Finding ways to Help

Here is a portion of another e-mail that I received from a friend in Yangon yesterday:

“I’m fine but so many others, so many, are homeless or dead or without shelter. I really did not take much notice of the cyclone warnings from the state media although they did say it would be serious. Now I am careful of batteries in my laptop, but thank god I can send emails. I hope this gets to you. I have no power but everything is alright. Writing this by torch and candlelight. It was a very scary 13 hours from before midnight of the 2nd to afternoon of next day. Had a slight accident with my car, front grill/lights ripped out. I am unhurt but rattled. So many trees are down ... Yangon looks wounded.”

It’s been one of those weeks where my thoughts are preoccupied and I can’t think of much else besides the current humanitarian crisis in Myanmar’s delta region. Normal concerns --- such as what I’m going to have for dinner, how many books we sold today, what CD I’m going to buy next, or how the Minnesota Twins did yesterday --- are suddenly unimportant and trivial. People in a neighboring country are hungry, thirsty, sick, and homeless. They need help.

I hesitate to make public pleas for help, but in this case I think it’s vital that we do something. I know several people travelling to Myanmar in the coming days. They already have visas and contacts within the country. Some of them live and work there. I plan to donate and collect as much money as I can and give it to these people before they leave Bangkok. They can get money and supplies to local volunteers and organizations that can quickly distribute them to needy people in the area. Getting into the hardest hit parts of the delta region is problematic, but that’s where various UN organizations are best equipped to help. The people I know can help those in Yangon, across the river in Dalah and Twante, and further west in Pathein. I know this is somewhat of a band-aid approach to relief, but I think if we can help even a few hundred, or a few thousand, people, it’s worthwhile.

10:38 PM PDT Permalink |

Helping Myanmar

The frustrations continue: how to get help to the people in Myanmar that desperately need it. I’ve been “networking” (I really hate that word, but in this case, I’ll use it) with others that are concerned about the situation in Myanmar and want to help. In addition to one friend that is travelling there next week, I’m in contact with at least three other people who have visas in hand and are also going next week. Let’s get some money to them. They can circumvent the political red tape and get medicine, clothing, food, and water directly to people that need them, or can arrange for these donations to be used properly. Contact me at Dasa Book Café (see the link on this page) if you would like to help. Thanks!

05:46 AM PDT Permalink |

Storm Updates and Political Posturing

The news about the damages from the cyclone in Myanmar is trickling in and it’s increasingly grim. As people deal with the logistics of how to properly distribute aid, the Yangon area is struggling to get back on its feet after the devastation caused by the cyclone. Meanwhile, in the midst of the efforts to provide relief to the victims of this catastrophe, politics rears its ugly head.

Here is an excerpt from a New York Times article I read yesterday by Seth Mydans and Helene Cooper:

Mr. Bush’s called for openness from Myanmar a day after his wife, Laura, criticized the country’s military leaders for not warning people before the cyclone hit on Saturday.

In reply, Australia’s foreign minister, Stephen Smith, was among those who urged countries to focus on helping Myanmar instead of criticizing its government. “The priority now is rendering assistance to thousands of displaced people who urgently need our assistance,” Mr. Smith said in Hong Kong.

Likewise, Joel Charny, vice president for policy at Refugees International, a Washington-based aid organization, said the Bush administration’s approach could be counterproductive. “To stand up and say, ‘One message is we want to help and the other message is the government is incompetent, and oh, by the way, tomorrow we’re giving a Congressional medal to Aung San Suu Kyi,’ well, that gets their back up,” Mr. Charny said. “I’m not saying the U.S. shouldn’t have concerns about democracy. I’m saying that the idea is you try to make it easier rather than harder for the regime to take on international assistance.”

In addition, Mr. Bush said he was prepared to use Navy warships and aircraft “to help find those who have lost their lives, to help find the missing, to help stabilize the situation.” Still, he added, “In order to do so, the military junta must allow our disaster assessment teams into the country.”

A Burmese political analyst called Mr. Bush’s condition “a cheap shot.” The analyst, Aung Nain Oo, who is based in Thailand, said: “The people are dying. This is no time for a political message to be aired. This is a time for relief. No one is asking for anything like this except the United States.”

Exactly. If the USA, or any country, wants to offer humanitarian aid, I think that is wonderful. But the aid shouldn’t come with strings attached, or accompanied by lectures. Just help the people that need it, and keep your political and religious agendas to yourself. But that seems to be an impossible task for the “holier than thou” contingent. You would think those idiots in the Bush administration would “get it” by now. But no, they continue their same style of inflammatory, derisive diplomacy; criticizing and ridiculing other countries, rather than making a sincere attempt to engage in constructive dialogue. That means sitting down and talking to the other country, not lecturing them and calling then bad names.

There have been suggestions by some officials that the UN should “intervene” and impose a resolution on Myanmar demanding that they accept relief teams into the country. An article in the International Herald Tribune offered response to this idea:

But the United Nations' under-secretary general for humanitarian affairs, John Holmes, resisted the idea of taking action to force Myanmar to open its doors, though he noted that 50 to 10 United Nations aid workers were awaiting word on their applications for visas.

