The second Burmese word is…

Kzeh-zu ba .  Thank you.

Believe me, we felt thankful when we reached the other side of that road, having stood for several minutes in the middle of a six lane highway where the traffic might not have been moving as fast as it could have been, but the lack of strict driving standards meant we needed to be our guard.  I stood “downroad” of Dan, our driver, who knew what he was doing and had surely done this a few times before.

Our next stop was a temple – the Sule pagoda, the first of a series of such buildings we’re scheduled to visit in the next few days.  Here, the claim to fame was a few strands of Buddha’s hair, set within the gilded heart of the pagoda itself.

Sanda took us straight to it, through a labyrinth of triangular passageways which form the eight compass points around the central reliquary.  There were plenty of other pilgrims including people who had travelled for a considerable time to be here, so I felt pretty awkward taking up their valuable space when for me, it was a simple sightseeing expedition.  So, we hung back a little, did our best to explain that though we appreciated the significance of the relic, surely these people deserved to be there so much more than we did.

But it’s a fine line to tread.  We didn’t want to be disrespectful to Sanda, or to let her think that we were dismissive of this potential highlight of the tour, so we simply went with the flow and made sure those who were clearly excited to reach their goal were able to do so without a couple of foreigners getting in their way.

So this is as close as we got.  For sure, the Buddha’s hair is in there somewhere, but this isn’t a photo of it, I’m fairly certain.

Instead, we majored on the golden rooms, walking around each one in turn and feeling like we were walking in a straight line when we were actually walking around the eight compass points and making our way through identical spaces until we reached the place where we’d started.

We made our way through the glass mosaic entrance hall and out through the side door to a kind of garden, where there were ponds with turtles to feed.

People were throwing shredded lettuce in there faster than the turtles could eat it and surely, by the end of the day someone would need to sift some of it out again.

Though actually, the main goal for most of these visitors was the statue of the temple God at the end of the pathway, which seemed to be particularly important to the Thai visitors who were here in number.

Again, we hung back giving them a chance to make their offerings and giving me a chance to take one or two quiet photos of the goings on.  Most of it appeared to be cellphone based activity!

In the queue, people were perusing their collections of selfies taken at the temple and taking more of themselves and their friends.

Some were about to make their offering but appeared to be interrupted.

Others were taking a break to catch up on Facebook, perhaps?

Whilst others were possibly neglecting their duties, distracted by the ever present temptation to play a game, listen to music or watch the latest Bruce Lee video (actually, that was the elevator operator in the last temple we visited this afternoon!)

In the meantime, the crowds had cleared and we were able to get a clear view of the statue they’d come to see.  We could also see how they folded a note (dollar bill?) into a conical shape around what looked like a eucalyptus leaf and then slotted it inside the notes which were already there between the God’s fingers.  Having made their prayer, they retrieved the now blessed leaf and took a few more photographs.

Oh, and discarded any surplus material into the bin alongside.

In the same space on the opposite side of the pagoda was another, smaller structure with smaller temples around it focussed on the days of the week.  Today being Tuesday, those born on a Tuesday would attend and make an offering at their particular little temple.

I was born on a Sunday, so I took an interest in that particular corner of the yard.

We took a quick look inside the hall opposite where another statue of buddha sat overlooking a large carpeted area, his head surrounded by a halo of multicoloured neon lights, but by now, we were ready to move on.  It was getting pretty hot by now so we stepped very carefully, barefoot, across the tiled spaces and out to the car where we’d left our shoes.

Our next stop involved a drive across the city and several traffic jams too.  One of the jams was around a high school where students had been sitting one of their final exams this morning.  Supportive parents were waiting outside for their offspring who milled around in white and green school uniform, looking relieved.

The traffic jams were endless.  Dan must have used every gram of patience as we sat for ages waiting for something to move.  Eventually, we reached the Botataung Pagoda, our next stop.

Not really a pagoda at all but an enormous shed set in a monastery complex, build to house the huge reclining buddha you see above.  The Buddha is made of bricks and plaster and has glass eyes.  He’s also got birds nesting in his nostrils!

Beautifully made and rather elegant in form, the figure is too big to do justice in a photograph really.  He’s wearing eyeshadow and has painted nails and lipstick too, not to mention the most beautifully shaped and decorated robes.

