The main factors are political and the rigid system of government imposed by the military junta who seized power in 1962 after a successful coup. The then democratically elected government was ousted and the coup leaders chose to advance its own brand of socialism as a way forward. It eschewed foreign economic aids and would only accept selective outside investments which the country badly needed in order to safeguard its national integrity and to strive for self-reliance as the route to national development, having suffered the indignity and exploitation as a British colony previously. This policy led to severe curtailment of basic human rights and those who opposed the excesses of the military dictatorship were arbitrarily arrested and imprisoned without a fair trial. This culminated in the decade long detention of the nationally popular Aung San Suu Kyi after she and her party won a landslide victory against candidates favoured by the ruling junta but was disallowed to take office. The military dictatorship continued to hold sway. This led to economic sanctions imposed by the United States, the European Union and Canada, which are still in force. The result was that the country’s economy has stagnated and foreign investments in government approved projects were few and far between. Tourism became an obvious victim as most Western governments discouraged their nationals from going there in protest of Myanmar’s deteriorating human rights record and continuing detention of Suu Kyi and other dissidents.

However, with the release of Aung San Suu Kyi in November last year, more foreign tourists are beginning to travel to Myanmar once again, I am confident that with significantly more tourist arrivals expected in the coming years, both domestic and foreign entrepreneurs will pour in more financial resources to enhance the tourism amenities and facilities in order to cater to an expanding international tourist market, which is an important revenue earner in both developed and developing countries. For the record, Myanmar’s current tourist arrivals number a little over half a million, which pale compared with that of Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and tiny Singapore.

My wife and I first visited Yangon, Myanmar’s capital, ten years ago. We spent only three days there and did not go beyond it due to time factor. However, we managed to see all the principal sights there, including, of course, the world-famous Shedagon Pagoda, the nation’s premier pagoda and the main reason for coming to this city. In early this year, my wife and I, accompanied by our eldest son CT, spent nine days in Myanmar, primarily to see the internationally renowned Mandalay and Bagan cities. It was our son’s birthday present to his beloved mother. He did all the planning, what to see and making sure that it would be a memorable holiday that we will cherish for years to come. We stayed in good hotels, hiring a car with a guide throughout our stay and they cost less than in other Southeast Asian countries. The driver and guide were really professional and competent and they served us well. However, despite being the late winter month of February the average daily noon temperature was in the 30s celsius but became more comfortable later in the afternoon and crisp and cool at night. So we did all our sightseeing  in early morning and  in late afternoon in order to escape the heat, and resting in the cool comfort of our hotel rooms in between the day’s sightseeing. This arrangement worked out perfectly for us.

We made a return visit to Shedagon Pagoda, which has eight strands of Lord Buddha’s hairs enshrined in its treasure chamber and it is believed  to be more than two thousand years old. It glitters day and night with its layer upon layer of pure gold leafs and numerous precious gem stones that have been set onto its exterior over the centuries. The funds for these came from Burmese from all walks of life. A fresh layer of  pure gold leaf is added to this pagoda every seven years, Other prominent pagodas throughout the country, including those in Mandalay and Bagan too, have their pagodas plastered with layers of pure gold. Our guide explained that by doing merit this way to honour Buddha, by praying fervently at a pagoda or temple regularly and by living the tenets of Buddhism in everyday life, a devotee hopes that he or she will have a better next life when reincarnated. Buddhism believes a human being has multiple lives through reincarnation. What your next life will be is dependent on how you have lived your present one. This is what devotees come to Shedagon to pray for, not to have more wealth and a more comfortable life now. It was a moving spiritual experience to walk the grounds of the pagoda barefooted, witnessing how seriously and deferentially these devotees of all ages pray, many with offerings of fruits and flowers besides making cash donations. There are many pavilions and buildings around the pagoda illustrating the life of Buddha, the tenets of his teachings, meeting and exhibition rooms as well as a kind of museum which showcases Buddhist artifacts and other relics donated to Shedagon over a long period.

Our next stop was a tour of the city area which has many colonial buildings as well as other interesting local Burmese landmarks. I noticed that the Yangon downtown had not changed much in appearance since our last visit, apart from some new office and residential structures. What has changed is the proliferation of motor vehicles, including motor scooters, with hardly any bicycles in sight. This is a sign of economic progress. However, despite traffic jams at major roads at peak hours, motorists were disciplined and hardly anyone was seen honking impatiently as is common in other Southeast Asian cities. There is a busy Chinatown and indian quarter at the fringes of the adjoining city area, which add colour and vibrancy to the city landscape.

