Day 57

Keeping my promise to wrap up the blog, I'm doing this awkwardly from the PC, since the ipad app seems to have quit functioning normally. We have been back about three weeks and I have been occupied with editing several thousand pics and videos, scattered through several storage points, including icloud, as well as immersing in early spring yardwork.

One last pic from Myanmar, of a clock tower in a huge Buddhist university complex near the Great Feel Hotel.

We walked here the morning of our departure.  The flights were uneventful, except for a very rushed transfer in Taipei.

To illustrate my transition back to my cherished life here, I've included some images of the early spring blooming in our yard.   First, an array of some of my favorites...

clockwise (sort of a spiral to the center) from the upper left, and in their natural habitats...

1. ????? can anyone ID this? I lost the info on it...

2.Starlet forsythia

3. Camellia "April Remembered"

4. Daphne o.'aurea marginata (I think)

5. Camellia 'April tryst'

6. Magnolia Ann

 

Day 56 - A Little More R&R, A Museum Adventure, and a Farewell

Woke up feeling punk again, and with the onset of some Burma Belly tried Loperomide, and when that didn't work, went for the antibiotic. That did work, and so a bug may have been the problem all along.

Leaving me with only enough money for cab fare, Dana went to the tourist market in downtown Yangon in the am, with the plan being for me to join her at 1:30 at the National Museum. Following the hotel clerk's advice, I got in a cab at 1:20, believing that the way would be pretty quick between rush hours, and anyway it was going toward the city center, and in the afternoon, and so the traffic should be light, right?

Uh uh. With a driver who seemed to be somewhat inexperienced, we pulled into the National Museum driveway at about 2:10. Dana was not there, and a helpful guard, who greeted me as "Mr. Roger", told me she had already sold my ticket and left the museum. That was astonishing, but he was insistent.

After wracking my brain for a few minutes, trying to get a grip, I went through my pockets as a last resort, and found some kyat that would be enough to get me into the museum and back to the hotel, so I bought a ticket. However, just as I entered the first gallery, the power went off.

That apparently not being unusual, the staff started opening curtains so that the outer galleries had some light, and I continued through the first ones, when Dana suddenly came walking along, looking for me. Turns out she had not left - she'd only gone into the museum. The guard presumably thought she'd left when she walked out to the street to be sure I was not coming.

Since neither of us had had lunch, we went out to get a bite, while they were trying to get the power back on. We walked out and past a couple of embassies to some street stands and had bbq chicken sticks, and when we got back to the museum the power had indeed returned.

We only had an hour before it closed and so we hit the highlights, the best one being a large room full of traditional (even ancient) musical instruments, the ancestors of those being used today. Some - especially a court orchestra display - were quite photogenic, but cameras were not allowed. My favorites were the circles of drums and/or gongs of different tones that the musician would stand inside of, and the saung, the Myanmar national instrument, the earliest versions of which are seen in Pyu carvings from the 9th century.





(Pics from the web)

We managed to see quite a bit before the museum closed, and then we got a cab to the place (University Yacht Club) where we were to meet Mr. Soe and his wife and daughter for dinner. He had chosen the place and the local knowledge paid off. We were quite early for our 7:00 reserve' but figured there might be a nice place to wait, and we were right. It was on the edge of Inya Lake in a very quiet setting, and arriving early, we got a table with a great view of the rising, nearly full, moon.


and the city buildings.

We lingered over excellent yogurt fruity drinks until our guests arrived, and we wisely asked Mr. Soe to choose the menu. The dinner was excellent, and we enjoyed Mr. Soe's company again, and that of his beautiful, somewhat mesmerizing, daughter, and his wife, who did not speak much English, but who had the warmest smile I've ever seen.


This is probably the last post from Myanmar. I'll do a final wrap up from Portland.

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Day 55: Yangon Again, the Shwedagon Paya Festival

I felt a little better in the am, and so I showered and had some breakfast, before returning to the blog, interrupted only by a procession outside of our hotel, this one appearing to be Hindu.



Pretty much a recuperative day, resting, getting caught up with the blog (with a break for lunch), and then taxiing down to the Shwedagon Paya for its full moon festival.

Thousands of people were streaming in, filling the courtyards.



My fellow Friday-born folks were at our station.



As the sun set and the moon rose, the crowd swelled...







The wondrous thing was how personal the experience seemed to be for each person (there were no preachers), even as it was abundantly clear that having the experience in the company of others was the whole point of the festival.



As we left, people were still streaming in by the thousands.

On a slightly negative note, Caucasians looked terribly out of place in the setting, even the ones in longyis - no, especially the ones in longyis.

On a more positive note, I was able to capture three different colors the jewels at the top of the pagoda display from three slightly different positions:

Blue (sort of)





Red





and green.





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Day 54 - Back to Yangon

Bit of a tough night for me, with a dehydration episode, and still rocky in the am, so I missed the last buffet breakfast. But I was able to haul out and make it onto the hotel shuttle and to the airport, with the help of a really cool young woman from reception who went through checkin with us and, get this, processed us through immigration herself (including stamping our passports - that apparently is necessary in some of the Myanmar states) after she discovered that the immigration guys were lagging a bit. Didn't know that was possible, but I had the feeling she may have often done "impossible" things, without any fanfare whatsoever. She went on to process a few others as well.

