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Saturday, 18th May 2019
Like the previous day, I spent Saturday observing the activities of the Bagan Medical Clinic but there was also the excitement of a morning trip by car to make a stationery distribution at Htee Pu school, and a visit to a famous Mountain Pagoda, Tuyin Taung, on the way back.
The school at Htee Pu is in a fairly remote village in the Mount Popa area which Doctor Hla Tun and the Road to Mandalay Social Contribution have supported for a number of year. This assistance includes new school rooms, toilet facilities together with donations for school uniforms, stationery and teaching support. I'd first visited Htee Pu in 2009 (that report is here) and been impressed with the local Abbott's drive in trying to improve the lives of local people and I've subsequently been back a number of times:-
Opening of New School Building at Htee Pu (Saturday, 4th September 2010)
Mount Popa to Bagan (Saturday, 29th October 2011)
Htee Pu School Visit (Saturday, September 22nd 2012)
Visiting Bagan Schools (Monday, 28th April 2014)
Visit to Bagan Schools, 2015 (Monday, 27th April 2015)
Bagan (Day 4) (Monday, 2nd May 2016)
Visiting Schools in the Bagan Area (Monday, 1st May 2017)
A second weekend at Bagan Medical Clinic (2) (Saturday, 5th May 2018)
Initially, Doctor Hla Tun had intended to accompany me to Htee Pu for the distribution described below but, on reviewing the numbers of waiting patients, he decided he'd continue with consultations and send me with the monastery car and driver to Htee Pu. The stationery to be distributed to the pupils was loaded into the car and the driver and I set off on the familiar route at about 8.00 a.m. The final two miles to the village is still over an unsurfaced road but, as I've commented in previous posts about Htee Pu, improvements have been carried out, including a bridge over a section which formerly frequently flooded in the rainy season. The village is now more accessible.
Distribution at Htee Pu, May 2019: The new bridge on the road to Htee Pu.
In the village itself, I noticed new concrete poles with electric lighting. Electrification remains an important ongoing project in Myanmar. On my early visits to Htee Pu, I'd seen locally-installed wooden poles each supporting two electric conductors simply notched into a wooden cross arm with periodic dangling lamps. All this was powered by a small diesel engine driving an electric generator at the monastery. Because of the cost of diesel fuel, hours of operation were very limited. Numerous electrification projects are slowly improving the picture but the mains electricity supply in Myanmar remains notoriously unreliable compared with what I can expect in England.
Distribution at Htee Pu, May 2019: Htee Pu Village, showing new concrete poles with electric lighting.
On my visit in 2017, I'd admired a new open-sided pavilion erected in the school yard in front of the monastery. As we arrived in 2019, I was surprised to see that this pavilion had been joined by a second, much larger pavilion, with a framework of blue-painted tubes supporting a banana-leaf roof. The new pavilion was large enough for a 'top table' with refreshments, space for all the children to sit in the shade on woven mats and even room for our car to be parked in the shade!
Distribution at Htee Pu, May 2019: The 'top table' with local dignitaries and waiting pupils enjoy the new pavilion.
Distribution at Htee Pu, May 2019: The Headmistress and pupils enjoying the new pavilion.
The stationery was unloaded from the monastery car and the monastery driver supervised the teachers as they made up the 'kits' of stationery to be presented to each pupil. Since it was not a School day, I knew that only some of the pupils would be able to attend but we try to leave spare materials for teachers to distribute afterwards. The children waited quietly seated on the mats under the pavilion until preparations were complete and then teachers formed up the pupils, class by class, to receive the stationery. With teachers supervising the line of waiting students and another teacher passing each 'kit' to me, it only took a few (rather frantic) minutes to complete the distribution.
Stationery Distribution at Htee Pu, May 2019.
The discipline of students in Myanmar is always impressive but their individuality is also notable, like young people anywhere. Some will confidently say "Thank you" in English, others, prompted by teachers, will mutter an approximation, whilst a third group remain over-awed at having to approach a stranger. I do my best to appear friendly and unthreatening, usually keeping up a continuous patter in English which is intended to be soothing.
