Monday 6 September 2010

Communication Problems

Monday 6th September 2010

We lost the satellite link which provided internet after a few days of sailing north but they expected to re-acquire it. Unfortunately, it never came back. When we arrived at Mandalay, they were sure I'd get internet at the Sedona Hotel (where I'd stayed on my second visit to Burma) but the link went down just before I arrived and didn't come back. My last day in Yangon was spent at the The Governor's Residence and, after some initial difficulties, I managed to get some e-mails out but my Blog remained inaccessible.

It was only when I arrived in my suite at the Oriental Hotel in Bangkok that I obtained a good Wi-Fi connection (144Mbps, sometimes lower).

How quickly we take for granted these amazing technical achievements, commenting only when they're denied us.

Opening of New School Building at Htee Pu

Saturday 4th September 2010

Jan, Dr. Hla Tun, the Head Monk and the School Headmaster after the ceremony

The official opening ceremony of the new school building at Htee Pu had been arranged to co-incide with the afternoon trip from the ship to Mount Popa.

I'd first visited Htee Pu last year when we diverted into the village on the way back from Mount Popa. My report on the trip to Mount Popa is here, my report on our visit to Htee Pu village is here. The Doctor had introduced me to the Head Monk and the Headmaster of the school and I'd decided then that the project to extend teaching to older pupils was well worthwhile supporting. This was my opportunity to see for myself what had been achieved.

We left the ship in a number of buses headed for Mount Popa. My bus, and I think one other, was to detour to Htee Pu for the ceremony before continuing to Mount Popa. Htee Pu is about ten minutes drive from the tarmac road along a rutted track of beaten earth. The bus driver made a good job of negotiating this track and delivering us safely to the school compound.

The new building is the fourth donated by 'Road to Mandalay' guests and it stands at right angles to the other three, slightly apart. A bamboo archway had been erected on the broad path leading to the new building. The archway had been decorating and a large banner across the arch read 'Welcome to Road to Mandalay Family'. The broad path had been trimmed with short whitewashed posts and the overall effect was very impressive. The galvanised corrugated sheet roof of the new building gleamed in the afternoon sun but, before we took a closer look, there was to be a performance for the visitors next to the earlier third building.

The verandah at the end of the third building formed a convenient raised stage so bamboo had been used to form a temporary structure extending outwards for the audience. The roof of this structure had been covered with sheets of thin material to keep the sun off the visitors and the vertical poles had been swathed in material to give a very gay effect.

About thirty plastic chairs had been provided for the visitors and, once we had taken our seats, a group of the youngest pupils walked onto the stage and recited a poem with great earnestness. Next, four older girls performed two dances. Finally, a choir of girls sang for us.

It was clear that a lot of preparation had gone into this performance and teachers could be seen in the 'wings' checking the performers prior to their appearance. Standard school uniform is a green longyi with a white top and all the performers were impressively turned out. I was a little surprised to see that some of the older girls were wearing lipstick on stage. I was not the only visitor to be very moved by this concert.

Now, it was time for the simple opening ceremony, so we moved through the archway and down the broad path to the new building. There were already lots of pupils watching from the shade of the verandah on the new building and a large party of villagers, who had been watching the concert from a distance, now moved towards the new building to observe the formalities. Two pairs of the senior girls were holding tapes across the path. A cluster of gas-filled balloons had been tied in the centre of each tape. An American donor of medical aid and myself were nominated to cut the tapes and two pairs of kitchen scissors were presented on round trays. We simultaneously cut the first tape on either side of the balloons. The balloons slowly rose into the sky. We then repeated the performance on the second tape and that was it!

Cutting the second tape

I was then presented with a commemorative banner for the event. After various photographs were taken, we decided that the banner should be retained by the school for display. A rather emotional Jan, after being presented with the commemorative banner

Just one more task remained - the presentation of stationery to pupils. Quite small donations by passengers on 'Road to Mandalay' can make a massive difference to large numbers of pupils.

Jan assists with the distribution of stationery

It was now time for the coaches to leave for Mount Popa and my intention had been to continue to Mount Popa - it's such an improbable and special place. However, when the Doctor offered to take me back to the ship with him, I accepted the offer. I'd picked up an infection on this trip which left me rather tired and the opening ceremony had left me emotionally drained. The bonus was that, instead of hurrying away, I was able to study the construction of the newest building in detail and talk to pupils, teachers and villagers. I say "talk" but that was mainly through the good offices of the Doctor or San as interpreter or non-verbal communication. However, when we talked to the 20 senior pupils who formed the first intake to the new building, their English was good. English is the most common second language taught in Myanmar.

In fact, the nationally-issued textbooks for all but two subjects taken by the seniors are in English. I particularly checked the textbooks on Maths and Physics and confirmed that there was no sign of "dumbing-down" here. The syllabus covered solid knowledge which an English-speaker would find difficult - it must be particularly challenging when English is your second language.

