Bummin' in Burma! Pt 2

The Isle of Fog!

We awoke to our first morning in Banmauk camp and opened the doors of our lodge to the crisp dawn air. Stepping outside we saw the valleys filled with fog, creating the illusion of a giant lake with the mountain tops as islands.  With grumbling stomachs, we decided to see what we could make for breakfast.  Our common area featured a fridge full of apples, a few cans of beans and other assorted vegetables.  The table next to it had a small stove cooker, microwave and toaster.  There were also some boxes and we opened them to find several loaves of bread!  I had been told by Cheyenne to bring snacks with me from Canada, and along with a load of Nature Valley granola bars, I had brought a jar of Nutella.  So our first breakfast consisted of Nutella-spread bread, definitely a throwback to my travels on the roads of Australia!

Jerry decided our first order of business should be obtaining the GPS coordinates of the shafts and adits for a project map.  So we set out with the team and travelled to each of the adits we had visited the day before.  Again we saw the wooden beam supported entrances of the adits, and the piles of rocks blasted and brought from within.  It seemed that no geophysics had been done on the area, meaning that the areas that the company had blasted into were just guesswork or had been historical sightings.  They had blasted into the hillside until they hit a quartz vein (the host of the gold they sought), and then went about following the quartz vein until it petered out. 

Each adit was seen to by a team of labourers who stayed in the villages around the mine, and a mining engineer who would live right next to the adit, often with his family, in what I can only describe as a shanty house.  It was scaffolding on a wooden frame, with tarps strung up to covers the holes.  I was not impressed at the standard of living here for the Burmese workers.

Dyno-mite!!

Even more disconcerting was the safety conditions around hazardous material.  One of the first adits was being supervised by two labourers who were busy smoking out of bamboo bongs when we arrived, sitting next to an oil drum filled with cyanide that was being used to leach out the gold from the rock.  At a separate adit, a worker was packing and stacking dynamite while sitting next to a fire!

We returned to the camp for lunch, a daily occurrence and a luxury I had not enjoyed previously at an exploration camp.  We sat down and were treated to more rice!  It seemed that the Asian diet was centred around this important grain, and that our meals would all look very much alike.  Quite a change from sandwiches and snacks!

After a full day of surveying, we returned again to the camp.  Jerry set about transferring the GPS data, giving Cheyenne and myself a chance to watch the sunset and talk.  It turns out Cheyenne had been working for Eternal for the past 6 months at one of their other sites, Whet Thay.  Surprisingly, she (and Jerry) had previously worked with Victoria Stinson, my friend and TA from Lakehead University!

The next day we decided that it would be best to enter the adits to see what had been mined.  We strolled over to the first adit, hardhats on and flashlights in hand.  We were joined by a team of Burmese, led by Puew Buu Wynn (a young geologist) and three students, one of which was studying to be a lawyer!

The sound of chanting could be heard as we approached the adit entrance, and we paused to see a laptop playing a video of Burmese monks leading a chorus of chants.  It was an eerie start to the morning. 

We entered the drift, our lights piercing the darkness of the adit.  The walls were damp and dirtied from the blasting, but we were able to make out certain quartz veins as we made our way along the 650 ft drift.  We were not very impressed with this certain adit, so we asked them to lead us to the one with the best results.

Quartz Vein!

This next adit was definitely more impressive.  About thirty metres along the drift we came upon a huge quartz vein, at least two to three metres thick!  It dipped at angle and had been mined out accordingly with opposing drifts leading up and down from the main one.  We continued through the down dip direction of the vein till we reached its end, punctured by a vertical shaft from the surface above.  Water flowed down from the wooden beams of the shafts, and as Cheyenne walked towards it, a beam fell in front of her, the force of which would have easily knocked her out.  We were all understandably rattled.

Dan Tai playing Corners!

As we drove towards the camp, Ouu La Myien Sou recommended going to the tea shop.  We took another road and ended up at a roadside shop attended by a family.  They ushered us towards our seats and brought us a complementary pot of Yeay Nuay, as well as taking our orders for coffee or tea, which turned out to come in premixed packets that were poured into hot water.  We indulged in our hot drinks as our team of junior geos played a table game that I thought was similar to corners.  Ouu La Myien Sou was quite a character and shared stories of his time working for Newmont and of all the foreign geologists he had met.  He was always smiling and full of jokes, definitely reminding me of a kid at heart.

Back at the camp we poured over our available resources, which were not much.  We were starting from scratch for this project so we thought we would start by mapping the adits. At this point I should probably mention that underground mapping was not what I was hired to do.  I had signed on to the project with the understanding that I would be surface mapping.  Well, there weren’t many visible outcrops above ground, as a thick overburden covered the bedrock in the project area.  I had never mapped underground before and the experience was unsettling to say the least.

The Team!

Cheyenne and I set off the next day to get a handle on the geology of the adit while the juniors went about mapping the outline of the drifts.  Cheyenne was an excellent geologist and an excellent partner to have while in the adits.  She was full of stories and laughs, and I enjoyed her company.  We spent the day familiarizing ourselves with the various drifts and marking samples to take later.  We gathered our juniors, and as we exited the drift, an air pipe burst beside us, releasing a loud burst that sent us all running for the exit!

