Travels with Pat

By the time we reached Katha – the site of Orwell’s “Burmese Days” which I had just finished, I was primed for my motorcycle ride with one of the mahouts to the Myanmar Timber Enterprise with a herd of a dozen elephants.  Kathy fed bananas to one while I fed some tamarind to a baby elephant.  After the mahouts washed the elephants with soap wood, several members of our group took a bareback ride.

Going back down the Irrawaddy River, we stopped at Hti Gyint to see a resting Buddha on top of a hill and observe 300 Buddhist monks and nuns processing through the town with empty bowls.

Just before we had to disembark at Mandalay in order to catch our flight to Yangon, stay overnight and fly on to San Francisco, some students from Mandalay’s State Performing Art School presented some “Classical Burmese Dances” on the top deck.  It was a perfect ending to a very memorable trip.

Mandalay was truly a sight to behold starting with the Royal Barge. Palace and Golden Palace Teak Monastery to the World’s Largest Book – a plantation of white stupas which contained 774 marble slabs with all the Buddha’s teachings inscribed by 2,400 monks.

Mingun – another ox cart day for me to ring the “largest working bell in the world”; view the unfinished Bodawpaya Pagoda, the workd’s largest single mass brick building; and marvel at the “wedding cake” Temple.  Of course. Kathy climbed barefoot to the top of both structures.

After we docked at Bagan, a World Heritage site, we boarded a bus to visit an overwhelming array of almost 3,000 temples and stupas covering 25 square miles.  Stupas are usually gilded solid structures with a dome and a reliquary while temples are composed of river bank mud bricks and are places of

Buddhist worship.  This land of pagodas is sustained by farming sesame and peanuts for oil.  During the “Silk Road” period, the Burmese traded lacquerware and oil for other goods.

One evening some local puppeteers presented a Burmese puppet show featuring a monkey, a flying sorcerer and a nat (spirit puppet).  Before we could visit Yandabo, famous for its terracotta pottery, Daniel supervised the crew in making steps in the clay bank so we could get to the road.  I always had one of the crew as my personal assistant in addition to Kathy to maneuver the uneven terrain.

As our Pandaw river chugged along the Irrawaddy, I noticed fields of corn, large clusters of papyrus, thatched roof villages and river washed laundry flapping on the clotheslines.  Our on board presentations included a makeup demonstration of thanaka (ground sandalwood) which women and children wear on their cheeks for sunscreen and beauty, a typical Buddhist home altar and wearing a longyi (long multi- gender skirt).

In Sale on our way to a Buddhist teak wood Monastery, I was the main attraction as my oxcart passed by villagers – beetle nit chewing men, wpmen holding up babies to see me, children calling, “Hallo!” and motorcycles whizzing by.

We drove from Yangon (Rangoon) 179 miles by bus to our embarkation point in Pyay (Prome).  Along the 2 lane “highway” bordered by rice fields and canals on each side, we made frequent stops at thatched roof toll stops and a gilded stupa in every village.  Before we started our Pandaw cruise on the Irrawaddy River  and everywhere we moored, I observed many children swimming in the river as well as men and women bathing, brushing their teeth and taking water back to their homes for cooking.

Many stairs were involved in an exploration of two forts which were constructed on either side of the river to keep the British at bay.  When I stayed on board, I read several books about Burma – The Piano Tuner and Little Daughter.

Temples. stupas, longyi clad men and women and laughing children formed a mosaic as Kathy, my MT nurse daughter, and I traveled with 30 Australians on the Pandaw Katha River Cruiser while the mighty, muddy Irrawaddy snaked its way into the heart of Myanmaer.

Starting with an afternoon tour in Yangon (Rangoon), Daniel, our excellent, enthusiastic guide, showed us the Shwedagon Pagoda, the largest and most sacred one in the world.  Myanmar has 55 million residents, 8 major ethnic groups and 21 varieties of bamboo.  He added, “By the end of the trip you’ll be templed out and stupa-fied.”

Proceeding with our tour we visited Banyan Temple built in 1181 A.D. to honor both Buddhists and Hindus.  It’s surrounded by a moat which is as wide as two football fields.  In the afternoon, Kathy went on a trek in the jungle with Mack to Ta Prohm Temple which is engulfed with gigantic tree roots.

In the evening Mack suggested a dinner show for only $12.00 each.  The restaurant seated over 300 people and offered a variety of buffet items.  Drums kept the tempo as dancers dressed in exotic costumes moved their bodies and hands gracefully.  Then it was off to the airport for our midnight departure.

This was my final overseas adventure.  I’m glad that I traveled when I was more agile.

This was our full day seeing the temples.  In order to get into Angkor Wat, each person has to be photographed for security.  Mack, our guide arranged for us to start the day with an elephant ride.  I had to climb some ladder steps to a platform with our driver right behind me.  Then I was helped to sit in the double seated carrier behind the mahout.

I gripped the front railing of the carrier with my right hand and the back edge with my left hand.  My left foot rested on the elephant and my right leg simply dangled as the elephant lumbered from side to side,  MANY tourists photographed us before we disembarked at another platform.  I probably don’t need to repeat the experience.

Siem Reap, the home of Angkor Wat, is considered a major city in Cambodia with over a million residents; however, it resembles a rural village in the U.S. with dirt side streets and only basics for sale. MANY bikes, motor bikes, motorcycles, some cars, trucks and “tuk-tuks” (open air 2-4 seater driven by bike or motorcycle) clogged the roads.

We were greeted at the brand new Shinta Mani with a refreshing drinkof carrot juice, lemon grass, oj and lime wedges before Kathy went with Mack, our guide, on an afternoon visit to Angkor Thom with its Elephant Terrace, Banyon Temple and the Terrace of the Leper King with monkeys and very steep steps.      Angkor Wat ranks as the World Heritage’s largest religious compound in the world.  The Khmer civilization flourished between the 8th and 13th centuries.  The first Europeans “discovered” it in the 19th century.

Today our river cruise on the Mekong ended so the crew members hoisted our luggage on their backs and shoulders to climb the dirt trail with hand dug steps up a steep embankment.  Even though Kathy and I started up the trail, several crew members rushed to assist me and I learned how to say 1 – 2 – 3 (mui – pui – bye).  My entourage grew to 6 including the cook with his tall hat helping to lift and move me forward.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 The good news was that our bus was air conditioned,  Sights along the way:  wooden houses on stilts with either people or animals seeking shade underneath; no window panes – only rattan blinds hanging down(well to do homes in the cities had brick walls); numerous TV dishes; fields of dry rice with Brahma cattle; one town’s main industry was carving Buddha statues from sandstone while another village specialized in selling dried fish and dried crocodile.