The REAL Myanmar and then back to Bangkok

Feb 5

Fried Bamboo Worms

David and Zhou picked us up after breakfast and we went to the town

market. We have seen markets everywhere we travel. They are always fun, filled with locals mostly and some tourists and everything you can imagine is on sale. My least favorite parts are the fresh meat/fish sections where un-refrigerated products are on sale. I really dislike the dried fish section as the smell just about turns me green.

For the first time ever, I saw two sections of traditional tribal clothing. I even tried on a magnificent Lahu jacket covered in silver ornaments but alas my large framed western body is no match for diminutive Asia tribal women. If I were staying longer I would have a garment made to fit but alas we leave today. The black cotton jacket with all the silver was all of $30. As we were wrapping up David took us to his construction site and we got to see his work in progress and talked about his plans for the project.

As we drove around town we spied women and men road crews hand building a road foundation, one rock at a time. I saw this in India as well.

Afterwards we told David we wanted to rest before our flight. So returned to the hotel and walked across the street at lunchtime for a quick bite. Off to the airport. We flew a short flight to Mandalay. It was dark by the time we arrived so we just hung out at the hotel, again a pleasant surprise. There was a pool with lots of tropical plants around the patio areas.

Feb 6

We got up early to make a Skype call to our credit union as we discovered both our accounts had been frozen. Talk about being vulnerable. We had enough cash to get through Myanmar but none for Thailand. Our problem was easily fixed with the call. We had checked our accounts in Yangon using Jeff’s computer and he had a VPN (virtual private network) so it looked like we were checking our accounts from the US and we had given a travel notification to our credit union that we would be in Thailand/Myanmar so they thought someone was trying to get to our accounts. Whew!

We checked out and drove for a few hours to a former British hill

station Maymyo, now called Pyin Oo Lwin. We stayed in a former 1921 British residence that is now a small hotel. We loved the room, a high ceiling room with lots of windows and a large bathroom. We visited a wonderful botanical garden established in 1915 and my favorite part was the aviary with great birds: several species of hornbills, rosellas, pheasants, egrets and cranes. It was a thrill to see the birds flying around and being so close to them.

We went to lunch and had another "point and eat" meal, not quite as good as the first one but still good. We rested in the afternoon which was great because neither of us had slept well the night before. The weather is divine, cool mountain air and not so hazy. We were taken to the town market and it was not as busy as most we have been to. 

Our guide Soe Moe had arranged for us to ride in a horse drawn

wooden stage coach vehicle that are popular with tourists. These must be a hold over from the British era. Most are painted bright colors. Ron and I are not big on touristy activities and this would be a good example. Neither of us fit into the coach well. We had to slouch as we couldn’t sit up straight without hitting our head on the ceiling. Given the structure of the carriage, we couldn’t see out as our view was blocked by the top of the door. Did I mention how uncomfortable the ride was? Oy! I guess I sound like a crabby old lady but really folks what is the point? We ended up at another grand former British residence that is in the process of being converted into a hotel. There were about eight grounds workers planting grass starts! I had never heard of such a thing but sure enough they were putting in small sprigs of grass, one at a time. Eventually there will be a lawn.

Next we drove to a small picturesque waterfall and on to walk through

a small village where there are many small farms growing veggies and fruit: carrots and strawberries and wheat of all things. Most flour here is rice flour so to see wheat was quite unusual. We walked by some of the modest homes with no running water or indoor plumbing. We ended the day on a hill above town where Ron could take some sunset photos. A lovely ending to a great day.

Feb 7

We had a good sleep and drove to Hsipaw about four hours away. We asked Soe Moe about salaries in Myanmar and discovered that elementary teachers make about $150 a month while high school teachers make about $300. While we were en route we spied numerous small piles of sand and gravel then we would see a 50 gallon drum that had been cut open from the side and here they were heating tar with a wood fire underneath to apply to the road after the gravel and sand had been laid down. All of this was done by hand. Small flat baskets are used to distribute the sand and gravel. Construction workers make $10 a day, a decent wage here. Soe Moe pointed out sandalwood being grown for incense for export to India.

We went through multiple tolls booths during this trip. Each town collects tolls to pay for their roads. This is the main road to China from Myanmar so it was quite busy with large trucks hauling goods in both directions. The tolls were usually 50 cents or less for a car. We frequently saw trucks carrying watermelons in boxes to China which I had never seen before. Sugar cane and rubber plantations are here in abundance. We saw dragon fruit being grown as well. The roads had no markings for lanes and no shoulders. It made the trip through the mountains a wee bit hairy.

We learned that primary schools are free and required in the villages but usually students drop out after primary school to help on the farm. Farm families are still quite large by our standards as the farmers need all the free labor of family members. Next year the government plans to make middle school free. University studies are by correspondence mostly. Only the wealthy can attend classes in a physical institution. I cannot imagine what the quality of a correspondence degree is. We saw huge banyan trees here that are truly incredible with the trunk girth and area they shade. We noticed that the spare tires of many of the trucks were completely bald. This is a very poor country after 50 years of military rule and complete isolation from the rest of the world. 

We had to descend a gorge and then climb back up the other side. It took 30 minutes to reach the bottom due to the steepness and how slow the large truck had to go. If a truck lost its brakes there would be no surviving the accident as the gorge sides were incredibly steep. And forget guard rails. I feel sure in the future there will be funds to build a bridge across the Gokteik gorge. China is so hungry for the resources Myanmar has.

