So, 2 reasons why I haven't posted for a while. First of all finding wifi in Myanmar strong enough to make a blog post is extremely testing. I have a couple of posts lined up but no wifi. Second, I find myself in hospital with a broken leg, the result of a motorcycle accident in Pyay. Frightening. Not the hospital where the staff are excellent but the nature of the accident which I will write about when I get home. I am in the hospital library at the moment using a computer as there is no wifi here at all. Been here 3 days now, in a temporary pot, and I'm now just waiting for the hospital professor to sign me off with a letter so I can fly home. In fact, this is what I have been waiting for since day one but no one from the insurance company told me. And I say just, but watch this space. To my mind the whole thing could have been sorted out 48 hours ago had I known. As you can appreciate, communicating with hospital staff is dependent on whether or not they can speak English, and those that can to the level required are in the minority. In saying that, I cannot praise the hospital staff enough. Unfortunately, although the insurers were informed within 2 hours of the accident, no one representing the insurance company has been made any form of contact with either me or the hospital in all the time I have been here. Basically, my daughter Joanna, who has liaised with the insurers, has been led a merry dance and she and I have essentially had to sort things out ourselves. I don't have anything to compare my situation with in order to know if this is the norm but as an medical insurance experience Jo and I have found it very, very challenging. The fracture, to the Fibula, requires a small operation and the sooner I get home the sooner it can be carried out. But as I say, it could be a while yet.
Glen x
Friday, 18 December 2015
Saturday, 12 December 2015
Burma, Inle Lake
A days hike by minivan east of Mandalay into Shan State and a real gem!! I so wish I had managed to come here ten or fifteen years ago. Not that it's changed hugely since then but tourism is most definitely taking a foothold and life here is undoubtedly grasping the nettle. But it's still a fairytale world of floating villages and gardens, markets in a wholly traditional sense and ancient, crumbling pagodas. The majority of people living on and around the lake still depend on it to survive. Life gets underway very early here, and peace settles early too. For a great many families it still ends with a wash and teeth clean in the lake or one of its estuaries. I was blessed to share the home of a family living a traditional life in a traditional village on the lake. A comparatively better off family I should add as most homes here would be unable to support such a business venture. I was afforded a western bed, and the family enjoyed a toilet and shower, albethey outside. 'Mama' runs the house. She cooked traditional food and insisted on doing my washing. I was unable to persuade her otherwise! I shared their company, including that of Mama's delightful niece, and daughter, home from Australia for a holiday. Already a qualified doctor, she is now studying public administration and will return to Myanmar to work for the government upon completion of her course. Working in a second language, she gets straight As in all her assignments, not just on the basis of her obvious intelligence but because she is prepared to work until 3 am on a regular basis to ensure her success. Hard graft is a cultural expectation here. Mama's niece works from her home with mama, using locally produced cloth to make clothing to sell at the local markets. She gives her income to her own family. She cuts and sows around ten items of the highest quality clothing each day, and her skill level is immense. Other women from the village also come to the house to spin cotton and weave cloth on the looms which take up around a quarter of the main living space. It was a huge privilege to have shared in this experience and I will never forget it. Thank you mama!
Starting wirh some pictures of the house and family.
Much love,
Glen x
Burma, Bagan
One hell of a journey!! Minibus. Left Inle at 4.30 am and arrived Bagan 5.30 pm. Knackered!! And all for more temples really!! It's a temple studded plain and it's littered!! And unfortunately some of them are little more! But others are something of a 'wonder'!! So was the ebike I hired for the day! A great way ro get around. And it was good to see that a number of the more significant sites were undergoing restoration. Pick of the crop? Anada Phaya by a long chalk!
A selection of pics from the day.
G x
Burma, Inle Lake 10
Cottage industry on the lake. Left to right - making silk thread from Lotus Flower stems, pottery making, blacksmith, boat building and cigar making. Can't find the picture of the silver smith!!
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