Day 77: Bangkok

And at the end of Round 1, it's KENDYL AND ROB 1, MYANMAR GOVERNMENT 0!

That’s right, folks. We’ve scored a rare victory over the evil junta. Here’s the deal:

Two weeks ago, we arrived in Bangkok and went directly to the Myanmar Embassy to apply for tourist visas. The usual turnaround time is 1-2 days, but given recent events we assumed things could be slower. Sure enough, we were told that all visa applications must be sent back to Yangon for approval, and that the process would take 1-2 weeks, and that the embassy would call us when (if) the approval was granted.

Being idiots, we believed the story and went up to Chiang Mai to do some rock climbing (and a little background research) to pass the time. We also made a side trip to Mae Sot, on the Burmese border, so that Kendyl could interview a couple people who are involved in Burmese activism/NGOs.

But the point is that we didn’t stay in Bangkok and pester the embassy to give us visas. We just planned to wait patiently until they called us. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Having heard nothing from the embassy as of last night, we flew back to Bangkok this morning (Friday) for a last-ditch effort at securing the visas, but our hopes were anything but high. But when we arrived at the embassy and asked about our visas, we didn’t get the automatic “Not ready yet” that we expected. Instead, the visa officer pulled out our forms (which, crisp and untouched, had seemingly not been sent back to Yangon), said something to his colleagues in Burmese, and told us to come back in an hour.

Trying (unsuccessfully) not to get our hopes up, we went to a restaurant down the road and stuffed red curry down our throats between exclamations of “Are we seriously going to get visas?” and “Wait, how long have our visas been approved?” and “Do they really believe that I work at Morgan Stanley and that you’re an English grad student?”

We went back to the embassy after lunch hour (because given the amount of effort these guys put into their jobs, they totally deserve a full hour for lunch), and after waiting in line (again) for a while, we were suddenly asked to pay for our visas. “That will be 1,620 baht, please.” “DONE!”

Too good to be true? Absolutely. The catch: “OK, you come pick your visa up after 3pm Tuesday.”

“WHAT? What are you talking about? We’ve just waited two weeks! Why can’t we get it today?”

“Visa processing time is three days.”

“Right, so the two weeks we just waited, what was that?”

(No answer.)

“But we have a flight in the morning (blatant lie)! We can’t wait until Tuesday for a visa! Besides, we go back to the United States on Tuesday (partially true), so this is our only chance to visit Burma, err, I mean, Myanmar!”

“I’m sorry; it’s not possible.”

“Is there some express processing fee we can pay?”

“I’m sorry; it’s not possible.”

“Can we talk to someone else about this? Please—we’d very much like to visit your country.”

“OK, you sit down, someone comes down from upstairs to talk to you.”

(One hour later)

“I’m sorry, but there’s really nothing we can do. This is our policy.”

“But we have plane tickets for tomorrow, and we’ve already been waiting two weeks… can’t you make an exception?”

“No, I’m sorry.”

“OK, then we need our visa application fee back.”

“What?”

“Tuesday is too late. If we can’t get our visa today, we can’t visit Myanmar. So either give us our visas, or give us our money back.”

(Ooooo, looks like somebody struck a nerve.)

“You sit down, we let you know.”

(Half hour later)

“For getting visa today, you must pay extra fee of 450 baht.”

“DONE!”

Victorious, we paraded down the street to the nearest travel agency and bought plane tickets to Yangon for the following morning.

Did our visa forms ever get sent to Yangon? Probably not. Was the whole story about sending applications back to Yangon just a stall technique that the junta used to keep foreigners out of the country until things calmed down? Probably so. But at this point, we don’t care. We’re going.

So what exactly will we be doing in Yangon, you ask? Well, we (read: Kendyl) have managed to make quite a few contacts while in Thailand, and through those connections it sounds like we’ll get to meet/interview various members of the Burmese resistance movement, some of whom have been involved in the recent protests. But that’s off the record, of course. On the record, we’re idiot-American tourists who have no idea what a junta is, and who just want to see the sights in Yangon. It’s a workable guise, I think, given that I often resemble an idiot without even trying. Kendyl, on the other hand, might have to do some acting.

Wish us luck. We may have won the first round, but you can count on the junta coming back with a vengeance in Round Two.