Mingalaba, (Hello in Burmese)

My wife Vicky and I went to Burma, or Myanmar as they now call it, in mid-October to early November, 2014. Life was very busy for us both before and after this trip. We had twin grandsons that were born on August 1st and another grandson born on November 5th, two days after we returned home. Add to that that we both have multiple jobs plus meetings and catching up with our garden and house and we were working hard just to stay even. But we lead a joyous life and are pleased with all of it.

Meanwhile, Burma was a very interesting country to visit. It was under a Military rule from 1962 to 2011 and the military closed the borders pretty much from 1962 until around 2006, when they started opening up portions of the country to visitors. 2006 is when Vicky and I first visited Burma. We were on a trip to Thailand and we were in the Golden Triangle when we crossed the border for a day into Myanmar. It was so interesting to me that I’ve been planning on going back since then – and we finally made it.

Burma is the 25th most populous country in the world with close to 60 million people. It’s also the 40th largest country in the world by size. But Burma has very poor infrastructure and poor education and only about 25% of the people in the country have electricity. So it was very interesting to see such things as roads and road-building and shops that might normally have all electrical machines operate with pedal power. It was somewhat of an interesting step back in time.

To whet your appetite for this trip, I’ve included a few photos, which I will explain.

1. The biggest disappointment on this trip happened before we left home. Our sister-in-law, Nora Garrod, Vicky's brother Pete’s wife knew that we wanted to take this trip, as did she and Pete. So the company we travel with, OAT, had a sale on this trip while we were in Australia in February 2014 on the Australia OAT trip. Nora went ahead and booked and paid for the Burma trip, to get the discount. But when it came time to take this trip, Nora’s mom had some medical issues and Nora felt she needed to be with her mom. So Nora missed the trip. Pete, Vicky, and I carried on, but we missed Nora greatly. The first photo was our first breakfast in Burma. I went through the breakfast buffet line, got back to our table, and noticed Vicky’s plate. I took the first photo, after which the following conversation took place.

Bill: “You’re having chocolate cake for breakfast?”

Vicky: “No, I’m not”.

Bill: “But there’s a piece of chocolate cake on your plate”.

Vicky: “I know but that’s just there in honor of Nora”.

Bill: “So, you’re not actually going to eat the cake, you just took it to honor Nora?”

Vicky: “I didn’t say that”.

Bill: “So you are going to eat the cake”

Vicky: “I didn’t say that either; I’m just honoring Nora”.

Bill: “So when you are finished with your breakfast, will the cake still be there on your plate?”

Vicky: “No”.

Bill: “I understand”.

Now, during this entire conversation, Pete just sat there, like the wise-old owl that he is, and sipped his coffee and never uttered a word.

2. So, how did the three of us do without Nora? The second photo should tell you all you need to know. Clearly Pete, Vicky and I never had any chaperoning….without Nora. (This photo is on the Plains of Bagan)

3. The third photo is also on the Plains of Bagan, but this time we were right next to a pagoda, during a horse-cart tour. Vicky wasn’t driving here, but she did later on.

4. The fourth photo is in Inle Lake. This is one of the local fisherman. We watched him and others and it was rather interesting fishing, the likes of which I had never seen before.

5. The last photo is also on Inle Lake. We were meeting with some women from the Karen people or as our guide called them, the Padaung Hill Tribe.

I hope you are looking forward to the trip.

Mingalabar – which is Burmese for “Auspiciousness to you!” (and multiple other interpretations)