We rounded up our 24-hour stay in Yangon by driving slowly past the much photographed Aung San Suu Kyi house in University Avenue with its instantly recognisable tall red gate with spikes. It was right behind this gate that this heroic freedom fighter would mount a stool to address her large crowds of supporters on the rare occasions permitted by her captors to do so during her detention there and again when she gained her freedom on November 13 last year. In our previous visit to Yangon, the street where her house is, was closed to traffic and guarded by policemen. Only authorised vehicles were allowed entry into that street.

We flew to Mandalay, the second largest city in Myanmar, which was a 90-minute’s flight from Yangon, with a half hour stopover in Heho to drop and pick up passengers to and from the famed resort of Inle lake. Mandalay was the old capital of Myanmar. Like Bagan, Mandalay too has numerous grand pagodas and temples and is the second most visited city after Bagan. We decided to see only the best of these there, and to sample other sights for which it takes precedence over its closest rival. I shall share with readers four of these. Our first stop was the Maha Gan Dayone Monastery, noted for its training and religious nurturing of young novice monks. A monk’s life there is spartan and demanding. The daily routine for them is to rise at dawn and then go out in small groups to beg for elms with their begging bowls. The nearby villagers would gladly serve them rice as this would gain them merit. They will then return to their monastery to eat a hearty vegetarian meal, donated by devotees and cooked by regular teams of volunteers. The food must be consumed before noon and no more food will be allowed until the next morning. The rest of the day will be devoted to religious learning, prayers and household chores that will be assigned them. When the time for ordination as a full-fledged monk nears, each novice monk must decide if such a demanding religious lifestyle will suit them for life and their ability and self-will to endure it. The guide told us that failure rates are not high but growing. Their parents will deem it a great honour if their sons succeeded in their monkhood. A short walk from the monastery into U Pein Village, where life had hardly changed in the past two hundred years, is the famous longest teak bridge of centuries old vintage. It is about 200 meters long spanning the river and rice fields on its banks. We walked on it to marvel at its fine workmanship and its superb condition after such a long usage.

A short car ride away is the unfinished Mingun Pagoda, situated on the flat bank of the renowned Ayeyarwaddy River, the life blood of Myanmar.  The 170-meter high pagoda was commissioned by King Bodawpay but he died in 1819, leaving the pagoda uncompleted. Our son climbed up the numerous steps to the top and was rewarded with a panoramic vista of the surrounding countryside and the scattered Buddhist monuments and relics. The Bell of Mingun is the biggest bronze bell in the world weighing 90 tons and would have been installed at the pagoda. To round-up our three-day adventure in ancient Mandalay, two other must-see sights are briefly mentioned. A leisurely climb up by steps to Mandalay Hill, the highest point of this city, is an exhilarating experience. The reward is a 360-degree vista of the whole city below us and some of the important landmarks are clearly visible. This is best done at sunset to watch the setting sun slowly disappearing beneath the distant horizon. On our last day there we toured Kuthodaw Pagoda to see hundreds of the Buddhist sutra elegantly and painstakingly inscribed by the monks on identical pristine white marble slabs in the form of a book. This was surely a labour of deep love and devotion and what an awesome sight to behold! It was a fitting end of our short but delightful stay in Mandalay.

The flight from Mandalay to Bagan took only half an hour. As we were about to land we could already see many clusters of pagodas and temples scattered over a vast expanse of a rather flat landscape. To call Bagan a city is a misnomer as it has only several rather small townships, with numerous villages  under their jurisdiction. All these towns have just one unimpressive main street and some shops and provision stores and a couple of simple eating places catering to the needs of local inhabitants. The many hotels and restaurants are patronised by tourists who are there to marvel at the pagodas, temples, monasteries and other Buddhist monuments that this famed city has to offer.