I was then expected to make a short address to the pupils in English, which was translated by a local businessman, with the Headmistress and the Abbott carefully watching. Once again, I relied on the "Never give Up" theme. There was then a presentation of packets of tamarind and sugar lozenges made at the businessman's local factory - delicious.
Jan addresses the pupils at Htee Pu, May 2019
A short walk around the school compound followed, with a number of new toilets pointed out and concluding with an inspection of the classrooms donated in 2010 (report here).
Distribution at Htee Pu, May 2019: View of classrooms donated in 2010.
Finally, we took pictures with the teaching staff and a 'group shot' in the pavilion.
Distribution at Htee Pu, May 2019: Jan and the Teaching Staff.
Distribution at Htee Pu, May 2019: The 'group shot'.
After a brief pause for refreshments, I said 'good bye' and left the good people of Htee Pu, who have made quite an impression on me during my various visits.
Before we'd left the Clinic, the Doctor had suggested that, after the distribution, I might enjoy a side trip to Mount Popa or elsewhere. Mount Popa is a fascinating and historic area which I'm always happy to re-visit but we agreed that a trip to a famous mountain pagoda called Tuyin Taung which I'd not visited might be more appropriate.
Each time I'd travelled on the road between Nyaung Oo and the direction on Mount Popa, I'd been aware of a long mountain range which thrusts itself from the plain parallel to the main road. Particularly noticeable is one gilded pagoda which crowns the high ground, sentry-like, near the Nyaung Oo end of the range. Now, I was to visit this important shrine. Not far short of Nyaung Oo, the car made a left turn to head across the plain to the base of the mountain, followed by a long zig-zag ascent of the mountain finishing in a busy car park a little way below the summit. The popularity of the site was obvious from the number of pilgrims, as far as I could tell all Myanmar people. My driver indicated the daunting flight of concrete steps leading to the unseen pagoda at the summit and said he would look after the car. I slowly hauled myself upwards, clinging to the stainless steel tubular handrail often found in such location as crowds of cheerful pilgrims passed me in both directions. The hot sun bore down and my progress was slow but at last I came to a complex of pavilions with a final broad set of steps on the left leading to the pagoda platform.
Burma 2019: Broad steps leading to the pagoda platform at Tuyin Taung.
The views in all directions from the pagoda platform showed the extent of the Bagan Plain, with the Ayeyarwaddy River glistening in the distance as it arced from my north to my west.
Burma 2019: View from Mountain Pagoda across the Bagan Plain.
Burma 2019: View from Mountain Pagoda, with the Ayeyarwaddy River in the distance.
Looking south-east, the mountain range continued but it was clear that Tuyin Taung Pagoda was on the highest part of the outcrop.
Burma 2019: View looking south-east from Tuyin Taung Pagoda.
The sun had made me a little giddy so, slowly and carefully, I started my descent of the steep steps to the car park. Seeing my caution, two smiling middle-aged Myanmar lady pilgrims formed up on either side of me, took each arm in a firm grip and made sure I reached the car park safely. It's these small acts of kindness that make Myanmar such a special place for me.
My car and driver was waiting so I was back at the Bagan Medical Clinic in less than 30 minutes.
Related posts on this website
This is one of a series of posts describing my 14th visit to Myanmar. The post Return to Burma is the first post in the series.
Clicking on the 'Next report' link displays the post describing the next events. In this way, you may read about the trip in sequence.
Next report.
Alternately, clicking on the 'All my Burma 2019 reports' link displays all the posts on this trip in reverse date-of-posting order.
All my Burma 2019 reports.
My pictures
My pictures including this part of the trip are in the albums:-
Burma 2019.
Distribution at Htee Pu, May 2019.
Burma 2019: Tuyin Taung Mountain Pagoda.
All my pictures on this trip are in the collection of albums also called Burma 2019
[01-Jul-2019 Visit to Tuyin Taung added]
Friday, 17th May 2019
Friday was a day around the Bagan Clinic, although I did travel as far as Nyaung Oo Airport by car.