In the country districts, the nearest high schools may be miles away from the family home, denying extended education to poorer children. Even at Htee Pu, it's been necessary to provide simple boarding facilities for the new senior pupils. All this has been organised by the head monk, using an older wooden building as a dormitory and temporary schoolroom. Electricity has been provided from a petrol generator to cover the long study periods the pupils are faced with - the one senior pupil timetable I looked at covered a 12-hour day whilst another ran from 4 a.m. to 11 p.m.!

The philosophy of "All must have Prizes" which has infected our education system is quite absent in Myanmar. The results of the tests which the senior students have undertaken are on display with unsatisfactory results highlighted in red for all to see.

It's impossible not to admire the dedication and determination of the Burmese people. Chatting to these hard-working youngsters convinced me (once again) of the importance of the charitable work being carried out by 'Road to Mandalay'. From a Western perspective, it's hard to realise that relatively small sums of money can affect the lives of many people for the better.

My pictures of the Opening Ceremony are here, pictures taken by RTM are here.

Meeting Working Elephants

Wednesday 1st September 2010

The Programme offers a trip to see elephants at work.

I was up before 6.00 a.m. just after we'd raised anchor and continued our journey downstream. Whilst chatting to the Captain, the sun burst upon us in a spectacular way and began its ascent into the sky. We entered the Third Defile and our course took us nearer the starboard (western) bank so each fairy-tale village we passed was brilliantly lit by the rising run.

I was puzzled by a spot with dozens of boats but only a few houses. Each boat appeared to have a substantial plastic pipe leading ashore. One of the waiters explained that, less than a year ago, gold was found in the vicinity and this has led to a 'Gold Rush'.

Before I'd finished breakfast on the open Sun Deck, we arrived at the pretty village of Thabeikkyin on our left and I could see our two Fast Boats moored at the foot of a set of broad concrete steps. The Captain swung the boat around to point upstream and we moored mid-channel.

Shortly after 8.0 a.m., we were being ferried ashore by Fast Boat. The small landing stage was lined with curious villagers. A short, steep climb led us to the main street. We were told we had a few minutes before we were to board the waiting local buses, so a few of us went wandering off. The street was parallel to the riverbank for a short distance and various shops and tea shops lined both sides. At each end of this parallel area, the road climbed a steep hill and turned inland. In addition to the landing steps we'd arrived at, nearby was a small rock-strewn shore where the smaller, wooden boats landed. The range of goods on offer was amazing - all sorts of foodstuffs I couldn't identify, a wide variety of hardware (including plastic piping and aluminium propellors for boats). One set of premises appeared to be a mechanic's. As I climbed beyond the shops, I came to quite substantial teak-built houses so I retraced my steps. Everyone seemed keen to smile at the group of foreigners.

Pictures of the village are here.

Now we boarded the fleet of local buses waiting for us. The seats were pitched very high off the floor to allow plenty of luggage space underneath. To add to our difficulties, the gangway end of all the seats was welded to a steel beam running from front to rear of the bus so getting into the seat involved lifting one's legs over this beam. With the customary lack of shock absorbers and the state of the country roads, I never did find a way of getting comfortable as our convoy drove through a series of villages for our rendezvous with the elephants.

Pictures taken on our bus ride are here.

More to follow ...

More elephant pictures here.

Train Ride to Naba

Tuesday 31st August 2010

The Programme offers: "Experience a train journey to Naba through the majestic teak forests. Visit a small rural village and discover the lifestyle at the crossroads of Upper and Lower Myanmar."

Can you imagine? 'Road to Mandalay' wants to take its guests by train, so they arrange a private charter and have three better-quality passenger coaches brought up from Mandalay to form the service.

I asked Sammy what the chances of a cab ride were and she said 'No problem', asking Mai to make the arrangements. We were transferred to the landing place at Katha by Fast Boat but, this time, a long line of horse drawn taxis were waiting for the longer journey to the railway station. Here were were each issued with a pasteboard ticket for the journey before moving onto the platform. The 3-coach plus Luggage Van train looked very smart in red and cream livery but the diesel locomotive at the head of the train was the usual beat-up specimen I'd seen elsewhere.

Mai went up to what I took to be the driver, sitting on a platform bench like drivers everywhere. Her face clouded over so I went over to see what the problem was. She said there's a belief that it's bad luck to have a woman in the cab. I had one card up my sleeve - a postcard actually - showing me on the footplate of Peak Rail's 'Austerity'. 'Not a woman - an Engine Driver' I countered, presenting the driver with the postcard. Oddly enough, the driver accepted this argument and said I could come.

So I had a fascinating, if none-too-comfortable cab ride to Naba, where we had a long walk looking at village life. By the time we got back to the station, the train was ready for the return journey. I said to Mai that I was quite happy to travel in the train if the driver preferred, but he indicated that I was welcome in the cab.

I've put the technical railway stuff on the outward ride here and there's a link there to a separate post on the return journey, too.

