This e-mail came Friday 12/15.
so yesterday in yangon was amazing. we took the ferry across the
yangon river to dalah and it was a different world over there. it felt
as remote as parts of zimbabwe but you were only a 5 minute ferry ride from
busy yangon. we had a couple of trishaw drivers show us around for 3
hours and i loved it. all the kids ran behind us and everyone stared
but also smiled. people are so friendly.
so christina wasnt feeling well today so i walked around mandalay and
now have a trishaw driver who is showing me around. it is a fun way to
get around and he took me to the stadium where the grand football game
is being held on sunday. first time ever in myanmar. tickets go on
sale sunday at 0700 and i definitely want to go. myanmar vs malaysia.
i am looking for a football jersey for you with the name/numer of the
best player... myohlaingwin #9. zawmyint, my trishaw driving is
sitting here helping me with the spelling and will help get tickets
sunday. he is at university studying japanese.
so i hope miss christina is feeling better tomorrow. she thinks she
ate something weird yesterday. luckily i'm still ok and hungry all the
time. some food is more like chinese but other food is fantastic.. you
would love all of it.
tomorrow i think we'll go visit the 3 ancient cities around mandalay
and then sunday go to football game if we can get tickets. then leave
monday i think for hsipaw. supposed to be an awesome train ride
through the mountains.
more monks here than in thailand and they talk to you a lot which is
different. we will visit some monestaries. i think they like to talk
english and also want donation for their monestary. not too many beer
places/bars. i dont think buddhists drink much and women do not at
all. sure do chew the red stuff though.
Friday, December 15, 2006
Thursday, December 14, 2006
Yangon, Part 2
A bit more work, but it still sounds wonderful.
She brought a small photo book with her full of pictures of her and me and her mom and our dogs and Idaho and all sorts of stuff to explain to people where she's from.
Also, I'm editing out parts directed at specific people, or the mushy stuff.
Here's the second e-mail I've got from Cathy:
very nice to hear from you! too bad you're not at work now because i think we could IM. they get around government block of hotmail by signing into a french server so it is very slow but it works. to be honest, we have not noticed a lot of signs of oppression here. people are definitely very very poor but there are a lot of bookstores with current magazines like newsweek and the economist and they get asia CNN so things dont seem to be too restricted in the capitol. i remember it being more restricted in china. one thing though, i looked in the economist because there was supposed to be an article on myanmar in there and i couldnt find it so maybe it was censored.
so yesterday was frustrating. limited tourism facilities combined with high season means lots of full planes and trains. we were going to take train to mandalay tomorrow but all sleepers are full for several days. then wanted to fly toi kentung (near border with thailand.. supposed to be awesome trekking and very remote.. foreigners can only fly there) but flights full until next week (there are only 3 flights a week). so now we are flying to mandalay tomorrow and i'm going to call to see if we can arrange a place to stay.
our place in yangon is full tonight so we dont know what we're going to do but we'll figure something out.
we ate more awesome street food yesterday. sat down on those tiny plastic chairs and ate whatever they gave us. you'd be proud i've been pretty adventurous. yesterday we ate some yellow stuff that looked like noodles but was maybe some kind of tofu? they cut it up then cut a bunch of fresh herbs on it then put a bunch of spoonfuls of chilis and ginger/lemongrass etc and mix it all up and hand it to you. 100 kyat (about a dime!). much more expensive in restaurants. our bill at dinner last night was a whopping $4.
we still think people are very very friendly and they genuinely seem to want to help you. if we stand and look at our book for 30 seconds someone will come up and ask us where we are trying to go. a few people, mostly children have asked for money or food but their approach is very low key compared to anywhere else we've been.
so wish up luck today with our arrangements!! i think we need to actually try to book a few rooms as things seem to be getting full. we hardly see any white people anywhere though.
the photos i brought are a big hit. i pull them out when we are sitting on those little plastic chairs and soon there is a crowd gathered around looking at them. i'm so glad i brought them!
also very glad i brought the small camera because folks are pretty camera shy and it was much easier to walk around the market with that one. i used the big one when we were in more touristy areas where folks were more used to cameras.