"To be honest I'm not sure we're at that stage at the moment," Holmes said at a noon briefing on Wednesday. "We are having useful and constructive discussions with the authorities of Myanmar. It is moving in the right direction. We want it to move much faster, clearly. But I'm not sure it would help at this moment at least to embark on what could be seen by some people as a confrontational path."

When a reporter from Al Jazeera asked why the United Nations should not simply going into Myanmar, "invited or not," Holmes replied tartly, "I'm not sure that invading Myanmar would be a very sensible option at this particular moment." He added: "Would it actually get aid to the people who are really suffering on the ground any quicker? Personally I doubt it."

11:33 PM PDT Permalink |

Help is on the Way

It’s one of those odd, but remarkable phenomena of human nature: natural disasters bring people together. So it is with the cyclone that struck Myanmar over the weekend. People from countries all over the world are pitching in and volunteering their time and money to do what they can to bring relief to the people of Myanmar who have been left homeless, injured, or without food and water in the wake of this destructive storm.

My network of “Friends of Myanmar” --- people that either have visited this remarkable country or worked there --- are all checking in this week to find out what each other has heard about the conditions in the Yangon area, as well as the status of friends that are still living there. In past 24 hours I’ve received two e-mails from locals that work in Yangon, reporting that they are well, electricity is back on, although sporadically, and that the city is indeed a mess.

One friend, who has family in the Yangon area, is flying over on Thursday to take relief supplies and money that will go towards purchasing medicine, water and food. I plan to meet with her tonight and give her some money to use for various projects. Yet another friend, who had a trip planned for next week, is still going ahead with his trip. I’ll meet him at his hotel in Bangkok on Saturday and give him another chunk of money and messages to take to friends in Yangon. There is so much to do, that it makes me feel overwhelmed and powerless. But if there is a chance to help just a few people, I’m going to make an effort and do it. I just feel fortunate that I know people who are travelling there this week and can act as messengers.

Every time I check for updates on the situation in Yangon, it sounds worse and worse. But if anyone is considering a trip to Myanmar in the near future, I would STILL urge you to do it. Most of the country was not affected by the cyclone. But even in the devastated areas of Yangon, I expect things to get back to relative normality rather quickly. At the very least, the locals will appreciate the presence of foreign visitors who can offer monetary and moral support as they start the process of recovering from this calamity. They need your support now more than ever.

03:31 AM PDT Permalink |

Rolling on the River

Most of you have read about the devastating cyclone that hit Myanmar, particularly in the Yangon area, on Saturday. With no electricity, along with phone and internet connections down, it’s impossible at this point to determine how extensive the damages and casualties are. I only hope that life can quickly return to normal for the long suffering citizens of Yangon.

Earlier this week, I found myself reading two different books about river trips. One was Old Glory, a book written by Jonathan Raban back in 1979. Inspired by Mark Twain books he read as a child in England, he takes a solo boat trip down the Mississippi River. More than just an account of his river journey, the book offers a perceptive look at the American towns and cities that hug the banks of the river, as well as the people that populate those places. Raban is an excellent writer --- one of those who make me shake my head in frustration and say: “I could never writer anything remotely this good” --- and this book is one that will appeal to fans of travel literature, history, and sociology. The other book I’ve been reading is Canoe to Mandalay, by Major R. Raven-Hart. This account of travel on the Irrawaddy River in Burma was first published back in 1939. I’d never heard of this author before but he apparently was a big river buff, having also written books in his “Canoe Errant” series about the Nile and the Mississippi. Raven-Hart is a witty, compassionate writer with a good eye for detail.

In one passage from Canoe to Mandalaythe author talks about the differences between Buddhism and Christianity, and in particular the way that Buddhists in Burma deal with death:

“Their deaths and funerals are not events of gloom. I think nothing is more startlingly lovely than the Buddhist idea of a death-bed, not with a priest exhorting the dying man to remember his sins, but with his friends around him reminding him of his good deeds.”

“Perhaps the greatest difference is that the Burmese are not dominated by a religion which tends to stress suffering and sin: Buddhism as the Burmese take it is a cheery religion. In reality it is of course nothing of the sort: it is a striking paradox that Buddhism, the coldest, hardest creed in the world, in which it is a sin to seek happiness except in renunciation, in which even death is no release, should in its popular forms be one of the happiest; and that Christianity, essentially a religion of joy and hope, should in most of its popular forms be one of the gloomiest.”

I love river trips, but I’ve never undertaken anything remotely as adventurous as those two writers. The closest I came was a two-day “slow boat” trip down the Mekong River, going from the Thai-Laos border in Chiangrai province to Luang Prabang. On that trip we spent the night in the tiny Laos village of Pakbeng. At that time they didn’t have electricity, but thanks to generators and ice, there was a most welcome supply of cold beer at night. In Myanmar I took the popular river trip from Mandalay to Bagan during my first visit to the country. That was enough. It’s wasn’t an ordeal of any sort, just a pretty placid and boring all-day (about 11 hours) trip down the Ayeyarwady (Irrawaddy) River. Not much to see as river journeys go, so it was a bit of a disappointment. By contrast, the Li River journey near Guilin, China was spectacular. The river was ringed by craggy mountains and colorful villages. I’ve done that one twice and would gladly do it again.