There are a few pictures of our transfer to and from the railway station at Katha here. There's also a Set of pictures at our destination, Naba, here.

If you want to see my pictures on the journey, the outward journey pictures are here and the return journey is here.

Bhamo and trip to the foot of the Yunan Mountains

Monday 30th August 2010

At 6.30 a.m. our Fast Boat transferred the keen types to the shore for a closer look at Bhamo's Market. Just after 7.30 a.m we boarded a convoy of improbable passenger trucks. They take a Japanese pick-up and weld a framework to give them a very tall tilt cover and fit rows of seats across the frame so as to keep the normal load space with passenger seats pitched high up.

Most of us had difficulty getting into the high seats and, bearing in mind the atrocious roads, it was a very uncomfortable ride. I was at the front and found I could stand on a plank fitted across the sides of the pickup, backside resting against the front edge of the seat and hands, when free, grasping the front of the framework.

Unfortunately, hands were rarely free. Apart from trying to take photographs from the bucking truck, the people here see very few foreigners (the three 'Road to Mandalay' trips a year is about it) so everybody was keen to smile and wave and we were keen to reciprocate.

More when I can ...

Pictures of Bhamo's Market and our journey to the mountains are here.
Pictures of the School we visited are here.
Pictures of the return journey to Bhamo are here.

The Second Defile, Thein Pa Taung Meditation Centre and Bhamo

Sunday 29th August 2010

The short version:

We continued upstream through the Second Defile, passed by Bhamo City (on our right) and reached the limit of our cruise just short of the narrow entrance to the First Defile. The ship turned around and anchored mid-stream. Our Fast Boats transferred us to the Thein Pa Taung Meditation Centre. After our return to the ship, we continued downstream to moor midstream opposite Bhamo's waterfront. At 5.0 p.m. our Fast Boats transferred us to the city for a walking tour around the market and town.

The longer version:

We'd previously negotiated the Third Defile and that hadn't been particularly exciting - the river certainly narrowed but the scenery didn't seem that different from further downstream. So we were intrigued as to what the Second Defile would bring. At first, we passed a number of isolated farms and small villages, with most of the inhabitants watching the great white ship as it passed. We spotted an elephant slowly emerging from a pool near a group of houses. Presumably the elephant had been to the pool for washing. As I discovered during my encounter with elephants in Thailand (see 'Elephant Camp'), elephants are fastidious creatures and regular bathing is important.

We pass riverside houses with an elephant in the background and the plain gives way to wooded mountains.

The river narrowed further and the ground rose up on either side, heavily wooded and presenting rocky cliffs. In places, the water became quite turbulent. I found it reminiscent of my cruise on the Mekong through Laos (see 'Into Laos'). Most of the passengers were out on deck, many on the open bridge.

We'd been told about a feature in the rock wall called "The Parrot's Beak" so we were all on the lookout for that.

The Parrot's Beak.

Fortunately, the rock in question had been helpfully painted green for the plumage with a red beak and black and white eyes, otherwise I think we would have missed it because it was only a few feet across, just above the water.

The Second Defile has steep, wooded cliffs which reminded me of the Mekong in Laos

Eventually, the river widened and the mountains receded, leaving a fertile plain encouraging a number of larger villages. We passed our destination, Bhamo, and continued almost to the start of the First Defile. Looking ahead, we could see the wooded hills closing in on a much narrower river. But this was as far upstream as we could go, so the Captain turned the ship and we glided downstream. Pictures of our journey upstream are here.

I'd spotted our Fast Boats moored at the bank so, around 2.00 p.m., we went through the by-now familiar routine of being transferred ashore. The Thein Pa Taung Meditation Centre is situated on a wooded hillside and a long set of concrete steps led up from the landing place. It was very hot so the sections of the steps provided with a roof were very welcome. As we entered the main compound I was distracted by the generator house and made a very brief inspection.

The building contained two diesel engines, each driving a generator through a belt. The Chinese single-cylinder diesel engine is found everywhere in Myanmar, driving boats and trucks. I afterwards identified the engines as type ZS1115 made by Yingtian in Jiangsu, China. This single-cylinder 4-stroke diesel is intended for boats. With a 115mm bore and 115 stroke, it's rated at 16kW shaft power.

There were a number of buildings where students practice meditation.

Students practising meditation in one of the large dormitories.

We saw nuns meditating in relatively private spaces but most students were in large dormitory-style buildings, one for ladies, one for men. Provided we remained quiet, we were allowed to look in on these rooms. We also climbed to the shrine at the summit of the hill which commanded splendid view of the river below.

The spirituality of places like the Meditation Centre doesn't come out in a bald description of what we did but the beliefs of the Burmese makes even visiting a place like this quite an experience. After we'd walked round the site, the RTM people had (as usual) arranged a refreshment stop with cold drinks and fruit on the steps of one of the temples. Then I noticed the Doctor and a group of nuns sitting on the floor in another open-sided building so I walked over and he invited me to sit with them.

