A week-end in Yangon

Week-end in Yangon

It was like a jungle out there. The air was literally steaming and I was sweating so badly I could not see. My bitter sweat kept going in my eyes which needless to say did not help my golf game. On the other hand, I was playing so badly it probably didn’t hurt either. What made the day memorable for me was that I was playing in the Singapore tournament with the military attaché from Vietnam and a colonel from military intelligence from Laos.

When the Vietnamese attaché was on the putting green, he got down on one knee and cocked the putter like it was a rifle pointing at the hole. He closed one eye while he was doing this and I could not help but think that this is what it must have been like for him in l974 when he was in the Chu Chi tunnels aiming at American GI’s. He was extremely serious and did get 4 birdies, making the whole experience rather eerie for me. It was something like being in Germany when you hear sirens going off and you can’t help but think it is l943 even though you were clearly not there.

To-night, at the banquet, my Singaporean boss MC’d the proceedings which gave me a good insight into how the 100 Singaporeans live in Yangon. As I watched them interact with each other. I especially liked how they did a cheer when they gave a toast. All 500 of us yelled out at the same time AH something or other………………………………………………for about 45 seconds then shouted ‘SING”

Good fun. Tomorrow, I am taking a tour of Yangon and really looking forward to it. Even though it started late, probably because the guide was bargaining for a car, it was well worth it. Did I tell you how I met the guide? The other night I was wondering around downtown and this guy came up to me and asked if I wanted a tour of Yangon on his tricycle Shaw for 1.000 chat or $1.00. I said sure and got up in the seat with some trepidation. Before too long, he was driving me all over Yangon, swerving in and out of traffic and, in my opinion, almost getting all three of us killed. Yes, he drove, there was another guy sitting on the back and I was in the buggy. At the top of the hill, when we got out towalk around a beautiful lake filled with restaurants and bars, I gave the rider $2.00 to go home and told the tour guide I would pay him and a cab driver to get home. Both of them could not believe it and when the guide told the driver why: they both laughed their heads off at this crazy Canadian being scared of being on a bicycle.

For some reason, over lime juice, which I now love, the guide told me he was considering going to Israel for a trip. When I told him I was Jewish he started talking to me in Hebrew and today when he picked me up he took me to the synagogue. It was fantastic, and looked like any middle ages Spanish or European synagogue, even though the 8 families, or members, not sure which, are Iraqi Jews. I am really sorry I did not know about this synagogue Tuesday night for Rosh Hashanah. Apparently, there were Jews there from various embassies and they held a reform service, even though there was seating upstairs for the women.

My Filipino teacher colleague had never seen a synagogue before and he was quite amazed.

We made up for this by visiting lots of Pagodas, one of which reminded me of Mt. St. Michel in France where we had to take a boat to get to it. You can see from the pictures it was really quite nice. We also visited the Botataung Pagoda in town and unlike other pagodas I have visited there was a maze you travelled around and each part of the maze had its own little narrow corner where you could sit and meditate. We also went to two Catholic churches which made him feel comfortable, even though one had no roof, was covered in jungle and not allowed to be restored. The other was in the process of being restored because of Nargis.

After visiting the Strand Hotel, an elegant former British hotel on the Strand ( there were absolutely no tourists) but three coming to-night, we went to the wholesale food market, far off the beaten path. Like Asian markets it was dirty, busy, vibrant and fun. I love it and prefer markets to mosques or pagodas any day of the week.

I will send this from Bangkok tomorrow. Have to go and pack since I am leaving at 6 am.