The folds of the “fabric” are so well shaped that it’s difficult to believe it’s only plaster underneath that gold paint.

The border of the robe is created from a glass mosaic – lovely.

But what we’ve never seen before are the soles of his feet.  Never have we realised that he has such a significant footprint, that the symbols are all set out in a particular format and can be interpreted too.

Anyway, having seen the reclining Buddha from head to toe, it was time to move on.

Our next stop was the market – formerly known as Scotts Market, it’s now called Bogyoke Market and finding ourselves in yet another jam, Dan let us out in the middle of the road and we walked the last stretch.

It was a bright and airy space, without the aroma of fresh meat and fish to give it that unmentionable atmosphere.  Here was jade a-plenty, gold, lacquer ware and…

 

underwear!

No, come on…we carried straight on past all of that and cut to the chase that was the fabric!  first, Sanda took us to see fabric woven by the Chin people in the far west of the country.  They weave using cotton, so the resultant fabric is quite heavy and warm.  It’s also patterned on one side but plain on the other.  Clever, eh?

We have some cushions in our room made from such fabric.  It’s attractive and distinctive but not really what I was after.

What was I looking for?  Well, not any of this synthetic yardage in bright colours, really.  But it’s hard not to look, especially when there is so much of it!

Most is cut into longyi lengths, pieces of around 2 metres which can be made into the wrap around skirts worn by the women here (and also, in different, more masculine patterns, by the men)

As you can imagine, the colour and texture drew me in and I could have happily spent the rest of the day there.

But heroes get achy backs from time to time and of course, we had other things to do, so however tempting the pile of noodle salad looked, we weren’t really in for a rest at this time.

We were focusing on fabric, these patterns being of Burmese origin and typical of the style here – but sadly, not really easily translatable to something I’d wear at home.

As small distraction came in the form of some small bags which looked remarkably similar to some I have at home, bought from the Lisu women we stayed with years ago in Northern Thailand.  Sure enough, they’re made by members of the same tribe here in Myanmar, as were the cross stitches bags associated with the Akha women.

All very tempting but I was after a longyi and there were still a few (hundred) fabric stalls we hadn’t looked at.

Hang on a minute though, there’s a little chanting, some gentle pushing (or was it squeezing past) and a group of Buddhist nuns went on their merry way, collecting alms from various stalls.  Never a dull moment here!

My eye fell on what looked suspiciously like a pile of Kaffe Fassett style cotton.  Maybe this was what I was after for my longyi?

Better still, there were some rather lovely ikat woven pieces I preferred and in no time at all, I had satisfied my shopping needs.  One longyi purchased…US$4.

Good grief.  I should have bought two.  Three even!

Mission accomplished, we made our way back to the car, passing these puppets along the way.  I’ve included them here because they relate pretty well to something we saw in the museum a little later on, but as no cameras were allowed inside, I thought I’d include them here.

I think I’m going to need a third post to finish of the day!  See you in the next one.

Mingalarbar!

We’ve learned our first two words of Burmese.  Mingalarbar is the all purpose greeting wishing whoever it is an auspicious day ahead and we’ve just about got it established in our minds and need to use it as often as we can to fix it firmly there in the memory.

It was almost two o’clock last night when we finally put out the light on what had been a long and busy day.

Our travelling companions made themselves instantly at home amongst the handwoven cushions and we went in search of breakfast this morning.

Very good it was too, in beautiful surroundings and served by the most delightfully friendly people.

We like it here!

We met Sanda our guide and Dan our driver and went out into the city, making our first stop in Victoria Square.

Depending on which direction we looked, we faced old colonial buildings with a definitely British feel, assorted pagodas and shapes of a skyline with a distinctly South East Asian flavour or the international glass and concrete skyscraper.

Actually, those three tower blocks were the only ones we saw all day, because from that point on, we knew we were most definitely in Myanmar!

Though it was already quite warm for us, it was still really the cool of the day and the street vendors were relaxed and not especially busy.

It was a good opportunity to survey the snacks on offer: egg custards, slices of a sticky rice cake or tapioca.  Good, solid fare to see you through the day.