The Doctor had just finished a consultation with the Head Nun, a dignified but friendly person in her 70's who was now suffering from back pain. The Doctor had administered one injection and intended to give a second on his next (and final) visit of the year. Three younger Nuns were in attendance and, although I couldn't converse with them, we all shared the humour of the situation. A kitten wandered in and lay down beside me while I stroked it and we found that very funny, too. Eventually, the Doctor and I got up to leave and one of the younger Nuns presented me with four bananas, scurrying off to find a plastic bag to carry them.

Pictures of the Meditation Centre are here.

We all rejoined the two Fast Boats but the 'Mother Ship' had gone! The Captain had already taken 'Road to Mandalay' downstream to Bhamo, turned to face upstream, and anchored mid-channel. So the Fast Boats took us downstream to board the ship. There was time for refreshments on the Observation Lounge but not much more, for at 5.00 p.m. the Fast Boats were to take us ashore for a walking tour of Bhamo.

The riverfront had a variety of craft berthed at various landing places. We disembarked at a set of concrete steps, watched by a number of friendly locals. At the top of the steps, a dual-carriageway ran parallel to the river with traditional teak buildings on the landward side. I didn't at first realise it was a dual-carriageway because the roadway nearer the river seemed to be used mainly for parking or for pedestrians either walking or just standing talking. But, occasionally, vehicles would pass, patiently waiting for people to move out of the way.

Bhamo is the largest town in the area, a staging point on the main northern trade route with China. Goods are imported from and exported to China by road and then the river provides good communication with the rest of Myanmar. Architecture is a mixture of the traditional and modern. Most of the modern buildings are owned by Chinese.

Our walking tour took us away from the river and I was quite shocked by the amount of traffic - mainly motor bicycles but with a fair number of small trucks, pick-ups and a few private cars. I'd become unused to this amount of traffic in the days since boarding at Mandalay! We passed pavement sellers with large displays of vegetables and numerous shops, including the first opticians I'd seen in Burma. The Fire Station appeared to be still using a couple of Japanese fire appliances dating from the second World War. The three-storey KBZ Bank building looked very prosperous. Kanbawza Bank Limited is a Myanmar bank owned by 'a close business associate' of government officials. On the pavement outside the bank was a top-of-the-range Caterpillar-built 'Olympian' 50kW packaged diesel standby generator. I was reminded of the rather more basic installation at the Meditation Centre.

Our tour finished at a large monastery complex dominated by a large golden pagoda. By the time I'd made a quick tour around some of the buildings on the site, I was happy to accept Mr. Win's suggestion of a lift back in one of the larger motor rickshaws. We stopped for complimentary drinks at tables outside a modern building facing the river then we walked the final few hundred yards back to the landing place. The Fast Boats transferred us back to 'Road to Mandalay' at anchor just as it became dark. Then it was dinner and bed so as to be refreshed for the next day's adventures.

My pictures of Bhamo are here.

[Amended 12-Oct-2010, 21-Oct-2010].

Katha and Shwe Paw Island

Saturday 28th August 2010

The ship continued its journey upstream to Katha. This is one of the towns created by the British as an administrative centre. One claim to fame is that George Orwell's last posting with the Colonial Police was at Katha, before he contracted malaria and left the police to become an author.

We anchored mid-channel opposite the town and the International Signal for 'I am at anchor' (a black 'ball') was hoisted from the short flagpole at the bow. I spotted our two Fast Boats moored at the landing stage and shortly they moved across to our ship to ferry the passengers ashore. It had rained heavily during the night but Katha was gently warming up and it was quite pleasant.

Landing at Katha - "A long line of trishaws were waiting for us ..."

A long line of trishaws were waiting for us and members of the crew were allocating us, two at a time, to individual trishaws. The trishaw is a three-wheeled cycle able to carry two passengers. There are two main types. In one type, the passenger seats are two abreast behind the driver and the machine has two wheels at the rear. The other version is a bicycle plus 'sidecar' where the sidecar has one seat facing forward and a second seat facing to the rear.

The trishaws took us to a fairly green area of town clearly laid out by the British. We walked past a grain warehouse which we were told was a Government Store and paused to look at a single-storey Colonial building which I believe was the British Club originally. We made our way back to the trishaws past the former British tennis courts. Another ride in the trishaw took us through what was clearly the British residential area. The layout reminded me of the similar residential area in Maymyo.

George Orwell's house today.

We stopped at the two-story house, timber-framed with brick infill and a corrugated iron roof set in around a couple of acres which had been the home of George Orwell in the 1920s. Today, it is very run-down but provides homes for a number of Burmese families. We were allowed to walk around inside the house. The unmarried lady upstairs spoke quite good English and was happy to chat with the foreigh vistors. The married lady we met downstairs did not speak English but was also happy for us to wander round. Her son (eleven years old, I think) showed us his workbook and he had considerable talent as an artist.

