Friday, October 19, 2012
Traveling from Bagan to Pindaya to Kalaw
We were out early this morning to catch a plane to Heho and spend some days in the Shan State, which is one of the seven minority districts in Burma. At Heho, 45 minutes East of Bagan, we picked up our next bus and drove two hours to Pindaya, a town of 65,000 in the center of Burma. The first thing we all noticed when we alighted the plane was the cooler and less humid temperature. We all breathed a sigh of relief to have comfortable weather again. The elevation at Heho is 3000 feet. We took a scenic drive through the countryside traveling only 24 miles in two hours to our lunch stop in Pindaya. With a temperate climate all year round and level to gentle rolling terrain, crops grow abundantly. The landscape was a colorful patchwork quilt that could have been in many places in Europe. Although the fields were relatively small, every square inch was under cultivation. We saw many fields of huge cabbages being harvested as we passed. We also saw tomatoes, cauliflower, spinach, corn, potatoes, kale, zucchini, Japanese sesame, wheat and beans as well as empty fields being plowed by 2-ox single plows. Eucalyptus and pine trees are common at this elevation. I wanted to stop and take photos, but was told we had to keep going or miss lunch. The rutted dirt, gravel and partially tarred road was uncomfortably slow.
Lunch at the Green Tea Restaurant in Pindaya, however, was delicious. Similar to other Burmese meals, this one accentuated the wonderful fresh vegetables, especially the lightly sautéed chives that did not taste of onion, and the mixed vegetables prepared Chinese style. Our table was outdoors on the deck and overlooked small Pone Taloke Lake and the fertile hills. I have to give credit to Ken, Davies and ATJ for securing the best restaurants and the best seating in those restaurants at every meal on this trip.
After lunch we drove up a steep hill with several switch back turns to the famous Shwe Oo Min Natural Caves to see a massive limestone cavern filled to bursting with thousands of gilded Buddha statues in an astonishing variety of shapes, sizes and materials including teak, alabaster, brick, marble, cement and lacquer. All of them have been brought or donated by pilgrims from many centuries ago until the present. Each statue has a plaque telling the donor’s name and the date. At the latest count there were over 8700 statues. Once inside the cavern, there are so many statues that it is easy to get lost in the maze of aisles and dead ends of statues that climb up to the top of the cavern several stories high. We came upon large stalactites and stalagmites surrounded by statues. Water dripped from the top of the cave in many places and missed the statues only because plastic sheeting had been installed to direct the water away from the many Buddha’s. We spent half an hour wandering around in barefoot amazement. Fortunately non-slippery floor coverings have been installed for people to keep from slipping on the wet concrete pavement. Back down the hill and into town, we visited a hand made wooden umbrella and paper factory; similar to the ones Mark and I have visited in Madagascar and Sri Lanka. This one was not as organized as the others, but I managed to buy envelopes and hand cut paper sheets for personal notes.
Then we began the same bumpy 2-hour ride in reverse. At some point we continued south passed Heho to the hill station of Kalaw, where the British civil servants came to escape the heat of the plains and where our accommodations for the night were located. The Amara Mountain Resort, at 4400 feet, is a collection of Tudor style houses nestled into a meandering flower garden. We were assigned to a house with 5 bedrooms and a downstairs living room, where the group congregated for cocktails. Dinner was in another building of similar style. The whole place was quite charming and our room was quite comfortable, if not grand. It was very nice to open the windows, feel the cool air and sleep without the drone of an air-conditioner.
During the long day of airport waiting and bus riding I decided to write a bit of information on each of our fellow travelers. The group is very congenial and each person has taken the time to get to know the other members. We have enjoyed everyone’s company. A brief description follows in no particular order. If I have made any mistakes, please forgive me.
Richard is a retired attorney who specialized in trial work in the nuclear power industry for a number of years and then moved into real estate law. He practiced in several states including Georgia, California and Arizona. He is divorced and helps raise his 7-year old adopted Guatemalan daughter and 18-year old son. He lives in Atlanta, but is planning to move to California soon.
Elinor lives in Camden, Maine and is the author of 14 cookbooks including three she wrote for William Sonoma. She has another book in the works. Her husband died unexpectedly on her birthday so she does not celebrate it any more.
John and Stacy live in Cohasset, Massachusetts. John was a nuclear engineer. Stacy was also in the nuclear industry. Later John went into consulting and Stacy worked for an Institutional Investment firm. Now she heads a special volunteer group for the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, while John is on the Cohasset Sewer Commission.
Barbara lives in Bethesda, Maryland. She was the founder of a successful marketing and design firm and is now retired. Her husband was unable to come due to health issues.
Ilze lives in North Adelaide, Australia and managed international programs for universities in Australia. She is now retired.
Jane lives in Potomac, Maryland and is a public information officer with the National Institute on Aging in Washington DC.
