Fresh, Strong, and Clever ... and a Buddhist Feeding Frenzy

Mandalay has been full of surprises so far ...

Contrary to our first impression, there is a lot to do in Mandalay, Myanmar (Burma).  When we first arrived, it seemed to us like there were a rather limited range of activities available, as this country has just recently opened up to the outside world.  

But in the last couple days we have packed in a lot of movement and liveliness.  I will try to recount some of it in this blog post, but there just isn't enough time or space to cover it all. 


There were several amusing moments that would bear retelling here.  Last night we went to a Marionette show featuring the puppet master of Myanmar.  It was a fun and charming evening.  On the way there, the taxi guy, a young man who spoke English, asked me several times how old I was.  I explained that in our culture that is considered rather rude, but he persisted. 

When I finally relented and told him my age, he exclaimed "But you are so fresh and strong!"  Ha Ha, I'm glad you think so!  And the next day we had the same driver, and after some conversation,  I was able to pick up the format of their rather bizarre written language, and he said "And you are so clever!"  Ha!  Fresh Strong and Clever - not sure if I've ever been described that way before!

And later we made our way through a long and winding road to a remote village with a big monastery.  Myanmar (Burma) is a Buddhist country, and there were a whole bunch of monks there, but we arrived a little late - the point of the visit was to see them eat?  I guess they eat at 10:15 and apparently this is significant ... but we missed it.  It was a Buddhist feeding frenzy - I guess we'll have to catch that next time.  

The first time on an escalator can be a scary thing

Among the many activities of the last couple days was a trip to the top of Mandalay Hill with spectacular views of the surrounding area. Most of the geography near Mandalay is pretty flat, so when you are able to get up high, you can see a lot. 

On the way to the top, there are a lot of steps.  And it's really hot and muggy here, so you sweat your guts out.  I mean, it can be really brutal, almost unbearably hot and humid.  So when we found an usual opportunity to take an escalator up the last 400 feet, we jumped on it - which literally describes the way that some Burmese women reacted.

We were behind them in line and when the rolling steps came along, they didn't know what to do.  They froze; they had never seen escalators before.  Of course everyone behind them backed up, and something had to happen.  So a couple of the ladies pushed the others onto the escalator and they were really scared, so they jumped and hopped onto it.  It was hilarious.

And what happens when you get to the other end?  You can't stand around thinking about what to do, you have to get off.  They all start screaming and hopping and nearly fall down - they are terrified of this device.  They just sort of tumble off the end.  We were behind them and saw the whole thing.  I'm surprised somebody didn't get hurt.  Wild ... and pretty funny ...

If you're gonna ride a bike, go in the morning

We wanted to "rent" some bikes (they were free actually) from the hotel where we were staying and see the town a little bit.  We set up a time mid-morning to get the bikes and set out on the unruly streets to make our way to the Grand Palace.  You have to pay attention when riding bikes in Mandalay, it's a bit like anarchy on the roads.

Fortunately it was in the morning before it got blazing hot.  The last couple days here have been close to 100 degrees F with high humidity, so you need to be aware of how that affects you.  More than once, we needed to make sure that we properly hydrated in the unrelenting tropical sun.

We found our way to the Palace and were rewarded with a nice visit to the grounds and we climbed the observation tower and enjoyed the view.  You can see me in the picture below with a beautiful background and a shirt soaking wet with sweat. 

We continued on with our experiences here in Mandalay

We went to visit an island in the middle of the Irrawaddy River and took a ferry boat across the river to reach the ancient temples and buildings of the Inwa area.  

Upon reaching the other side we discovered that the only way to get around is by horse cart, so we promptly hopped in and started out.  It was a bit bumpy but almost pleasant because we were moving (without too much exertion) in the extreme heat. 

From there we made our way to the "open bridge" across the river, which means it's a long foot bridge with no rails - a little iffy if you ask me.  But the point was to catch the sunset, and we managed to catch a boat to the middle of the river and the timing was perfect.  It was amazing and fun and a rare moment of travel when everything comes together. 

  

Broke and Stranded in Mandalay

Yesterday was one of those travel days ...

We woke up early in Bangkok yesterday in order to get to the airport and make our way to Burma - a country now known as Myanmar.  We were on our way to Mandalay (the original one, not the one in Las Vegas), the second largest city in Myanmar after Rangoon. 