10:56 PM PDT Permalink |

Romantic Toilets & other delights

The Thai advertising industry is known for their clever, and often hilarious, ads. But when they try to convert their messages into the English language, things don’t always click. A company called Toto makes bathroom fixtures. They have recently been running large ads in the local newspapers. There is a big white toilet pictured in the center of the ad, along with copy that says:
COCKTAIL SUITE
INNOVATIVE PERFORMANCE & ROMANTIC DESIGN
I can think of many adjectives to describe a toilet (functional, efficient, ugly, attractive, dependable), but romantic would not be one them. Nevertheless, the people over at Toto (a Japanese company with a Thai subsidiary) are determined to plug their “new romantic collection” of bathroom fixtures. Beneath the toilet photo, there is more advertising copy, hyping the cocktail suite’s “elegant contours based on the designs of stylish crystal champagne flutes and martini glasses. Treat yourself to the same ambience of love enjoyed in the most exclusive accommodation.”
Ambience of love? Good heavens, what drugs are these people taking? What does “ambience of love” and “champagne flutes and martini glasses” have to do with flushing toilets? There is certainly no noticeable symbiotic relationship that would make a person feel compelled to rush out and purchase their cocktail suite based on this advert. Too damn silly.

My other favorite ad is one that a local hospital has been running in newspapers for a solid two years already. It’s usually a small one, but strategically placed on the top right corner of the front page. Pictured in this ad is a grinning foreign man … with a bloody bandage covering his head. The ad proclaims that you will be “worry free” at their hospital. Personally, I’d be worried if I stayed at this particular hospital and they hadn’t given me a clean bandage for my head wound.

It felt like a typical Friday night in Bangkok, perhaps even worse; the streets and sois of “downtown” (a geographic area in Bangkok that is almost impossible to define; the beast is constantly growing and changing) were clogged with vehicles and pedestrians (why stay packed inside a bus for an hour, the vehicle having progressed no further than one block due to the gridlock, when you can walk?) … and the obligatory elephants. But this was Wednesday night. What was happening? The reason for the ramped up traffic madness was because the next day was May 1, the Labor Day holiday here in the kingdom of mirrors. As a result it appeared that Bangkok’s under-30 denizens were all out to “party” the night away. It’s a good thing there was no rain (which there had been on almost every other day the past week) or the chaos would have been even worse. On Thursday morning, the actual holiday, Bangkok felt a tranquil upcountry town; no traffic at all. Where did everybody go?

I wanted to buy an orange t-shirt. Anything would do. I just felt like there was a void in my wardrobe that only an orange shirt could fill. Perusing the wares of some street vendors on Sukhumvit, my choice was limited to a “Hard Rock Café Bangkok” one and the ever-popular “Same Same” design. Both looked equally touristy, but what the hell, I splurged 200 baht (had to bargain to even get that figure) on the Hard Rock shirt. I’m styling now!

I had a late dinner on Tuesday with my business partner Kiwi (Kaweewut) at the Robin Hood pub on Sukhumvit, right across the street from the Emporium. This was my first visit to the “Hood” but Kiwi had been several times previously. I had the beef stew and a pint of Guinness. Ah, that hit the spot. I hadn’t had a Guinness in what seems like eons. All in all, the Robin Hood made a good impression. I’ll be back.

07:45 PM PDT Permalink |

Cops and Coroners

I’ve recently read two books by Colin Cotterill, both set in Vientiane, Laos during the 1970s. The protagonist of these quirky and charming mysteries is Dr. Siri Paiboun, a delightfully rebellious doctor in his 70s who is appointed (much to his own amazement) as the country’s head coroner. Vientiane has always been one of the sleepiest capital cities in the world, and it makes a unique and colorful setting for Cotterill’s novels. I just finished reading Thirty-Three Teeth and am looking forward to starting the third book in the series, Disco for the Departed. Looking at his website (www.colincotterill.com), it looks like there are --- or will be --- five books in the Siri series.

I got stopped by the cops this week. Nothing alarming, fortunately; we were on the way to Victory Monument when the motorcycle I was riding, as a passenger, was stopped by police on Rama 9 Road. As usual, we weren’t the only ones; this was one of those infamous Thai traffic stops where they search the locals for drugs and any other contraband that looks “funny.” My driver was asked to hand over his ID card and empty his pockets. The usual questions: what’s that? Where do you work? Where are you going? Upon seeing me, one cop confided to a fellow officer (speaking in Thai): “What do I do? I can’t speak English!” Despite his language handicap, I fully expected him to look through the bag I was carrying, but instead he patted my arm, smiled, and said “Thank You” in English, waving us on. One of those nice “only in Thailand” moments.

For a populace that loves to douse one another with water during the annual Songkran festival, Thais have an unusual aversion to getting wet throughout the rest of the year. You see this tendency anytime it rains: the locals scurry for cover, fearing the affects of the precipitation. Or a more likely reason; they don’t want their new Korean-style hairdos to get messed up. One nice consequence of this mass outdoor exodus is that the sidewalks become less cluttered with vendors and slow-strolling pedestrians, making it a pleasure for us wacky umbrella-armed foreigners to use the sidewalks for actual walking. “Look,” the Thais shriek, “another crazy farang is out walking in the rain!”