Another odd sight was seeing a motorcyclist carrying a new motorcycle on the back of his cycle which was mounted perpendicular to the rider. It looked very dangerous and is illegal according to our guide. Did I mention that most vehicles are right side drivers and that they drive on the right side of the road? Think about it. If you want to pass a truck or another vehicle, you must pull into the opposing lane of traffic to see if you can make your move. Holy Crap Batman! Because of the danger of this, we noticed the big trucks would use their left hand signal when the road was clear for a car to pass them. Brilliant! The soil here reminded me of Georgia: red clay. The natural gas company here has built a pipeline to China and now sells gas to them. The farmers grow GMO corn under contract to China. China furnishes the seed and feeds the corn to their animals, apparently.  One farmer told us he wouldn’t feed his animals that corn but unfortunately we aren’t sure that he understood his corn would be cross pollinated with the GMO corn if they are grown near one another.

Soe Moe, our guide

We visited a pagoda near town and the four of us had lunch together. Ron paid for all of us and the bill was $6.50! Our hotel is great. It’s called Mr. Charles Guesthouse and has three main buildings. Some are set up for foreigners like us who want a double or queen bed with an ensuite bathroom. Others are for back packers who require fewer amenities. It was a great place with a good breakfast. This is a place that has been around a long time and it owned by a Myanmar family. After being let off after lunch we walked through the small town and ended up in a coffee house. The owner is Australian who has lived in Hsipaw for 14 years and opened the place about three years ago. We sat out back and had Americanos with a muffin. The coffee was way strong and somewhat bitter but at least it wasn’t weak or instant. The patio was lovely with lots of plants and umbrellas to shade us from the hot sun.

Soe Moe next took us to a farming village and we walked along a  

small dirt road and talked to families about their way of life. One grandmother was preparing broccoli for the market. It turned out she and I were the same age. She still had black hair and had 10 children, all grown now.

Next we went to a historic home of the last Shan prince. We are in the Shan state which is the largest in Myanmar I think. The Shan people are the second largest ethnic group after the Bamar. This was a very British looking mansion but in disrepair. We heard a talk on the history of the Shan princes. The man who had built the home died in prison in the 1960’s after a military coup. The woman who gave the talk is related by marriage to the last prince. He was married to an Austrian woman whom he met while studying at the Colorado School of Mines in the US.

Afterwards we went to another hill top to take sunset photos. We ate dinner by the river in a lovely restaurant. This place was expensive by Myanmar standards and definitely was catering to tourists sense of esthetics. We had beer, bottled water, fried rice with chicken, and sautéed broccoli with garlic for the price of $6.00

Feb 8

This morning we were treated to a boat ride up the Dutawaddy River.

We saw women washing clothes in the river which is where they bathe as well. We saw small boats that are built from a single log that had been hollowed out as well as the kind of boat we were riding in which was a wooden boat built from numerous lengths of lumber. We rode for an hour then disembarked and walked up a steep bank.

We were warmly greeted by a woman who lived alone in a simple hut. She had no teeth, was 73 years old and grabbed me and put her head on my arm while stroking my arm. It was a very touching moment. Apparently her children check on her a couple of times a week. There is no water source visible other than the river, no electricity nor an outhouse in sight.






We continued our trek to the 100 year old Khone Monastery about 30 minutes away. Here 23 village
boys come to study as novices with the two resident monks. We drank tea and ate peanuts but didn’t have any interaction with monks or the novices.

We hiked back to the river and the woman who had greeted us so warmly repeated her endearing behavior. Back onto the boat we continued up river to the confluence of the Nantu Ma River and the Duttawaddy River. 

We headed back down river and stopped at a village where there was

a ‘Burmese wake’. Someone had been buried a day or two before and now people from all around had come to express their condolences and there was a large gathering with lots of food. We were invited to join in. Another one of those very special moments when we were included in an intimate cultural event.

We were served fermented tea leaf salad, our favorite new dish. People were giving up their own cutlery for us to eat. It was humbling to say the least. Our guide told us everyone brings food for several days and many will attend to offer love and support to the family members of the deceased. 

Here everyone washes clothes in the river and bathes in the river but

they had wells for drinking water. There was no indoor plumbing but we did see outhouses and some of the better homes had concrete floors on the ground floor which is an open structure with the living quarters on the second floor. Some roofs were metal and some were thatch. At the outer edge of the village were train tracks. As the train nears the village it will slow down. If someone will be taking the train a flag will be set out to let the engineer know to stop here. Soe Moe said it stops for one minute.

There was a shrine for good crops. It consists of bundles of bamboo

pieces about eight inches long each. Each bundle represents a village family. If someone dies they will take one bamboo piece out of the bundle. The bundles were stacked around an unseen vessel that holds peanut oil. See photo. Each year before planting the family will take a cup of the oil and pour it onto their plot of land to ensure a good crop. There is an all day celebration with a monk sitting on top of this shrine structure chanting to ask for good crops. This village had about 85 families and a population of 500. Families are large and kids drop out of school after primary to work on the farm.

As we traveled down river back to town we saw banana trees, sour peach trees, oranges, mangoes, papayas, tamarind, coffee, and pineapples along the river banks. And of course there were banyan trees. GMO corn is grown for export to China. After the corn is dried and striped off the cob for export, the cobs are saved to use as fuel for cooking fires.

