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Burma Chindits March 2008
by Mike Bradley, Tour Guide
Poppy Travel takes regular Pilgrimages to Burma and in March we returned to the area where the Chindits operated against the Japanese in 1943 and 1944. This tour is one of the flagships in our programme and goes to the north-east of Burma where few Europeans ever go, and you can see life as it really is.
It was an interesting time to visit Burma, after the riots of the previous October and before the disastrous typhoon in 2008. There was little indication on the surface of the unrest in the country and life seemed to be back to normal in Rangoon.
Amongst the great group of people on our tour were two Chindit Veterans, one almost 99 years old and the other a survivor of the notorious Rangoon jail. It was a great privilege to travel with these two gentlemen, who not only survived the war, but are also living a normal life.
We flew to Myitkyina near the Chinese border, and after a day of looking at life in a market town on the Irawaddy River, we climbed aboard our own private train for a two-day expedition to Mandalay. This train was very basic in terms of washing, feeding and sleeping facilities, but rich in local culture and scenery as we wound through the jungles and villages of northern Burma, visiting Chindit bases and actions en route.
It has to be one of the train journeys of the world but totally without the normal luxuries. Other places we visited included Mogaung and White City, and we stood on the ground where two VCs were earned in the battles of 1944. At White City a widow scattered the ashes of her late Chindit husband, clearly demonstrating our mission of Remembrance.
After the great train journey, we enjoyed the luxury of a bath and sheets in Mandalay, before setting out for the hill station of Maymyo on the original Burma Road to China. Several thousand feet above the low lying valley of the Irawaddy, it is a fascinating old colonial town, with many old buildings remaining including the Anglican church and our hotel, originally a colonial house and located near a beautiful tropical park.
From there it was a visit to the famous bridges across the great river followed by looking at local industry and handicraft work, which made one realise how much people here work for so little reward. But it was good to see that the markets were full of produce and there was abundant water for all, so the basics of survival were very evident even for the poorest of families. The Chinese influence is very apparent wherever we travelled.
The tour ended with visits to the Military Cemeteries and the main tourist attractions in and around Rangoon - the Shwedagon Pagoda, the Anglican Cathedral and Scotts Market.
Then finally the long but comfortable flight home via Bangkok, savouring the memories of a wonderful country with very friendly people but not forgetting that over 35,000 servicemen from the Commonwealth are either buried or commemorated in three beautiful cemeteries at Taukkyan, Rangoon, and Thanbyuzayat.
Poppy Travel will be returning to Rangoon in November this year for Remembrance Sunday and also for another tour to the Arakan next spring.