Thais may not like to walk in the rain, but they are quick to use rain as a convenient excuse for a variety of things. Late for work again? It’s because it was raining. Feeling sick today? Blame it on the rain. Caught in another traffic jam? It’s the rain’s fault, of course. Did poorly on your final exam? It’s probably due to that damn rain! Yet another politician forgot to pay his taxes? Why, it’s because of all that rain!

03:31 AM PDT Permalink |

Rainy nights … and flight booking weirdness

I was at home late on Tuesday night, reading a book, when I noticed the smell. I opened the window screen and leaned out take a heady sniff: rain was coming. For me, a rainstorm is one of life’s most intoxicating aromas. After indulging in a bit of rain-aromatherapy, I settled down to enjoy the rest of the deluge. The refreshing rains that night and last night have also helped coax down the steamy temperatures we’ve had to endure this month. More rain, please!

I paid a visit to a Bangkok dining institution last week; enjoying a dinner at the Thai Room on Patpong Soi 2. The Thai Room has been around for at least 30 years, dating back to those days when American GIs came to Bangkok for R&R during the Vietnam War. I had not visited the Thai Room in about five years. Actually, I had heard a rumor they had closed, but that wasn’t true. The restaurant is still there; but now it only occupies about half the space that it used to have. The new location won’t win any awards for décor --- and just what are those mysterious dark stains on the walls? --- but the food is still first rate. One out-of-the-ordinary menu item that the Thai Room boasts is Mexican food. That’s right; enchiladas, tacos, burritos, tamales and chili with beans. Besides their excellent Mexican and Thai dishes (the Tom Kha Gai is one of the best I’ve had), they also offer a variety of other international and western dishes. Truly something for everyone.

I got an e-mail last week from Air Asia announcing new baggage charges. What was odd about the announcement was the way it was phrased:
Introducing … Checked Baggage Handling Fee! Yes indeed, they used an exclamation point, trumpeting this announcement like it was marvelous news of some sort, instead of the irritating new policy that it actually is. Now, when booking a flight, they slap a 30 baht charge per checked bag on you. But if you show up at the airport with bags that weren’t already checked in their system, the charge is 50 baht per bag. I think this will only add to the number of passengers trying to lug bulky hand-carried bags onto the plane. Bad policy, Air Asia.

I experienced a further annoyance with booking a flight online with Air Asia recently. There seems to be no clear way to make an online reservation/purchase without having to pay for flight insurance. Once you’ve clicked through their booking process you realize that you’ve been saddled with flight insurance that you don’t want --- and there appears to be no way to undo the damage. By the time you’ve noticed the charge, your credit card has been processed and there is no turning back. I attempted to contact Air Asia but e-mail, but that’s a futile task in itself. All I received was a generic computer generated reply that said:

“As we receive an overwhelming number of emails daily, we are unable to attend to every enquiry.”

That’s hardly reassuring. And it’s certainly a lame excuse for customer service!

Another odd thing about booking online with Air Asia is trying to get an English language page to show up. The secret is to first select not the language you want but a country. That’s right, you can’t get an English language page unless you select Australia, and ONLY Australia. It doesn’t matter that I’m living in Thailand; I have to select Australia to get an English language menu. At least this solves yet another mystery: I always wondered what language those Aussies were speaking!

And now, our musical interlude. Here is this month’s listening list:
Counting Crows – Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings
Cat Power – Jukebox
Midlake – Bamman and Silvercork
Various Artists – Bay Area Funk 2
Ben Folds Five – Whatever and Ever Amen (Expanded Edition)
Boney M- The Magic of
Nick Drake – Pink Moon
Various Artists – After Hours: Northern Soul Masters
Gary Louris – Vagabonds
Scott Miller & the Commonwealth – Thus Always to Tyrants
Nina Simone – My Baby Just Cares for Me
Glenn Mercer – Wheels in Motion
Bruce Springsteen – Live in Dublin
Mary Chapin Carpenter – Party Girl & Other Favorites
Robert Forster & Grant McClennan- Intermission: the Best of the Solo Recordings 1990-1997
Mark Knopfler – Shangri-la
Led Zeppelin – Mothership
Luna – Best Of
Tim Hardin – Hang on to a Dream: the Verve Recordings
True West – Hollywood Holiday Revisited
Mitch Easter – Dynamico
The Cardigans – Best of
Sloan – Never Hear the End of it
Lynyrd Skynyrd – Street Survivors (Expanded Edition)
Levon Helm – Dirt Farmer

10:05 PM PDT Permalink |

Beating the Heat

I couldn’t stand it any longer: on the last day of the Songkran water festival, when my bookshop was empty of customers, I changed into an old pair of shorts and a ratty t-shirt, and ran out into the street, armed with my own bucket (okay, it was a plastic pitcher) of water and briefly joined the fray, getting gloriously soaked in the process. In my own mad way, I felt cleansed and rejuvenated by the experience. But the simple communal act of participation was the best feeling.

Meanwhile, the heat wave continues. People keep asking: “Was it this hot last year?” I can’t confirm that, but it certainly feels a wee bit stickier and toastier this past month. Bring on the rains!