I was out and about the clinic about 7.00 a.m., taking photographs. The Clinic staff provided me with a fried egg, congee and a can of Coca Cola in the Staff area of the original clinic building while the satellite television was showing “Nim’s Island”. The sound was turned down and the subtitles were in Myanmar language but I was surprised to find the plot was fairly obvious, although I’d never seen the film. However, to protect cultural sensibilities, from time-to-time a small area of the screen would be deliberately ‘de-focussed’. On various programmes, I found this technique applied to smoking, drinking alcohol and too much female cleavage. Confusingly, on other channels, extreme violence, lesbianism and three-in-a-bed activities seemed acceptable (even at eight in the morning).
Doctor Hla Tun took his breakfast and started his ‘list’ by treating a number of monks. Doctor Hla Tun’s mother also had her breakfast, prior to flying back to Yangon. Hla Win Ko interrupted his work in the Dispensary to drive her to Nyaung Oo Airport and I went with them. We stopped near the airport so that she could buy some mangoes from a roadside vendor.
Buying mangoes at a roadside vendor in Nyaung Oo, en route to the airport.
This (plus various prior purchases) made her baggage overweight and at first I feared that the stern-faced man in charge of KBZ Airline check-in was going to levy an excess charge. But eventually it was all smiles, the pieces were labelled ‘Fragile’ and passed through.
Check-in at Nyaung Oo.
Hla Win Ko had another task before we returned to the Clinic. Medications are often shipped using an 'express parcel' service and he intended to collect two parcels of medication expected for Bagan Medical Clinic from a Freight Forwarder in Nyaung Oo. The parcels depot was a dusty, fenced yard with a couple of large trees, around which a number of cartons were arranged. A man relaxed under one tree with various handwritten records.
Freight Forwarder's Yard in Nyaung Oo.
The man searched through his records and concluded that one parcel for the Clinic was there – the second was yet to arrive. So the one parcel was signed for and loaded into the car.
Collecting medication at the Freight Forwarder's Yard in Nyaung Oo.
Knowing my fascination with the ancient pagodas spread across the Bagan plain, Hla Win Ko asked if I'd like to stop to look at pagodas during the short journey back to the Clinic. We selected a group of minor restored pagodas without visitors allowing me to explore alone. It was not yet 10.30 a.m. but the temperature was in the mid thirties.
Pagodas of the Bagan Plain.
We were back at the Clinic in time for me to participate in the distribution of the Free Lunch to patients and their companions.
I spent the rest of the day either sitting in on Doctor Hla Tun's consultations or wandering around the site watching the various activities. I still find it hard to believe how the site has expanded since the opening of the original, modest Clinic in 2011 (described in the post here).
The original Clinic in 2011, just before the Opening Ceremony.
Bagan Medical Clinic, May 2019: The original Clinic building is now just one of a complex of buildings.
Once the Clinic was opened in 2011, local and overseas donors could see the work being done and they were encouraged to contribute towards supporting and expanding the Clinic. However, the Reception and Dispensary area of the original building remains the 'nerve centre' of the whole complex. On arrival, it's where patients register to be seen by a Doctor and, after consultation and treatment, it's where patients collect any prescribed medication.
The Reception/Dispensary Area at Bagan Medical Clinic 2019
Related posts on this website
This is one of a series of posts describing my 14th visit to Myanmar. The post Return to Burma is the first post in the series.
Clicking on the 'Next report' link displays the post describing the next events. In this way, you may read about the trip in sequence.
Next report.
Alternately, clicking on the 'All my Burma 2019 reports' link displays all the posts on this trip in reverse date-of-posting order.
All my Burma 2019 reports.
My pictures
My pictures including this part of the trip are in the album Burma 2019.
All my pictures on this trip are in the collection of albums also called Burma 2019 (apart from 'specialist' railway pictures: confusing, eh?).
[Text added, pictures added 21/24-Jun-2019]
Saturday, 11th and Sunday, 12th May 2019
I was ready to leave the Doctor's house at 6.30 a.m. as requested but it was nearer 5.45 a.m. as we set off for the airport with the Doctor driving at high speed and his younger son trying to sleep on the back seat prior to returning the car to the family home. At the still fairly new Domestic Terminal of Mingalardon Airport, security checks were friendly, check-in for the Mann Yadanarpon Airlines 07:00 flight to Nyaung Oo was simple and, after a short wait, we joined the transfer bus. Our aircraft was not at a stand near the terminal building. Instead, we drove just past the end of the runway, crossed via a cutting below the level of the runway and emerged at more recently constructed aircraft stands where a group of ATR72 turbo-prop aircraft for various domestic airlines were waiting..