Back in town we had a Shan noodle soup and Shan noodle salad for lunch. Both were delicious. The soup was a rich broth with rice noodles crushed tomatoes, greens (cilantro?) and seeds that tasted like anise. The salad was similar but had tiny bits of something chewy, perhaps bacon or some other meat. Soe Moe joined us and the bill for the three of us was $1.60

We are staying in the heart of a very small town with a visible Muslim population. In the Buddhist traditional the monks learn a dead language. I think it is Pali. Near our hotel the monks recite chants in Pali that no one understands 24 hours a day over a loudspeaker. I thought I would jump out of my skin. I asked Soe Moe if this didn’t disturb people, particularly the Muslims. He said ‘This is Asia. We are use to a lot of noise so after a while you don’t hear it anymore’. Well it kept us awake nightly and woke us up quite early daily. It seems insensitive to me to think that non Buddhists would want to hear that all day but I often am offended by what I view as impositions of religions

Hsipaw is a small town of 5,400 people with one main road and two other main streets. Most of the roads are not paved so there is dust, sand and dirt everywhere. I watch shop owners dusting all day. Most shops in this part of the world are small, maybe 6-8 ft wide and 10-15 ft deep. They have a metal retractable door that lifts up into the ceiling area so that the shop is completely opened to the street. So when a motorcycle, car or truck passes by dirt flies everywhere and right into the shops.

A very sweet surprise was the dress here. As we ate lunch our first day numerous women passed by on the sidewalk with sarongs with multiple bright stripes of color and matching blouses. They wore wonderful hats made of woven material, probably bamboo. Some were colorful and some plain but they were such a variety of shapes and colors. It was a treat for the eyes.

In the afternoon we rested then went out again for another village visit. I don’t know if I have said this but last year we visited Burma and did what I think most tourists do. We visited Yangon, Bagan (a temple city), Mandalay and Inle Lake. This year we specifically wanted to visit small towns and villages to get a feel for how people lived in Burma. So we set off on a two hour walk. We visited a sculptor who carves wooden horses for temples. They were always done in pairs: one white horse and one back one. They are ½ life size. He gets $300 per horse and probably makes about $200 after expenses. He can carve one horse a week. After the carving he paints them with a lot of decoration.

As we passed through the village every child would call out ‘hello’ and ‘goodbye’ to us.  We only encountered warmth in Burma. This was a prosperous village with every house having its own well and outhouse. They had bamboo fences where they grew peas and beans. We passed a chedhi where a large number of villagers were volunteering to help the monks rebuild the 600 yr old structure that had collapsed in a recent rainstorm. When it collapsed they discovered 19 Buddha statues inside. After photographing them, they were put back into the new structure.

 At one point our guide said ‘Chinese water buffalo’. I looked aroundChina. Many men still use a manual plow with a water buffalo. See photo. It was dusty everywhere and we felt pretty dirty after two hours.

and saw a mechanical plow…hence the name as it was made in

An, our local guide, is a member of the Palaung tribe. He said the UNDP had piped water to his village. Before this the villagers had to get up at 4:30 to go to the water source and carry it back to the village. His village is 16 kilometers (about 9 miles) from town. He walks it in 5 hours. If it is dry season he can go on motorcycle. He spends half the year working on his family’s tree plantation and half the year guiding. The high season is Nov-Mar and April-Oct is the rainy season.

This year we saw something we had not seen before: motorcycle vendors. They load their bike with numerous veggies or fruits and drive to a neighborhood and sell directly to the people in that area. This is brilliant since many people do not own any form of transportation. We also saw small pickup trucks doing this. One disturbing sight was motorcyclists who carry their helmets instead of wearing them or wearing them but not fastening the strap to hold the helmet on. DUH!

We ended the day with another sunset shot.

Feb 9

We drove back to Mandalay today, about five hours. When in Mandalay we drove on the newest road in the country which is mostly empty because it is a toll road and people are still quite poor after 50 years of isolation. But the road was substandard by our measure. There were frequently dips requiring cars to slow down. We were not interested in doing anything in Mandalay other than relaxing as our schedule had been quite busy the past few days. I didn’t have any appetite at dinner so ordered watermelon and ate a few bites of Ron’s fried rice.

Feb 10 - 19

Neither of us slept well due to rock hard pillows. I woke up feeling a bit nauseous. Today we are to fly to Bangkok. At the airport I got light headed just when we were supposed to go into the passport control area. Poor Ron he was first in line but I had to lie down on the bench and he had to get out of line. I got through the baggage screening but at passport control I gripped the desk and hung my head below the desk. I was asked to stand up for the photo that is required. I got inside the next part of the terminal and immediately sat on the floor and put my feet in the air trying to get the circulation to my head. Ron went in search of the bathrooms and gate. I went to the bathroom and seemed to be better. I didn’t eat anything until 3 or 4 in the afternoon in Bangkok. Those that know me know I get low blood sugar and never miss a meal so this didn’t bode well. I ate a bowl of soup and went to bed. In the middle of the night I got diarrhea. Have I ever mentioned what a saint I am married to? I didn’t quite make it to the toilet and was about to fall off the toilet in a faint when Ron came to the rescue. I took some medicine but still was having trouble the next morning so we got a doctor to come to the hotel. He prescribed four meds and I was encouraged. However my system was so irritated that nothing could stay put long enough to take hold. 