Bagan City covers an area of 78 sq km and in its heyday between the 11th and 13th centuries, it was a thriving Buddhist kingdom and trading centre with a population of about 300,000 people. Led by its successive kings and nobility, and other wealthy people, more than 5000 pagodas, temples, monasteries and other religious monuments had been constructed. The devotees had these religious structures built so that they would earn merit leading, hopefully, to their escaping the cycle of reincarnations and ultimately attain nibbana, the Buddhist paradise of enlightenment. The Buddhists in Myanmar believe that erecting a pagoda is the highest manifestation of religious merit. Consequently, countless pagodas are spread around the whole country, more than in other leading Buddhist countries like China, Japan, Thailand and Cambodia. This is testimony of the deep faith and devotion of their people to their religion. In nowhere else are there more pagodas and other Buddhist monuments than in tiny Bagan, which had more than 5000 of these during its heyday. It therefore deserves to be called The Land of Golden Pagodas. Unfortunately much of these religious places were destroyed in a disastrous earthquake in 1975 and due to other causes. Nonetheless more than 2500 of them have survived the calamity to remind posterity of their glorious past and for the benefit of mankind.

As there was so much to see and so little time to do it, we instructed the guide to show us at our own leisurely pace only the best of the best that Bagan has to offer. The plan was to see up to four sites each day and no more than sixteen in all during our stay there. Our first destination was the architecturally striking Ananda Temple built by King Kyansittha in 1091. It is one of the most beautiful structures and the most famous pagoda temple in Bagan. Stupendous in size and area, its compounds have numerous pavilions on all sides, all are beautifully painted with religious themes concerning Buddha’s life and teachings. As in other large temples there it is topped by an imposingly tall golden pagoda. The interior of the cavernous main temple buildings have numerous ancient fresco paintings, Buddha statues in various manifestations in niches as well as sandstone carvings. One of these carvings depicting the nativity Scene (Queen Maya giving birth to Prince Siddatha, the future Buddha) is considered the work of art of unrivalled artistry. The most admired of all Buddha statues in this 11th century temple is a wooden statue of a standing Buddha just inside the main entrance to the temple. Measuring 9.5 metres tall and exquisitely crafted so as to show the different facial expressions of Buddha, viewed from different angles. Many devotees will automatically kneel before the statue in deep prayers throughout its opening hours.

Another temple worthy of special mention but presents a more austere appearance is Mahabodhi Pagoda, built by King Htilominlo in 1215. It is similar in architectural style to the Mahabodhi Pagoda in Bodhgaya in Bihar State, India. Its most distinctive feature is the Pyramid-shaped spire which seems to be reaching to the blue sky above it. Another unusual feature is the 450 beautifully crafted and identical sized Buddha statues which are embedded in niches on all four sides of this architectural wonder. Unlike the other well-known pagodas in Bagan, this pagoda is less attention catching as it is not plastered with pure gold in keeping with its Indian influence.

After a day of satisfying sightseeing, it was time to have a relaxing open-air poolside dinner at our hotel and to admire the small cluster of 12th century  pagodas and temples just a short distance from the hotel boundary, and their silhouette under the moonlight and starry blue sky enhanced their magical timeless beauty. The next morning our son got up very early to explore these relics. Some were so small that they could only accommodate between two and four people praying in there.

The days that followed were also filled with excitement and anticipation as we toured several other pagodas and temples of different vintages and different architectural styles and historical developments. The most impressive of them all was the regal and majestic Shwezigon Pagoda, which was commissioned by the rich and powerful King Anawrahta and was completed by his successor, who also built the even more famous Ananda Temple in 1091, in 1077. It is the most gold embedded pagoda in this city of stupendous pagodas. It glitters day and night like a beacon on the Bagan plains. Among its many treasures and artifacts are four superbly crafted standing Buddha which enhance the four sumptuously appointed palace like pavilions surrounding this magnificent pagoda. One other more modestly built 11th century pagoda, Shwesandaw Paya, bears special mention. Surrounded by a group of other smaller pagodas and temples in a rural scenery, its chief claim to fame is  that it is said to contain holy relics of Buddha. It sits on a rectangular stone base supported by five large stone terraces which are reachable by flights of steps. It is one of the best places to take in the breathtaking view of the peaceful countryside and the graceful sight of the setting sun. Our son made the arduous climb to the top terrace to view these and his efforts were amply rewarded. It made his day.