Our journey to Nyaung Oo took about 75 minutes and it was hot on our arrival. A police sergeant greeted the Doctor and, with his help, we quickly secured our baggage and met Hla Win Ko who was to drive us to the Clinic at Bagan.
The original clinic building at Bagan Medical Clinic, May 2019: Patients register at the now-glazed window on the left. The writing on the window is "Mingale Ba" - the all-purpose Burmese greeting. After treatment, any prescribed medication is issued at the right-hand window.
At the Clinic there were so many old friends to greet; it was a real homecoming for me.
The Dispensary Area at Bagan Medical Clinic 2019
Of course, Doctor Hla Tun immediately started doing consultations and I sat-in for a time.
Doctor Hla Tun and three assistants in his Consulting Room: Bagan Medical Clinic, May 2019.
I think 213 patients had registered for Saturday's clinic and they were shared between Doctor Hla Tun and two other doctors, with Doctor Hla Tun dealing with the more complex cases.
The Doctor invited me into a separate treatment room to observe the administration of a spinal injection for pain relief and at the same time, Captain Myo Lwin and his wife arrived, having flown from Yangon on a later flight operated by KBZ Airlines. After a career on a variety of ships including large container vessels, the Captain's last command was the 'Road to Mandalay' River Cruise ship which was where I first met him in 2008 and we've remained good friends ever since. After hunting round the site for the Captain, I discovered that he and his wife had left to check in at their hotel, after which they'd return to see me.
I was sitting-in with Doctor Hla Tun at 11.30 a.m. when the public address announced that the free cooked lunch for patients and their companions was about to be served, so I went to have a look. The Abbott was already handing lunches to a long line of patients but, as soon as he saw me approaching, he gestured for me to take over the distribution and a joyful, if frantic, few minutes resulted as well over two hundred meals were handed out.
Burma 2019: Distribution of free lunch, Saturday 11th May 2019.
The open-sided building from which these meals are distributed is now a properly-constructed wooden structure with a 'tin roof' and computer-printed banners hung on the outside - a far cry from the more modest shelter used when the Clinic first opened in 2011.
When Captain Myo Lwin and his wife came back, we chatted for a while with The Doctor, who did not interrupt his treatments, except for a couple of minutes for formal pictures of the Abbott, Doctor Hla Tun, Captain Myo Lwin and the writer, which the Captain had requested to record those whom he regards as the main instigators of the Bagan Clinic Project.
The Abbott, Doctor Hla Tun, Jan Ford and Captain Myo Lwin: Bagan Medical Clinic, 2019
I sat-in with the Doctor until the early evening. It's always humbling to see how stoical seriously-ill Burmese can be when faced with either lack of local services or inability to pay the costs involved. Whilst the Bagan Clinic makes no charge for consultations, a nominal charge of a few dollars for medication is made although this is cancelled in cases of need.
The intensive schedule of the previous few days together with recovering from my earlier infection meant that I retired hours before the Doctor. Daytime outside temperatures in Bagan of 44 degrees Celsius meant that even local people were complaining of the heat. The main consulting rooms (and the bedroom I use at the Clinic) fortunately have air conditioning and a modern, large diesel standby generator makes up for frequent 'outages' of the external electricity supply.
The following day, Sunday, continued in a similar way. I was surprised to discover that only 80 new patients had registered for Sunday. The Doctor explained that the 12th of May is celebrated as 'Buddha's Birthday' in Myanmar and is a public holiday. This one date celebrates the Birth, Enlightenment and Death of the Buddha. There's a Wikipedia article here. Captain Myo Lwin and his wife returned to the Clinic during Sunday morning and Doctor Hla Tun's mother arrived by car, having flown from Yangon to Nyaung Oo. I'd first met this lady in 2017, when she joined us on a trip to Mon State (described in a series of reports here}.