i dont mind if you put stuff on blog...as long as it is interesting... a lot of what i write isnt that exciting!
have fun at the cabin this weekend and glad we are getting snow. who knows where either one of us will end up on christmas! there are christmas decorations all over town so they celebrate more than we exxpected.
hello to gussy and henry. i've made 1 dog friend that i see every day. he seems to have an owner but all the dogs run around free and are very skinny. i havent seen anyone chase them away or be mean to them though which is good.
and all the men really do wear skirts (longhi.. not sure how to spell). everyone does. business men wear them with buttondown shirts and ties , it looks cool.
it is 9am now and we are leaving for mandalay at 6am tomorrow. spend a couple days there then take train to hsipaw then not sure.
She brought a small photo book with her full of pictures of her and me and her mom and our dogs and Idaho and all sorts of stuff to explain to people where she's from.
Also, I'm editing out parts directed at specific people, or the mushy stuff.
Here's the second e-mail I've got from Cathy:
very nice to hear from you! too bad you're not at work now because i think we could IM. they get around government block of hotmail by signing into a french server so it is very slow but it works. to be honest, we have not noticed a lot of signs of oppression here. people are definitely very very poor but there are a lot of bookstores with current magazines like newsweek and the economist and they get asia CNN so things dont seem to be too restricted in the capitol. i remember it being more restricted in china. one thing though, i looked in the economist because there was supposed to be an article on myanmar in there and i couldnt find it so maybe it was censored.
so yesterday was frustrating. limited tourism facilities combined with high season means lots of full planes and trains. we were going to take train to mandalay tomorrow but all sleepers are full for several days. then wanted to fly toi kentung (near border with thailand.. supposed to be awesome trekking and very remote.. foreigners can only fly there) but flights full until next week (there are only 3 flights a week). so now we are flying to mandalay tomorrow and i'm going to call to see if we can arrange a place to stay.
our place in yangon is full tonight so we dont know what we're going to do but we'll figure something out.
we ate more awesome street food yesterday. sat down on those tiny plastic chairs and ate whatever they gave us. you'd be proud i've been pretty adventurous. yesterday we ate some yellow stuff that looked like noodles but was maybe some kind of tofu? they cut it up then cut a bunch of fresh herbs on it then put a bunch of spoonfuls of chilis and ginger/lemongrass etc and mix it all up and hand it to you. 100 kyat (about a dime!). much more expensive in restaurants. our bill at dinner last night was a whopping $4.
we still think people are very very friendly and they genuinely seem to want to help you. if we stand and look at our book for 30 seconds someone will come up and ask us where we are trying to go. a few people, mostly children have asked for money or food but their approach is very low key compared to anywhere else we've been.
so wish up luck today with our arrangements!! i think we need to actually try to book a few rooms as things seem to be getting full. we hardly see any white people anywhere though.
the photos i brought are a big hit. i pull them out when we are sitting on those little plastic chairs and soon there is a crowd gathered around looking at them. i'm so glad i brought them!
also very glad i brought the small camera because folks are pretty camera shy and it was much easier to walk around the market with that one. i used the big one when we were in more touristy areas where folks were more used to cameras.
i dont mind if you put stuff on blog...as long as it is interesting... a lot of what i write isnt that exciting!
have fun at the cabin this weekend and glad we are getting snow. who knows where either one of us will end up on christmas! there are christmas decorations all over town so they celebrate more than we exxpected.
hello to gussy and henry. i've made 1 dog friend that i see every day. he seems to have an owner but all the dogs run around free and are very skinny. i havent seen anyone chase them away or be mean to them though which is good.
and all the men really do wear skirts (longhi.. not sure how to spell). everyone does. business men wear them with buttondown shirts and ties , it looks cool.
it is 9am now and we are leaving for mandalay at 6am tomorrow. spend a couple days there then take train to hsipaw then not sure.
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Greetings from Balmy Yangon
Got this e-mail from Cathy. Sounds like they're doing great. I tried to edit for weird cut and paste glitches but I may have missed some.
