theceomagazine.com | 187BEST OF BAGAN
After a day-long bike ride, or an evening balloon trip,
you will want to visit Bagan’s number one restaurant
- Sanon. A social enterprise training restaurant for
marginalised youth, our meal here was easily the best
of the trip. Opened only a year ago, it has already risen
to top position on TripAdvisor, and its first batch of
graduates are already employed.
Housed in an open-air pavilion, a welcome breeze
and incredibly friendly staff greet you as you arrive.
The atmosphere is lovely and the students incredibly
attentive and well trained; but what sets this restaurant
apart is that the food is genuinely delicious. The
soft-shell crab starter with a tangy papaya salad is
cooked to perfection, and the fish and prawn curry
has wonderfully complex and tasty flavours. This meal
alone is worth a return trip to Myanmar.
HILLS OF KALAW
We take a two-hour taxi ride to Kalaw, and along the
way watch everyday Burmese life unfold. A few
horse-drawn carriages are used to ferry tourists in some
areas, but far more are used to transport goods. Our
taxi regularly slows down for large herds of white cattle
making their way down the road, and monks wait
patiently at bus stops. The authenticity rings true here:
traditional ways of living are not put on display for
tourist dollars – this is real life.
Bursting with faux-Tudor architecture, the town of
Kalaw was founded as a hill station by the British to be
a retreat from the heat of Yangon. Today, the number
one reason for travellers to stop by is to visit the Green
Hill Valley Elephant Camp. It is not an exaggeration to
say that we are in Myanmar for just this experience. My
animal-obsessed partner was delighted to discover that
this ‘retirement home’ for elephants was a sanctuary,
and not a place where the elephants were forced to
perform tricks for tourists or give them rides. Privately
owned, 100 per cent of profits from this social
enterprise go back into taking care of the elephants,
and community projects such as tree replanting and
sustainability education for local children.
BATHING GENTLE GIANTS
In our small group of four, we approach the first group of elephants with
our hands full of pumpkin and wheatgerm. Their trunks hungrily reach
for the food, and we gradually learn how to feed them directly into their
mouths – their large pink tongues swallowing the food whole. Elephants
eat six to 12 per cent of their body weight, up to 180 kilograms of food a
day, and we hang out for a few hours making sure we don’t play favourites
and all get their turn.
Feeding time is not limited, but we are looking forward to having a
‘bath’ with our new friends. Elephants don’t have sweat glands, so they
must bathe multiple times a day to keep cool, and we wade in with them.
Being this close, looking into the gentle eyes of this beautiful creature, I am
taken aback at how lucky we are; how rare and beautiful this experience is.
Myanmar is a unique and wondrous place that is much more than why
it makes it into the international news headlines. It is not perfect, but
whether you travel by boat, road or hot-air balloon, you won’t regret a visit
to this golden land.TRADITIONAL WAYS
OF LIVING ARE NOT
PUT ON DISPLAY FOR
TOURIST DOLLARS.
THIS IS REAL LIFE.
Travel | INDULGE