So the next morning still having trouble we called Dr. Krishrat who owns a private hospital and whom we have known for six years. He told me to come and spend a night. I was a wreck to put it mildly. I met with a doctor and told him how long I had been having symptoms, showed him the medicine I was taking and he immediately said I needed an IV to get the medicine to take effect. So I stayed overnight and had two IV’s. I cried with relief when he told me I needed to stay overnight. I haven’t been in the hospital since 1989! For about 18-20 hours I had audio and visual hallucinations. Nothing scary but it was weird and took me a while to figure out what was happening. Every time I closed my eyes I would see what looked like really lovely flocked wall covering in beautiful colors. The audio was soft music and low voices which I couldn’t distinguish what was being said or sung. Trippy! I checked out at noon and took a taxi back to our hotel where I rested. Somewhere prior to the hospital Ron went to a restaurant that we frequent and asked if they could make some chicken soup for me. They actually delivered it to my room and refused payment. It was such a kind gesture as they don’t serve chicken soup at the restaurant.

We had tickets to fly to Chiang Mai but I was too sick. We had a doctor’s letter saying I couldn’t travel but the airline wouldn’t honor it so we cancelled our trip. Because Ron had a meeting the next week in Bangkok we decided to just hangout in Bangkok rather than go to our house and turn around and come back to BKK then turn around and go back to the house.

We had to change hotels the day I got out of the hospital but there was a room right across the street. Ron got us moved before I got there. Have I ever mentioned what a swell guy I married? I won the husband lottery!!!!!!!!!! Because it took a few days before I could eat solid food and because I had so little appetite we decided to delay Valentine’s dinner until I was back to normal. So a few days later we went to our favorite place, Once Upon A Time, a lovely restaurant where we always eat in the garden outside. We ordered a favorite dish that Larry Brown introduced us to in 2005 I think. It is called Seafood soufflé and is cooked in a young coconut. It is quite rich and absolutely delicious. We also ordered a fried fish with garlic, a dish we discovered last year.

Nothing else of significance happened while in BKK. We shopped for some friends back home. I had planned to get them a table runner in Chiang Mai and was lucky in that organization has a small shop in BKK. I found the perfect item in the color combination I wanted. Once we acted like tourists and walked around the old ‘farang’ area (foreigners). This area had some old colonial buildings and beautiful shops. Ron and I find BKK too frenetic for our tastes. There are 14 million people in the city. It is crowded almost everywhere you go and it wears us down pretty quickly so we really just cooled out jets mostly. I made a daily trek to the internet café for email. I did observe how casual people in BKK dress. You will see women in very short shorts. Everyone wears sandals, mostly flip flops. There is no traditional dress in the big city. All the malls are crowded. I decided since I was going to be in BKK for a week I might as well take advantage of the tailor next to our hotel. It was the same tailor Ron and I used in 1997 on our first trip to BKK. I had a couple pair of pants made and three silk blouses at a great price.

We walked through a city park and Ron took some photos

Ron had his meeting with someone from Thammasat University about him possibly teaching there. He is encouraged after the meeting though nothing definite has been decided.

Feb 20

Today we hired a private car to bring us back to our home. We usually take a van but we had so much luggage and I just didn’t want to schlep it through the sky train to the place where you pick up the vans. It was so much easier. It feels so good to be back here where we hear a variety of birds throughout the day. We have some noisy neighbors but they rarely bother us.

More of Yangon and then on to Kyaingtong

Sunday Feb 2

We did laundry in the morning and then headed out with 'taxi John' whom Jeff and Ann had introduced us to. We wanted to see some of the rural area outside of Yangon. We first visited Thanlyin about an hour south east of Yangon. We visited Kyaik-khauk Paya, a small temple on a hill top with good views of the area. We had an interesting spontaneous conversation with a woman from India and her guide.

  

After a simple lunch we headed further south to Kyauktan where Yele Paya, a small temple, sits in the middle of the river. We decided to avoid the crowds ferrying across and take photos from the bank. We opted to walk through town where we were met with warm smiles all around. Since we were 90 minutes out of Yangon in a rural area I doubt many tourists come here. Neither of the temples are architecturally or historically significant so I wouldn’t think there is much of a draw for tourists.

While driving through the countryside, we saw a number of very humble abodes built of bamboo with outer walls made of woven rattan panels and either metal roofs or roofs of reeds. The major 'public’ transportation in this area wasToyota trucks. The bed the truck had bench seats along each side, a canopy overhead with open sides and a tailgate in the open or down position. We saw up to seven people sitting on each side squeezed in tightly and up to nine men standing on the tailgate hanging on for dear life. Oy!

We arrived home around 4:30 and later that night the four of us wentMyanmar dinner.

out for dinner to House of Memories, a former colonial home that had served as General Aung San’s office. He was the father of Aung San Sui Kyi. He was assassinated when she was two. We sat outside on the lawn and were served another fabulous Myanmar dinner.

Monday Feb 3

We left Ann and Jeff's around 8:30 arriving at the airport at 9:00. We discovered that our plane would be two hours late. Later in the morning we were told they had moved us to a different airline. We arrived at Kyaingtong 90 minutes ahead of schedule because we had a direct flight instead of a stop on Mandalay and Heho. We decided to take a taxi to our hotel rather than waiting for our prearranged guide to show up.

While we were waiting for our luggage we saw a man whose legs had been amputated being carried into the luggage area. He had been our plane. No wheel chair, just an employee of the airline carried him in. Later he was carried outside to the taxi stand.

We checked into hotel which was quite nice and much better than I had expected. Our guide met us a short while later with a driver. It was now 3:00 and we had not had lunch so our first stop was a nearby restaurant. Off we went for a tour of the town. We visited a park with a tree that had been planted about 200 years ago as a memorial to peace among China, Thailand and Burma who had fought a war in this region. Next we visited a lacquer ware studio where a family made various items from bamboo. We then walked around a lovely natural lake in town. After resting for about two hours we walked down the street and had a bowl soup before retiring for the night.