However, it was a rough start, when a huge downpour hit right as we were getting ready to leave and there was lightning and thunder, which knocked out the power and we lost electricity.  This was rather inconvenient because Fiona was in the shower at the time and the room went dark and the water stopped.  This was also a problem because we our accommodations were on the 16th floor - not good. 

We caught a bit of luck when the power came back on just as we steeled ourselves to walk down 16 flights of stairs.   So we made it to the airport on time for the two hour plane trip to Mandalay.

Arrived in Mandalay

Everything went fine through customs and passport control.  We had our bags with us as we (including Lewis and Ruby) are all four traveling with just carry-on bags.   Then things began to get interesting.  

We were all set up to take a taxi for the 25 km ride to the city center.  The airport, like a lot of airports for some reason, is way out of town.  Only we didn't have any local currency, called kyats, so we naturally made our way to an ATM machine like we have done all over the planet. 

Only ... our card didn't work.  Okay, no worries, there are other ATM's around the airport, but ... none of 'em worked with our card.  Hmmm, there are other travelers here like Europeans, and the machine will give them money, but not us.  So we exchanged some leftover Thai bahts into kyats and got a taxi.  

We checked into our hotel and paid in advance (they make you) and the card worked in their Point of Sale credit card machine.  But when we went out to get more cash, our cards didn't work anywhere.  

This went on for some time, and it seemed like we hit every cash machine in town.  Then we started going to banks and ... no luck.  We didn't have much cash on us - and we're going to be in Burma/Myanmar for a week.  Most businesses don't take credit or debit cards here at all, so cash is a necessity. 

We were eventually told that our bank will not allow transactions in Burma/ Myanmar.  Apparently their computer security is not terribly secure, so our bank will not do business here, along with several credit card companies.  We were locked out.  This became more alarming when we realized - we couldn't pay for anything without cash. 

And we have travel plans, like activities, sight seeing, taxis, and taking a train later in the week and ... buying food?  We were perplexed.  This kind of thing is uncommon for us, we are seasoned travelers after all!  But we were faced with a dilemma of no cash and no way to get any.  

Believe me, we tried everything, cash advance, you name it.  We even considered a far fetched plan to find a sympathetic American and ... ask them ... for money?  We would promise to pay them back of course.  We had a few dollars, a few Thai baht, and very few Burmese kyat, no where near enough for four people for a week.  

So desperation is the mother of creativity, and we hatched a plan to contact our daughter in Oregon and have her send money via Western Union to us in Mandalay.  Kind of weird, like when we send money to Africa for our Andando Foundation.  Getting money from point A to point B can be extremely challenging in "developing" countries (they don't call them Third World anymore). 

Beka was able to hustle around and connect the dots and actually "wire" the money via Western Union, kind of like a money gram.  This is a real long shot regarding a place like Myanmar.  We took bets on the likelihood of this actually working out, and decided at best it was 50-50.

And of course we're dealing with a 14 1/2 hour time difference (yes, Myanmar has one of those goofy hour hour time zones).  So when we woke up this morning we had the details, by email, texting, and Whatsapp of the transaction and we had to find a location who could help complete the deal. 

Lewis and I set out against all odds to get some cash.  An interesting fact about Burma/Myanmar is that their money is kind of - how should I put this - worthless.  It takes 1,281 kyat to make one dollar.  
So you have these huge bundles of money to make like a hundred bucks.  In fact, when we were going from bank to bank to try to get some money, we saw a bunch of employees counting huge piles of money everywhere, like in the picture below.  They put it in huge bags to move it around.  The largest bill is worth four dollars.  

If you walk out of a bank here in Myanmar with a bag, people are going to know it's a bunch of money.  So I figured if we did get some money, then I should have Lewis with me.  I told him that he could be the decoy and if people attacked us, he could fight them off.  In other words, they could beat him up and I would run like hell. 

So to make a long story short, things actually worked and got some cash.  Kind of a convoluted process, but it worked.  Everything in "developing" countries takes way more time and is way more complicated than it should be.  We had to wait forever and everyone in the place was watching us because we are foreigners.  

Therefore we are no longer broke and stranded in Myanmar.  We actually had a good day touring and here are some pictures. 