The small streetside cafes were quiet with nobody feeling thirsty enough for a sugar cane juice yet.  Needless to say, I’m observing my favourite Asian palette of colours here again – it will crop up time and again during the day – scarlet red, cobalt blue, malachite green.  Love it.

No queues at the post office either.  Our walk took us through the old colonial district of Yangon (Rangoon) and we passed by the headquarters of the port authority, the water board, the central courts and so on.  Some are still in use, others have fallen into disrepair.

Many are being renovated, because the one aspect we noticed from the minute we arrived is that this is a country which is modernising very fast indeed.

The traffic is dreadful!  The streets are crammed with cars – modern, Japanese models generally, driven gently but with a determined air and little regard for rules or Highway Code style conventions.

When advised to cross, we do so, joining the monk, the elderly lady, the young man in jeans and a few businessmen stepping out bravely but confidently into the traffic, Hanoi-style.

On the other side of the street are small bookstalls selling all kinds of books in both English and Burmese.

In between the books are the small food vendors, here selling noodle salad.  We needn’t go hungry, that’s for sure.

A little further along, this man has set down his yoke and is painstakingly cutting up polystyrene fast food containers to create trays on which to sell portions of jackfruit.  Sanda chats with him a while and he agrees, it’s slow work.

We learn to read a Burmese price ticket on a heap of bestsellers: this is 500 Kyat per book.

Did I say bestsellers?

A little further on, you can take your pick for 1000 Kyat.

The books are piled high right the way along the street.

It’s clear reading skills are valued here from the sign outside the library

Nothing to argue about there.

With a quick look at this beautifully decrepit old place across the road,

and the young woman rolling leaves with betel nuts to sell, we’ll take a deep breath and cross the road.

See if we made it to the other side in the next post!

One day in Hong Kong (2)

We were here, in Aberdeen and having seen what there is to see, we thought we’d see where the buses were going, assess our options and make a decision. We weren’t in a particular hurry and watching ordinary life go on in this small town street was quite interesting anyway.

The contact lens advert outside the Opticians promoting the “Biggest eyes ever” was interesting, too.  Fancy wearing contact lenses which extend the diameter of the iris in such a way?

As we walked by this little temple, we spotted a bus going to Stanley, one of our old haunts.  Why not? – let’s go!

But instead of taking the usual double decker, we hopped onto one of the “public light vehicles” instead.  Seating just 16 passengers, they run a more informal, community service and it made a change to travel in a different way this time.

We were amused by the “depot office” as well; under an awning on the pavement, the manager sat with his phone and his filing cabinets keeping everything in order.  When there were 16 bottoms on the 16 seats on our minibus, he waved to our driver (“captain”) and we were off.

The large yellow sign informs (?reassures?) us that the vehicle is limited to 80kph and there is a large speed indicator up there above the windscreen.  Whether that is so that the passengers can monitor the driver when he goes too fast, or whether it’s so that he maintains his pace with the fast lifestyle here, who knows?  All I can say is that we seldom went faster than 50 and even at that speed, we were bouncing about fairly freely!

After a really enjoyable ride along the coastline, past secluded bays and affluent areas with spectacular views, we arrived in Stanley.  Out we got and made our way down to the seafront.

via the market, of course.  Same old same old here, nothing we wished to buy but fun to look anyway.

Feeling a little thirsty, we continued on beyond the market stalls and out onto the main street, where we knew there were some bars and cafes.  Here, a bride and groom were working with a photographer, posing by a Maserati.  It wasn’t clear whether they were a real couple or if they were models, working on an advertisement of some kind, but they appeared to be having fun.

As we sat with a drink, however, we watched as they chose some bizarre backdrops for their photographs!  All the time we were there, the ice cream van music played on, over and over again.  Eventually, it all got a bit much and we moved right along.

Spotting a sign for the #63 with a bus right there, ready to go, we decided to hop on there.  We knew vaguely where it was going, knew that we could easily get back from there and that phrase “Ferry PIer” suggested there could be an interesting alternative, too.

Back then, enjoying the lovely views of Repulse Bay as we went, getting stuck in occasional traffic jams and generally having fun simply watching the world go by.