Then it was back on the trishaws and our convoy made its way to the Market. On the periphery of the Market there were a number of permanent shops and tearooms. I looked at one clothes-making shop where a man was cutting out material using cardboard patterns. I couldn't work out what the cut pieces would become. Next door, there was a picture-framing and mirror shop. In the back was the raw aluminium extrusion which would be cut and mitred as necessary. A number of sample mirrors and pictures were on display. A recurrent theme was a picture of a young person on graduation wearing a mortar board and gown. We saw this sort of picture proudly displayed in a number of better-class homes we visited on our travels. Outside this shop was a very clean Chinese-made 'Kenso' motor bicycle. I was intrigued by the 'Manchester United' custom saddle. Further observation showed that numerous Premier League clubs are featured. Then we went into the market itself, stepping over a low wooden step padlocked in place presumably to stop motor bicycles or similar entering the narrow aisles between the stalls.

A well-stocked pharmacy inside Katha market

As always, the overriding impression of the market was of the wide range of food and non-food items on offer and the friendliness of the population. Most of the stallholders were women, some accompanied by young children. The walls of a pharmacy stall were lined with wooden cupboards with glazed doors, crammed with remedies in a variety of bottles and packets, presumably mainly traditional.

Rejoining our fleet of trishaws, we started back towards the landing stage but, given the option of walking part of the way, I bailed out and walked down one of the main shopping streets. You see bicycles, motor bicycles, trishaws and tractors but I didn't see a single car. With the threat limited to fairly slow-moving vehicles, I was not too suprised to see three men engaged in an extended conversation in the middle of the street, oblivious to the passing traffic weaving around them.

Back at the riverbank, there was time to look around the outside of the temple and stupas, watch people joining the local ferries with all sorts of luggage and marvel at a rather derelict-looking 'Pandaw'-style boat which appeared to have two side-by-side diesels aft driving two fairly modern 'Z-Drives' from which I guessed she is still at work. Although there was a set of concrete landing steps leading into the river wherewe boarded, these were not in use but were occupied by an elderly woman washing clothes in the murky river water. From the number of bags and plastic containers of washing laid out on the steps above her, she either had a large family or, more likely, was providing a professional laundry service. My pictures around Katha are here.

By 10 o'clock, the two Fast Boats had transferred us all back to 'Road to Mandalay' and the ship set off upstream passing a succession of large and small villages with temples and stupas and friendly residents who frequently stood watching the great white ship as she passed. We passed a series of logging camps where barges were being provided with outriggers to support the heavy logs to be carried away downstream.

A barge provided with outriggers. The network of ropes attached to the booms suspend the logs to be transported just underwater.

At a school we passed, all the pupils were on the river bank cheering and waving, so I assumed they'd benefitted from the RTM charity. My pictures as we sailed north are here.

We enjoyed buffet lunch and later Sammi had arranged a visit to the ship's stainless steel kitchen where twelve people work.

As we continued our cruise, I was introduced to a huge, green praying mantis with a head-neck-body length of about 5 inches. I was told he'd been happily sitting on the ship's rail, hitching a lift, since lunchtime. One of the guides seemed to think it was a grasshopper although I thought it was a mantis (on my return I confirmed it was a mantis, probably Acromantis indica, common name Burmese Mantis). A German passenger taking photographs disturbed the mantis who, to my surprise slowly climbed onto the back of my hand where he seemed quite happy.

Jan makes friends with a green praying mantis.

There are a few more pictures of the mantis here.

Whilst this was going on, we had arrived at Shwe Paw Island and dropped anchor mid-channel. The Yellow Flag Fast Boat had loaded its complement of passengers so I dashed to my room and then to the boat, muttering apologies about having been delayed by a "grasshopper". A short trip by Fast Boat took us to the island and its village of Shwe Paw Kyun.

It seemed a fairly idyllic spot and, at least as far as the first area we walked through, a fairly well-off place. Houses were substantially built of teak, in a rectangular garden with bamboo fences. A series of beaten earth 'roads' thread between the properties. We'd been assured that we'd be welcome to look inside any house we came across - the occupants would see it as an honour that foreigners would want to inspect their abode. This view is so different from the Western belief of a 'home being a castle' that I found it impossible to test the theory. However, after the Guest Lecturer, Pauline, inspected a handsome property, I diffidently approached the girl in the upper storey of the house and, in sign language, confirmed that I was welcome. The girl called herself Mi-Mi and in the dark cool upper room I spotted a picture of her in mortarboard and gown, although she looked too young to have been to university. Further on, San chatted to a dignified lady of 71 who stood at the bamboo gate of her house, with a dog curled up nearby. We passed a woman with a long bamboo pole, knocking coconuts from a tree, then a group of three women, two with young babies, just chatting on a street corner. I never did find out who the three men were who followed us for some time, one talking earnestly into a two-way radio, one with an important-looking sheaf of paperwork. We crossed a creek on a very attractive covered bridge, where a young woman was sitting with her beautiful young daughter. At another very prosperous-looking substantial teak-built villa the owners, a middle-aged couple, came over to talk to San. It appeared that they were the owners of the Fast Boats which we were using. On subsequent days, the man appeared on our Fast Boats. I formed the opinion that it was probably his wife who was the driving force for the business.