Hello!!
its wed am here and i just got done sitting on the street taking photos of people on their way to work. it is amazing how many people they can cram onto a bus or truck or anything with wheels!
everything has been great so far.. no problems at all. i met up with christina in singapore no problem and we flew to yangon. singapore airlines is fantastic.. gourmet food and stunningly beautiful flight attendants dressed in purple. so we were supposed to be picked up at the airport by a man from our hotel but he did not show up. we stood around for a while then got swamped by the inevitable crowd of folks that seem to meet every plane, train and bus in every country "hello hello where you from? taxi taxi??". compared to other places it wasnt bad here at all though and we got a taxi to take us to our place and the man that was supposed to pick us up even paid for it.
yangon is awesome. its like an older more decrepit version of bangkok. it is teeming with activity and street life. little plastic chairs and tables set up all over the place serving all kinds of utterly amazing food.
chris... you would be in heaven. mom... WAY too spicy for you.
i've tried all kinds of things and so far the only thing i didnt like was the grilled chicken skin. it looked good until i bit into it then i gave it to a skinny dog. yesterday we wandered all over the place and walked through some fascinating food markets which happened to be next to a garbage dump. all kinds of fresh fish and veggies and other colorful things that i could not identify. so far i've been eating a lot from street vendors and feel great... i hope it stays that way.
people here have been very nice. they either don't pay much attention to you or smile and say hello. there does not seem to be any resentment towards tourists. last evening we went to the Shwedagon Paya which is a HUGE temple (actually many many temples and dozens and dozens of glittering buddhas. it was bigger and glitzier than anything we saw in thailand. also the monks are more friendly here. i did not think they were supposed to talk to people, especially women, but we had a couple of young ones (maybe14?) following us around the Paya pointing things out to us and acting more like teenage boys than monks.
christina is still sleeping (she does like to sleep late) but that is good because it gives me time to walk around and take photos. today we will try to arrange our train ticket up north. still not sure exactly where we will go from here but we think train to mandalay then hire a driver to take us to hsipaw then train back to mandalay then boat to bagan then hire driver to a few other places then back to yangon for new years. we're actually seen quite a few christmas trees and references to christmas and new years. christina wants to get a room at this 5 star hotel for new years eve which could be fun and it is only $90/night (very cheap for a 5 star hotel, esp split in half) it is so cheap here... tiger beer is about 50 cents, a good meal is $2-3 and a decent place to stay around 10-15/night. its hot and humid but not too bad. i am shiny faced and fuzzy haired though and expect i will remain that way for the entire trip.
that's all for now! i hope all is well and pls give our fat spoiled dogs a pat on the head from me. i have already made a couple dog friends here.
i love you and miss you! chris i wish you were here... you would love yangon.. like bangkok but not quite as hectic and the old coloniel looking architecture. i will take lots of photos, dont worry. :-)
Hello!!
its wed am here and i just got done sitting on the street taking photos of people on their way to work. it is amazing how many people they can cram onto a bus or truck or anything with wheels!
everything has been great so far.. no problems at all. i met up with christina in singapore no problem and we flew to yangon. singapore airlines is fantastic.. gourmet food and stunningly beautiful flight attendants dressed in purple. so we were supposed to be picked up at the airport by a man from our hotel but he did not show up. we stood around for a while then got swamped by the inevitable crowd of folks that seem to meet every plane, train and bus in every country "hello hello where you from? taxi taxi??". compared to other places it wasnt bad here at all though and we got a taxi to take us to our place and the man that was supposed to pick us up even paid for it.
yangon is awesome. its like an older more decrepit version of bangkok. it is teeming with activity and street life. little plastic chairs and tables set up all over the place serving all kinds of utterly amazing food.
chris... you would be in heaven. mom... WAY too spicy for you.
i've tried all kinds of things and so far the only thing i didnt like was the grilled chicken skin. it looked good until i bit into it then i gave it to a skinny dog. yesterday we wandered all over the place and walked through some fascinating food markets which happened to be next to a garbage dump. all kinds of fresh fish and veggies and other colorful things that i could not identify. so far i've been eating a lot from street vendors and feel great... i hope it stays that way.