We spotted a fun advertisement on the back of one of the green minivans, for Peterhouse PreSchool Kindergarten, noting with amusement the coat of arms in a similar palette to the “real” Peterhouse, Cambridge.

Finally, we reached North Ferry Pier and looked around to discover we were the only ones left on the bus!  We wandered through the fish market in the hope of discovering that the ferry was heading for somewhere we knew, somewhere from where we could make our way back to Central.  Sadly, it wasn’t.  It was going over to “Kowloon City”, so we turned around and headed back to Hennessy Road where there was one, failsafe way of getting back.

The tram was soon there and we climbed the steep steps and went through the turnstile at the back  door with everyone else.

Travelling by tram here is fun.  They are old, a bit creaky and there is not much room.  Everyone gets on at the back, then during the journey, you make your way forward so that by the time your each your destination, you are by the front door and ready to swipe your Octopus card as you get off.

Each time I use the tram, I worry that I won’t be able to make my way through, and yet, every time, I do!  this time, both my hero and I even got to sit down – a bonus!

So here we are, back at the Mandarin Oriental again.  It’s now 6.30pm and shortly, our car will arrive to take us to the airport from where we will catch a flight to Yangon at 9.50pm this evening.  It’s going to be a late night for us, that’s for sure, except that there is a time difference, we thought.  Neither of us was sure if it was one hour or two, so we looked it up.

It’s an hour and a half!  Weird or what?

One day in Hong Kong

A day in Hong Kong might begin rather leisurely, especially if someone – me – found herself drawing pictures of cabin crew in her journal at 3am because she couldn’t sleep.  Thankfully, I  did go back to bed and catch a few more hours before it was time to get up for real and to enjoy the spectacular feast of a Mandarin Oriental breakfast.

It was quite late in the morning then, before we had packed up our bags and got our act together.  Whilst my hero dealt with the business of checking out, I took photographs of the funny balloon sculptures in the lobby and arranged for our luggage to be held here for a while.  Half will stay here whilst we enjoy our Burmese adventure, the other half will stay for the day so that we can go out and find some fun.  Strangely, the gentleman on the front desk knew our travel arrangements better than I did – and it’s remarkable how they manage to address us by name, even though we’d been in the building less than 24 hours.

“See you next week, Mrs Thomas!”

Out into the 95% humidity, then, with plans to get the Octopus cards out and see where we could lose ourselves for the day.  Though we (thought we) knew how to find the central bus station, we found it particularly tricky to get there.  Nowhere is very far away in Hong Kong, but those six lane highways though the central city make getting around on foot rather difficult.

Quite frequently we can see where we want to be, but we’re one bridge away, or the building is over the elevated roadway.  Eventually, we managed it, but that was another half hour gone!

We climbed aboard the #70 bus to Aberdeen and headed upstairs hoping for the front seats, but sadly, someone beat us to it!  Five people, five cameras/phones, five sets of photographs all round.  I got out my camera and took photos of them taking photos…

 

Quite fun – except I would have liked to suggest she lift her viewfinder up a little so she could avoid having the yellow bar in every shot.  Or maybe it was intended?

Just when I was getting tired of not being able to see anything very well, they all got up and got off!  Yes!!  And guess where we moved to sit?

It’s not so far to Aberdeen and deciding where to get off wasn’t so difficult.  Making a note of where the buses stopped for the return journey, we chose to alight at the “Promenade”.  As I did, I looked over at the layer upon layer of high rise apartment buildings which just go on forever in every direction.

It’s a long time since we were here and I very much doubt that we’d even recognise the place was it was then.  On a previous visit, we’d come to have lunch at the Jumbo restaurant, so perhaps we didn’t linger around here anyway.  But here, there’s a natural harbour known as the Aberdeen Typhoon Shelter, and today there were a fair few small fishing vessels and tourist sampans moored.

I like the colours of South East Asia; those bright blue plastic buckets, orange and green tarpaulins contrast well with the deep brown wood of the boats.  Everything’s a little worn, a bit shabby but there’s always plenty of life going on.

And with my new camera’s marvellous zoom lens, I can take a sneaky look!

Though it was hazy, it was really warm and the sun was trying to break through the mist.  We enjoyed strolling along the Prom and went as far as we could, thinking we’d get a picture of the Jumbo restaurant.  It wasn’t to be though, since the pathway came to an abrupt end and a fenced off building site.