I popped into the Emporium branch of Kinokuniya on Wednesday and was delighted to find the new Lee Child book, Nothing to Lose, sitting there on the racks. In fact, I could only see one copy, so I snatched that baby off the shelf and quickly escorted it to the cash register. Less than 48 hours later I had finished reading the book, satisfied once again with another fascinating Jack Reacher tale. This one was particularly timely, offering a thought provoking scenario on what happens to wounded veterans who have fought in Iraq, as well as the fate of “mechanical casualties” such as tanks and other vehicles. In the world of crime fiction Child remains a “must read” author and there are few more interesting characters than Jack Reacher. Get that man a cup of coffee --- and make it a good one!

I’m back to doing my daily Burmese language study sessions. I alternate between reading phrasebooks and dictionaries, and listening to CDs and cassettes with lessons on them. One of the books I’ve picked up is an odd, but occasionally handy one called “Practical Myanmar.” It’s credited as being published by two companies: Myan Com Services, and Book Promotion & Service Ltd. This “revised edition” is dated 1997, but looking through some of the more arcane entries in the book makes me wonder is this thing was first written in the early 20th Century, during the days when Burma was being ruled by the British. Clearly, this book was designed for the sort of British expat resident who hires maids and drivers, rather than a tourist or someone who enjoys meeting and talking to locals (rather than giving orders and making demands!). Oddly, there are no chapters or sections devoted to Buddhism or talking to monks, yet there are sections on railway dining cars (do they even have such things in Myanmar any longer?) and making complaints. Some of my favorite useless phrases include:
“The chicken is hard as a chunk of wood”
“It began the day before yesterday by a shivering fit”
“I noticed the baby’s frock was quite smeared yesterday”
“You are a damn liar!”
“Swimming will improve your muscle tone”

Right, just the sort of “practical” phrases that will NOT win friends and influence people! But this book isn’t the only one guilty of bizarre, if not totally stupid, sentences. I have another course, “Burmese for Beginners” (by Paiboon Publishing; the same company that gave us “Thai for Beginners” and “Cambodian for Beginners”), that includes such gems as “My husband cuts his own hair” and “There are no camels in Myanmar.”

I swear; one of my goals in life is to produce a series of language courses that actually ARE useful for normal people and tourists who like to do things on their own.

08:50 PM PDT Permalink |

Festive Mood

I’m holed up in my bookshop again today, working alone, and watching and listening to the Songkran festivities outside. The construction crew from a building that’s being built on our block have all taken up position next to the traffic light, and every time it turns red, they run out and ambush any vehicles that have stopped. Good, clean, crazy fun.

While the Songkran water festival is loved by almost all Thais, it is equally loathed by most resident foreigners. I’m always struck by the intensity of the dislike that farang residents have for Songkran. Many of them despise the holiday and shudder at the thought of getting splashed --- or drenched --- with water. So, they observe the holiday by barricading themselves indoors for three entire days, not daring to venture out into the streets during daylight hours. Tourists are another breed altogether, and most of the ones that are here in April have come for the express purpose of participating in the festival, so they know what they’re getting into.

Personally, I love Songkran time, especially here in Bangkok. It’s one of those uniquely Thai festivals (well, not too unique; you’ll find similar water shenanigans in Laos, Myanmar, and to a lesser extent in Cambodia) that make the country so fun. And with a high percentage of the populace out of town for the holidays, Bangkok becomes a more pleasant, quieter, and less chaotic city, with none of those notorious traffic jams to contend with. But what I love most about Songkran is the pervasive good vibes. Walk down the streets and into shops (the few that haven’t closed for the holidays) and you see the locals in great spirits. The mood is festive and upbeat. Pickup trucks cruise by, filled with celebrants whooping and hollering. People are having fun, and as long as the water throwing isn’t vicious or over-the-top, I think it’s great.

Yesterday’s business at my shop was actually very good; steady all day long, so I wasn’t overwhelmed with trying to handle it all alone. The first day there weren’t many water throwers on our block, so customers could come and go without too much difficulty. Today, however, is a different story. People, most with smiles on their faces, tell of having to “run the gauntlet” to get past the overzealous construction folks on the corner. But people just deal with it, usually with good humor. Sometimes, when I look out the window and see a truck full of happy Songkran warriors stopped at the light, I sort of wish I was out there taking part and getting drenched along with them.

02:41 AM PDT Permalink |

Happy, Hopeful People

Some more photos today, mostly of the happy children I met in Myanmar. I’m sure they are all looking forward to the annual water festival this week. People will be partying in the streets and travelling back to their hometowns, much like what happens here in Thailand. Many businesses will close for the holiday, even some (but not all) of the popular teashops in Yangon and Mandalay.

But what about the future for the children of Myanmar? When these kids have finished school (and actually, even some of these youngsters are looking at their school days in the rear view mirror; many of them work to help earn money for their family) what are their job prospects? I talked to several kids during my travels, and also adults in their 20s and 30s, who are seriously thinking of trying to get jobs in Thailand and Malaysia. But doing that involves a job broker, a practice that is not without its risks, as evidenced by the tragic suffocation of several dozen Burmese workers in the back of a truck this week. They had apparently paid a broker to take them to Thailand to seek jobs.