Smiling villagers in Shwe Paw Khun

Pictures of the village are here. We carried on towards the island's Primary School, watched by more groups of smiling villagers.

Another presentation of stationery was being made to the pupils at the primary school but, by the time my group arrived, this was virtually completed. However, there was time for photographs of the happy, excited children.

'RTM' passengers visit Shwe Paw school.

Pictures of the school are here.

We made our way back across the island and entered the monastery complex. This is an ancient and revered site as was clear from the multitude of buildings we walked through. We saw the head monk, attended by four elderly monks. I was intrigued by the contrast between the simplicity of their life and the installations of sound equipment necessary to relay the reading of the Buddhist scriptures to the outside world. We passed through the museum where numerous treasures are kept. Outside, we walked alongside lifelike statuary illustrating various Buddhist stories before coming to an area crammed with pagodas of various ages and designs. With perhaps hundreds of close-packed spires pointing skywards, I was reminded of my visit to Kakku on a earlier trip to Burma.

Pagodas at Shwe Paw Monastery.

More pictures of the Monastery are here.

We left the monastery via a long, covered passageway and soon came back to the landing place for our fast boat. However, I was told that the Doctor was holding an impromptu clinic a little further along and I was invited to have a look at that and catch a later Fast Boat back to the ship.

The Clinic held by Doctor Hla Tun on Shwe Paw Island (Photo: RTM)

There is no doctor, nurse or midwife on Shwe Paw island so the impromptu clinic set up by Doctor Hla Tun attracted 19 patients. In the absence of a suitable building, the clinic was set up at the side of the road, with some wooden staging used as an examination couch. The Western concept of privacy appears unknown, so a crowd of villagers watched the consultations in awe. The Doctor treated a series of problems apparently completely unfazed by the conditions, producing meticulous notes on the patients and the remedy prescribed. Oral medicines were dispensed from a carrier bag of assorted treatments but some of the conditions required injections. I watched for a time but, when the departure of a Fast Boat to the ship was announced, I returned to the ship. The Doctor returned later when he'd completed the consultations. My pictures of the Clinic are here.

After dinner on the ship, we were entertained in the Observation Lounge by a group of Shan Dancers. There are a few more pictures here.

[Additional material added 20-Sep-2010, 21-Oct-2010]

Kya Hnyat Village

Friday 27th August 2010

Unusually, I woke up two or three times in the night, finally getting up just before six. Shortly afterwards, the ship set off upstream. I took breakfast on the Top Deck around 6.30 a.m. so as to be ready in good time for our trip ashore. When we arrived at Kya Hnyat, the ship anchored mid-channel and we could see a traditional village on the right bank.

Our two Fast Boats had been moored at the river bank by the village and soon they rendezvoused with our ship. The Yellow Flag Fast Boat tied up to the ship and the usual arrangements were made for transferring passengers. At 7.25 a.m., all the Yellow Group passengers (including me) had boarded and we made the short journey to the village, allowing the Green Flag Fast Boat to tie-up to the ship and pick up the Green Group passengers.

The busy market at Kya Hnyat

Mr. Win, my group's guide, led us up the steep path from the shore and we were immediately immersed in village life. Men, women and children were everywhere, usually initially staring at the apparition of Westerners who had suddenly appeared in their midst. A combination of "Mingale Ba" (Good Morning), a smile or slight doffing of the head on our part elicited a broad smile with all but the most shy.

We walked through the market area where decrepit wooden stalls were arranged to leave narrow paths of hard earth forming a square grid. The range of vegetables, fruit, fish and meat was remarkable but the standards of cleanliness would have induced an immediate heart attack in a European health inspector. As Mr. Win identified the different foods and described the method of preparation and the health benefits (obesity and heart problems are allegedly rare) we garnered lots of smiles from the locals. Dogs and cats wandered between the stalls unmolested.

The stallholders each had a simple 2-pan balance for weighing the food but there were very few balance weights. Then I realised that they each had a collection of (presumably spent) dry cell batteries, size 'A' or smaller, which were being used as balance weights. Sight of this would presumably have seen off any European Weights and Measures inspector!

The population of the village was supposed to be around 1,000 and it seemed that all of them were in the market. Of course, many of the people we saw would have come in from surrounding villages by bullock cart, Chinese-made motor cycle or on foot.