After a tiring but delightful four days of pagoda and temple hopping and as a happy conclusion of our memorable holiday in Myanmar, it was a really welcome change to go on a 90-minute sunset cruise on the mighty Ayeyawaddy River where tourists can take a voyage from Mandalay to Yangon and even beyond. We had a comfortable Burmese style boat all to ourselves. The river was calm and the continuous breeze made the trip so much more relaxing and I could have been lulled into a sweet nap easily but resisted it. I felt at peace with the whole world as the cares and stresses of city living were cast to the winds. It was fun watching the locals, young and old, bathing in the river and waving spontaneously to us. We passed numerous Buddhist relics, including some that we had earlier visited. The lively commentary of our guide made both the river and the places we passed come to live. It suddenly dawned on me that I have already formed a close affinity to this truly fascinating and timeless land, with its wonderfully warm-hearted and hospitable inhabitants. I knew there and then that I would be back again before long.

It must be on the minds of many people everywhere why such an ancient and rare gem of a place like Bagan is not conferred a World Heritage Site status, when many lesser ones in both East and West have been included. This is a controversial question and there are always two sides to a coin. The UNESCO, the cultural and educational agency of United Nations, claims that Bagan has in fact been on its tentative list since 1996 but because of the intransigence of the military junta there in making unauthorised alterations to its Buddhist relics against the advise and guidelines of the agency, it has not been accorded that status. On the other hand, many people, both within and outside of Myanmar, believe that the exclusion is due mainly to political factors as the Myanmar regime has an unacceptable human rights record and are treated as a pariah state by many powerful Western countries. Hence, Bagan’s inclusion will alienate UNESCO to the West.

The best times to go to Myanmar are during the dry season between November and January when the daily temperatures are cooler and more comfortable for touring. A competent guide is essential and will definitely enhance your holiday there. We were lucky to have such a guide. I will confidently recommend his professional services to those interested. He is Aung Zaw, a university graduate. His email address is ZawZaw21@gmail.com and his mobile phone number is 09-49268974.

Cambodia’s Ankor temples and Myanmar’s Bagan are generally regarded as the twin repositories of Buddhist art treasures in Southeast Asia, I would like to share with readers an article that I wrote about the Angkor temples, which was published by Singapore’s Strait’s Times in 2001, and it appears immediately after this article.

Lam Pin Foo

One of the world’s greatest architectural achievements is fewer than two hours by air from Singapore.

The Angkor temple ruins, near Siem Reap in Cambodia, are again casting their spell upon the world, after some 30 years of neglect and isolation.

There is a common misconception that these ruins cover just one temple complex, Angkor Wat. Indeed it is the best preserved of them all.

But in reality, Angkor encompasses hundreds of temple sites, spread over 300 sq km. Unfortunately, only fewer than 50 are easy for travellers to get to from Siem Reap, the springboard to the area.

These stone monuments were built mainly between the 9th and 13th centuries by Khmer kings, who made Angkor their capital.

Kymer was the ancient name for Cambodia. At its zenith in the 12th century, the empire extended as far as parts of Indochina, Thailand and even the Peninsular Malaysia.

Their architectural styles of the temples are largely Hindu and Buddhist inspired, with an unmistakable Kymer stamp on them.

Their exquisite statues, carvings and bas-reliefs often depict motifs from epic Hindu legends like Ramayana, the life and teachings of Buddha or the memorable battle scenes celebrating Khmer victories over others.

Nobody knows who constructed these ingenious and magnificent edifices because the architects and artisans did not carve their names on the stones.

With the waning of the Khmer Empire in the 15th century, Angkor was abandoned, left to the ravages of nature and encroaching jungles and finally forgotten.

The only existing ancient written record about Angkor was left by a Chinese diplomat who lived there in the year 1296 and wrote a book.

It was not until the 19th century that a French priest, Father C M Bouillevaux, visited the temples and wrote a book on them.

Inspired by this book, naturalist H Mouhout visited there too. He aroused European curiosity and excitement through his writings and photographs. Mouhout was so stunned by Angkor’s grandeur and artistic excellence that he proclaimed that not even ancient Greece or Rome had any monument which equalled the best there.

Although most of the sites are within 10 km of the centrally located Angkor hotel in Siem Reap, a coach trip took up to an hour to get to them because of the appalling state of the roads.

A knowledgeable guide suggested viewing the choicest temples according to their dates of founding to better appreciate their differing architectural features. Although we spent only 4 days there, we managed to explore 12 monuments at our own pace and gained a good insight into their quintessential characteristics.