The flight to Yangon was brief, but of course, we did get a meal. Goliath was waiting for us, and he took us directly to the Great Feel, where I immediately crashed for a couple of hours, getting up only to drink the hydration salts D got for me.

I felt a bit better then, and so set about catching up on the blogging until retiring for the night.




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Day 53 - Ngapali Beach Day 4

Wifi down again, so we had an early breakfast with a few more fruits - the cantaloupe and papaya were particularly good...



and hash browns, and a new omelet guy...


We again stuffed ourselves.

Our plan for the day was to bike to the farther fishing village, Lontha, and so we got a bike for Dana and headed out. The road was paved, and flat, and the weather was perfect, so the ride was quite pleasant. We rode to and through Lontha to the end of their jetty, where they were unloading a night's catch.



We wanted to get up to see the Buddha that overlooks the bay, and so we inquired our way to the beach, parked the bikes and set out on foot. Lotta things to see, hear and smell in a fishing village in the morning.



These friendly ladies appeared to be cleaning nets.



The beach had a muddy feel, but the walking was fine and the shells were plentiful and beautiful, in fact, we believe we found our best shell ever, and I did a video of it, in case we can't get it back home intact.



We managed to find our way up to the Buddha statue...


which had some nice animal figures, like these two crocs...



in front of two dragons, who lined the stairway and snaked across part of it.


On the way back down the hill these little novice guys gave us a gratuitous display of their grasp of English.



Back on the beach I led Dana to my sketching spot,...


aptly named "Pleasant View", where we enjoyed yet another tropical fruit juice.



We spent the afternoon lazing on the beach and swimming a bit. I tried a little body surfing, but mainly only managed to get a touch of dehydration, that I began to feel after we biked to a restaurant, called "The Best One" (recommended to us by a hotel receptionist when we asked which restaurant was the best one - ya gotta love the literality of the namings) which really was quite good.




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Day 52 - Ngapali Beach Day 3

Dana woke up feeling fine - hallelujah! - so she called Mr. Bean (name of the guy who,has the snorkel trip business - it's on his card - and he actually looks a bit like Rowen Atkinson), and we arranged for a pickup.

The buffet was particularly good, again with the backdrop of a calm morning sea...



and in addition to two guys doing omelets, they had a guy doing yogurt and muesli, as well as some new pastries, so...I had a multi-course breakfast, starting with fresh watermelon and papaya, and including really good coffee. It was all included in the hotel rate, and this is one of the cheapest places on the beach.

We got our stuff together and waited on the beach until Mr. Bean's guys picked us up in a covered boat, and we went south along the beach a bit to pick up two Finnish guys, then headed toward Pearl Island.



We first dropped in on the shore side of the island. The snorkeling was surprisingly good. The water was calm and clear, there was a lot of mounding and other kinds of coral (contrary to the LP's commentary), and there were many varieties of tropical fish, several of which I don't think I've seen before. Our favorite was one spotted like a leopard, although there also were some very nice angelfish and parrotfish. Sorry, no underwater camera.

We snorkeled there for over an hour and then moved around the island to the seaward side, where, surprisingly, the water was also calm and clear. We were in one of several bays formed naturally by rocky promontories that were like jetties.

We snorkeled there for another 45 minutes and then they took us for drive-bys of the two fishing villages, including the one I'd gone to yesterday. When we got back we were still full from breakfast and so snacked in the afternoon and lazed on the recliner cots while reading and gaming on the pads.

Never has the phrase "another lovely day in paradise" been more apt for me - even without the wifi. Come to think of it, devices don't really belong in paradise, if there is one.

We had a drink on the veranda of the restaurant while watching the sunset...


until the lights of the fishing boats filled the horizon, and then had an early dinner, escaping the puppet show, which, we discovered, is the same every night.



As we headed back to our room, we discovered that the wifi in the lobby was working well, so I actually managed to complete a day and post it, before things returned to the normal malfunctioning.

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Day 51 - Ngapali Beach Day 2

Early rise to try the wifi before everyone else, but no luck, other than receiving a few emails on the iPhone. Dana spent a rough night with some gastrointestinal issues and so she cancelled that the snorkel trip she had arranged. I decided to try to find a place for a sketch, and started down the beach toward a fishing village (Geik Taw). But it was already getting warm, and a guy told me the village was an hour away, so I went back to the hotel and rented a bike.

That turned out to be a good idea. I rode south for 15 minutes, found the village, and a rode in to its waterfront, where drying fish occupied the best beachfront property...



and the bay was filled with fishing boats, likely many of the ones we'd seen on the horizon at sunset.



Women were sifting...


and raking dried fish.



Yes, it reeked, but not as much as the Sittwe fish market, residue of which had clung to our sandals until we shampooed them.