The side of the market away from the river bank extended along one side of the 'main street' of beaten earth. Here we found non-food businesses like Tea Shops, public telephone shop (where you pay the proprietor to use a telephone) and hardware shops. The ubiquitous Chinese-made motor cycles, usually with three people on board, somehow managed to thread their way through the pedestrians without accident. We came to a white-painted Stupa with a number of bullock carts standing outside. A game of handball had just finished and the young men players wandered off in various directions. Next, we came to a modern brick clock tower. The usefulness of the clock was somewhat limited by its having no fingers. Just beyond the clock tower, there was a large open-sided assembly hall and the high-pitched hubbub indicated that there were already a number of young children inside.

The schoolchildren at Kya Hnyat

I wasn't prepared for the number of children sitting on the floor - after the stragglers arrived, there must have been around 1,000 young pupils. The Doctor was at the front of the assembly, standing by a table loaded with 500 ruled exercise books and a similar number of pencils with erasers. At 8.39 a.m., the stern-faced male teacher called for quiet and then had the children sing (unaccompanied and surprisingly tunefully) three songs.They then recited a prayer of thanks to the donors.

Some of the RTM Guests were then issued with a stack of exercise books and a bundle of pencils and told to pass among the seated children distributing one book and one pencil to each child. There was not much space to work through the crowd and only having 500 books meant that many children would be disappointed. The Doctor was surprised at the number of children attending since over 500 books and pencils had been distributed on the previous Bhamo cruise.

I'm afraid that in the excitement of the moment, discipline rather broke down. I became mobbed by chilren and surrounded by grasping hands. Clearly, the larger children had an advantage in trying to obtain a gift. I deployed my best school-ma'am voice in an attempt to dissuade the bigger chilren from intercepting items intended for younger chilren but I'm sorry to say that even the sternest of warnings in English failed to achieve a very satisfactory result.

After a few minutes, all the available books and pens had been issued but the Doctor had a few packets of wrapped sweets which we quickly issued to a different part of the crowd. Peace returned as the teacher dismissed the children at 8.50 a.m. to go to their indivual schoolrooms.

Somewhat shell-shocked, we continued our walking tour of the village, stopping first at a small, wooden doctor's surgery which has recently opened. The twenty-five year old doctor said that he normally treated about ten patients every day. The most common problems, he explained, were influenza and malaria.

On a dusty street corner, a woman was selling Thanaka in the form of small logs. We soon gathered a small, friendly crowd as Mr. Win explained the use of Thanaka. We continued through a residential area where dogs, cats and rather scrawny Burmese chickens roamed free. We passed a barber's shop (a simple wooden open-fronted gabled construction equipped with table, mirror and chair leaving the barber and customer in full view. After passing another hardware store filled with intriguing items the purpose of which could only be guessed at, we made our way back through the market and boarded the waiting Fast Boats.

Whilst we'd been in the village, our ship had weighed anchor and was already proceeding upstream so it was necessary for us to match motion with the ship before coming alongside. The Captain later explained that, in such strong current, he cannot hold the ships position accurately without putting down the anchors so ship normally makes around 8 knots whilst, one after the other, the Fast Boats tie-up alongside. It's quite exciting to watch the vessels come together but once the process is complete, it's perfectly safe and simple for the passengers to transfer. As the Captain said, a good example of Einstein's Relativity.

The rest of the day was spent more quietly on the ship as we passed through the Third Defile towards Katha. I was intrigued by the sudden appearance of a fairly large industrial zone on the East Bank. The Captain identified a working sugar-processing plant and nickel factory under construction but I could see fractionating columns at another plant and, in the distance, two tall chimneys, one long 3 or 4 storey building with windows and two multistorey apartment blocks. Two tower cranes were still at work on this Chinese-financed major development.

The scene became more rural again. The inundation of the low-lying land on our left meant that a number of the smallholdings we passed had temporarily become islands.

Later, on our left, we passed quite a large town which straggled along the river bank for some distance, the area liberally sprinkled with gold pagodas. One large passenger ferry was moored at the town's landing stage.

We cruised fairly close to the left bank of the wide river so we had a good view of the various villages we passed with the wooden houses built on stilts to cater for very high water. The passage of 'Road to Mandalay' is quite an event and villages lined the bank to wave as we passed. The passengers were similarly lined against the ship's rail, reciprocating the friendly greeting. The countryside was getting distinctly more 'jungly' and, in the distance, mountains could be seen.

Logging Camp en route to Katha

This is logging country and we passed one large loading point extending over a few acres filled with hardwood logs and provided with a series of cranes at the waterside to load the barges which carry the timber downstream. The barges are provided with outrigger booms formed from suitable hardwood logs on both sides of the hull. The booms are terminated in bundles of bamboo to provide buoyancy. The heavy logs to be transported are then suspended by rope from from the booms.

At 4.30 p.m. the Guest Lecturer gave an interesting lecture on Buddhist Art and its interpretation.

Around 6.30 p.m. we moored for the night mid-channel, a few miles south of Katha, just as it started to rain. Whilst we were having dinner, the rain intensified and the proposed release of Shan Fire Balloons had to be deferred.

Pictures of Kya Hnyat Village are here.

