Month: December 2018

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Myanmar after biking

On the day that our biking companions all flew to Ngapali Beach or Yangon, we were awakened at 4:15 am to be picked up by our driver to take the nicer of two boats (the RV Panorama, $35 v $30, two meals included) to Mandalay. This had all been arranged online via tour operator Go-Myanmar, and it worked out really well.

The ride to the port seemed dicey to me at first – lots of twists and turns down deserted unpaved roads, finally stopping in an unlit dusty wide spot in the road. Flashlights appeared and we were led toward the river; a porter offered to carry my backpack and I reluctantly agreed (was this really necessary?) but it turned out to be the right move as the gangway was about ten inches wide and the railing quit on the left hand side a few paces from safety. I was glad to pay 1000k ($0.70) for that.

Onboard it turned out to be *very* nice, and we were the only two passengers for the crew of about eight. Twelve hours of relaxing, reading Orwell’s “Burma Days”, and learning how to tie a longi and apply thanakha. We were picked up faithfully on the other end and delivered to Ostello Bello Mandalay, a very nice hostel with the exception of the lukewarm shower.

Kalaw, Southern Shan State

Our guide, Kyaw Hla (“Yola”). His last name is Khun, like all of the Pa-O people. It’s their tribal name. He was great, especially his English, which was near perfect, and all of the games from his childhood he showed us, using various plants.

The view from the porch of our home stay.

The daughter of the family had just given birth six days prior. They have a tradition that for the first twenty days, the mother and baby stay indoors, near an open fire. This seems like a big mistake to us. Our room, which was next door separated by a closed partition and with open windows, was *very* smoky.

Inle Lake and Nyaungshwe

Seong awaits our 7:pm dinner date at the nice restaurant in town while I dither, probably charging some device or something.

$1.92 for this haircut

Ngapali Beach

Seong found a really interesting place on AirBnB, a bungalow on a deserted beach; we were the only guests. Yvonne (Dutch) and Ronald (Burmese, born in Yangon, with Indian background) were the hosts. Three meals a day, sun, sand, waves, and a boat trip to a nearby town at the southern end of Ngapali Beach resort area. We heard a lot about interaction with the locals, especially about discrimination based on ethnicity or religion. It’s hard to get a fair shake here unless you are of Bamar ethnicity, the primary ethnic group here.

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Myanmar, the bike trip

We signed up with a Redspokes Bike tour, which (for us, as we joined late) meant from Pindaya (southeast of Mandalay) to Bagan (southwest of Mandalay). It was pretty great. All of the five other riders were great companions, and the guide (San Yu) was solid except rather imperfect English, and the support team was also great.

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Thailand meditation retreat

With some trepidation, we entered a ten day silent meditation retreat at Wat Phra That Doi Suthep temple, just outside Chiang Mai. Unfortunately we arrived on a day that the monk was not giving instruction; instead it was his administrative assistant. I didn’t realize until days later that this was a rather important lesson so questions about how to do the meditation exercises lingered until the end. Still, it was a worthwhile retreat and we are glad that we went.

For me, the primary takeaway point was that my mind wanders *very* frequently; effectively, all the time, and that normally one will notice only a fraction of this wandering. In trying to pay attention to one’s attention, I found (as most everyone does) that it’s wandering much more that I had previously known. For instance, in trying to concentrate on the position of one’s foot during walking meditation, one’s attention can wander right in the middle of foot placement, literally a second or two after one dedicated one’s attention to the foot.

The main problem here was that instruction is extremely limited and the monk difficult to understand.  That’s unfortunate because when the monk spoke slowly (as he did for the first sentence or two) he could be understood.  But after that we could only comprehend a little.  Later we would compare notes to see if we could piece together some points from the lesson. Some older, more experienced meditations did not attend any of the one hour sessions that began with about a half hour of chants followed by a half hour of lecture.
That you can join at any time (four to ten days) I think is also a limitation – that means that lessons are not given in any particular order, and they tended to be repetitive.  Some monasteries have programs that begin on the first day of every month; that’s probably a better approach.
Like the instruction, the food was a little spartan, and repetitive.

Some inmates left the confines to get some fresh fruit (or frangu!)