This was good news for some, providing a captive audience for one bossy Chinese lady who would have liked to have persuaded everyone to climb aboard her sampan for a harbour tour.

She got all but two and conceded “see you later!”

We turned around and retraced our steps, going on beyond our starting point and wondering how effective the “Sea Cleaner 4” is at its job?

I found myself wondering what life is like on one of these boats.  How easy is it to make a living fishing? 

Shortly before the Promenade came to an end, we stopped to look at the bronze of the two fisherwomen.  Come to think of it, almost all the people driving those boats were women, too.  Perhaps the men have to supplement their income by another means?

Or maybe they are all playing cards across the way?

Just behind that small community meeting place was the most beautiful yellow tree.  I’ve no idea what it is, but the clear, bright colour shone out against the dull concrete of the backdrop.

I rather liked the style of the park seating, too.  Very much in keeping with the surroundings, isn’t it?

At this end of the Promenade were the fish stalls.  This one had racks of them, out drying in the sunshine.  Seeing the flies buzzing around, I can’t say the idea of a fish lunch was very appetising.  The warning notices about rat poison didn’t help.

Then we came across the Jumbo pier, where we’d caught the sampan over to the restaurant all those years ago.  As she crossed the bridge down to the jetty, the little old lady beckoned us on, “Jumbo restaurant!” she called.  But my eyes had fallen on the chap in front of her, wearing a colourful shirt…

We’d come to the end of the pathway, now and only the fish market lay ahead.

What’s more, much of that was under water, because the drains seemed to be blocked.  We picked our way back up to the road and back towards the bus stop.

Find out where we went next in the following post!

Here we are

It was strange arriving at Heathrow this lunchtime dressed in light trousers, T shirt and no coat because really, it was quite chilly!

But a calm and uninterrupted eleven hours’ flight later, we were stepping out into the 25C, 80% humidity and oh my, I was pleased not only to have dressed lightly but also that I’d thought to take off a layer before we landed.

Exactly one hour later, we were checking into our beautiful hotel.  Vivienne, the receptionist opened the door to our room and casually mentioned that she’d upgraded us from a harbour view room to a suite.  Oh. My. Goodness.

The sitting room is lovely.  The bedroom even nicer.

But look at the bathroom!  Overlooking the harbour, the bath is so enormous we can swim lengths.  Sadly, we’re here just the one night but maybe we’ll get the chance to make the most of it

So the next half hour is taken up with oohing and aaahing and have-you-seen-this?  But eventually we got ourselves together, showered and changed and made our way out to enjoy our short time here.

Oh, did I say we did a few more oohs and aaahs along the way, walking around and around the lovely space and counting our blessings as we did.

The P&O Arcadia was berthed across and the Ocean Terminal but it was so misty, we could hardly see anything else.

It being Sunday afternoon, the Filipino maids were out in force, taking over Chater Road outside out hotel and having a wonderful time dancing, karaoke singing and chatting amongst themselves. 

They’ve always done this.  In the old days, they’d all sit in the park but since the park is gone, they take over the area around the Central MTR station and gather like a flock of starlings – making just as much noise as well! 

You might have guessed that we made our way directly to Star Ferry and went over to Kowloon, just to establish that yes, we are here!

We pottered along Nathan Road, running the gauntlet of the copy watch guys and browsing in a couple of shops along there.  Sunday afternoon and evening is amongst the busiest times here, with families and affluent young couples out shopping and enjoying their weekend.

At home yesterday, we tried to book a table at Nanhai No 1 Restaurant but found the online bookings closed.  Thankfully, the hotel concierge replied immediately to my email asking if he’d kindly book us a table.  Not only did he make the reservation, he snagged us a window seat too, but sadly we weren’t to see any of the laser show because of the mist up there on the 30th floor.  Never mind.  The food was delicious and a couple of hours later we staggered out feeling totally stuffed!

Back on the Star Ferry then, into the inky blue.

Though it was still misty, from sea level the lights and the skyline was a little clearer.

As we made our way back to the suite life in Central, the red sailed junk was sailing back the way it had come earlier.

We are in Hong Kong!  We love it!