It's not cold anymore...

Nope... we're just at the end of the hot season (ha! like all the other seasons aren't hot?) and the beginning of the rainy season. The beginning of torrential rains, ominous dark clouds, flash floods, and, if you can believe it, worse traffic. But, the onset of the rainy season also means lots of fresh fruits (mangoes, mangosteens, guava, rambutans, starfruit, and even durian). So while I now carry flip flops, a plastic bag, and an umbrella with me at all times, I'm well nutriated...

Since I last wrote (in any details besides about strange WHO jokes and straws), I have, as usual, been traveling quite a bit. (On a side note, plus one for Thailand.) After my family left, I had about a week before my next visitor, a friend from grad school came to visit. We headed down to Phuket (my first time there) for some rest and relaxation. I, being the experienced traveler that I am, packed the night before we left and forgot my camera. So here are a few of the pictures I have (stolen from Facebook) to document:

Our abode on the beach... see anything out of place?

Strange looking tree!

 

Nam Tok Bang Pae

Our kayak... right before I jumped into the
piranha infested waters!

Our guide grabbed this GIANT jellyfish!

Koh Dta pbu
(Nail Island, aka James Bond Island)

Somehow we ended up on a Russian-language tour...

Ok, so it's Charlie's Angels pose but...

And then I was a lazy bum for most of March... and I delighted in it! Although on Saint Patrick's Day, I did go out with my Thai teacher, Khun Noi, to get Mexican food. Only in Thailand!

With a looming U.S. government shutdown in early April, no one was sure if we would all be able to celebrate Songkran, or Thai New Year. While I am technically not an employee of the federal government, I thought it would be a bit nasty to take off traveling during Thai New Year if my Thai colleagues could not. Luckily, Congress did manage to actually fulfill their job and keep the government running. I headed to Burma, again. It truly is one of my favorite places in Southeast Asia and, if it weren't for the government, I think I could live there. I traveled with some great companions (good traveling companions really do make traveling much better!) and we headed to Yangon, Bagan, and Inle Lake. Here are some of my favorite pictures (I remembered my camera this time and took well over 600 pictures in my 5 1/2 days there):

Serena and me on the ferry in Yangon, spent mainly
entertaining all the kids with funny faces and noises

I feel so Thai - posing with things in parks ;)

Me and the Little Mermaid

Burmese Thingyan (New Year)
a mix of Songkran and Mardi Gras

Not sure why Bangkok Hospital advertises in Yangon?

We hiked all around the city and made it across a massive
traffic circle without getting hit by any of the many vehicles!

Why do my feet always get so dirty!?!?!?!
(Melissa, Serena, me)

In the Shwedagon

A good place to store your drink?

Some girls I made friends with hiking back down from the Shwedagon...
they would laugh hysterically until the camera was ready to take a
picture, then straightfaced, then laugh again ;)

Our first meal... which started hesitatingly then
just kept coming and coming and coming! So delicious!

On to Bagan

My one shot of kids preparing the douse someone else with water...
most times were spent avoiding children by any means necessary!

Dhammayangyi Temple

Beautiful Inle Lake

Shwe Inn Tain Monastery

Kid taking my 'picture'

A kid paddling with his foot.
I still don't understand how this works?

Thong Tho Monastery Complex

"Are U Tired of Rice?"

I then rested up before heading to the U.S. for the first time in almost a year, for my dear friend Jess's wedding in Asheville, NC, to see my family (especially my sister), and celebrate my great Aunt Peggy's 90th birthday (a special day we share). Here are the highlights:

Jess's bachelorette
we just happened to find a pig statue!

Katie S, Tiffany, and Georgia, with the hair all done up!

Of course, we had flip flops to match our multicolored sashes...
compliments of Ms. Vance

Ryan and me, team purple

Chris and Tiffany, team light blue

Me (purple), Katie S (dark blue), Tiffany (light blue),
Georgia (teal), Amanda (green), Karie (ivory), and the lovely
Ms. Vance preparing to be Mrs. Sutton :)

Me and trlanichad :)

And, so now I rest up until June 4th, when I head back to the U.S. again, for a meeting in DC. I probably won't write between now and then, but I might... so check back soon!

Things that are in the news that interest me (and I want you to look at and listen to me talk about)

Issues I have... mainly with international news media. Click on the blue letters for links to the articles I'm talking about.