Some of these pictures are taken from a hill top in Mandalay.  It was pretty spectacular at the top.  The climate here is hot but not quite as humid as Bangkok.  It was 97 degrees today, and pretty steamy.  You sweat a lot, something we're not used to in Oregon. 

Back in Bangkok - Where is the Lucky Buddha?

So we are back on the road again, visiting Thailand, Myanmar (Burma), and Cambodia

     
     This is another jaunt to Asia, with a few key destinations along the way.  We are traveling with our son Lewis and his wife Ruby, and we arrived in Bangkok, Thailand yesterday. Readers of this blog might recall we were here in Asia earlier in the year, although this is fairly brief visit.  

     
     The weather here is hot and humid, and we expect this same weather across this region while we're here over the next couple weeks.  Every afternoon these conditions form thunderstorms, and today there was a heavy downpour around 4:00 (shown above).  
     This helps to clear the air and cool things off a little.  We were told there are three kinds of weather here in Thailand - hot, very hot, and very very hot.

  

     We have spent the last couple days at various sights around Bangkok and in the nearby countryside, including a couple of trips on the Chao Praya river that runs through the heart of the city.   But there have already been some interesting moments ...

A couple amusing anecdotes ...

     We visited the large open air market on the outskirts of Bangkok, a huge sprawling facility selling everything imaginable.  
     Yesterday at the market, we had spent enough time wandering through the stall where they sell clothing and jewelry and shoes and hats and ... pretty much everything.  

     We wanted to visit the adjacent agricultural market area, but couldn't quite locate it.  The area is crowded and confusing and a little hard to get around.  So I decided to ask a security guard, fully aware that most Thai people don't speak much English.  
     "Say, can you tell me, where is the Agricultural Market?"  I asked him.
     He stared back at me bewildered, "Hello?" using one of the few words he knew.
     "I'm looking for the Agricultural area?"
     He gave me a blank stare.
     I decided to try a different approach, "Where is the Farmers' Market?"  
     "Fommer?"  he said, puzzled.
     I decided to make it as simple as I could.  I said "Food?"
     He said "Foot?"
     I repeated slowly "Food"
     He said "Feud?"
     One more time "Food?"
     "Oh, FOOD!"  He said.   Bingo!
     "Yes, Food market!"  I confirmed.  A big smile broke out on his face, he was feeling triumphant.  
     He pointed. "Okay, go there, turn and look!"  
     We found it.  

---------------------------------------

     
      We were on a tour bus for a long day trip to the sites outside of town.   We had already visited a few spots, with a lot of detail from the guide (sometimes too much).  This went on for a while and she eventually began to abbreviate her instructions. It seemed like no one was listening to her after a while anyway.  
     So we came to an ancient temple, the kind where you have to take your shoes off and show proper respect to the ancestors.  She cut to the chase:
     Okay, get off bus
     Go to temple
     Take off your shoes
     Go inside
     Take picture
     Put on your shoes
     Get back on bus
     Got it?

----------------------------------------

     The worst time we had was with the scam tour guides who try to rope you into something where they can take your money.   We were entering a temple and some Thai guy casually walks by and stops to chat.  He was pretty smooth.  
     "Oh, you can't go in here with short pants - and lady must cover head.  Maybe I help you find other place to visit.  You have map?"  he proceeded to mark some places on our map, still acting like he was just passing by.  
     One of the spots was "the Lucky Buddha" and he said we should go there.  Then to Wat Pho, and a couple other spots, including the Thai Factory (we did not want to visit the "Factory, which is code for 'useless gift shop' or some such nonsense). 
     "No problem, just take tuk-tuk, easy to get around ... look there's one now!"  It was his colleague, the whole thing was a slick sales pitch.  But we still hadn't completely caught on, and hopped into the tuk-tuk, the typical open air three wheeled taxi vehicle.
     The guy drives a few hundred yards, and when he mentions the Thai Factory, we clearly state that we do not want to go there.  He pulls over to the curb, "then you must get out."
     We were slightly confused for a moment, until it became clear that if we weren't going to go along with their scheme, and visit the Factory, then he was going to find another group to scam.  He said "you no go Factory, you must get out!"  so we scampered out and he promptly drove off and left us at the curb.  
     Normally, the Thai people are very polite, but this guy was rather blunt.  Oh well, at least we didn't waste a lot of time.   
     Shortly, we encountered an information booth, and asked the lady - where is the Lucky Buddha?  She quickly said, "there is no Lucky Buddha in Bangkok" and handed us a small brochure that contained among other things the following explanation:  There is no Lucky Buddha in Thailand, it is only a term used by con artists to cheat tourists. 