I thought about the youth of Myanmar again today when I received an e-mail from Ni Ko, one of the kids I met in Yangon. Ni Ko apparently asked someone at an Internet Café to help him write this note:
“How are you? I am fine and attending school through your money that you offered me. How's everything with you? I kept two books that you gave me till today. I am looking forward to seeing you again.”
Ni Ko had expressed an interest in taking some English classes again so I assume that’s what he used the money for. Another tourist had paid for him to take some classes last year, but once the money ran out the classes stopped. If the kid looks like he’s sincere about studying, I may accompany him to the school next time and pay his tuition for a full year. He may not be able to attend regular school at this point, but I want to encourage any other subjects he is interested in studying.

I also go an e-mail yesterday from my friend Laurie Weed, who has been travelling in Myanmar this month (we actually arrived in Yangon on the same flight last month, and shared a taxi from the airport to our hotel; the May Shan) before going back to California (she also sandwiched in trips to Laos and England recently). Laurie reported that she ran into Ni Ko and the other postcard sellers on the street this week and they send their regards. Happy Water Festival Holiday to them all! I hope they keep those postcards and books dry this week!

03:43 AM PDT Permalink |

News of the Weird

It’s been an amusing week for news in Bangkok. Wan Yoobamrung, the controversial “reformed bad boy” son of controversial loudmouth politician Chalerm Yoobamrung, was all over local newspapers, pictured in his new role as “Mr. Happy Toilet.” Strange but true; as a spokesman for the Public Health Ministry, Wan gets to promote clean hygiene and other such matters. Surely, this is poetic justice for the former hell-raising rich kid. But one question remains unanswered: does Wan smoke on the toilet?

But that wasn’t the most outlandish story to make the headlines. The honors for that one go to Pavena Hongsakula --- a master at getting her name in print --- who held a press conference to warn local women about drinking coffee and orange juice that has been spiked with a “sex stimulant.” According to Pavena, this concoction “triggers an uncontrollable urge to have sex with the men who set out to take advantage of them.” Her source, a young woman named Bee, claimed that she drank one such cup of spiked coffee and “shortly afterward felt a surge of arousal and an instant desire for sex.” Just how absurd is this story? Man, this one is totally off the charts! I suppose Pavena didn’t have any sex slaves to rescue this week, so she resorted to this nutso “news story.” As a former cabinet member of the notorious Thai Rak Thai Party, Pavena has been banned from politics for five years. One wishes that ban would cover public appearances too.

In a possibly related development, news from Cambodia indicates that the government there is cracking down on the “happy pizza” phenomenon. In case you have never been to Cambodia, they have locally-operated pizza joints that specialize in offering “happy” style pizza. What makes the pizzas so happy is the special topping: marijuana. You want that pizza “double happy”? No problem! Or at least it used to be no problem. A police official claimed that they “are strengthening our monitoring throughout the country and its borders. Marijuana is no longer a problem in Cambodia.” Well, that’s comforting: now let’s address the issue of endemic poverty. Anyway, as for the pizzas, besides making one feel ecstatic, eating them apparently had other effects. Another police official claimed that he “saw people take their clothes off after eating this --- especially women. Some people laugh, some cry, and some just jump in the lake.” Just think: combine this happy pizza with Pavena’s mysterious coffee mix, and young women will be eagerly shedding their clothing, jumping into lakes, and having uncontrollable urges for wild sex.

09:56 PM PDT Permalink |

Time for a Festival

I’m too busy to write much today (bombarded with book arrivals at the shop this week!), so this post will consist mostly of photos that I took on my recent trip to Myanmar. Everyone is looking forward to the annual water festival, called Thingyan, that is being held this week and next. This year the holiday will last ten full days! One trend I notice during this hot and humid time of year is that the kids like to dye their hair in various shades of red and orange. Not sure what this has to do with the festival, or the time of year, but with school out of session, perhaps the kids feel like sporting new fashions. But I’ve also seen the dyed hair thing on older citizens, usually elderly Burmese-Indian fellows. I noticed several gents sporting salt and pepper beards --- that were further highlighted with streaks of orange. Wish I’d taken photos of that!

Playing an outdoor game of marbles in Mandalay.

Monks in New Bagan making their morning alms rounds down the main road.

Selling a popular pink-colored drink in downtown Yangon.

Young fruit vendors in Paleik.

Attempting to climb the giant roots of a riverside tree in Paleik.

Making sugar cane juice in Bagan.

Watching the snakes during bathing time in Paleik.

Flower vendor at Mt. Popa.

Postcard vendor in Yangon.

Some of the many ancient stupas in Paleik.

Street musician in Yangon, in front of the Yatha teashop.

More monkeys at Mt. Popa.

Zin Maung Maung poses for a photo in Old Bagan.

Tasty local snacks at a home in New Bagan.

Scenes from the festive kitchen of the Junior Duck restaurant in Yangon.

Enjoying the bumper cars at Happy World in Yangon.

Monks receiving alms in New Bagan.

Trying on the horse head in New Bagan.

Cooling off in one of the swimming pools at Happy World in Yangon.

