Sunday, October 28, 2012
Strand Hotel, Rangoon or Yangon, Burma or Myanmar
Last night we finished off the bottle of Myanmar wine Mark bought more than a week ago. Produced by the Red Mountain Winery in Lake Inle, it was a pleasant, although not very mature, Pinot Noir. Mark gave it a 6-7 out of 10.
Our last morning at the Melikha Lodge, I did not want to get up. The air was cool and dry and the place wonderfully quiet with no AC or traffic or people to disrupt the silence. This has been our experience for the last 5 nights and mornings. It was the perfect place to spend a large block of time. We had a light breakfast and then went to Putao to go to Mass at the only Catholic Church in the area. We met Father John, the pastor, and Father Paul, a visiting priest. Father Paul was especially nice and asked us a few questions. He gave the homily after the gospel and spoke a few minutes in English about the readings just for our benefit. The church was nearly full with more than 100 people and everyone sang the songs enthusiastically if not quite harmoniously. Thomas was with us, but could not explain anything being said, as he does not speak Ra Wang, the common language of the region.
Unfortunately for us, the Mass went on longer than we anticipated and we had to leave or risk missing our flight. We drove back to the lodge, finished packing, had a light lunch, said good-bye to the staff and headed for the airport. The same group that greeted us on arrival—Daniel, the manager, Myo Ko, the driver, Kyi Thar, the airport rep, Sandra, the Lisu girl who was in native costume and gave us cold towels on arrival and Thomas— traveled with us to the airport to say good bye and be ready to greet the incoming guests, a couple from LA.
While at the airport we saw Simon again and chatted with him about ways to help the local people. We exchanged more contact information and promised to be in touch. The flight made two stops before reaching Yangon at 5:30pm. It was a long, uneventful afternoon. Simon sat in front of us and commented about the news he was reading in the local paper. He was concerned about our onward journey to Mrauk Oo (Meow oo) as he read in the paper that more people had died in Sittwe and Mrauk Oo during the last 2-3 days because of fighting between the Muslims living in the area and the local Buddhists. We said we would wait to hear what our local tour operator had to say.
As soon as we were settled in the car for the drive to the Strand Hotel in Yangon, we asked the rep, Cho, if there was a change of plans for us. She said yes, our planned visit to one of the remote villages had been cancelled, as it was unsafe to travel there. However, the rest of the itinerary was still in place. We were disappointed to learn we would miss visiting the tribe with tattooed faces, but decided to continue with the program and hope for the best.
We can tell we are back in Yangon because the air is heavy, hot and sticky again. We walked a few blocks to an Asian restaurant, the Monsoon, ate Vietnamese spring rolls, Myanmar butterfish curry and a Thai prawn dish. It was tasty enough, but not as spicy as we have learned to appreciate. People in this city seem to use the names Yangon and Myanmar more than in the other places we have been, thus the use of the new name here. We have another flight tomorrow to Sittwe in the far west of the country, followed by a 6-hour boat ride to Mrauk Oo. It will be an interesting experience. This is the fastest Wi Fi connection we have had so far on this trip, so I will send this now and hope we have a connection when we get to Mrauk Oo this evening. If not, we may be in Bangkok on our way home before you hear from us again.
Don’t worry. Be happy. We are having a super adventure. Julia
Adventures with Julia 