Myanmar Hilltribe Hike

We flew to Eastern Chan state an area called Kentung where some hill tribes still reside keeping customs that are thousands of years old.  Our plan was to hike the mountains with a guide, but when we arrived we there were reports of a snipers in the hills and some areas were blocked.  Thank goodness for good guides, otherwise who knows what we would have encountered.

What a great day!

Actual size-butterfly up to 18 inches

Camera does not caputure the beauty

As you look at the photos try to imagine how much we enjoyed this hike.  The last time we all hike together was Grand Island on Cape Cod.  This trip we walked 7/8 miles into the villages and never tired once.



Every village in the world has its distillery.. .



Eager customers waiting for some whiskey!

She controls the whiskey recipe!!!!!

This lady was so kind to us.  She offered her home for us to have our picnic lunch of fruit and water.

Myanmar- On the road in Bagan and on to Mandalay

Crusing the Irawady-

Two thousand five hundred stupas left, we decided to go for an evening sail on the famous Irawady River.

Irawady River-

Shaving Heads-Not so easy!

 We had a 4 hour lay over in Mandalay so instead of just hanging at the airport we made a visit to the local monastery traveling center.  Lucky once again, they we preparing  a daily meal for 1500 of the monks. The meal was sponsored by a family that day.  We never anticipated that we would have the chance to get this close, but we did and it was an experience we will remember for a very long time. 

Nanci's friend

Four to a table- No food after 12 noon

Myanmar- Off to Mount Popa

This journey was the start of our Buddhist tranquility journey and discovering the farming area of Myanmar in an area around Bagan.  Waiting for our friend Neil Emerson to join us, we ventured into a world of stupas and ancient temples.....and Monkies.


Making Peanut Oil



God of Booze....so it was reported





One very cool guy!





Myanmar-Yangon SS and NY - our collective thoughts October 2-12, 2010

MINGALABA- WELCOME AND WE WERE!

“Yangon to Mandalay”

We arrived in Myanmar on a rainy Saturday night.  It was dark and our travel adrenalin reached a measured state of cautiousness…all the press.. and all that you know.  We were aware of the matter of Aung San Suu Kyi and we are aware of a military government. That aside, we have heard of this lovely country from friends and we wanted to go.

The rain, the dark and disappointedly unlit dirty streets that lined  worn out infrastructures, AND collapsing buildings was a surprise . We were not shocked, but we expected a country with so many resources to be ….. to be better.

On arrival at the hotel, Nanci asked the young lady who met us at the airport if there was a place we could walk to for some dinner.  “You stay here,” she alarmingly said, and  quickly added, “Government turns out the lights at night and you could fall in a hole; I will see you in the morning.”

We slept really well and night became day as it always does and we hit the market in the morning. The fun began!



The squat market-





Having our temple skirts sewn!















 

Crepes Suzette...Anyone ?  Hmmmmmm







Daily Staple-

 

Fish still breathing- fresh, fresh



The Kipling Bar-









We love the village fabrics!



Hong Kong-



Hong Kong Island- We're happy!

 Dim Sum...and then sum!  Hong Kong  [ By SSS]

We arrived on Hong Kong Island late at night.  The next morning overlooking the harbor with a view of Kowloon waterfront in front of me, I was astounded and I got a little choked up at the enormity of this former British Colony.  Nanci felt the same.  She had just finished reading the Piano Teacher, a novel in which the backdrop is Hong Kong late 30's to early 50's during Japanese occupation. 

 I suppose the high summary of our impression of Hong Kong  is summed up when Nanci said, “Sheila, if you ever moved here, I would move here with you.”  I thought, " Good, because I could live here for a few months too."

The Old Star Ferry

We are only here for 72 hours and we could experience shopping on steroids since there are stores galore,  but why? We can’t fit anything in our suitcases and we don’t want to lose precious time figuring out how to ship things home and …where, where would we ship to? 

That aside, a few months back, I found out about a Kowloon waterfront tai chi class with William Ng and his lovely wife, Pandora Wu.  I thought then if only we could find that class that would be something very special, a memorable encounter.  The class promised to be in the open air, over looking Hong Kong Harbor and to teach us at least 10 basic tai chi positions. Nanci has shown an interest in tai chi, so we agreed even if it meant getting up at 5:30 am and taking the first ferry out to Kowloon….it would be worth it.  It was more then just a morning meditation, it was a stirring of the senses.

Later we went for sme freshly made Dim Sum, fresh fruit and MORE green tea.

While waiting for approval for our Myanmar [Burma] visas we registered for the fashion market just to check on what the trends for 2011 will be.  Get ready girls….animal prints, animal print bags, shoes and fabrics.   I have tried the leopard look and it’s NOT ME.  And I know it’s not Nanci.  We had us some fun and in this photo you can get an idea of the scale of everything

At the show , we ran up and down the rows and rows of what seemed like millions of purses, millions of shoes, leathers, silks and then some!



Scale

Trade Show Babes

Bags-Bags and mo bags!

IT Guys Rock!!!!!!

I have a soft spot for computer guys and so we made some new friends and drank some more green tea.

Happy Birthday-70 is great!

Hong Kong is memorable. Probably the funniest memory was at the the top of the Hyatt having a drink and overlooking the harbor when all of sudden I said, "look...just for you." And there it was in lights. Happy Birthday. Purely a coincidence, but nice nontheless.

Today is Chinese Day, I guess the same as 4th of July or Mexico's independence day. Lucky us again...the harbor will be filled with fire works and of course we will get to see this while tucking away another memory from our around the world experience. 

 But for us.....we will always remember our special morning rise time with early morning tai chi doing white crane flapping wings and grasping bird tail positions with the lovely and very remarkable William Ng and his wife Pandora Wu

Graceful Pandora Wu---Thank you!!!

Friends and Family - we love you!