Slowly, the numbers of waiting patients dwindled as they were seen by the Doctor and then received prescribed medication.
Update on number of treatments
In the earlier post here I reported on the number of treatments carried out up to the end of 2018. I was able to confirm the further treatments in the first four months of 2019 as follows:-
January: 2,709
February: 2,739
March: 3,121
April: 1,257
Note that, because of 'Thingyan', the national water festival in April, the Clinic only opens for two weekends that month so patient treatments are always lower than other months.
Related posts on this website
This is one of a series of posts describing my 14th visit to Myanmar. The post Return to Burma is the first post in the series.
Clicking on the 'Next report' link displays the post describing the next events. In this way, you may read about the trip in sequence.
Next report.
Alternately, clicking on the 'All my Burma 2019 reports' link displays all the posts on this trip in reverse date-of-posting order.
All my Burma 2019 reports.
This blog has a number of articles on Medical Support (mainly in Myanmar). You can display them all (in reverse date-of-posting order) by clicking here or selecting 'Medical Support' in the 'List of Labels to Select a Blog Topic'.
My pictures
I've uploaded lots of pictures to 'Flickr' but they're not all sorted and titled. I'll get onto it as soon as I can.
Bagan Medical Clinic, May 2019
Around Bagan Clinic 2019
Burma 2019
[Text added 13/14-May-2019, 21-May-2019: Edits, pictures embedded 1-Jun-2019]
The Bagan Medical Clinic was officially opened on 30th October 2011, as described here, although treatments started on 6th August 2011.
My previous update showed monthly statistics up to the end of September, 2017, when the total number of treatments carried out was 207,345.
The Clinic is normally open on Friday, Saturday and Sunday but from the middle of July 2018, patient numbers rose and the Clinic additionally opened on Mondays, allowing around 1,100 treatments each week provided Dr. Hla Tun worked until 2.00 a.m. each day and the other two Doctors worked until midnight. With the temporary help of another Doctor, in one week 1,300 patients were seen.
Bagan Clinic end August: A free lunch is provided for waiting patients
and their companions (Photo: Dr. Hla Tun)
Bagan Clinic end September. The Abbott talks to waiting patients
(Photo: Dr. Hla Tun)
Treatment Summary
The table below shows the number of treatments per month from October 2017 to end of December 2018. The total number of treatments since the Bagan Medical Clinic opened in 2011 has now passed a quarter of a million, a remarkable achievement.
| Month |
Treatments in month |
Total treatments |
| October 2017 |
1,903 |
209,248 |
| November 2017 |
1,973 |
211,221 |
| December 2017 |
2,266 |
213,487 |
| January 2018 |
1,751 |
215,238 |
| February 2018 |
1,609 |
216,847 |
| March 2018 |
2,157 |
219,004 |
| April 2018 |
1,261 |
220,265 |
| May 2018 |
2,258 |
222,523 |
| June 2018 |
2,813 |
225,336 |
| July 2018 |
2,972 |
228,308 |
| August 2018 |
5,149 |
233,457 |
| September 2018 |
7,428 |
240,885 |
| October 2018 |
3,210 |
244,095 |
| November 2018 |
3,044 |
247,139 |
| December 2018 |
2,877 |
250,016 |
Notes
The Bagan Medical Clinic is open throughout the year except for one or two weeks during April because of the Water Festival ('Thingyan') and Myanmar New Year.
Doctor Hla Tun is also Chief Medical Officer aboard the 'Road to Mandalay' river cruise ship operated by Belmond. During much of the season, this ship shuttles between Shwe Kyet Yet (near Mandalay) and Bagan, mooring at Bagan (close to the Bagan Clinic) from Friday to Monday, whilst the ship's guests explore the wonders of the pagodas spread across the Bagan Plain. This allows Doctor Hla Tun to normally open the Bagan Clinic on Friday, Saturday and part of Sunday. Doctor Hla Tun typically sees 90 patients each day the Clinic is open. Less complex cases are seen by two other doctors.
Free Lunches
A free lunch is served to patients and their companions on the clinic days.
