Ok, Dude-Per Your Request

The message came through to me via an email to my mother. My brother, Dude, has requested I update my blog with more pictures. Ok, Ok—I get the hint. I’ve been meaning to write about Myanmar, but really needed some time to reflect.

Myanmar is not an easy place.

The Schwedagon Pagoda-largest and most beautiful of the Buddhist Temples in Myanmar


An upscale highrise apartment building in Yangon

It is a land filled with smiling Buddhists who struggle under an oppressive government led by a ruthless military junta. If I remember correctly, in 1990 the popular vote opted overwhelmingly for a change in government but the junta has to date refused to turn over power. The opposition leader, referred to very quietly, if at all, as “the Lady,” has been under house arrest or imprisoned for most of her adult life. I could go on and on and on.

How these people smile is beyond my western mind. Smiling always. And not a slight, nod-with-your-head greeting to a stranger—a big, beaming, full-bore grin from ear to ear. The Burmese people are happy.

How? They have to cram sardine-style into any public conveyance to get from place to place,

or they walk. The more affluent city family may have a bicycle, or even a motor scooter.

Whole families- 3, 4, or 5 at a time- can be seen riding on the back of one. The ground floor of their homes is usually packed earth. They have electricity on alternate days (if they are lucky).If they live away from a city, they have no electricity, their water supply is the local pond created when the fields were made into rice paddies, and their restroom is behind the hill behind the house.

The temperature at sunrise in April hover around 90F and go up throughout the day. They smile, they smile, they smile.

They are a dirt-poor people, who go without food in order to buy gold leaf to adorn their Buddhist shrines.

They live in silenced fear that the person standing next to them in line is a government informer. They can’t open up, they can’t speak their mind in public, they can’t complain. But they smile. They don’t have the simplest things I would consider necessary and basic for survival, and yet they are the most peaceful and kind group I’ve ever encountered. Really made me stop and think. I’m still thinking.

Dude- I meant to post pics, not get into deep reflection—so here you go…..this is for you!

An open air convenience store outside Yangon

The famous reclining Buddha with me for scale-taken by Gran as I was taking picture of her taking a picture of me.....

A birthday girl all dressed up to visit the temple

Another convenience store-there are lots of them around- very convenient

Another reclining Buddha--although this one struck me as more Mae West than calm and resting

Harvested teak awaiting loading onto ships

Buddhist nun at meditation

E alongside her Day of Birth shrine at Schwedagon--she's Monday, a Tiger

An d, lest you think I've totally lost my sense of humor, a sign outside the reclining Buddha temple just tickled me....

What To Do In Thailand

What Does One do in Phuket, Thailand? Well, in 6 hours, one…….

Rides an elephant

Sees cashew trees

Visits a bone of the Buddha

Takes a picture of a cute Thai girl so she can see herself in the camera

Goes to a baby elephant show

Watches someone ELSE get a baby elephant massage

And remembers that someone is always watching…….

From the Other Side of the World

Please do not chastise me, gentle reader, for not blogging. We’ve been so busy touring! I needed some time to reflect and to download pictures so you won’t be too terribly bored. I have been writing along the way, trying to capture the feelings of the moment…..So drift back a few days and play catch up…..

En Route and Losing Monday

Just a pic while sitting in the Delta’s Crown Room while waiting for my flight to Shreveport.

While there, the whole gang had dinner and I got a great pic of Jula and the nieces

and Gran and the nephews…

What I wrote on the 18 1/2 hour plane ride from Los Angeles to Singapore

To say that I am now totally spoiled to air travel is a mild understatement. As I type this, I am traveling almost 600 miles an hour over Indonesia, feet comfortably elevated, padded with a down filled pillow, tucked in with a wool blanket designed by Givenchy. I am sipping a freshly frothed cappuccino out of a china cup, listening to classical music through airline-provided noise-cancelling headphones. Over the past 15 hours, I have had Piper Heidsieck champagne, a lovely Savignon Blanc with a delicious sea trout dinner, port with three delicious cheeses and a dim sum snack. I’ve watched “No Country for Old Men” and “Elizabeth-the Golden Age”. And I still have 3 hours to go, so I might choose another of the over 30 titles available as I have my breakfast. Monday was totally lost over the international date line- I need an Einstein with me to explain why. I figure I have a set number of days on God’s green earth, and I don’t like misplacing one…..

I didn’t really sleep, but had two naps, with my seat hydraulically shifted to almost prone. I’ve been able to knit some, using the pinpoint LED spotlight so I didn’t’ wake anyone else.

Travelling with Gran is fun.

It will be difficult to return to steerage.

Singapore

Singapore was fascinating and damp. Heat and humidity like a Georgia summer, but with an oriental flavor. The Taxi cabs have a faint redolence of Jasmine rice and satay. It is a very modern, and at the same time, very old city.

We visited Chinatown, and saw the exterior of the Hindu temple

and then visited the Botanical Gardens,

and thoroughly enjoyed the beauty of the National Orchid Gardens.

The Singaporeans are justly proud of the national bloom.