Four of these will always remain imprinted in my memory: Angkor wat, Bayon, Banteay Srei and Ta Prohm. The first glimpse of Angkor Wat took my breath away. It is gargantuan and complex, and exudes an air of majesty, mystery and spirituality. No other edifices could surpass its perfect proportions, harmony, fine statues and bas-reliefs. Its 5 towers – the central one measuring 213 m – can be scaled by narrow and uneven steps. At the top, one’s efforts are rewarded by a spectacular vista of the verdant padi fields and lush jungles, with the other scattered ruins right beneath one’s feet. Seeing Angkor Wat at sunset, after a light shower, accentuated its serenity and  allure. It was a calming experience and made me feel completely at peace with myself.

Bayon provides a striking contrast to Angkor Wat. It has fantastically shaped towers, which appear flamboyantly vibrant and  sumptuous and awe-inspiring.

The compact but sublimely beautiful Banteay Srei is like a boutique hotel, compared with the much larger and more glamorous luxury hotels which would represent the public image of the other more richly endowed Angkor temples. Situated about 25 km from Angkor Wat, it was infested with Khmer Rouge guerrillas as recently as 1996.

Meanwhile, Ta Prohm is surrounded by dense jungles, and most of its structures had either fallen or have been wrapped around by fig and Banyan trees. The spectacle was awesome.

But a depressing note was struck upon seeing more than 100 headless statues and mutilated wall carvings at all the sites. The Khmer relics are much sought after and very high prices are paid for these stolen pieces.

Is it safe for Singaporeans to visit Angkor? The answer is yes, provided they stick strictly to the well-trodden paths at the ruins that have been cleared of the land mines, which are a grim reminder of the bloody civil war which ended only a few years ago.

When facing the eerie and surrealistic scenes of the death throes of walls and stones in the choking embrace of gigantic roots, one is  reminded sadly of the transient nature of the great civilisations of the world.

Travel Facts

• There are regular scheduled flights from Singapore to Siem Reap.
• The cooler months between December and February are the ideal time to go, though there will be many tourists.
• The Cambodians are truly friendly, warm and helpful to visitors.

Lam Pin Foo

We hired a comfortable eight-seater mini van at the airport there and headed for Santa Fe, the capital of New Mexico, about 100 km away. The drive along the freeway was fast-moving with a steady flow of traffic, framed in the background by some awesome expanses of uninhabited land. The starkness of the desert landscape reminded me of the Australian Outback.

Americans drive on the right and the speed limit of 120 km/h on the freeway is enforced strictly by the highway police armed with radar guns. Keeping to the required speed limit, we arrived at Santa Fe in a little over an hour.

There are not many cities that can attract visitors from all over the world mainly because of their reputation for the arts, and the romanticism surrounding their history and heritage.

One such city is Santa Fe (“Holy Faith” in Spanish), which has a population of only 60,000. The town is dominated by tourists from all over the world.

Despite its diminutive size and small population, Santa Fe has many claims to fame: It has more galleries and artists per capital than Paris, the earliest church in US and the second oldest town there, having been founded by the Spanish 13 years before the pilgrim fathers landed in Plymouth in 1620.

This tiny town was officially designated the capital of New Mexico, which formed part of Spain ‘s colonial empire in Mexico. However, the Spanish era came to an end when Mexico won its independence in 1821. It was later ceded to the United States and became one of its states in 1912.

From then onwards, Santa Fe began to grow rapidly. Attracted by its Indian and Spanish ambience, growing business opportunities and unique blend of architecture and arid desert landscape, merchants, adventurous tourists, artists and writers began to flock there. They helped to transform this place from a backwater town into a thriving and vibrant one.

Many of these artists, both American and European, were delighted with what they saw and decided to make their permanent home in Santa Fe. One of them was Georgia O’ Keeffe, a world-renowned American painter, whose many works, such as the famous Red Hills, have become instantly recognisable icons of the New Mexico landscape.

Today, Santa Fe’s reputation is built solidly on its high attainments in the arts, both visual and performing, not to mention its historical relics of considerable variety and antiquity.

From our hotel in the outskirts of the city, we took a ten-minute drive to the town centre. The traffic there was congested and curbside parking difficult, but we managed to find a pay public car park nearby.