February 4 Tuesday

We were picked up at 8:30 and headed out of town to see some of the hill tribes in the area. Before leaving town we stopped and David, our guide, picked up some noodle soup for our lunch with three plastic bowls on loan from a roadside noodle shop. We drove for about 90 minutes, mostly on rough unpaved roads. It was slow going but the scenery was superb. On each side of the road were rice fields and workers. Men prepare the soil and harvest the rice. Women plant the rice. This requires them to stand in water in rubber boots and to bend over as they take the rice starts and jam them into the water and soil. Oh my aching back!

Water buffalo were in the fields that had been harvested searching for

something to eat. After about 70 minutes we pulled onto a single lane road that was even rougher and slower going. Zhou parked the car and we were in the midst of about six-eight Akha women in their traditional dress complete with the ornate head dresses covered in beads, silver ornaments and engraved metal pieces. I found two pieces: an ornate cloth belt with beads, shells, coins and silver and a needle point panel.  Note how I tower over these women.

We left the driver behind and started our trek uphill for about 45 minutes. I was grateful that part of the path was shaded. We arrived at a village on a steep hillside of the Ann tribe. We sat with a family of multiple generations. The traditional women in this tribe blackened their teeth to make themselves more beautiful. It didn’t work…sorry that is judgmental on my part.

The Ann marry at 14 years of age, they become mothers at around 16,

grandmothers at 30, great grandmother at 50 and by the time they are 80 there are six generations. Most of the women in this family were sitting on the 'deck'. We sat on the shaded part of the deck with our host; she served us tea from a battered plastic thermos in tin cups that were stained. We are not supposed to drink anything but bottled water here but took a couple of sips since the water had been boiled on the fire in a large cast iron kettle in the house. She also served sunflower seeds. She offered me some green leaves to chew (it was tobacco) and she also chewed on a small stick at the same time. I declined her offer. We were also offered rice wine which we declined. I bought a small weaving from her with an asking price of $5.00.

We were invited inside her home which was one large room. Placed near the walls were pallets for sleeping, five or so children of various ages were watching TV. There was a small fire in a small cement brazier which is where she had boiled the water for tea. Corn cobs hung from the ceiling. It was quite dark with no windows and I don't think there was any source of light other than the front door. The house is built on stilts and we entered by climbing stairs and passing through a raised door that would be closed at night preventing any access from animals or...who knows what. David told us they do not value education so their children do not go to school. There was no furniture in the house. Outside there was a low bench for us, a small rattan table made by our host's husband which was used for serving the tea. Some of the other women sat on the deck or very low stools about four inches off the ground. After about 45 minutes we said farewell and took a different route back to the parked van. We encountered several women along the way who were set up to sell their needlework and woven crafts.

We ate our fabulous noodle soup with veggies and pork balls at the little shop where we had parked. David also offered us chips, fried peanuts and sweetened rice in three colors/flavors: curry, bean (Brown) and black. We couldn't eat all the food he had brought for us. There was also wood apples and mangosteen, one of our favorite fruits. As we wee eating, a group of children came by carrying bags of manure (buffalo dung).  They seemed to be having a fun time of it.

We then drove to a Lalaung village next. Here the families are prosperous due

to their rice production. They get $1,000 per ton of rice and some of them grow up to ten tons a year. So the houses were wooden and there was some cement in the foundation but again they all seemed to live on the second story. The Lalaung women do not use buttons on their clothing and instead are noted for their silver belts. Our host's daughter who was 17 years old was dressed in full traditional dress with silver, bamboo and some other kind of belt. Some of the women had very wide silver belts, probably a sign of their wealth.

Our host was widowed in the past year and David said he couldn't believe how she had aged. She was using a back strap loom for weaving while we chatted. I bought a colorful table runner from her for her asking price for four dollars.









On our way back to town we got stuck when we had to go around a

road construction site. A huge truck loaded with what we assumed was large bags of rice had gotten struck and everyone had to go around him and some got stuck so we went around the other side and got struck. The ground was saturated as on either side of the road due to the irrigated rice fields.

David, our guide, is a true entrepreneur and currently is working on a remodel of a school, contracting with the government. When he found out we had been rehabbers, he was excited to learn what he could from us. Our first impression is that this is a prosperous region as we had good roads in town and saw some nice homes. All the side streets are unpaved which means there is dirt on the main roads as well. This is common in undeveloped countries but it makes it necessary to wash our feet when we get back to the hotel. There appears to be a lot of construction going on here.

Because we are so close to China, many of the products at our hotel are Chinese. The world’s smallest roll of toilet paper, good for about three visits to the toilet. The soap was the size of a mint you would place on someone’s pillow but hey, we survived.

And on to Myanmar through Yangon

Jan 30 2014

We left our laptop in Thailand and had planned to use the tablet to post the blog. Unfortunately we were unable to post so I am writing these entries in Thailand on February 20^th. There will be numerous postings consequently.

We arrived in Yangon around noon and Jeff, a friend from our days in the Rep of Georgia met us at the airport. Jeff now works for the US Embassy in Yangon. We spent the afternoon catching up with each other. Ann and Jeff have a fabulous apartment conveniently located. Jeff can walk to work and Ann’s work is a short bike or taxi ride away. Ann got home around 6:00 and we walked down the street and had a great meal at an outdoor café with great people watching.

