home, and another "Burmese enthusiast" friend of a SERVAS traveler spent about six.
Our first SERVAS visitors were a German couple. They made an appointment with my mom and walked up to our house on the way back from Shwe Dagon Pagoda. We served them supper that evening, I was sad to miss this as I was working late at school that night, and arrived home shortly before my Mom had our driver take them back to their Hotel. But all was not lost as they were a wonderful introduction to SERVAS encounters for my Mom, who enjoyed entertaining our visitors. After I had a short but pleasant chat, my Mom arranged to show them more of Yangon on the next day.
We were surprised by them on their last day in Yangon, when they directed the taxi driver that was taking them to the airport to stop by our house. They left us some gifts, including the Lonely Planet book that we had not previously seen, and is an amusing and fascinating read for a Myanmar native.
Siriporn from Thailand is the SERVAS secretary for her country, and it was through her that I had first registered as a SERVAS traveler, and then as a host. When Siriporn first visited Myanmar, we briefly met at the Shwe Dagon Pagoda, but she could not make a visit to our house as her schedule was too tight. Nevertheless, when she came for her second visit to Myanmar, she stayed at our house for a night and toured meditation centers and Scott Market. We had a chance to learn a lot more about SERVAS during her visit.
We also hosted Maria, a friend of a Danish SERVAS host that contacted me when I was working as a guest teacher at a Danish Efterskole in 2005. The Danish SERVAS host had seen a letter about my visit in the SERVAS newsletter and told Maria, as she knew Maria had often visited Myanmar and would be most interested in meeting me when I was in her country. Without me ever meeting Maria's SERVAS friend, Maria hosted me in Denmark, and has since stayed with us in Yangon on 3 occasions. Maria was a wonderful host and visitor, so curious about our culture and so generous with help when I was in Denmark.
Our next visitor was a solo American traveler. He left a message on our phone when he arrived, and my Mom and I met him at his hotel and took him to a local Indian restaurant for dinner. With an intense interest in world politics, he was an excellent talker with many ideas on each countries sovereignty and the principles of non intervention in others affairs. Then we took him to the river side near Botahtaung Pagoda and back to his hotel. The next day, he came to our house, which is very convenient to drop in, being quite near to Shwe Dagon Pagoda. We went to a nice clean restaurant where we could get Burmese food for dinner. He was widely traveled, and had spent many years in Taiwan. He startled our neighboring Chinese diners at the local restaurant when he engaged them in animated discussion in their native tongue! We had a very nice chat and I could see that he had many different opinions and a way of thinking, unlike any other US guys I have ever met. This wide range of ideas is one of the factors that makes SERVAS so attractive to my family.
Gabriele and Peter, another German couple, have been our most recent visitors. They came to our house for lunch on the second day of their trip. Then they went North to see the country and my Mom made Hotel reservations for them in Inle Lake and for when they would return to Yangon. On return I and my mom took them to dinner for Myanmar food, which Peter enjoyed a lot. The next day, my Mom escorted them to a meditation centre and several interesting places. They were very nice and we shared our ideas and thoughts of our different societies and cultures.
We know that we will never get a large number of SERVAS travelers in Yangon; who would get a travel paper when there is only one host in a country - but we have really enjoyed meeting the people that have contacted us, and hope to meet more over the coming years. Most travelers find Myanmar a picturesque and very welcoming country, and the chance to meet a local SERVAS host is possibly an extra added bonus.
Soung Sandar Aung, Yangon, Myanmar