The way Thailand is portrayed by the international news media - This is a little (ok, a big) pet peve of mine. The international news media tends to highlight things pertaining to their interest groups, rather than educate their readers about issues they might not otherwise know about. I understand why they do this ($$$), but maybe this is why Tea Partiers don't know that we have freedom of the press in the United States (and separation of church and state...). Right, so there was a massive protest in Bangkok that ended with a violent standoff and the burning of several major buildings. But before most people saw horrific pictures of "Bangkok Burning" they had little idea of what was actually happening here. Now, CNN is teasing (chiding? highlighting a pointless note about Thailand?) for its obsession with a recent celebrity sex scandal and it makes CNN's homepage. I think this speaks more to what the US news media thinks (and does) sell in the US, rather than a "way for stressed Thais to safely relieve their tension." Is news of Brittany Spears shaving her head a way for Americans to safely relieve their tension concerning the blatant lies of many politicians? I mean, at least Thai politicians don't have to avoid religious sites for fear of being mislabeled Muslims (and really, why is it such a problem to be Muslim? I know Muslims/Sikhs/Buddhists/Hindus/Christians/Jews who are wonderful people because of their religion. I know Christians/Buddhists/Muslims/Jews/Sikhs/Hindus who are less than wonderful people, despite their religion.)

Why not highlight the recent peaceful protests by those "red shirt rioters" that occurred September 19th? Or the horrible flooding that has covered many parts of the country? Or, for that matter, the human rights issues Thailand has with refugees from Burma? No, things aren't perfect in Thailand and the country certainly has many issues to work through, but what country doesn't.

Speaking of refugees in Burma, why isn't their more international news/uproar about the elections to be held in Burma/Myanmar in November? Why aren't all of those Americans who so desperately want to promote democracy calling out in protest at the scam that is the Burmese "democracy"? The military junta that seized control after the last "democratic" elections in 1990 is the same one in power today - they are shifting military leaders to civilian posts (so they can be 'elected'), banning anyone who's been jailed from running (like all of those political dissidents), and sometimes resorting to outright bribery and/or threats.

And now back to my old (and current standard): health care. In 10th grade, I was forced to read the horrible (some call it a "classic") book, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Who knew I would be linking to an article making an artful play on the book I once despised? But here it is - a refreshing outlook on solutions to improve health care - Health care and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. While I am distressed by the state of health care in the United States, sometimes health care in developing countries seems like a lost cause. (Don't worry, I haven't lost my naive sense that I can fix the world. Just sometimes gets me down.) Because "where else can you find a low-tech investment in health care that increases patient coverage by nearly 600 percent?"

Finally, some perspective from the ever-informative people at Foreign Passport: Africa is really, really big. If you didn't know this already, see the map for some additional perspective.

(Next week, I'll be back to my normal ways, posting delightful pictures of Thai beaches and temples in the hopes of tempting you to come here. Cathay Pacific has flights for less than $1200 from JFK to BKK... take advantage now!)

Zoom through the rainy season, Part 2 - Myanmar



Shwedagon Paya



As my traveling frequently is, I decided to go to Myanmar at the last minute, about a week before I left. Work was closed for the Queen's birthday and the Thai government (and the US embassy) decided to close business on the following day, giving me a four day weekend. Luckily, a friend of mine had already planned most of the travel in Myanmar and had several contacts there. So, I just hopped along for the ride.

To begin, I want to say that I've had some serious reservations about going to Myanmar. Top on my list was the fact that the country is controlled by a military dictatorship that has suppressed human rights and freedoms for the past 20 years or so. Entering the country and traveling around as a foreigner are strictly controlled and facilitated by the government. While I have gone to countries where corruption is rampant, there usually was at least a semblance of democracy and people had some hope of change. In Myanmar, there seems to be little hope. When elections were announced the day after my arrival, there seemed to be little open discussion (as expected... you never know who is an informant and even when you do know, you don't necessarily want them to know what you think). When it was discussed, people seemed to have little hope of it being a free or fair election. Many had seen the military junta finagle rules, moving military leaders into "civilian" posts, jigging election monitors and effectively destroying an opposition party's chances at winning.

A psychedelic halo

I went because a friend of mine was going who had connections and Burmese friends who could help us avoid some of the "tourist traps." Of course, we did see many touristy sites, but we tried to stay and eat at local venues and supported tours and tour guides who were not government-run. And, I am very glad I went. Not only did I see a beautiful country and learn about the history of the country, I met some wonderful, kind, generous, welcoming people. So now, my trip to Myanmar!

1 of 4 enormous gold-leafed, teak

Buddha statues in Ananda Pahto

We flew into Yangon (Rangoon) and met up with my friend's farang friends. They helped us exchange money (Note: The official, government-controlled exchange rate is 1 USD to about 6 kyat. The street value is approximately 1 USD to 1000 kyat.) Our first stop was the Shwedagon Paya. I really can't describe it to do it justice. It glitters day and night (beat that Eiffel Tower) and doesn't tarnish (you too, Statue of Liberty) and is really just gorgeous. There are numerous Buddha statues and temples surrounding the main stupa. In a slight difference from Thai Buddha's, many of the Buddhas had psychedelic lights glowing behind their heads (almost like halos!). 