Jan 31

We had breakfast in the apartment, met with a rep from the tourist agency and paid the balance of our bill in cash. Did I mention that Myanmar is an all cash society? Just this year ATM’s have arrived in the big cities only but credit cards are scarce. So we brought US dollars which must be new bills with no creases, folds, tears, or marks of any kind.

We took a taxi to Scott’s Market, a rabbit warren of 1,000 shops. We asked at least four times where the Yo Ya May shop was. With great certainty we were given different directions each time. This is a shop that specializes in tribal textiles. Last year we bought a Naga tribe belt made of leather, decorated with cowry shells and horse hair. It also had a wooden sleeve for a knife. This year we settled on a Naga ‘hat’ complete with goat hair, horse hair and wild boar tusks. So we have a matching set of Naga accessories.

We walked to the Strand Hotel, a lovely old colonial building and had a cool sweetened lime juice, our favorite drink on  a hot day. We visited the large shop here then walked to Monsoon, an Asia restaurant featuring Myanmar, Thai and Vietnamese food. Yum! I had planned to visit the shop upstairs but we ran out of time. We went back to the apartment and rested until Ann got off work in the early afternoon. Around 5:00 we went to the Embassy and met Jeff at the Marine House happy hour. This is a regular event I think at embassies where the Marine who are charged with guarding/protecting the embassy invite those who work at the embassy for a no host bar on Friday evenings. It was fun and the embassy is in a beautiful setting.

Afterwards we headed for Chinatown as it is the Chinese New YearAsia shops. 

and festivities were happening all over town. We ate at an outdoor barbeque place and watched as throngs of people from all over the world passed by. We visited a Chinese temple that was filled with incense smoke. We passed by outdoor markets where everything was on sale from food to underwear. This is how Myanmarians shop

Feb 1

On Saturday Ann joined us on our return trip to the NGO (nonMyanmar specialty called fermented tea leaf salad. It was divine with tea leaves, ginger, crispy peanuts and beans. We relaxed in the afternoon and ate dinner at home. 

governmental organization) that supports people with various disabilities. So many wonderful items were available, all tastefully made. There were exquisite weavings from $350 to hand made cards for $3.00. We bought cards, a stuffed animal and a few other items that I can’t recall.  The three of us then went to a great restaurant called Feel Myanmar where you walk up to a counter where there are 40-50 prepared dishes and point to what you want. These items are then brought to your table by the wait staff. What a feast. We tried a We tried a Myanmar specialty called fermented tea leaf salad. It was divine with tea leaves, ginger, crispy peanuts and beans.

We relaxed in the afternoon and ate dinner at home enjoying the evening view of Shwedagon Paya from their apartment patio.

 

The life of Riley

Sunday January 26 

Yesterday we had a slow day, doing small projects around the house and reading until after lunch. Ron got a wee bit restless so we decided to see if we could find a massage studio in town. We tried the one hotel and they said no services there. We tried another place that was way funky and she said after 6:00. So I suggested we explore the town more by parking the car and just walking around. We literally stumbled onto a great massage place with multiple beds and chairs. Chairs are used for foot massage. We were thrilled as we have been driving to Cha Am about 35 minutes away. This place was as good and cheaper. I say stumbled because as we were walking Ron was looking at this shop and stumbled a bit because the pavement is never level in this part of the world. There were two women outside and when he stumbled they expressed concern then said ‘foot massage?’ Afterwards we continued our exploration and found a DVD shop with English titles. Yeah, a little entertainment.  We came back home for a while then went out for dinner and tried a place I had seen as we were driving home.  They had a sign out front that said “Welcome” so I assumed they might have an English menu and they did.  They specialized in bbq where they bring this appliance to our table and it has a gas fired brazier and we were given a tray with pork slices and a raw egg and a bowl of cabbage and greens. We cooked the meat on the brazier and the veggies in a little ring of water that surrounded the metal cooker. All for $4.50.

Our good weather continues although the days are getting warmer. I still need a sweater in the morning and we still need the duvet at night. I am grateful that we don’t need the AC as I much prefer the quiet and the fresh air even if it means waking up with our rooster neighbor and the tropical birds screeching loudly at 4:30. How can we complain about that?

Today we walked up to our little village and ate at the little open air place. This place consists of a roof on posts with no floor other than the dirt and no sides to the structure. Under the roof are several elderly women selling what looks like desserts. Thais LOVE sugar and I find the desserts too sweet for me. Many are gelatinous which is a texture I really don’t like. In addition there is one woman probably in her 50’s who prepares food to order. She has a one ring burner using bottled gas, one wok, a small glass case with bags of chopped veggies, two kinds of noodles and some meats. There is no refrigeration although she does have a cooler of shaved ice for drinks. Today a woman who speaks perfect English was there and explained the difference between two dishes that are very similar: pad kee mao and pad se ew. We placed our order and within minutes we were eating a lovely meal. Ron observed that there were birds hopping around her cooking area where there were bottles of sauces and bowls of spices and I said there were some things better left unsaid and besides we were building our immune system! OY. Our bill was 60 baht, 32 baht to the dollar so less than two dollars for the two of us. I really cannot prepare a meal here for that little money so it makes no sense to bother with cooking. Besides we love Thai food and I cannot make Thai food as tasty as these little places serve.

For several days Noi, a family member who lives next to us has brought us hot coffee as a gesture to help us stay warm. This morning I was drying my hair in the bedroom and Ron was dressing after showering when he arrived. Neither of us heard him announcing himself so he came inside the house and into our bedroom with the tray. Ron was in his underwear and I am grateful it was him and not me! We all had a good laugh on that one.