Claudia lives in Bethesda, Maryland with her husband who did not want to come. She worked with Jane at the Institute on Aging and is now retired. Her passion is making sculptures.
Al is from Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. He is a Real Estate attorney who now manages his own properties. His wife could not come on the trip.
Bill and Sherry are from Campbell, California. Sherry has a PhD in French Literature and had a career in high tech. She is retired and cultivates her passion for French culture. Bill is retired from Dupont, was a consultant in Saudi Arabia and is currently working part time in residential real estate sales. His passion is photography.
Ruth and Dan are both MD’s who live in Beverly Hills, California. Ruth is currently an Ob-Gyn in a group practice in Hollywood and is about to become head of the Ob-Gyn department at Cedar Sinai Hospital. She is the youngest person in the group. Dan is a physician administrator.
Sue and Chris live in Cohasset, Massachusetts and are good friends of John and Stacy. They were in the book publishing business for Simon & Schuster and are now retired. They spend half the year in Florida.
Needless to say, everyone in the group is very well traveled and loves to share experiences and future possibilities.
Well, that’s it for Friday the 19th. Time to sleep.
Saturday, October 20, 2012
Inle Princess Resort, Lake Inle, Burma
After a light breakfast, we drove down the hillside to the town of Kalaw to walk through the local market and through the small town. It was not very crowded and we were certainly the only tourists around. We checked out the old British train station that still has 4 trains a day stop. We passed by a military training center, where young recruits spend 6 months learning the ropes. According to Ken, 2% of the population, or 1.2 million people are in the military. Most everyone joins the army, which still holds the power in Burma. There is a small Navy and Air Force, which have little power as they supported the opposition during the 80’s. Interestingly, we have seen almost no sign of the military during our time here. Ken has told us there is a large plain-clothes military presence that watches and reports undesirable behavior. Otherwise there are a few policemen around.
We also passed a small Catholic Church under renovation. An Italian priest, Father Antonio, settled in the town, built the church and lived in Kalaw until he died in 2000. Davies said he met the gentle old man several years ago. I walked around the back of the church and found a nun arranging flowers. She spoke some English and told us her name is Sister Olivia and she is from Settwe, where Mark and I will be in a week or so. There are 4 nuns and 1 priest who live nearby, run a boarding school with 37 students and tend to the church of about 60 parishioners. I forgot to ask her to which order she belonged. According to Ken there were many Christians in the area during British times.
Back on the bus we motored south to Lake Inle, pronounced “Inlay”. Along the way Davies talked about WWII, flying supplies over the hump and the Burma Road. Flying over the hump, although treacherous for the planes and pilots who made the trip, proved to be more successful that the road for getting supplies where they needed to be. The road was not started until the middle of the war and was finished only a short time before it was over. Built mostly by black servicemen, it was over 750 miles long and was used to move supplies to Chiang Kai-Shek’s Kuomintang army. It went from Lashio, a town in central Burma, to Kunming in south central China. The US did not put many troops or energy into the war in this part of the world.
Our last stop before Inle Lake was an interesting monastery, Shwe Yan Paya, consisting of two very different buildings. The first was made entirely of wood on stilts and is currently used by monks as a residence. The other is made of red-colored stucco and covered with unusual glass and mirror images of aspects of Buddha’s life. Dozens of small gilt Buddha statues filled the many small niches set in the walls. We saw several monks and managed, hopefully, to get some nice photos.
Shortly, we arrived in the town of Lake Inle and at the jetty. Four motorized long boats were waiting to take us, 5 at a time, sitting single file to the Inle Princess Resort. The afternoon had become quite hot as we had descended to about 2700 feet, so we were glad to each be given an umbrella to shield us from the sun. We motored over the smooth water and between dense marsh grasses for 20 minutes. It was a fun ride. As we got closer to our destination the grasses closed in on us and barely allowed us to pass. Then, there was a sudden opening and we could see the resort jetty and the main wooden structure. Shortly, we were ashore, received our keys and in our individual cabins. Ours faced the afternoon sun and was quite hot as the A/C was not on. We got the A/C going, shut the curtains and settled in. The cabin is very spacious and the bathroom has an outdoor shower as well as an indoor one—just like home. Mark wasted no time organizing a pedicure for himself, so I decided to join him. At 4pm two ladies gave us each a very nice pedicure at the same time. While our toenails dried an iridescent purple color, we received really good upper back massages. Very nice. By the time we returned to our cabin, the sun was low in the sky and our room was much cooler. I ordered ice. Mark poured us each a scotch and we went out to our over water balcony to enjoy the sunset. Can’t imagine why I ever thought Burma might be a scary place.
Mark joined Richard, Chris and John in smoking cheroots on the jetty. I relaxed on the balcony and wrote until dark. Then I joined Mark for a light supper and bed. We continue to get up early for the group activities and are really pooped by 8:30pm.
More later, Julia
Adventures with Julia 