Next stop:  Myanmar  (originally known as Burma).

Lost At Sea? A near death experience? A story ...

I should have known it was going to be one of those days 

     It was a bad omen when I went out to load the rental van this morning as we got ready to start the day.  I inadvertently walked into the hatch back lift gate and banged my head on a sharp corner and it knocked me senseless. I staggered, dropped what was in my hands, and I hit the sidewalk.  

     It started bleeding pretty bad.  I felt my head and there was a rather ugly gash and my hands were bloody.  Not a good start for the day.  I was going to put a picture of the wound on this blog, but good taste and decency overruled so I will leave it to your imagination. 

We press on into the Pacific 

     We hatched an idea (mostly my idea) to rent a boat to tour the coast of the Big Island.  We wanted to do something special and the other options seemed kinda lame.  Plus we had two little kids that would not enjoy something like a luau.

     So I arranged to charter a boat that we could use on our own for a half day trip up and down the coast.  We could snorkel, swim, sight see, look for dolphins and whales, and fish if we wanted to. 

     We decided our destination would be the Captain Cook monument in a bay, down the coast a ways, then work our way back to the dock.  It seemed like a good idea at the time. 

     The guy at the rental place looked at my bloody head and was concerned.  When I explained what happened, he said "you should get that looked at.  If you want to cancel the trip I understand, that looks bad."   But I said no, I'm fine, it's merely a flesh wound. 

A Boat Ride turns disastrous 

     Only, well ... things turned out a lot different than we thought.  The boat rental was decent enough, but the weather after all these storms was still a little rough.  It was more windy than we thought and there were some pretty good ocean swells.  And our boat was not the biggest in the world. 

     We set out full of excitement, and sailed out of the harbor into the ocean.  Immediately we began to bob up and down rather violently with the choppy ocean.  There were a lot of white caps. 

     We pressed on, but soon realized it was going to be like this all the way down to our destination.  The wind in our face made for slow going, and the waves were splashing into the boat getting us all pretty wet.  Fortunately it was a hot day.

     Fiona is not fond of this kind of recreation.  She would rather not risk being out in the ocean with choppy waves and difficult conditions.  I heard her mutter "I knew it was going to be like this ..."   The kids were not terribly fond of it either, nor was Beka.  

     I tried to put a game face on it (I was the skipper after all) and said things like "isn't this great!  Look at that view!  What an adventure!"

     It soon became apparent that we would not make it to our destination in any kind of time to enjoy it and make the return trip. It was too slow going and there was too much big water.  

     Jake was helping me navigate and we decided to pull into an "inlet" and just moor up to a buoy and have lunch and swim and snorkel.  

     The only problem was that the GPS that the rental guys provided was very unreliable and stopped working at the worst possible time. It was very hard to figure out where we were.  And the inlet was full of turbulent waves crashing onto the rocks.  

     Unbelievably, we were actually able to locate the buoy. It was not easy because it was submerged, which they instructed us was the case.  "All you have to do is dive down and hook up a rope to it!", they said. 

     Yeah right.  We spent a bunch of time trying to locate the thing and once we did, the waves and current moved us immediately and we couldn't get to it.  The GPS coordinates were fairly accurate, but the GPS device didn't work right.  We had to "re-find" the buoy over and over again.  The batteries went dead in the GPS and we had to replace them right in the middle of crunch time.   

     After a spell of this nonsense, everyone in the boat was getting less enthusiastic about the whole idea.  So Jake said, "I'll just jump in and find it!"  But this turned out to be a lot harder than it sounds.  

     He swam around but was fighting intense currents and waves and big water.  I was trying to pilot the boat under very difficult circumstances.  Beka was trying to shout out the GPS coordinates.

     Fiona was trying to hold onto both the kids which was very challenging.  She also began to shout -  "We're getting too close to the rocks!"  Beka kept shouting out numbers and Jake kept trying to swim around but was getting exhausted and the rope were were going to tie to the buoy was getting wrapped up in the motor. 