Other reports on medical support in Myanmar
There are a number of posts in this Blog describing medical support in Myanmar provided by the RTM Social Contribution with help from donors around the world. You can find them all here.
Photographs
There's a collection of pictures showing the Bagan Clinic from its inception here.
Doctor Hla Tun's photographs illustrating the work of the Bagan Clinic can be accessed by the following links:-
2014
2015
2016
2018
Sunday, 6th May 2018
By continuing to see patients on Saturday night until one o'clock in the morning, Doctor Hla Tun was left with around twelve patients still to see on Sunday morning. He started his consultations a little after 7.00 a.m. in the hope of being finished before noon but each patient always receives all the time they need and, with some complex cases, it was after 2 p.m. before we were ready to leave, with over 600 patients having been seen that weekend.
Bagan Clinic 6th May 2018: Doctor Hla Tun at work.
As always, I was sad to be leaving my friends at the Clinic which was now much quieter as patients started their often arduous journeys home.
Bagan Clinic 6th May 2018: A group of patients preparing to travel home.
By Sunday afternoon, a number of the retail stall holders had also packed up and left.
Bagan Clinic 6th May 2018: By Sunday afternoon, a number of the retail stall holders had packed-up and left.
At the Doctor's insistence, I'd been given lunch (yes, congee and a plain omelette with a can of Coca Cola). To prepare me for the journey, they also gave me soup and fresh fruit. The Doctor himself intended to skip lunch but the staff made sure he took something from the wide range of dishes available which he consumed whilst standing.
The Doctor takes a hasty lunch.
The Doctor and I were to travel in a monastery saloon car with a different driver who was familiar with the Mandalay area. An attractive young lady who works for Belmond with good English was to accompany us on our trip.
We left Bagan Medical Clinic and drove across the Plain of Bagan with its numerous pagodas which I always find magical.
Bagan Pagodas.
At Nyaung Oo we headed north on a good road I'd not travelled before towards Mandalay. We passed a deteriorating concrete bridge over a watercourse which was shared by a single line railway. Small toll stations were provided on either side of the bridge.
Bagan to Pyin Oo Lwin 6th May 2018: Deteriorating concrete bridge shared by a single line railway.
In the substantial city of Myingyan, the broad main road had the concrete poles for power distribution running down the middle, with the usual untidy festoon of cables to buildings on both sides of the road and various types of street lighting fittings strapped to the poles.
Bagan to Pyin Oo Lwin 6th May 2018: Myingyan.
The road turned east and intersected the Yangon - Mandalay Expressway which we joined, heading north towards Mandalay. At the toll station near Mandalay International Airport, we turned off towards Paliek and Myitnge. After about three hours travelling, we stopped briefly for sweet tea at a tea-shop near Myitnge then by-passed Mandalay itself to take the road to Pyin Oo Lwin.
The changes here since my last road trip to Pyin Oo Lwin were remarkable. The road, the 'Oriental Highway', is operated by a private company and massive road works are in progress at the Mandalay end of the route. Beyond Pyin Oo Lwin the road continues through Lashio to an important border crossing into China so the route carries immense amounts of heavy lorries. From the plains at Mandalay, the road climbs 3,500 feet to Pyin Oo Lwin so we were frequently passing crawling heavy lorries.
Pyin Oo Lwin was chosen by the Britsh at their 'Hill Station' (the term is still used in Myanmar) and called Maymyo, 'May's town' after a British colonel of that name. This gave the British somewhere to escape the heat of the plains in summer and older parts of the town still have the atmosphere of England, although modern rather nondescript development is less attractive, swelling the population to around 255,000. There's a Wikipedia article on the town here.
Related posts on this website
This is one of a series of posts describing my 13th visit to Myanmar.
The post Travelling again is the first post in the series.
Clicking on the 'Next report' link will show the post describing the next events. In this way, you may read about the trip in sequence.
Next report
Alternately, clicking on the 'All my Burma-2018 reports' link displays all the posts on this trip in reverse date-of-posting order.