Our transportation in Bagan

After a (rather sleepless night) in Yangon, we went to Bagan, an ancient capital of Burma. Bagan has roughly 2,000+ temples (there is no exact count... mainly because the junta seems to control things and prevents an accurate count). It is remarkable. As you approach the city, the ground glitters with gold-leafed stupas and more pagodas than you can count. If you know my picture-taking tendencies (and my slight obsession with religious buildings), I went a little crazy with all the temples. As in Thailand, there was a strong Hindu influence on Buddhism in Myanmar. We climbed and saw as many temples as we could in about 8 hours of intense temple seeing :) Luckily, my travel companion has an equal obsession with history, so we traveled well together.

Shwendandaw Kyaung

Our next stop was Mandalay, the capital of Burma when the British took control. We were lucky enough to have some good connections there and upon arriving, we met our friend's friends, the owners of Mandalay's puppet theater and proprietors of the Spoken English school. We were told that if we asked at our guesthouse (pre-booked by friends) that people at the guesthouse would know who we were talking about. That's how famous they are in Mandalay!

We had a delicious lunch and then they gave us suggestions of places to visit in the afternoon. So, we headed out into Mandalay, armed with our faithful Lonely Planet Guide. Unfortunately our guidebook failed us... but led to some fun (in retrospect) adventures. Our friends dropped us at the Shwedandaw Kyaung (the Golden Monastery), with recommendations to see the marble Buddha and Mandalay Hill before heading downtown to the puppet theater. So, the kyaung was our point-of-reference on the map. Turned out to be in the wrong place on the map, so we wandered (quite a bit) to get to Mandalay Hill and completely missed the marble Buddha. When we finally reached the spotless white lions at the foot of Mandalay Hill, we were quite proud of ourselves (and extremely thankful for the kindness of Mandalay's residents).

Me, finally reaching Mandalay Hill

They wanted to take a picture with us... so I took a picture with them!

Buddha, who predicted the formation of Mandalay

The 9ft circumference

Later in the evening, we joined our friends for a Spoken English class and then were guests of honor at the puppet show. The following day, we headed on a tour of the area surrounding Mandalay, visiting another 3 previous capitals of Myanmar. (The whole, moving the capital from Yangon to Naypyidaw makes more sense given the history of moving capitals.)

We went to Bagaya Monastery, which (according to Lonely Planet) was built in 1834 during the reign of King Bagyidaw. The monastery has 267 gigantic teak wood posts and is made entirely of teak wood. Here, Olesya and I are standing next to the largest post, with a circumference of more than 9 feet (determined, quite scientifically, by me wrapping my arms around several posts to see which one I could not wrap myself half-way around... because everyone knows that the length of your arm-span is equal to your height, right?).

Resting along the bridge

We finished our day watching the sun set on U Bein's Bridge, Amarapura. The bridge is... guess what? Made of teak wood! And, guess what? It's the largest teak wood bridge in the world, at 1.2 km long. It has many rest-stops along the way, with people fishing, young people wandering, and boats trying to lure tourists to take scenic tours on Lake Taungthaman. We found it more fun to walk across the bridge and stop along the way to people watch. And, we finally got to see our sunset (the first, planned in Bagan, was rained out).

Monks at a rest stop

Our last stop in Mandalay was to get Olesya an experience in a Mandalay teahouse (she has a bit of an obsession with tea and coffee). We headed back to our guesthouse, thoroughly exhausted. The next day, we headed back to Yangon. After all our site-seeing, we headed with our farang friends for lunch, gift buying in the market, and a nice pedicure.

Then I headed to the airport for my flight back to Bangkok. I had a slight challenge in the airport when I was trying to leave. (Apparently I tend to underestimate my challenges... according to my dad, when I said I had a slight challenge, he was expecting something a little more dramatic. In retrospect, as usual, it's a bit amusing and a familiar experience.) As in many countries were the currency is overinflated and US dollars become the defacto currency, many places in Myanmar only accepted specific kinds of US currency. Where we (as Americans) might see one 1-dollar bill as equally valuable as another 1-dollar bill, people in Myanmar don't (see Zimbabwe). Since I don't use US dollars here, my supply was a bit more limited than the average traveler's might have otherwise been. I brought enough money, but didn't count on a quarter of it being unacceptable due to marks, serial numbers, or something else mysterious being wrong with it. So my challenge came when I needed to pay the $10 departure fee. I had 10 USD but apparently they were not acceptable. I tried Thai baht - I had a beautiful, new 500 baht note (worth about $15). Luckily they accepted (at a slighly poor exchange rate) and I was able to leave as planned!

Our guides and friends :)

I will definitely have to go back to Myanmar some day soon. I really enjoyed my time there and I'd like to go back and see some of the friends I made. I just hope that one day they will be able to have free, fair elections and a peaceful government. If you would like to see more pictures from my trip, I posted them on Facebook.