11:24 PM PDT Permalink |

Mandalay Orphanage Visit

During my last trip to Mandalay I discovered the Myanmar Buddhist Orphanage Association (MBOA) during one of cycling excursions around town. MBOA is more than an organization; it’s an actual boys’ orphanage on 62nd Street, near the 30th Street intersection. When I was there last time they had about 160 boys, but the number has now risen to 187, mostly due to an influx of kids from the Naga tribe.

Orphanage Abbot U Sandimarr and Director U Ko Ko Gyi, along with their assistants, do an outstanding job of running the place and taking care of the kids. The biggest challenge, admits Ko Ko Gyi, is feeding them all. Members of the community occasionally show up with treats such as fruit, desserts, or ears of corn, but supplying the children with three meals each day drains the orphanages funds very quickly.

A had brought some sports equipment to give to the orphans last time, and it proved to be such a hit that I repeated that strategy, expect this time I tripled the amount of balls (soccer balls, cane balls for playing chinlon) and badminton sets that I bought. I also purchased some board games and dominoes sets to give them. Of course, with 187 boys in total, what I brought was grossly insufficient for everyone to share. But there were only so many bags I could carry; even when I let Myint Shin’s take my over in his trishaw instead of using my bike.

In addition to financial support, the orphanage needs clothing and shoes for the children, as well as clean sheets for the bunk beds in the dormitory. Check out the link for “Mandalay Projects” under the Favorites links on this page for more information about this and other area orphanages, as well as the very worthwhile Mingun Home for the Aged (they could use hypertension medicine, such as Amlodopine, for their elderly residents).

01:36 AM PDT Permalink |

Memorable Myanmar

Gaw Chan and his father are both horse cart drivers in Bagan. They are pictured here with their friend from the nearby town of Chauk, who came to assist with the training of a new horse for cart-driving duties. The business in New Bagan, where Gaw Chan lives, has fallen off dramatically since last September, yet he optimistically waits for more tourists to arrive later this year. In addition to English, Gaw Chan (he drives cart #158 and his brother Gaw Soe drives cart #43) is studying German. Dad has mostly retired as a driver but still helps to take care of the family’s horses.

Here are some of the local kids that hang out in front of the NK Betelnut Hotel in New Bagan. Due to the sharp decline in tourism the past six months, these souvenir-selling youngsters no longer earn much money, and can no longer help their families as much as they previously did. The other negative factor is that that for ones that were going to school (and not all of them do), they may not be able to afford to pay for new books and uniforms when the new term starts in June.

This is Myint Shin, my regular trishaw driver in Mandalay. He can usually be found at the trishaw stand on 27th Street, between 80th and 81st Streets. Not only he is a dependable driver, he can arrange other forms of transport (I had him arrange for a car to take a friend and I to Paleik), as well as showing you more of Mandalay’s other interesting sights. He is very proud of his two young daughters, both of whom are good students. He and his wife are hoping for a son to round out their family.

This is Niko, one of the kids who sell postcards to tourists in Yangon. You can usually find him on the stretch of Bogyoke Aung San Road between Bogyoke (Scott’s) Market and the Trader’s Hotel. I found Niko to be one of the brighter of the street sellers. But I told him that he should think of diversifying his product line; most tourists don’t want to buy the same old generic looking postcards. So, I went to a local bookshop and bought two cheap editions of “Burmese Folktales” and Shwe Yoe’s classic “The Burman” and gave them to Niko to sell. I told him how much the books had cost (and where to buy extra copies) and explained how he could sell these and other titles to tourists for profit. I led him through a role playing exercise and had him sell the books back to me. He caught on quickly. Like many of the street sellers, he has dropped out of school to earn money for his family. The proceeds from his sales go to help his mother and three younger siblings. He has no father.

Here are some children having fun on the water slides at Happy World, a popular amusement park in Yangon. With the horribly hot weather, taking a dip in the swimming pools was a great way to escape the heat. I took Niko and two of his friends there one afternoon. In addition to the pools they have a haunted house, rollercoaster, merry-go-round, bumper cars, and other rides.

This is a shot of Niko and his two friends (also postcard sellers) inside the silly little Haunted House at Happy World.

Some more happy, if somewhat goofy, children enjoying the swimming pools at Happy World in Yangon. I’ve been here five times over the past three years and I’ve never seen any other foreigners there --- other than foreign friends who have accompanied me. Needless to say, we become the center of attention; wall to wall smiles and giggles, along with shouts of “Hello” and “What’s your name?”

This is one of the old carvings at the “Stupa Garden” in Paleik. This small grove of ancient stupas and pagodas is located only a few hundred yards behind Paleik’s famous “Snake Pagoda,” where three Burmese Pythons are bathed and fed in front of tourists each morning. This stupa garden is a very atmospheric and serene place; you will most likely be the only ones wandering around if you visit. For some reason, most tourists that go to the main pagoda to see the snakes don’t even know that these stupas exist.

Some of the friendly young waiters at Aye Myit Tar, my favorite restaurant in Mandalay. The curries are a bit on the oily side, but they are very tasty and you get as much of the delicious side dishes (creamed corn, butter beans, tomato salad, gourd soup, green beans, etc.) as your stomach can handle. These boys are very diligent about bringing you more food and refilling up your glass with more water. The outstanding and entertaining (having a crew of five wait on a single table is delightfully nuts!) service that they provide makes the trip worthwhile even if you don’t eat much.

