18 March 2015
When I asked my 16-year-old niece if she had any concerns about traveling to Italy with me for three weeks, I typically got a ”no.” So far, few questions have issued forth. She seems to be taking this adventure in stride, as are her parents. I am not even sure they know where I am taking their daughter. Her family in Minnesota seems extraordinarily calm with few concerns. As for me, not so much. (more…)
Celebrating 100th birthday of General Aung San
Yangon Airways: “We’ll get you where you are going,” eventually. Our short flight to Yangon has been extended by returning north to Mandalay, then “Hi Ho Hi Ho its off to Heho we go” to the southeast, before flying southwest to Yangon, Rangoon for those who remember this country as Burma. Like many cities, its colonial name was replaced with its traditional name. (more…)
Leaving bumper to bumper traffic, we drive northeast toward Bago. First stop is Taukkyan War Cemetery near Htauk Kyan. This is a British Commonwealth cemetery for Allied soldiers who died in battle fighting the Japanese in Burma during the Second World War. The pillars of Rangoon Memorial are etched with names of 27,000 Commonwealth soldiers who died but have no known grave. The cemetery contains graves for 6,374 soldiers who died in World War II, and 52 soldiers who died in Burma during the First World War. There are 867 graves for the “unknown soldier.” (more…)
A bumpy but scenic bus ride on Burmese roads takes me through landscape characterized by prickly bushes and stunted trees, simple villages and poor roads. Ox-carts carry wood, water tanks and families. Most farms still use oxen to plow fields. First stop is a Palm Tree farm where a man scurries up a very tall palm tree to get drippings for his pots below. Palm produces alcohol, palm oil, palm sugar, baskets and ornaments from fronds. A 25-year-old ox grinds peanut paste which tourists feed back to him in a nice symbiotic relationship.
Departing Ayeyarwady Princess in Bagan
The archaeologically rich city of Bagan sits on the eastern bank of the Ayeyarwady River. What greets me upon debarkation from our boat is a loudspeaker blasting Rod Stewart singing “Young Turks” and thousands of ruins. Here is a region to compete with Angkor Wat; there are 4446 sandstone and terra cotta pagodas and temples dating from the 11th to 13th centuries. I can only hope we do not attempt to see them all. (more…)
Mahamuni Pagoda and its very fat Buddha
It’s Burma or bust! Since 1962, when a coup d’état brought one of the world’s most repressive regimes into power, Myanmar has been isolated from outside influences. It became one of the 10 poorest countries in the world and embroiled in dissension, accusations of genocide and child slavery, bloody suppression, dictators, drug warlords, and rebel ethnic friction. A British colony until 1948, in 1989 Burma returned to its traditional name of Myanmar (“fast and tough”) because the ruling council thought Burma was “too Burmese.” To keep iron-fisted control of the country, the ruling junta closed its borders to all but the opium trade and illegal logging. Myanmar became one of the least westernized countries in the world. (more…)
Most every travel list I see rating favorite cities, most traveled destinations, top ten cities to visit, places not to miss includes Bangkok. I arrived in this city yesterday afternoon to snarled bumper to bumper traffic. A city of 10 million, most are in cars. The skyline, what can be seen through the dense smog, is one of skyscrapers. The sunrise this morning resembles a red moon over the Chao Phraya River. Streets are overrun with Chinese tourists hell bent on endless selfies. For a traveler, I scratch my head in wonder. What is the draw of Bangkok? (more…)