We have been astounded at the air quality since we have been here. It has been most notable when we drive on the highway to go to the beach communities south of here. It is like pea soup if you look off into the distance. The mountains are shrouded in smog, reminding us of China! OY! We wonder if the pollution is from BKK or from China. Hard to say as we can’t find out due to our lack of language skills here.

Jan 28 Tuesday

We are enjoying our slower pace here. The weather is warming up. We still don’t need AC but I no longer put on a sweater in the morning. The smog is awful.  It gets worse each day and we have never seen it like this. It almost looks like the news clips of China. We are tied of restaurant food so tonight we are going to steam cauliflower, broccoli, carrots and potatoes and call it dinner!

We leave in the morning for Bangkok where we will have dinner with some Thai friends then spend the night. On Thursday we head to Burma for 12 days. I will post more blogs and include photos but access to the internet is limited there so bear with me.

Life is good!

Jan 23 Thursday 

Life is good. Our most incredible weather continues. Each morning I don my wool sweater and make breakfast. At night we sleep under our duvet instead of AC. Who would have thought it was possible? We have been coming to Thailand since 2003 and have never experienced anything like this. Our friend Pear said the cold snap lasted seven days last year. We will hope for more this year but cannot complain.

Our pace is quite relaxed. We sleep until we wake up, usually around 7:00. The rooster next door must be elderly given the strength of his crowing that starts at 4:30. He is joined by numerous tropical birds who sing even louder. We fall back asleep to such sounds. Breakfast is juice, granola, banana with milk for Ron and juice for me who cannot digest dairy. We have Starbucks and I was getting low so we went to Hua Hin (HH) yesterday, the only Starbucks we have seen outside of Bangkok (BKK). HH is about an hour away. I about fell over when I go the receipt, almost $100 for three pounds! Ouch, oh well it is only money! Besides life is too short for bad coffee.

Because it has been so cold, Noi, our family neighbor has brought us hot coffee the past two days. I would imagine it is instant and he brought it NY regular (cream and sugar). It was a very sweet gesture. Then last evening after we had stopped to pick up some to go dinner, Noi showed up with pad Thai for us. Keep in mind that Noi speaks no English and we speak no Thai. He wanted us to have some good Thai food. Little does he know we have good Thai food daily as we take all our meals except breakfast most days at carts or restaurants. There is a place down the street where you can go in the afternoon and point to various pots containing prepared food. A woman will fill small plastic bag with what you point to and close it with a rubber band. I point to the next dish we want and the process is repeated. Yesterday I got cauliflower, pumpkin, green curry with chicken and green beans with pork all for $2.60 for four dishes. It is embarrassing to eat for so little.

Today we ate at one of our favorite places. We had two bottles of water, two noodle soups with pork and chicken, Chinese broccoli stir fried and the bill was 180 baht (32 baht to the dollar) and Ron left 20 baht on the table. Tipping is not common here, particularly in these small establishments. One of the staff stared at it with a questioning look. Another staff member came up, picked up the money and tried to give it to me. I gestured that it was for her and the other one who had served us. It made me wonder how much they make daily. Not counting the owner I counted seven staff at this small noodle ‘restaurant’. These types of restaurants are quite common in Thailand and often have more staff than customers.

Ron has been performing maintenance on the house since we arrived. He usually works for an hour and I have been cleaning. The floors need sweeping at least every other day and today I managed to mop all but the bedrooms. I have also been inventorying all that is here so we don’t have to try and remember what is here when we are packing to travel here. I couldn’t remember if we had a coffee grinder so brought ground coffee. Good thing I did as there is no grinder here. We priced one yesterday when we were in HH which is much bigger than our town and also has a large tourist and expat population. The grinder was $100 so I decided to wait. We couldn’t find one in the store here.

After working we usually go into town for lunch or to run errands. Some days we drive to Cha Am or HH for a change of scenery or to get a massage. In the evening we play cards, or Scrabble. Last night we watched a DVD that froze up during the climax of the film. Must have bee a pirated copy which is about all that we can find here. We also read. There are no English newspapers here although we subscribe to the NY Times and can get it on line. So far we have enjoyed the slower pace.

Back in Thailand 2014

Thursday Jan 16

We left LAX around noon and I had thought we were going to fly non-stop to Bangkok. So much for wishful thinking. We flew to Seoul Korea which took 13 hours and we were packed into those darn seats that are cramped and impossible when the person in front of you decides to recline. Poor Ron. I on the other hand had a friendly guy to my left who was even taller than Ron so he used a bit of extra space by stretching his legs and tucked his feet under the seat in front of me. That makes for a long 13 hours. In Seoul all passengers had to deplane even though the flight was continuing on to Bangkok. We had about a 2.5 hr layover so we found a place to stretch out flat on three seats each. It helped immensely. Back on the plane and another 5 hrs of torture. We slept little and never took one of our magic pills to help us sleep as the time was never right.

The political protests continue in Bangkok and at first we had concern about getting to our hotel as part of the protest is staged around the corner. Since it was 1:00 a.m. we were spared having to walk with our suitcases if the taxi couldn’t get close to the hotel. Our driver was quite familiar with the area and approached from a back alley and we had no problem at all. Our suitcases were heavier than usually. We usually travel light but for some reason that didn’t work out this time. We were carrying gifts for our Thai family ( 8 boxes of cranberry candy from the Oregon coast, a replacement doorknob and just too much stuff). Anyway I struggled with my luggage and Ron had even more to deal with.