We did a little shopping at Takashimaya and explored the food court there.

The lounge of the Mandarin Oriental is quite nice—

we loved relaxing, having a cup of tea or a glass of wine and looking out high above the city. We had dinner with my cousins, who were getting off the ship. They took us to the famous Raffles Hotel, where the Singapore Sling was invented. Of course, I was obligated to sample:

While traveling to the ship, we visited the mer-lion, the symbol of Singapore

and saw bunches of schoolchildren acting…well, like kids.



Tuesday night we went to Clarke Quay.

It’s not the street shopping that Gran remembers—it’s an upscale, upbeat nightscene. As we were queuing for a taxi back to the hotel, we were joined in line by a group of 19 year old girls out celebrating a birthday. They had blindfolded their friend, the birthday girl, to spirit her off to an unknown location. We, of course, had to get into the fun of it.

Gran gave her a hug and wished her many happy returns. I wonder how her evening went and what she thinks of all the photos made of her with the unseen American lady.

Yesterday we went to Kuala Lumpur, or KL as everyone calls it. The Capital of Malaysia. Home of the Petronas Towers—as of writing, the tallest building/s in the world. It was a ride of 1 ½ hours from the port of Kelang. Looked about like any other large city, with an incredible skyline. We stopped a the king’s residence for a photo op and got a good look at the guards.

Saw the city foundations at the confluence of the two rivers

and got a good look at the twin towers.

First sea day
Started off today with a quick bite at the breakfast buffet.

The Filipino waiters remembered me from the last cruises….

or, more likely, remembered the kids and my ownership/rental interest in them. They always manage to brighten my day—no matter what time of day or night, whatever condition the seas or cruisers, they have a smile on their faces, a merry attitude and plenty of happiness to share.

Today, I plan on a little reading, a little knitting, a little napping. The Asian buffet is on tap for luncheon, and our first formal night is tonight. Going to the captain’s welcome cocktail party and on to our very delightful table of eight in the main dining room- more on that to follow! Right this second, there is a wicked thunderstorm brewing—I’m headed up to the pool deck to watch it roll in.

And We're Off!

At the present moment, I am in Los Angeles, sitting in Singapore Airline's Business Class Lounge, waiting to hop on a plane to Singapore. It's been a long day so far- didn't sleep much last night, and woke up at 5:30 so my mother and I could catch the early flight from Shreveport to Dallas, and from Dallas to LAX. Now, we only have one ---ahem--18 hour flight from the west coast to the island country that lies 60 miles from the equator.

From what has been reported to me over the telephone, the remaining inhabitants of Maison Cou Rouge are playing nicely. No one has been injured or maimed. No one has starved.

And no turkeys have been shot as of sundown. Yes, mirth reigns once again, as hunting season (this time, turkey) started on Saturday.

I wish I had pictures, but my card reader is packed in my luggage, which- with all hope and prayers to whomever is the patron saint of traveler's luggage- is somewhere in the bowels of LAX, about to be loaded into the hold of a rather large, trans-pacific plane.

See you when we get there!!!!!!!!!

Logistics

A mother should never plan on going anywhere if she is leaving her family at home. It's just too much work.

My mom needed a travelling companion to take the spot left vacant by my beloved "Auntie Mame" who died in December at the wonderfully young age of 95. I've been meaning to write about this magnificent woman, but every time I do, I get too teary to see the keyboard. In time-all in good time.

So I jumped at the chance to travel for 18 days through Asia and India. Once I found out it did not interfere with Boy's Junior/Senior Prom. More on that later. Much more.

One would think I am briefing the generals on D-Day invasion plans. Mind you, I will be available via computer (purchased for the occasion, so I will never be more than a nanosecond away), Skype webcam and international phone.

I've prepaid all the bills for the next month. Finished the taxes- both personal and for each of our businesses. Synced the household calendar with Grumpy Guy's. Briefed him on his temporary job as my stand-in as "Track Team Spike Goddess". Ordered everything necessary for Girl's spring break mission trip to Nicaragua (that's a whole 'nother clever happening....Girl is going to Nicaragua to work in a school over spring break...so the household will be two men sitting around in boxers eating cheetos for the majority of my time away). I've written out everything needed for decorating for prom (I took the kids' ideas and drew out/designed a lot of it) in case I get trampled by an elephant or eaten by a crocodile.

Grumpy Guy helped this weekend by doing all the extant dirty laundry down to the last handknitted sock. Even took the time to NOT put sweaters in the dryer. Read labels and washed appropriately. He has risen to the occasion.

I still have to show Boy how to transfer money between accounts online and tell Girl how to sort the mail. Write articles for the local paper for the school's 5K run/fundraiser in May. Get extra prom supplies ordered. Get Boy and his classmates organized on what they need to build/paint in my absence. make sure his date's flowers are ordered. Send his tux to the cleaners, as it's probably wadded up on the bottom of his closet from when he unpacked from the family trip last August.

Oh, and pack. Yeah- that.

And cramming for all the wild and fabulous things I'm going to get to see.

If I can make it through the week until Friday.