Back at the camp, I began to structure my nights.  I came up with an exercise routine that I followed everyday.  Might as well keep fit!  I also had my laptop with me so I began a new TV series, picking up Sons of Anarchy as I had heard great things about the show.  I also had bought a Kobo eReader before leaving home and had packed it full of interesting books. 

We continued our daily routines of mapping and sampling for most of the next week.  The office had been completed and internet was installed, although it was incredibly slow!  It was great to contact our families though after so long, I’m sure my mum was fretting!  Cheyenne and I would venture into the field every day while Jerry remained at camp to compile the data and work on building a map with his GIS software.  He had also managed to obtain the help of one of the Burmese office workers who spoke decent English.  This workers name was difficult to grasp for Jerry, but it sounded like T9 (the trusty cell phone word-generator of the past) so the name stuck.  The juniors had become skilled at their tasks and we were all churning out results.  Rice was still our main course at lunch and dinner but the varied side dishes made it work. 

It was then that Tom came to the camp to visit.  He brought several more maps with him, along with another senior geologist from Eternal, and spent two days surveying the adits and our work.  He also changed our rotations so that we would be staggered here at camp.  Instead of working six weeks before returning to Canada for my two-week break, my first rotation would be five weeks, and Cheyenne’s would be four.  We also went on an extended tour with them, driving through several small villages.  While passing one such village, we waved to a group of young children playing in their yard.  They all stopped, mouths open wide in astonishment at the sight of two white people and a black man driving with several Burmese.  One kid almost fell out of a tree he was playing in!

And so the work continued.  Jerry, Cheyenne and I would wake and share breakfast together cooking eggs and toast (the Nutella only lasted a week, but luckily they bought peanut butter for us!), and then Cheyenne and I would go mapping and sampling in the adits.  What at first was a weird and eerie experience, transitioned into an everyday sort of life for me down in the adits.  It helped that I had chatty Cheyenne to keep me company!  I also got to know the juniors a bit better and we started learning words from eachother. For instance, ‘Minglabba’ meant hello but could be used as a greeting for whenever, ‘Chayzu ting matay’ meant thank you, ‘Sa day’ meant I’m hungry, and ‘Ya’ meant stop.  Down in the adits, I learned how to ask for certain items like rulers and pencils, and command actions like go and wait (‘thwa’ and ‘ca na ley’), and locations like here and over there (‘deema’ and ‘ohma’).  

Cheyenne, the crew, and I!

The juniors would often refer to me as their big brother (‘Ako gee’) and Cheyenne would call the girls in the kitchen little sisters (‘Nee ma ley’), which would send them into fits of glee and laughter.  Both the women and younger men would often wear a make-up known as Thanaka made from the wood of several trees.  They would smear this beige cream over their face in swirls or lines in order to increase attractiveness, much like the make-up women use here in the Western world.  They also had a strange snack that consisted of folding a leaf around a paste and crushed beetle nuts, and sticking it under your lip, much like tobacco dip.  Unfortunately, it had the side effect of staining their teeth blood red!

Beetle Nut Snack!

While we had limited interaction with the females at camp, we were completely immersed with the juniors.  One of whom (Soe Thu) had become quite attached to me, especially in the underground caverns where we made laser sounds to pass the time and bridge the language barrier.  The juniors also pointed out many scary insects underground and we were fortunate to see a baby bat fluttering around in the darkness!

It was going on four weeks when we learned that the Chairman of Eternal was coming to visit the camp.  We did not learn this through a verbal explanation however, but by observation.  We sat outside our lodge one night, lounging on bamboo deck chairs and looking up at Orion our protector in the night sky, when the camp sprung into motion.  Trucks began to go back and forth from the kitchen to the Chairman’s house, carrying items and construction crews.  Many of the kitchen girls were up at the house cleaning away and the TV that had been in the eating hall was moved up to the Chairman’s house.  Someone important was on their way.

Jerry, the Chairman, and Myself!

The Chairman arrived the next day and was treated by everyone at camp with an intense respect and reverence.  He was of short stature and did not speak any English, but we were told that he was very rich and very well connected with the current Myanmar government.  We were introduced to him, but did not have the chance to interact with him much until dinner. 

The tables had been covered in a royal red table cloth and rearranged, with the Chairman sitting at a head table to himself and two tables arranged perpendicular to his seating the mining engineers and the exploration crew.  I got the impression that it was like sitting at a royal banquet of sorts. It was here that I had my first beer in Burmas, aptly named ‘Myanmar’.  It had a strong taste and was quite enjoyable, enough so that they forced two large bottles on me!

Many jokes were shared over dinner, some more serious and awkward than others, and the Chairman talked to each of us, outlining what his hopes were for the project.  Pointed questions were asked at times and we struggled to answer them when addressed to us.