So the next morning taking a taxi to the vans where we catch a ride to Hua Hin to pick up a rental car was not an option due to protests. We lugged our gear to the Skytrain and went to Victory Monument to catch a van. Thailand like many places has an informal yet brilliant transportation system. Located in the town centers multiple vans holding 15 people congregate. You find the one going to the city you want and pay a fee and climb aboard. Once the van is full, off you go. We bought three seats, one for our luggage as there is NO space for luggage. Fortunately we were the last passengers to fill up the van so shortly we were on the road. It was tight but it was only three hours with the stops. The stops are often just pulling off onto the shoulder of the road and letting someone out. In our case there was an assigned spot in Hua Hin. From there we took a taxi to Avis and picked up our car. Then we headed for our house.

We made a poor judgment call and never stopped to eat, so lunch was at 5:00. With a bad case of jet lag coupled with low blood sugar we were testy with each other but heck, Ron and I have been through tougher times and our deep love gets us through the little bumps. We couldn’t find out favorite restaurant (because it was closed) so we just stopped before we fell over and had a so-so meal. There was no English menu but the board out front had three items in English so I got up and went outside with the waiter and pointed to ‘beef noodles and of course he had no idea what the English said. Fortunately a young woman got up and came outside and helped order for us. Serves us right for not speaking the language.

We drove to our house, unpacked and headed for the grocery store. I was hungry after our lunch of meager soup so we ate another small meal at an eatery in the small mall where we were buying a few groceries. Home again, we put away the groceries and showered only to discover our little device that heats water in the shower wasn’t working. A quick cold sponge bath and we collapsed in bed. I woke up at 3:00 (ah jet lag) and read for a long while.

Sunday Jan 19

Our dear friend Nuun emailed to say she was driving down from Bangkok to see us. We ate breakfast (granola I had made in Vancouver and brought here) and puttered around the house. Nuun arrived with a friend from high school. We met Nuun when she was an exchange student in Tigard five years ago. We always try to connect when we are here. She went out and got lunch for us which we ate here. She then took us to town to show us where to buy kao mon gai (rice with chicken) a fave for breakfast/lunch here.

She left to take Hope (the young son a family member here in Phetchaburi) to a park with rides, etc. Hope is a six year old who lives on the property with his mom in the big house. His mom, Ai is the granddaughter of Pa Cha An who owns the property and who is Nattawan’s aunt. If you are still with me, Nattawan owns the house where we stay and she lives in Tigard, just south of Portland. We have known her since 2003 when Ron led the Thai project when he was working for the city of Portland. Okay enough history.

                                                                                                                 

While Nuun was at the park, another part of the family visited.  Ron asked where we could by a new water warmer, and they immediately took Ron to a place about 30 minutes away where he bought what he needed.  When he got home, he took the old one down and installed the new one.

That evening we were invited to join Hope and Pear and go to the local festival. I think almost everyone in the area was there. There were lots of displays including minorities in their native dress, always a thrill for Ron and me. There were numerous traditional art exhibits with artists showing how shadow puppets are made, how banana tree carving is done, as well as elaborate wood carving. Afterwards we went to dinner and then we were ready for bed. Jet lag persists.

Monday Jan 20

Ron started on house projects. There are always some repairs and maintenance to take care of when we visit only once a year.  Before we came to Thailand this year, the house had a problem with a leaking water line.  In order to get it fixed the repair person had to knok a hole in the foundation wall to get access.  So Ron’s project for the day was to straighten out the opening and finish it in a more permanent way.  

I started cleaning. The house is cleaned regularly while we are gone but after a couple of days, the entire house needed sweeping. I will need to mop as well but am going slowly until my body adjusts to the new time zone, about 13 hours difference. I still am waking up at 3 or 4 a.m. and reading until the sun starts to come up. If I am lucky I go back to sleep briefly. We showered then went to town, ate a light lunch at one of our favorite stands and got drinking water at the water plant. We have a dispenser so buy water in five gallon jugs, two for a little over a dollar, ha. Welcome to Thailand. Afterwards we drove to Cha Am, a lovely little beach community. We went for a foot massage and were not disappointed. The facility was right on the beach road where we could feel the breeze off the ocean and see the beach from where we sat. Then Ron took me to a place he discovered the day before with Tum, another family member who is very helpful with projects. This place was the Thai  equivalent to Home Depot. Ron thought he had died and gone to ‘project guy heaven’. He often struggles to find tools and materials he needs and this place has it all and employees speak English! It is inconveniently located about 30-40 minutes away but who cares? We are on vacation from retirement. We stopped by an outlet mall looking for a deal on shoes for my sister but no such luck. Then we stopped at Big C which is a mega  store, with groceries, clothing, appliances, DVDs, CDs and household goods . We decided to make a salad for dinner and found it more difficult than we thought. A yellow bell pepper was $6.00 so we skipped that then found another one for about a dollar. We couldn’t identify any lettuce but came home with what we decided might be lettuce.  Then when we made the salad we decided it might be Napa cabbage. Anyway it worked well enough. After dinner we visited with Pa Cha An who speaks no English and is in her late 80’s and is now blind. We of course speak no Thai but we always have these animated conversations with her as though we all understand each other. Somehow love transpires language differences. For evening entertainment I challenged Ron to a game of Scrabble and for the first time ever I won! I got all the vowels. He is a much better player than I but it was the luck of the draw.