All my Burma-2018 reports
My pictures
Where necessary, clicking on an image above will display an 'uncropped' view or, alternately, pictures from may be selected, viewed or downloaded, in various sizes, from the albums below:-
Bagan Medical Clinic 2nd weekend
Bagan to Pyin Oo Lwin 6th May 2018
All my pictures on this trip to Myanmar can be found at Burma 2018.
[Patient numbers and 'Next' link added 8-May-2018: Edits, pictures linked, pictures inserted 26-Jun-2018]
Saturday, 5th May 2018
Having slept well, I ventured outside just before seven, I immediately came across the Abbott, showing a Myanmar lady and her 20-year old daughter around the Clinic. The daughter spoke English, so we chatted for a minute or two.
It had been agreed that I would go to Htee Pu and make a distribution of stationery. The Doctor had ensured that the stationery was available at the Clinic so the monastery car was loaded and the driver and I set off at 8.00 a.m. on the familiar route to Htee Pu. The last couple of miles to Htee Pu village used to be a nightmare over an undulating earth road but, on my last visit, road improvements were in progress and we found that, now the work was completed, access to Htee Pu is much improved, although the last section through the village to the monastery and school remains a rutted, earth road.
Visit to Htee Pu 5th May 2018: The improved road from the main road to the village.
We were greeted by the abbot and three lady teachers. Three tables were set up in the shade of a large tree in the dirt playground and we unpacked the bulk supplies of exercise books, pencils and plastic rulers and assembled over 100 ‘kits’ comprising 5 good-quality ruled exercise books, three pencils each with a eraser tip, and a plastic ruler. I noted, with approval, that all the packaging materials were being carefully collected in a black plastic bag and a woven basket. Htee Pu school tries to inculcate a responsible attitude to litter in its pupils. In general, Myanmar people are some of the friendliest in the world but it has to be said that they are also some of the worst offenders in thoughtlessly tossing litter aside.
Visit to Htee Pu 5th May 2018: Three tables were set up in the shade of a large tree. The monastery building can be seen in the background.
Visit to Htee Pu 5th May 2018: Exercise books, pencils and plastic rulers were assembled into over 100 ‘kits.’
There was no sign of any children. It was hard to believe that over 100 excited children were waiting noiselessly in the adjacent assembly hall.
Visit to Htee Pu 5th May 2018: The Assembly Hall where the children were quietly waiting.
Once the stationery 'kits' were ready, the teachers brought out the children in single file, youngest first. Because of the good organisation, it didn't take long to present the distribution.
Distribution complete, the children quickly disappeared (this visit took place during their summer school holiday) and the abbott, teachers and I sat for a while in a decorated pavilion where refreshments had been provided.
Visit to Htee Pu 5th May 2018: Refreshments in the Pavilion.
Afterwards, the abbott took me to check the various classrooms which had been provided as part of the ‘Road to Mandalay’ Social Contribution. I'd attended the opening ceremony, back in 2010, of one of these buildings (there's a description of that opening here).
Visit to Htee Pu 5th May 2018: Current view of the building opened in 2010.
Finally, we said 'good-bye' to our friendly hosts and the driver and I returned to Bagan Medical Clinic. As usual, the main road back to Nyaung Oo had road works in progress. I think major repairs are required each year following the season of heavy rain but there is also a serious attempt to generally improve the road infrastructure in Myanmar.
Visit to Htee Pu 5th May 2018: Roadbuilding on the Nyaung Oo-Mount Popa road.
Safely back in Bagan, I spent the rest of the day either trying to write text files ready to upload to the internet once I had a connection, backing up photographs or observing in Doctor Hla Tun’s consulting room. Once again, I retired well before the Doctor.
Related posts on this website
This is one of a series of posts describing my 13th visit to Myanmar.
The post Travelling again is the first post in the series.
Clicking on the 'Next report' link will show the post describing the next events. In this way, you may read about the trip in sequence.
Next report
Alternately, clicking on the 'All my Burma-2018 reports' link displays all the posts on this trip in reverse date-of-posting order.
All my Burma-2018 reports
My pictures
Bagan Medical Clinic 2nd weekend
Visit to Htee Pu 5th May 2018
All my pictures on this trip to Myanmar can be found at Burma 2018.