Pictures of Kya Hnyat School are currently missing, sorry.

Pictures sailing north to Katha are here.

Nwe Nyein Pottery Village

Thursday 26th August 2010

Around 5.30 a.m. the 'Road to Mandalay' 'set sail' upstream. We cruised past a number of villages with simple houses built on stilts with people stirring and going about their business like fishing, tending animals or working in their fields.

After transferring from 'Road to Mandalay' to the Fast Boat, we sailed ahead to the Pottery Village.

Around ten, our two Fast Boats approached and the Green Flag boat moored alongside our ship which was still making headway at about 8 knots. Once the Fast Boat had taken on its complement of passengers, it departed upstream, allowing the Yellow Flag boat to similarly board the rest of the passengers. After a cruise upstream of about 45 minutes, we reached the Nwe Nyein pottery village, with our ship slowly following.

We clambered ashore and started a walking tour of the village. It seemed to comprise one main street of earth with houses and shops on either side. The buildings varied from basic wood-framed with woven bamboo walls to substantial, modern constructions with the inevitable satellite antenna outside. Turning off the main road, we came to one of the potteries. The main item produced is glazed water pots which can be very large.

The clay is apparently brought from a mile or so away. Large pots are made in sections and we watched the base section being made by a potter. A simple 'Kick Wheel' is set in the earth floor on which the potter makes the pot using 'sausages' of clay spiralled to form the walls of the pot and he slowly turns the wheel with his foot. Making pots of this size requires the use of a thick 'sausage' about four inches diameter aqnd quite a number are needed just to make the base section. It takes strength and dexterity to form a reasonable shape. Further sausages may be needed to provide the necessary wall thickening and additional lumps of clay are used to create the finished smooth surface.

Great skill (and not a little strength) is required to build the base of a large water pot from a thich clay 'sausage'.

Wherever we went, there always seemed to be plenty of men, women and children just hanging around to watch their strange visitors. I found it hard to get used to the fact that they love having their photograph taken and they will strike what they consider an appropriate pose as soon as they spot a camera lens. It was difficult to catch them unawares to get a more 'natural' shot. One of the guides, San, was distributing prints of photographs he'd taken on a previous trip. This caused great amusement as the villagers identified the images and showed one another the prints.

The pots are air dried in large warehouses and then glazed and fired. We looked at a kiln in a large, wooden shed. The kiln appeared to be beehive-shaped about ten foot hall, surrounded by massive brick and earth walls. The wood-framed doorway through which the pots had presumably been loaded had been bricked-up, leaving a series of air-holes towards the bottom and a 'firing hole' about 15 inches square at the top. The kiln had be lit the previous day and a man was thrusting length after length of bamboo through the firing hole to sustain the orange glow inside.

We returned to the main part of the village by descending a fairly steep path, passing a number of women climbing up, each carrying two jars about two feet diameter on a wooden board balanced on their head. The ship's staff had arranged a refreshment stop under a roofed area with iced water and soft drinks. On the opposite side of the lane, there was a similar roofed area used for drying pots where a couple of dozen men women and children had gathered, like an audience, to watch the foreigners perform. I found that rather surreal.

We walked back along the main street to the waiting Fast Boats. By this time, the 'Road to Mandalay' had caught up with us and the first Fast Boat rendezvoused with the big ship with the big ship under way. With everybody from that Fast Boat back on board, the second Fast Boat was able to discharge its passengers and then both Fast Boats set off upstream ahead of the big ship.

The Fast Boats went ahead because the Doctor had loaded exercise books and pencils which were to be distributed to a number of schools on the stretch of river to Male. When the big ship reached the first of these schools, all the pupils were on the river bank, waving their new exercise books and cheering. In turn, the passengers on the 'Road to Mandalay' waved back, accompanied by a furious clicking of camera shutters. This scene was repeated as we passed each school to which books had been donated. At at least one school, the pupils had made signs saying 'THANK YOU' which they held aloft. On the previous Bhamo trip ('BHAMO 1') stationery had been distributed to 5 schools but, on our trip, the Doctor had added deliveries to two more villages - Yone Khing and Ma Au.

At each school we passed, all the children came to the riverbank to wave and say 'thank you' for the stationery delivered earlier by the Fast Boats.

At 4 o'clock the Guest Lecturer, Patricia Welch, delivered an interesting talk on Buddhist Art.

At 6.30 p.m. there was a 'Longyi Cocktail Party' when most of the passengers, men and women, wore Longyi following a previous demonstration featuring Longyi and Thanaka on that afternoon.

The day finished with a convivial dinner in the Restaurant followed, for those who wished, by drinks in the Piano Bar to the accompaniment of music played on a Roland Electronic Piano.

My pictures sailing north to Nwe Nyein Pottery Village (by 'Road to Mandalay' and Fast Boat) are here.

My pictures of Nwe Nyein Pottery Village are here.

My pictures sailing further north to Male (past the riverside schools) are here.