The town had its own mermaid...


and a neat restaurant on a rock outcrop that was accessed by a breakwater, from where I was able to start a sketch of the bay and beach, and had a fine strawberry/banana/yogurt smoothie, and later a very good crispy fresh local fish in coconut sauce lunch for lunch.



On the way back I took a dirt road in to a pagoda that proved to be underwhelming, but the ride in and out took me through neighborhoods of friendly fishing families where the kids were coming home from school. I snapped one photo of someone's crab pots, but refrained from photos of the folks because it felt like an intrusion.


D had still not recovered by dinner time, and so I went on my own. I had a really fine red snapper with a mashed potato like pasta made of rice, I believe, and 5 or 6 kinds of roasted vegetables. Did I mention the amazing variety and quality of veggies in this country? We have been eating better on this trip than any other I can remember.

The puppeteers did the marionettes again, which in one way was disappointing, and in another not, because they did the cane ball thing all the way through this time, without any backstage drama.








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Day 50 - To Ngapali Beach

After breakfast, a stroll to the nearby fish market...



where boats, large and small, were still arriving with fish...





and the selection was even more formidable than the smell.

Apart from fish fish there were:

squid...


eels...




a sting-ray - well, half of one...




shrimp...



crab...



other shell fish...



angel fish (sadly)...



conch...



and dried fish...



And now for something completely different - while we were waiting for our ride to the airport Dana got a demonstration of some Myanmar dancing from a bellhop at our hotel...



Quick trip to the airport and a bit of a chaotic scene there with several tour groups leaving, but using some patience and paying attention to what the staff was doing (plus being kind and courteous to them) we got through the process and onto the plane with relative ease.

Same on the plane, where our carry-ons wouldn't fit in the overheads (it was a substitute charter). The stewardess said something about "outside cargo" and left our two bags in the seats in front of us, then forgot about them until the doors had been shut. I suggested to a steward (who seemed to have a sense of humor) that the bags should be strapped in. He liked the idea, and did it. So our bags flew in the two seats in front of us, complying with the crew's safety instructions.

The flight was only about 1/2 hour, but they managed to serve a meal and drinks, and clean up in that time, with extraordinary grace, patience and courtesy. Further proof of my theory that Asian airlines will never go mealless, and confirmation that they are more than capable of doing it.

Dana also had called our Ngapali (pronounced sort of like the Italian "Napoli" - for Naples, but with a "y" after the "n") hotel for transfer, and there was a bus (with AC) waiting for us and a few others. The hotel is a nice, resort type thing on the beach with clusters of buildings...but with a couple of negatives: 1. the room had a strong moldy smell and 2. the wifi sucks!!!!!😝😝😝😝😝. Turned out the whole town has problem 2, so changing hotels would not have helped. I learned that, by checking out a neighboring hotel, nearly twice as expensive as ours. I was ready to pay $220 a night and forego the $120 a night we already had paid, i.e. $340 a night - for a bed. I think I'm supposed to learn something from this.

Anyway, we chose to be positive and headed right to the beach - for some lounging, reading, and even a little swimming.



It is as beautiful as the LP said, a several mile arc of soft white sand, with a flat smooth bottom for wading, and very little surf. In other words, user-friendly and relaxing - and after 15 minutes, a bit boring, for me. So I dove back into The Crusades - 730 pages including footnotes. But I know who Nur-al-din (Muslim) and Raymond of Antioch (Crusader) are, and you don't, do you?

We had dinner on the lovely terrace overlooking the beach, with a nice sunset (highlighted, literally, by the fishing boats offshore)...



and a puppet show...



that had some backstage drama in the middle of a sketch when the male puppeteer went off somewhere and his female partner deliberately dropped the puppet she was working and stopped; and then, after a pause, and without explanation, they went on to the next bit. Bummer for me, because they had been doing a cane ball thing that was my favorite of the evening.



















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Day 49 - Boat Ride Back to Sittwe

Taking advantage of another lovely morning and a little extra time, I walked over to the Shitaung Temple, very near our hotel, where the morning light was softening everything, even the temple stone.








The sounds were also softened.



I couldn't resist getting more pics of the Hindu deity carvings.









Back at the hotel we had breakfast and were shuttled down to the jetty, where we again boarded our own boat for the 5+ hour ride to Sittwe.

First sight, still in the jetty channel, was a bamboo log raft.


There wasn't much new along the way, although we did get some good views of guys with their crab pots...


and there was a boat being towed that was bearing the flag for the winner of the Water Festival boat races.




We arrived at Sittwe and after checking in and a brief rest we went out for some of the local sights:

A mansion that a generous man donated for a Buddhist learning center, including food and lodging for students with limited means...




a revered Buddha image, made up of hundreds of small images...






and the most prominent pagoda...


with a golden interior.



We were sure to get back to our hotel for the second biggest show in Sittwe, the big shift change, i.e. the rousting of the roosting fruit bats (across from our hotel) by the would-be roosting crows.



The bats were huge and furry...



and they made excellent use of the hooks on their wings, including for what looked like love-making....creepiest kiss ever?



In the middle of it all there was a nice sunset.





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