Back in Mandalay

So last night I got to chat online with Cathy via our Gmail chat device. Very cool. The timing was only a little off, and we got to chat for like a half an hour, which would have been a fortune on the phone.

She often makes the point of how wonderful the people are there. As you'll see in the following e-mail, which she sent upon return to Mandalay from Hsipaw.


we're back in mandalay after 4 wonderful days in hsipaw. i'll tell you
about the train ride first... so many of the good stories have to do
with transport.

the train from mandalay to hspiaw was full for 3 days so we hired a
car for $50 which turned out to be a great deal because he stopped at
the botanical gardens and some caves along the way. it took us most
of the day to get to hspiaw. the bontanical gardens were beautiful
and there was a flower festival going on so lots of lots of people.
it was nice to see burmese people relaxing and enjoying time with
their families because it seems that all they do is work (they are up
around 4am and things close down pretty early at night.. around 9pm).
one thing we thought was funny is there were speakers set up all over
the park BLARING asian music. it was very very loud and not very
relaxing. we were later told the loud music is to please the Nat. the
nat is sort of a spirit that a lot of folks believe in... they want to
keep the spirit happy so good things happen to you. chris.. the
spirit houses in thailand were for something like the nat. they do all
kinds of things to make the nat happy like build him nice little
houses and put offerings in the big bilbao trees and bring him fruit
and rice and beautiful flowers. apparently he also likes loud music.

so after the park we visited some caves that were really amazing.
there were hundreds of different buddah's set up back in the caves
along with little scenes ( fake trees and monks sitting around). we
couldnt figure out how they got all the stuff in there. plus a lot of
the walkway was done in tiny tiles which would have taken forever. it
was very impressive and christina called it a buddah theme park.

we stayed at mr charles guest house in hsipaw which is where most
folks stay. hsipaw is in the hills in the shan state in eastern
myanmar.. very close to the chinese border. the food is more chinese
there and the shan people look more chinese. we rented bikes one day
and rode around to different monestaries and a nat shrine (really
cool.. everyone takes the nat these huge food/fruit and flower
baskets. we asked someone and they said the baskets sit there for a
day then the children come and collect all the food and eat it. we
also went to the nephew of the last shan prince's house... remind me
to tell you more about that later (big brother watching.. phone calls
here are listened to etc etc)

the area around hspiaw is very beautiful.. lots of small farms. we
rode by several villages and gardens. chris you'd be proud of me. i
was mountain biking only with a one speed 100lb tank of a bike. the
roads and paths are terrible here!! i never fell off though. you'd
also be proud at me riding around in the dark like everyone else does.
i dont really like it but it gets dark at 5pm and we had to get home.
lights (on cars, scooters etc) seem to be optional. i havent seen
anyone get hit though and the traffic pattern is definitely mroe
orderly than vietnam. my favorite way to get around is by trishaw
(man on bike ).

anyway back to transport... the train ride from hsipaw to mandalay is
gorgeous. you go past gardens and rolling hills and monestaires and
pagodas. we enjoyed ourselves for the first 8 hours or so. they we
sat at a train station in py o lyn for 3 hours and we lost some steam
there. by the time we left again it was dark so they closed all the
windows on the train when it was cold. many more people had gotten on
at that point .. we had seats but there were people standing and
sitting in the aisles all around us hacking their lungs out. didnt
bother me when the windows were open but between the spitting and
hacking we were ready to be off that train when it finally arrived in
mandalay 13 hours after we left hsipaw. people were very very nice
though. they shared food with us and called us over to their window
when there was something pretty to see. the train car guy would tell
us how long we were supposed to stop at each station so we'd know if
we could get off or not. in short.. the opposite of vietnam. the
photos i brought over are a big hit. they've been looked at by so
many people. they were passed around the train car last night as we
crawled towards mandalay in a train car that was lit only by one
candle that someone had put on our train seat because they thought
we'd like some light. other than that it was pitch black!

Football Part 2

This came shortly after the previous one:

i just popped my head in for the national anthem. it is so cool...
you would love this! the cyber cafe is right outside the stadium so i
can hear everything.

i miss you! i may not be able to write for a few days but i will write
whenever i can. dont worry if you dont hear from me for a few days.
we are staying at the golden mandalay hotel in mandalay (such a great
place.. little cabins on this lake/pond). it is crazy how well they
are treating us... we feel like royalty. we'll be back here in a few
days after hspiaw.

hello to gus and henry! for some reason people really like that photo
of gus. maybe because he is so big and black and all their dogs are
skinny and brown/white.

oh and yesterday we went to a monestary and got to see 1000 monks get
their lunch and eat it silently. very cool. they walk in a line and
their bowls get filled with rice then they chant then eat. i took a
few photos but felt weird about taking them even though it was OK
because they want you to donate to the monestary. i bought a book.

Football in Mandalay

This came Sunday morning, to both me and Jan.

HELLO!!
hope all is well with both of you. internet access is getting a
little more difficult so i wanted to write before we leave for hsipaw
because i dont think there is any there.

we've just come from the first game of the grand royal cup.. we saw
the myanmar under 23 team play malaysia. they won 1-0 which made
everyone very happy. it was definitely a bit daunting at first when
we walked into the stadium with 1000's of fans hopped up on kat leaves
and betel going crazy. that and all the machine guns/police/army made
for quite a scene. everyone is so nice though that it was no problem.
we were quite a spectacle... only white people in the stadium as far
as i could tell and also very few women there at all. the myanmar
national team plays in 1/2 hour and we could get back into the stadium
to see it if we want but christina doesnt want to which is a bummer. i
might see if i can go in just for the national anthem and beginning
procession which was very cool in the first game. they dont sell
popcorn or peanuts. only cigarettes, sunflower seeds and eggs. yes
eggs. not sure if they were boiled or raw but there was a man walking
around selling them. yukky. it was awesome... i'm so glad we got to
go. you arent supposed to reenter the stadium but a man from the
"ministry of physical education" who was in a very official government
uniform said we could come back. christina asked him if we needed a
ticket or stam p or something and he just laughed and said something
that we took to mean "dont worry... we'll remember you" it was pretty
funny.

we have made friends with a trishaw driver that came to the game wityh
us. i paid for his ticket and he came and stood in line at 0700 to
buy them. he's a very nice guy and his friend may drive us to hsipaw
tomorrow. we were supposed to take the train but it is full for 3 days. something about the government buying all the seats.

we\'re staying in a very nice place in mandalay for 20/night. they
treat us like royalty which is a bit embarrasing. and most of their
workers are under 10 years old which is also disturbing. i think they
are all part of the family but they work way too hard for little kids.
one little boy stands outside of our window in the am and as soon as i
come outside he takes cushions to the chairs/table by the pond and
starts bringing us breakfast. they even bring us our toilet paper on
a serving tray! people are SO polite and very interested in you and
where you are from. they even like americans here.

i better go... next game is starting and i\'m going to see if i can
stand in there for awhile. the stadium is pretty gross. there is red
betel spit all over the place and some parts of the walkway are huge
puddles of mud. they do have a big screen though and the game is
televised so people are watching it all over the country.