     This whole thing was going badly.  Beka started to have a panic attack, fearing her husband was going to chopped to bits by the propeller.  I'm not making this up, because Beka actually said "I'm having a panic attack!"  

     We were oh so close to lashing the boat to the buoy but Jake was losing steam and Beka was losing her mind and Fiona was losing patience and getting really pissed off and just wanted to bail out of the whole thing (pardon the pun, we were taking on water).  Yoppie was getting sick.  On a happy note, Gabby thought Jake was trying to find her a turtle ...

     I kept trying to rally the troops but they wouldn't have it.  Jake was so exhausted he could hardly get back in the boat.  We had to call off the effort.  What was the use anyway?  The water was so violent that we would not have enjoyed it there.  Snorkeling?  No way!

     We were able to haul Jake back in the boat after his heroic efforts of the last twenty minutes and he began uncontrollably vomiting violently over the side.  

     We were still without GPS but we could certainly see where the shore was and it was close and the waves were crashing big time on the rocks.  Time to get out of there! 

      Only there wasn't anywhere to "take a break".  We still had to figure out something; the ocean is unrelenting.  I was able to pilot the boat out into the open sea, which was still pretty darn choppy. 

We were bobbing up and down like a cork in a washing machine.    

     We tried to gobble down some lunch but everybody was sick and exhausted - and sunburned.  I again tried to suggest another alternative, but by this time we had been out there for three hours and everybody just wanted to go home.  Thoughts of peacefully paddling around with the little fishies and snorkeling were long gone. 

     We were relieved to still be alive and we headed back to the harbor, while was still a long way off.  By the time we got back everyone had recovered their will to live.  

     When we returned the boat, the guy asked how things went.

     "Great!" I said.  "Unforgettable!"   

     

        

Big Storms ... Make ... Big Waves!

     

Anybody ready for a good storm?     

     Here in Hawaii there is a lot of concern about hurricanes. Rightfully so, there have been several horrendous storms that have hit this island state, with very destructive results.  Hurricane Iniki nearly destroyed the island of Kuaui, where we spent last week. 
     In fact we got a taste of the intense effects of an incredibly intense storm while we were there. 
     This week we are on the Big Island, named the same as the state - Hawaii - and there was a big hurricane scare with Ignacio heading this way and warnings of severe weather and "you better get ready, no kidding this time ..."  

     Only it missed the island (thankfully).  So it was a near miss but it brought a rather amazing consequence, Big Waves!  
     Really big swells from the hurricane, far offshore, hit the beaches of the Big Island near Hilo and Pahoa.  Along with a whole lot of locals, we went to watch.
     I don't think I've ever seen such terrific waves .... and terrific surfing.  The locals turned out for a chance to surf the really big waves, and these guys are experts - fearless in the face of some really big monster water.  It was great!

     
     Not sure if you can tell from the picture above, but these waves were up to twenty feet high.  You can pick out the surfers (they look tiny) in the picture. 
     Indeed, the whole town turned out to surf and to watch.  The crowds would often cheer a really good ride.  The water was crowded to the point where they needed "traffic cops" on Sea-Doos to keep everyone reasonably safe!

     We had a great time with our close friends, Jeff and Debbie, who live here on the Big Island and had a blast exploring all the big waves and the area.  They know the best spots!

  

There is a lot to do here! 

     Our tour around the island also included a few stops at noteworthy sites such as Waipio Canyon, with spectacular views of the water and valley below.  

     One of the things that the Big Island (Hawaii) is known for is the active lava flows coming from the active volcanoes.  We went to to a local road that has been closed by lava. Pretty wild.  This kind of thing doesn't happen anywhere else in the world. 

     
     We also had an expected guest outside our accommodations when a turkey showed up.  There were actually about a dozen milling around outside our window in the morning.   I don't know ... I just didn't expect to see turkeys in Hawaii.  

     Jeff works at an observatory on top of Mauna Kea, one of the best places in the world to observe the stars.  When I tried to capture the mountain, it ... well, it doesn't photograph well. 
     Hard to believe, but what appears to be a "hill" is almost 14,000 feet high.  Most of the Hawaiian islands are basically volcanoes rising out of the sea.  It doesn't shoot up into the sky or have a dramatic profile like Mount Hood, but it is actually a lot higher and bigger, and so is its brother Mauna Loa, on the same island.