All was quiet at Kaung Tone when I got up. The Captain weighed anchor and set off downstream while I was having breakfast. I went up on the Top Deck and discovered a slight problem. The lens of my camera was completely misted up. I decided not to panic (yet) and, within a few minutes, a hazy picture appeared on the view screen. By the time we'd passed under the New Bridge and entered the narrow Second Defile, the camera seemed to have recovered. Our passage was uneventful but pleasant. We all took some more pictures of the "Parrott's Beak" as we passed. Our two Fast Boats could seen up ahead of us.
Around 9.30 a.m. we arrived at Shwe Paw island, with its many pagodas and monastery buildings. The captain dropped anchor midstream (with the bow pointed upstream, of course) and our two Fast Boats busied themselves ferrying the Guests ashore. It had been agreed that, rather than go with the tour guide, Nang, I would accompany the Dr. Hla Tun, the Ship's Doctor to get a better insight into the Social Contribution the 'Road to Mandalay' makes.
We first went straight to the monastery to see the head monk. He was surprisingly young, with an open, smiling face and twinkling eyes.
The Doctor had been treating the head monk and this was a final visit during which the head monk's blood pressure was taken. A number of kittens were wandering around unmolested and what I took to be the mother came to me for some 'fuss' whilst the Doctor was completing his consultation. We then went to the adjacent nunnery, where the Doctor wanted to make a small gift. The head nun, middle-aged and bespectacled, received the gift with a blessing and discussed some features of the room shrine with the Doctor before we left.
Our next stop was the local primary school, a few hundred yards away and the Doctor was concerned that the Guests would arrive there before us, so we broke into a run. The school is in an elderly wooden building building on stilts and comprises one long room in which five classes are held simultaneously. During our visit, each pupil was given and exercise book, a pencil, a pencil sharpener and an eraser. The stationary distribution had started when we arrived but I soon joined the other Guests in completing the task. The Doctor then encouraged each class in turn to sing for the visitors. All the children were well-behaved, dressed in the simple uniform of schools in Myanmar and radiated a beauty and innocence that we all found irresistible. Even in Government schools, funding for remote areas is so erratic that donations from the RTM Social Contribution are much appreciated.
We made our way quickly back to the landing steps. On the way, I was amused by a new building in course of erection. The downstairs brick walls were complete but no doors and windows had been fitted. The upstairs was only a wooden framework which supported a roof of corrugated galvanised iron (universally referred to as a 'tin roof'). Yet, even in this state of unreadiness, half of the downstairs was already in use as a general stores. I've commented before that this pragmatism seems typical of Myanmar.
Next to the landing steps, there was a rather rickety wooden structure, uncertainly held over the edge of the river, topped with a 'tin roof'. It normally served as a waiting room for passengers travelling by the various small boats which connected the island to the mainland but, when we were there, it also formed a temporary surgery for the Doctor. A number of patients were already waiting when we arrived.
Medical practitioners in Myanmar need traditional diagnostic skills largely superceded in the West by the widespread availability of blood tests, X-ray, Ultrasound, Scans and other aids. In areas like Shwe Paw, none of this is available. Even in the cities, facilities may be limited and patients from the countryside are unlikely to be able to travel to such facilities, let alone pay for them. So a doctor needs to be able to diagnose conditions from a limited number of observations available. Measurement of blood pressure (invariably using a traditional, manual instrument) becomes a vital tool. The Doctor carries a wide range of modern drugs, separated into a series of carrier bags. Of course, in conditions like this, the privacy that a patient would expect in the West is completely absent but patients appeared merely happy to be receiving free treatment.
A number of patients had brought fresh Pomelo fruit in payment and there was soon quite a collection of fruit. As the Doctor methodically worked away, keeping case notes for each patient and explaining to them how they were to take the medication, the one Fast Boat loaded up Guests and took them back to the ship. The first Fast Boat returned and loaded more guests, leaving the second fast boat still moored at the landing steps. Sadly, not all the patients could be seen before we had to collect up the medication (and the Pomelo) and hurry onto the waiting Fast Boat (along with some 'stragglers' amongst the Guests) and return to the ship. Guests are presented with a comprehensive selection of activities and the ship needed to leave the island on time in order to arrive at Moe Dar in time for the afternoon activity.
Photographs:
Downstream through the Second Defile.
Shwe Paw Island.
Shwe Paw Island School.
Shwe Paw Island Clinic.
[Revised 16-Sep-2012]