With experience, one learns that the city is best explored on foot; most of the places of interest are conveniently located within easy walking distance from the historic Plaza, which forms the heart of the old town. A stroll on its streets immediately unfolds a fascinating world of art, starting from the Indian and Hispanic periods to the eclectic array of contemporary international art.

It may surprise many that Santa Fe has one of the largest art markets in the world. There are no less than 150 fine art galleries there. In historic Canyon street alone, 90 galleries congregate cheek-by-jowl alongside several restaurants and motels in a previously residential stretch.

Several of these galleries have delightful gardens where one can sip coffee and relax amidst sculptures of various shapes and forms. There are also open-air art shows where the exhibits were selected by a panel of judges. The standard is reputedly high and the prices are reasonable. These shows are well supported by both art enthusiasts and tourists.

There are eight international-class museums to cater to varying tastes. One of the most popular is the Palace of Governors, a history museum specialising in Indian and Spanish periods exhibits. The Museum of Fine Arts will impress those interested in modern art with its fine collection.

Santa Fe’s achievements in the performing art are also quite remarkable. It has a highly acclaimed opera company, a good symphony orchestra, a reputable choral group, as well as a lively theatre scene. It also boasts a year round programme of festivals and other vibrant public celebrations. The most well-known are the celebrated Indian Market (August 15-19) and Spanish Market (July 27-28), which showcase the pick of their respective cultures and arts and crafts. These two events create a carnival atmosphere and attract numerous visitors from all over the world.

New Mexican architecture is unique as it creates an ambience and a complete aesthetic experience that seems to harmonise with its environment and cannot be duplicated elsewhere. Most of the public buildings are in the Spanish pueblo or town design, while the houses, which are distinguished by its red–earth tone, are built using the traditional Indian adobe construction method, with sun-dried mud-and-straw bricks.

From Santa Fe, we made several enjoyable side trips by car to several other places of interest, all within easy driving distance from the city.

After Santa Fe, we took the more scenic road to Taos, instead of the more direct but boring freeway. Traffic was relatively light and the road winds through the heart of northern New Mexico, with historic churches and charming Hispanic villages nestled among  the cultivated fields and mountains. We were able to make several leisurely stops at scenic spots to take a closer look at the picturesque valleys below, or to gaze at the distant vistas. We finally arrived at the quaint village of Chimayo. We visited El Santuario de Chimayo, a beautiful 19th Century church known as the Lourdes of America, reputed for its healing powers.

Taos, a small town of some 15,000 residents, is a miniature Santa Fe and also noted for its fine art scene. It has fifty galleries, an artist colony, seven fantastic museums and many historic houses and public buildings. We toured the somewhat commercial Taos Pueblo, a settlement in the outskirts of Taos, and the traditional home of the Tiwa Indians for more than 800 years. It features the oldest and largest multi-storey native adobe-type structure in the US. Nearby is Martinez Hacienda, a large fortified Spanish colonial house dated 1804. It displays varied items of spanish culture and the history of the town.

On our return journey from Taos to Santa Fe by the freeway, we made a detour to see two Indian villages between the towns of Espinola and Abiquiu where life has hardly changed for several hundred years.

About one-hour’s drive west of Santa Fe is Los Alamos, where the first Atomic bomb, which so sadly devastated Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II with horrendous loss of lives, was created and tested secretly.

One should visit the Bradley Science Museum and Los Alamos Historical Museum to view exhibits ranging from laser to nuclear fusion. A short distance away is the Valley Grande and our reward was a blissful dip in the refreshingly cool water of Jemez Springs.

The network of roads in this region are superb. The drivers are disciplined and traffic jams are rare, except in Santa Fe and Taos during peak tourist season.

The best time to visit New Mexico is September when the average daily temperature is around a comfortable 23 degree celsius. A stay of at least six days is recommended for leisurely enjoyment of the delights that these wonderful places have to offer.

Lam Pin Foo

Tsumago is in the Prefecture of Nagano, which is within easy access from Nagoya City and it is situated along the historic Nakasendo Route of the scenic Kiso Valley. In Edo time and earlier, Japan was ruled by successive powerful Shoguns (generals) in the name of the powerless Emperors until 1867, when the Shogunate system was overthrown by forces loyal to the Emperor after a bloody civil war. Emperor Meiji (1868-1912), with the enthusiastic support of his officials and people, immediately initiated the modernisation of  Japan by learning from the advanced Western countries as a way forward for that country. In so doing their country had, within a short span of less than four decades, managed to surprise the world by defeating both imperial China and imperial Russia in two major wars in 1894 and 1904 respectively, thanks to military and technological prowess assiduously and systematically learnt from these Western nations, thus becoming a first-rate military  power before the advent of World War I in 1914.