Just as Myint Shin and I were finishing up our meal at Aye Myit Tar one evening, a woman rushed into the restaurant yelling something. That caused everyone else in the restaurant (except for me; the sole befuddled foreigner) to panic. It turns out there was a fire on the street behind the restaurant. Fires are, unfortunately, frequent occurrences in Mandalay at this time of year. Just about a month ago a large shopping center in town was gutted by a big fire. Needless to say, we guzzled our beers, paid the bill, and fled the scene as the sound of fire trucks got louder.

This is Nine Nine (commonly known as “99), a teenager in New Bagan, posing with his new $10 “made in Mandalay” guitar. Like many kids in New Bagan, 99’s income has dropped sharply since the tourist decline. He is planning on working at a teashop until the start of the new school term in June. He is typical of the bright and personable children in the area who meet tourists: he can speak reasonably well in languages such as Spanish, Italian, German, French, and English.

This is a fortune-teller and palm reader in Paleik. He charges only 1,000 kyat (about $1) for a 20-minute reading. This one spoke only Burmese, so my friend Walter used an interpreter (our driver Hla Myo from Mandalay) to help explain what the fortune-teller was saying. If all proves accurate, Walter must be wary of a young, manipulate woman who plans to steal his heart (and his money); he should plan on moving to another country next year; and prospects for his business are good. I guess we should have told the fortune-teller that Walter is now retired!

I’m pictured here with Mi Aung in Bagan. She and her husband Ko Ko are the official greeters at Minyeingon, one of the more popular pagodas for tourists to visit if they want to see a sunset in Old Bagan. In addition to helping visitors up and down the steep, narrow, dark stairway, they sell souvenir items such as paintings and longyis. Mi Aung and Ko Ko are a gracious, friendly couple and will make you feel at home in “their pagoda.” They are the parents of a three-month old boy.

Here are Aung Aung and his buddy Tun Zaw Win, waiters at the fabulous Minthihar teashop in Mandalay. Minthihar has several branches in town, but this one, my favorite, is located at the corner of 28th and 72nd Streets. The teashop offers great tea and tasty food (a variety of rice and noodle dishes, and snacks such as paratha), and they have a handy menu in English. These two boys were especially friendly and helpful (correcting my Burmese language mistakes!) during my stay. They are typical of the young waiters at teashops, providing attentive service and asking their lots of curious questions. Whenever I would wheel up on my bike, dripping with sweat, Aung Aung had a glass of iced water in front of me just as soon as I was seated. Like most teashop waiters, they work long shifts (usually from 5 or 6 in the morning until late afternoon) and live at the teashop. They don’t go to school.

This is one of the many street stalls in Yangon that sell books or bind various printed publications. This one is located on an alley that runs parallel to Sule Paya Road. There are dozens of other outdoor booksellers around the Sule Pagoda area, particularly on the sidewalks of Pansodan Road and Mahabandoola Road. It seems that the citizens of Yangon, at least the older ones, are devoted book readers and don’t mind if the title is a dog-eared copy that was printed in the 1960s.

Dining with Zin Maung Maung and Tun Tun in New Bagan. Every time I come to town (New Bagan is more of a big village than anything) I’m invited to local people’s homes for snacks or full meals. These families are incredibly hospitable and generous. Besides cooking up genuinely delicious meals, they lavish me with presents and enrich me with priceless memories. I’m sometimes puzzled by who actually lives with whom: this is a true community where children and parents continuously come and go, dropping by the homes of their neighbors to share meals and conversation. The door is always open!

I broke down and did it: grabbing hold and posing with one of the big snakes in Paleik. For a small fee you can have your photo taken by the pagoda’s official photographer. This is the “unofficial” one that my friend Walter snapped. The snakes are bathed and fed each morning at 11:00. Paleik is about a 40-minute drive from the heart of Mandalay. You can also combine a visit here with a trip to the airport.

Nine Nine and Zin Maung Maung clown it up with cheap sunglasses at Mt. Popa, the extinct volcano near Bagan. Mt. Popa is home to a series of famous Nat (Burmese guardian spirits) shrines and draws thousands of visitors each day. Walter and I took a group of nine village children here one day while we were in Bagan.

Walter with some of the crew we took to Mt. Popa. One of the kids had just started his stint as a novice monk in Bagan the previous week, thus the robe and shaved head. These noviciation stints usually only last a week or two, and then it’s back to the “real” world again. They are pictured here at the top of Mt. Popa (more of a big hill, actually) where there are several shrines and stupas.

The kids enjoy the view from the top of Mt. Popa. The drive from Bagan takes about 75 minutes. We rented a van for the trip. Some of these kids had never ridden in a motor vehicle before (they are more used to bicycles and horse carts), but thankfully none of them got sick during the journey!

One of the many monkeys that call Mt. Popa their home. On the long walk to the top (thankfully, shaded from the sun), hundreds of these critters scamper all over the place, usually hoping to be fed a snack of some sort.

04:43 AM PDT Permalink |