Cheyenne left the next day, leaving Jerry and I to fend for ourselves.  She had been an instrumental member of the team, not just because of her geological experience but because of her ability to speak the Myanmar language (or at least understand it much better than Jerry and myself!).  She was to spend a week in Thailand before coming back to camp, but we would miss each other as I would be out on my break as she was returning.

Jerry and the Rice!

The next week went by fast as Jerry and I compiled the data and whipped our maps into shape.  We were also invited to take part in a small festival where we helped the villagers stir large bowls of rice over a fire in order to create sticky rice!

And then came the day for me to leave camp.

My driver came for me at 7:15am and I tossed my small pack into the back, leaving most of my equipment in my room.  It was a long and bumpy ride back to Mandalay, filled with bewildered gazes from the local people.  I wondered how many other white people were in Myanmar!

Mandalay Hill!

It was 3pm when we reached Mandalay and I got my first view of the city.  Mandalay contained no skyscrapers and no gleaming glass buildings, and was more a large town than a city.  Its streets were populated by vendors of all sorts and filled with a steady stream of cars, bikes and motorcycles.  After checking in at my hotel, the driver took me up to Mandalay Hill, a natural high in the area that featured the large ‘Su Taung Pyi’ pagoda, which translated to ‘Pagoda of Wish Granting’.  It was constructed in the year 1052 by King Anawratha and has been used as a watchtower as well as a place of worship. 

The Chinthe!

As we drove up, we were greeted by the Chinthe, two immense Dragon-Lion statues guarding the windy and precarious path ahead.  Upon entering the temple, we removed our shoes and made our way up to the viewing platform.  Stepping out into the open air of the top floor of the pagoda, I was treated to a spectacular view of Mandalay city and the surrounding area.  I could see the walled fortress and Royal palace, as well as the distant Shan Hills.  I began my walk around the platform, taking in the various gold-plated statues and tile murals that adorned the walls within.  I was told by my Burmese companion that Buddha himself had climbed Mandalay Hill in the days before the tower.  He prophesied that a great city would be founded below the hill, pointing to the location where Mandalay now sits. 

Su Taung Pyi Pagoda!

Once back at my hotel, I decided that I needed to go explore the city!  I spent my evening walking around the streets and checking out the various vendors.  I still received looks from the locals, but there were a few other white people around so I was not as alien as I had been before.

The next day I was to leave for Thailand, and my companion came to pick me up.  Since we had a few hours before my flight, he took me to the Mahamuni pagoda.   

Mahamuni Pagoda

This temple (meaning ‘Great Sage’) holds a large statue of Buddha made during his lifetime.  It is said that there are only five such likenesses of Buddha; two in India, two in paradise and the Mahamuni in Mandalay.  The temple itself was both beautiful and large, with a fountain pool and garden just outside.  It featured several prayer rooms and historical artifacts, and of course the Mahamuni was at the centre.  Lines of Burmese knelt before the gold statue of the Buddha and I was invited to do the same.  I was then led up to the statue itself and was allowed to press several stickers of gold paint onto it.  

Da Buddha!

It was quite a transcending experience pressing the paint onto the Buddha along with several other locals as I knew that I was entering a tradition that was both ancient and a sign of respect.  It left me with the impression of being part of something bigger, and that we are all to play a part in this physical plane with responsibilities and honours that we should embrace.

After touring the pagoda and being the smiling white man in the photos of several excited Burmese, we returned to the car and made it to the airport where I said my goodbyes.  I would hopefully be returning to Myanmar for my next rotation in two weeks time.

It was short flight to Bangkok, and I quickly jumped in a taxi to my hotel, the Crystal Palace Suites.  I had been recommended to check out several markets in the city but I was located near the airport and the drive would have taken up much of my afternoon so I explored around my area.  I happened upon a market near a local mall and browsed the stalls.  Talking to the vendors, I learned a bit about the revolution that was happening in the capital.  There was a clash between classes occurring, and an effort to oust the current prime minister.  I was shown several videos uploaded on facebook of these riots and the violence that had occurred.

The next morning I embarked on my journey home, connecting through Tokyo and Toronto before arriving safely in Thunder Bay and the cold embrace of winter.  I began my two week break but was severely exhausted due to the time change.  It was a few days later when I received the bad news from Tom and the company. 

The Chairman had decided to shut down Eternal’s exploration operations and send the expats packing.  It came as a surprise as nothing had been said to us before my departure, and I still had all my equipment there!  Cheyenne had just arrived back at camp, but she too left with Jerry.  However, she decided to stay in Asia and travel.  I would have liked to do the same if I had been given the opportunity as I had high hopes of visiting my friend Nick in Chang Mai!

And so ends my chapter as a geologist in Burma.  I look back fondly at my time there but to be honest, there was a lot about the conditions of the job that worried me. I would have liked to see more of Burma, perhaps one day I will visit the country again. Two months later I received my suitcase from the company, which I am definitely grateful for.

I am now embarking on another geological journey, but one much closer to home.  Perhaps I will fill you in at a later time!

Back to Bummin' in Burma Part 1!