Going back to the Edo era when Japan was still a largely feudal and agricultural nation, a post town served as an overnight stopover station for top government officials when travelling on state matters between Edo (now Tokyo) and the capital in Kyoto and the other way round. To cater to their needs, many post towns had sprung up along the Nakasendo Route in Kiso Valley and Tsumago, owing to its strategic location, was one of the most important of the 64 post towns dotting this busy ancient highway. Tsumago had luxurious lodgings for these august officials as well as good separate lodgings for their subordinates.

When my family and I were planning for a memorable extended holiday in Japan, we came upon a guide book, written by a Japanese-American, in which Tsumago was highly recommended as a rare gem for those wishing to see what remains of old Japan. We decided to visit it and what a serendipity this place turned out to be. The first sight of this picture-postcard like post town nearly took my breadth away. I could well imagine myself being transported back in time to the Japan of 150 years ago. For those of you who are not familiar with traditional Japanese post towns like Tsumago, they come alive in the famous woodblock masterpieces (ukiyo-e) of famed Japanese artist Hiroshige. All the 64 post towns along the Kiso Valley have been well captured by him to remind future generations of their past glory. These works can be viewed in several Japanese museums in Tokyo and elsewhere and their reproductions can be purchased in the museum gift shops.

The Japanese Government in 1968 decided to preserve some of these post towns before they sank into oblivion and Tsumago was singled out  to spearhead this national project. Among the measures taken were the strict rules and regulations which forbade the sale, alteration and demolition of old properties and other ancient structures there. In addition, no vehicles were allowed into Tsumago during daylight hours and all telephone and other cable wiring must be well concealed in order to protect the ancient feel and ambiance of this post town. In pursuit of this policy, the government also restored the historically important buildings and structures as close as possible to their original appearances. Through these concerted and sustained efforts. Tsumago is today one of the best preserved small towns in that country. However, to cater to the needs of all visitors, many of the old properties and buildings have been converted into inns, restaurants and souvenir shops.

The cobblestone-paved tiny township can be covered on foot from one end to the other in about 20 minutes of leisurely stroll. Most of the historic places are conveniently located in a single main street. Our first stop was to the Information Office where comprehensive materials on Tsumago and the surrounding areas were provided in both Japanese and English. The town is divided into three sections. At its top end are the historically important buildings, the mid-town is where the shops and inns are and at the bottom is the residential district. We then headed for the Okuya Kyodokan (Town Museum) in order to gain a good insight into the history and the development of this post town. During the Edo period, the  older original building (which was later reconstructed in 1877 to overtake the Honjin as the most important property in town) was known as the Waki-Honjin (where the subordinates of top government officials would be lodged), while their superiors would spend the night at the more sumptuous Honjin, which is just across the street from it, Be that as it may, the Waki-Honjin had the rare distinction of having hosted both the legendary Emperor Meiji and an imperial princess as their honoured guests. In 1881, the Emperor spent a night there on his way to his imperial palace in Kyoto. A special royal apartment and a replica of his Kyoto toilet facility were specially constructed for his majesty’s comfort. The royal suite faces a lovely Japanese moss garden, complete with an artistic koi fish pond. Today, the toilet is still on display for all to see. Earlier during the Shogunate period, the then Emperor’s daughter, Princess Kazunomiya, also lodged here on her way to marry a Shogun, which was unprecedented in Japanese history, and this created a stir in that country. The Honjin, which was completely rebuilt in the 1990s, gave an interesting account of the sumptuous lifestyle of the elite officials of  Edo period befitting their social standing when carrying out the affairs of state.

Walking along Tsumago’s main Street, where many of the wood and plaster old buildings have been converted into Japanese inns and eating places, we were warmly greeted by the inn and restaurant staff to take a good look at their premises and to admire their well maintained interiors, showcasing their sturdy timbers and the fine workmanship of their constructions. The marvel is that the whole street was kept so scrupulously clean that one would be hard put to find a cigarette butt or a discarded soft drink bottle there. There was no need for the town council to install refuse bins there.

