Oct 1, 2007 - Back from Burma

Re:Back from Burma Date: Sun, 30 Sep 2007 23:45:13 +0000 Dear Textile Friends, We are back in Bangkok and last night Deb left for home. Darryl and I leave in two more days. We did get to Burma, Yangon and Mandalay, and into Amarapura which is the seat of the local textile industry. We didn't find many hand weavers, but the ones we did meet were interesting. Since the unrest in Burma has been the top story in world news for the past two weeks, I thought some of you might be interested in a first hand account. This is taken from an...

Sep 22, 2007 - Spinning & Weaving Museum - Visiting Mandalay

We decided to go ahead and make the trip to Mandala. The protests have been non-violent and small. We and folks we spoke to did not anticipate any big reaction anytime soon. They expected it to get bigger but the monks were encouraging everyone to stay calm. The street flooding had drained off and the day looked better with sun. After a 2 hour flight via Began to Mandalay we found our way to our hotel and met up with our driver and our guide. He had been a teacher until the schools were closed and now made his living as a guide. We visited...

Aug 17, 2007 - Mandalay and the bartering Burmese Shri Lankan

Mandalay was a great city for antique shopping. It is as illegal to take Antiques out of Burma as it is to sell them. We found our favorite Antique shop on a back alley in Burmese Shri Lankan's garage. He had everything for British Swards to Hill Tribe Head dresses and 17th century monetary doors. Never mind how he got them. As I was searching through the treasures Brian and the Burmese Shri Lankan where making small talk. He asked Brian where got his watch it looked like the one he saw in a magazine that had a GPS built into it. The...

Dec 8, 2006 - MYANMAR: Mandalay

Mandalay is a good base for discovering many of the attractions up North. The big draw to the city is the ancient cities and their many pagodas. The standard of the guesthouses are poor with the prices totally out of line. After a 3 hour accommodation hunt in the hot blazing sun we eventually found a guesthouse in a lovely neighborhood in the city. We met Australian Matt there, who hired a driver with us for the day and ended up traveling with us over the next week or so. Matt is one of the most laid-back chaps I ever met being big into...

Dec 1, 2006 - MYANMAR: Pyin U Lwin

Max and I were just dozing off on the night-bus from Taungyi when Chris jumped on at Kalaw. He ended up joining us on our trip to Hsipaw and the three of us were pretty much inseparable for the next 3 weeks! Chris is German and certainly a character. His natural bubbliness and energy meant he was great fun to be around. Always entertaining us and the locals with his attempts at speaking Burmese. We decided to make a stop in Pyin U Lwin on our way to Hsipaw, breaking the trip. We hired bikes and enjoyed an 8km downhill cycle to Anisakan...

Nov 12, 2006 - Upriver from Mandalay

Yet another pretty bad night's sleep with noisy generator...no generator...fan on...fan off...window open/noisy traffic, etc, etc, but a general theme of very hot and sticky. So a trishaw to the river (Arewaddy) and a ferry upriver to Mingun. I have added a little movie clip just to give some impression of the people around. I keep trying to do ones that catch the madness at crossroads, but may wait till Vietnam for that, where I am told it is much worse. It was interesting to see life around the riverbank, a lot of it a pretty precarious...

Nov 11, 2006 - Monk hills

Today we hired a taxi for the day to explore some of the stuff in the countryside around Mandalay, with our trishaw driver acting as a sort of guide, or at least helping me with my Burmese words. First we went to a place called Amarapura, most famous for this mile long teak bridge across a lake, hugely photogenic and nice. On the way there we stopped at this big pagoda to check out the view from the top, only, as a lady (as women are called in Bath) Erica wasn't allowed up on the terrace, so I went up, in bare feet as usual, only to find a...

Nov 10, 2006 - The road to Mandalay

I wasn't keen on 12 hours on a ferry, and Erica couldn't face 12 hours on a crowded local bus on bad roads, so for the sake of $35 each we flew. Another fitful night's sleep, too drafty with the air-conditioning, murder without it. And another mad taxi ride to the airport. I am fairly certain all third-world taxi drivers are amphetamine abusers. At first sight, after driving through a lot of flooded rice paddies from the airport, the city of Mandalay was a bit brain damage; bedlam, and not very attractive, nor was our hotel. On the advice...

Nov 6, 2006 - Kyaukme to Mandalay

I woke up with a high fever, and nausea. Myles packed up everything, settled our bill and got us on the way while I got some more sleep. We were catching the 8am bus to Mandalay. We arrived at the terminal at 7:30am. Heavy items were being loaded on the roof of the bus. Our bikes were strapped to the back with some rope. I wasn't looking forward to the next 6 hours or so. The bus left the terminal on time. We barely got a chance to say goodbye to Thura who came out to see us off. We were one of the last passengers to board the bus....

Nov 1, 2006 - Mandalay, Myanmar

Oh my Myanmar, how materialisticly poor you are, but how cultrally rich and friendly. Mandalay We flew from Dali on " Lucky Air Airlines", (praying all the way for good luck), switched to China Air in Kunming (breathed a sigh of relief) and on to Mandalay International(?) Airstrip. It was such a busy airport we were the only plane in sight! They brought the luggage to the terminal, unloaded it from the carts by hand, and threw it through the door for passengers to pick up. I must say I didn't mind. It was an eye opener, but quite peaceful...

Oct 28, 2006 - Mandalay

We spend the entire day walking the streets of Mandalay. It was hot, sunny, dusty and teeming with life at every corner. We visited many tea shops, which give one a great vantage point for observing what goes on, without being observed. After sitting in one spot for a while, people stop noticing your presence, and you become a fixture. There are many little alleys connecting major streets, where people live in very close proximity to each other. There is an undeniable sense of community as you pass through them. Most people seem rather...

Oct 27, 2006 - Kyaukse to Mandalay

We got up at 6am and packed up our stuff in a hurry - both eager to get going. We were out the door with bikes loaded in no time flat. The owner was waiting for us outside, smiling. He was probably glad to see us go. I can't say I blame him, for all the hassle he put himself and us through. We both shook his hand, and rode off. We were hoping to get breakfast in a different part of town, on our way out. We found just the place. After some Shan noodles we were all fueled up for the ride. The traffic was really heavy on the road out of...