people here have been very nice. they either don't pay much attention to you or smile and say hello. there does not seem to be any resentment towards tourists. last evening we went to the Shwedagon Paya which is a HUGE temple (actually many many temples and dozens and dozens of glittering buddhas. it was bigger and glitzier than anything we saw in thailand. also the monks are more friendly here. i did not think they were supposed to talk to people, especially women, but we had a couple of young ones (maybe14?) following us around the Paya pointing things out to us and acting more like teenage boys than monks.
christina is still sleeping (she does like to sleep late) but that is good because it gives me time to walk around and take photos. today we will try to arrange our train ticket up north. still not sure exactly where we will go from here but we think train to mandalay then hire a driver to take us to hsipaw then train back to mandalay then boat to bagan then hire driver to a few other places then back to yangon for new years. we're actually seen quite a few christmas trees and references to christmas and new years. christina wants to get a room at this 5 star hotel for new years eve which could be fun and it is only $90/night (very cheap for a 5 star hotel, esp split in half) it is so cheap here... tiger beer is about 50 cents, a good meal is $2-3 and a decent place to stay around 10-15/night. its hot and humid but not too bad. i am shiny faced and fuzzy haired though and expect i will remain that way for the entire trip.
that's all for now! i hope all is well and pls give our fat spoiled dogs a pat on the head from me. i have already made a couple dog friends here.
i love you and miss you! chris i wish you were here... you would love yangon.. like bangkok but not quite as hectic and the old coloniel looking architecture. i will take lots of photos, dont worry. :-)
Monday, December 11, 2006
On the Way
An e-mail from Cathy delivered late last night said that she was in the airport in Singapore and had connected with Christina. So, the two of them were waiting together, apparently enjoying the free foot massages that you can get in the Singapore airport. Nice.
The flight went well, and they're moving right along.
The flight went well, and they're moving right along.
Sunday, December 10, 2006
Taipei
Got a text message about 3pm today.
Just landed n taipei great flight est the food now four hrs to sin love u xxxxxx
So, Cathy's landed in Taipei after a good flight where she ate well. Now she waits 4 hours before getting a flight to Singapore--or she takes a four hour flight to Singapore, one of the two.
Either way, good news. The big long hard part is over, and now she flies Singapore Air to Yangon (Rangoon).
More as I know it.
Just landed n taipei great flight est the food now four hrs to sin love u xxxxxx
So, Cathy's landed in Taipei after a good flight where she ate well. Now she waits 4 hours before getting a flight to Singapore--or she takes a four hour flight to Singapore, one of the two.
Either way, good news. The big long hard part is over, and now she flies Singapore Air to Yangon (Rangoon).
More as I know it.
A New Story: Cathy Goes to Myanmar
Cathy left for Myanmar (Burma) on 12.9.06. I don't know how often we'll be in touch while she's there, but I'll post updates here.
She's traveling with our friend Christina, who lives in Amsterdam and who Cathy met some years ago while traveling in Zimbabwe.
Confusing?
Nah. They've visited each other often and have wanted to take a grand adventure together ever since they met. So, here it is.
I'm quite jealous, but I'm excited for her.
Tune in for updates.
She's traveling with our friend Christina, who lives in Amsterdam and who Cathy met some years ago while traveling in Zimbabwe.
Confusing?
Nah. They've visited each other often and have wanted to take a grand adventure together ever since they met. So, here it is.
I'm quite jealous, but I'm excited for her.
Tune in for updates.
King Louie
Some time ago, Cathy and I took part in the See Spot Walk fundraiser for the Humane Society here. We watched a Doberman who was there to be adopted, and who did get adopted by the end of the day.
But the day's highlight for us was a visit with an old friend.
Remember Big Head? He's Louie now.
But the day's highlight for us was a visit with an old friend.
Remember Big Head? He's Louie now.
His new owner was at the event, and Cathy recognized him instantly from across the park. So great to see him. He's a good bit bigger and healthy as a horse. And it's immediately obvious that he's got it good these days.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)