The quieter residential area provided an air of tranquility and their small plots of garden in front of each house were attractively planted with seasonal flowering plants and shrubs. Some housewives were seen fastidiously sweeping not only the concrete path leading to their front door but also saw to it that the road immediately fronting their property was swept spotlessly clean too. What delighted us most was to see a very shallow stream with crystal clear mountain water flowing through the frontage of many of the houses and some of the residents had kept large multi-colour Japanese koi fish in their portion of the stream by placing wooden planks at both ends to prevent their kois from swimming away down stream. A housewife there told us that these fish would be quite safe there as no one would steal them in the dead of night. In any other  country they would have been stolen as they are costly to buy.

Another historic sight worth a visit is Kotam, a Zen Buddhist temple of 16th century vintage. To mitigate its unremarkable architecture and surroundings, there is on display an old palanquin reputed to be an ingenious invention of a temple monk there in the early 1800s and claimed to be the forerunner of the latter day rickshaw. This is still an active temple and many Japanese tourists, especially the older ones, would make it a point to pray there and to make a donation for the upkeep of this place of worship.

Close to one end of Tsumago was a well-crafted replica of an ancient Notice Board that would inform the local residents of government edicts and other important announcements affecting them. One of the reproduced ancient edicts exhorted them to live in harmony with one another and another forbade them to indulge in gambling or to engage in slave trafficking.

At night fall, Tsumago presented a totally different ambiance compared with that in the day. All the old-fashioned dimly lit street lamps of bygone days came on and many yukata-clad Japanese men and women of the older generation would descend on the town’s main thoroughfare and were gayly engaged in animated chatter, after a satisfying meal at one of the inns or eating places. Shops and stores selling specialities of this region were doing roaring business and stayed open till late. These visitors would end the evening sipping Japanese sake rice wine or drinking tea or coffee in the bars or tea houses. After the visitors had returned to their respective lodgings after the evening’s revelry, the entire town would become dead quiet again.

After our delightful two-day stay in Tsumago, we were eagerly looking forward to our eight-kilometer walking tour along the historic Nakasendo trail in the Kiso Valley which would take us from Tsumago to Magome, another famed post town nearest to Tsumago. The whole journey would take close to two and a half hours to complete. It turned out to be a tiring but exhilarating experience. It gave us a grandstand view of the scenic Japanese countryside unspoiled by modernisation and dotted with old thatched-roof timber houses and well-tended vegetable fields and fruit orchards with their ripening persimmons and other fruits adding to the charm of the unhurried and tranquil rural life which city folks like us can only envy. This route was relatively easy to navigate except for several uphill climbs during the journey. The clear route sinages in both Japanese and English added to our enjoyment. We took a couple of rest stops to admire the majestic waterfalls along the trail This route was one of the busiest thoroughfares in Japan and connected Edo (now Tokyo) to the capital in Kyoto during the Shogunate era. However, as this ancient route gradually fell into disuse as the country industrialised, many of the  hitherto prosperous post towns in the Valley declined and finally becoming backwater towns, completely cut off and forgotten by the rest of the country except for the history buffs, heritage lovers, sentimental Japanese and some adventurous travellers seeking off the beaten path places to satisfy their travel lust to see the fast disappearing Japan of a bygone age.

Magome is quite different from Tsumago and it is a larger post town. It also has a bigger resident population and is certainly more lively and flamboyant in ambiance. On the debit side, it gives a less authentic feel of Edo Japan as most of its old buildings have either been over restored or reconstructed so as to lose their original character and flavour compared to the more skillful preservation efforts carried out by its rival post town. Having said that, it is still well worth a visit as there are still a few old structures and houses remaining that are quite representative of Edo Japan. My family and I did enjoy our day trip there overall. To round up one’s visit to this fascinating region of Japan, one should also go to Narai, which is quite close to both Tsumago and Magome, where there are a number of genuine Edo period houses and ryokans for one’s viewing pleasure.

How to get to Tsumago

• From Tokyo’s Shinjuku area, there is a direct bus service to this town
• The best time to go there is either in spring or autumn when the weather is comfortably cool and the scenic countryside along the Nakasendo trail of the Kiso Valley is at its most alluring.
• Don’t forget to bring along a comfortable walking shoes and an umbrella for the above hike.

Lam Pin Foo