[Pictures linked, minor edits and pictures embedded 22-Jun-2018]
Friday, 4th May 2018
When we arrived back from Chin State on Thursday evening, 74 patients had already registered for Friday but we knew that more were on their way to the Clinic.
The Doctor’s wife was returning to Yangon on Friday so, after we had breakfast together just before 7.00 a.m., the monastery car whisked her to Nyaung Oo Airport, in time to catch the 08:20 flight to Yangon. This flight is not direct but makes calls at Mandalay and Heho, and is due Yangon 11:00.
The Doctor started consultations before eight o’clock and I observed for a while. An attractive, well-dressed lady came into the consulting room, whom the Doctor introduced to me as the Dentist.
Bagan Medical Clinic 2nd weekend: The visiting dentist observes the lunch distribution.
There’s a public address system in the compound over which a man periodically broadcasts what is, I believe, an appeal for funds. There are certainly a number of clear-sided collecting boxes around the site, of the type you find in pagodas.
Bagan Medical Clinic with two clear-sided Donation Boxes visible on the right.
When the free lunch is ready, an announcement is made over the public address which I didn’t hear on Friday but the Doctor prompted me to go and witness this inspiring event. As I walked to the distribution point, a long queue was forming and the Abbot had started handing out meals.
Bagan Medical Clinic 2nd weekend: the Abbott distributing free lunches to patients and their companions.
As soon as the Abbot saw me, he waved me across and I took over. Of course, all the work is done by the team of volunteers loading the metal plates with a generous portion of steamed rice followed by two or three other items which vary day-by-day.
Bagan Medical Clinic 2nd weekend: Plates with free lunches being made up by clinic staff and volunteers.
Sometimes, a person will collect the meal for one or two companions but somebody was on hand to prompt me if I failed to understand a request for extra meals. I’m always pleased to watch the meal distribution as it seems to represent an excellent basis for a philosophy of life and I'm humbled when asked to participate.
Although the 2-storey building had been put into use, full utilisation and completion of the adjacent 28-bed hospital recovery unit is dependent upon the receipt of donations. Building adaptions had been agreed to improve access to the upper floor of the 2-storey building and I was pleased to see builders at work on the new stairway on the river elevation of the buildingh. Although each flight of stairs has been cast on site from concrete, the final profile of each step was being defined by cementing bricks in place. Two bricklayers were working down the stairs, taking the required bricks from an adjacent small pile being kept topped-up by lady labourer.
Bagan Medical Clinic 2nd weekend. Bricklayers working on the new staircase.
What I found remarkable was that the lady, just wearing a wide-brimmed floppy, woven sun hat, was somehow balancing twelve bricks on her head, six on the left, six on the right, climbing the rough-cast stairs to where the men were working and then slowly crouching down to cautiously unload the bricks (unaided), one from the left, one from the right until another dozen bricks were safely in the pile ready for the bricklayers to use.
Bagan Medical Clinic 2nd weekend: Having transported more bricks upstairs, the labourer positions them ready for the bricklayers.
Bagan Medical Clinic 2nd weekend: River elevation of 2-storey building showing stairway extension under construction.
I was quite tired after our intensive trip to Chin State so, other than periodic strolls around the compound marvelling at all the activity, I divided my time between observing the Doctor and his team dealing with a wide variety of cases and working on my computer offline in my room.
Although I took my regular meal at 1.00 p.m., the Doctor only snacked but finally, after 8.00 p.m., he stopped briefly for an evening meal before continuing consultations until after 1.00 a.m. by which time I was sound asleep.
Related posts on this website
This is one of a series of posts describing my 13th visit to Myanmar.
The post Travelling again is the first post in the series.
Clicking on the 'Next report' link will show the post describing the next events. In this way, you may read about the trip in sequence.
Next report
Alternately, clicking on the 'All my Burma-2018 reports' link displays all the posts on this trip in reverse date-of-posting order.
All my Burma-2018 reports
My pictures
Bagan Medical Clinic 2nd weekend
All my pictures on this trip to Myanmar can be found at Burma 2018.
[Pictures linked, minor edits and pictures embedded 19-Jun-2018]
