Post for Feb 27

Weather while here:  OVER 100 degrees!

 

On Monday, the 25^th, after mysterious issues about coming into the port of Yangon or Rangoon—whatever we choose to call it, we “docked” about 4:30 pm. The river is brown with silt and the ship sat low in the port. Those of us who had signed up for a day tour of Yangon, took it at night. We saw the buildings built by the British in downtown Yangon that are—guess what—adaptively reused! Burma or Myanmar—whatever we choose to call it, is 80% Buddhist and there are small amounts of Muslims and Christians. On a rather major corner—let's call it Yangon, there was the blond Jesus and a clock on the front of Immanuel Baptist Church.

But, let me say that the Swedagon Pagoda has it beat by a mile. This is covered in gold and just shimmered like gold because it is. There were Buddhas of all sizes everywhere. Even Buddhas with neon lights radiating from the head. Apparently, this is where the Buddha achieved enlightenment, so this Pagoda is serious Buddha business. When the Buddha achieved enlightenment, he could see everything clearly and at one with God. As it goes in the story, the big dome (or stupa) contains hair from Buddha. Then there were various sizes of the stupas surrounding the big one. Families were walking clockwise around the square of domes gloriously lit up, and it was very quiet and peaceful. The young woman with whom I sat on the bus was leaving to go to a monastery the next morning to learn how to meditate. I asked her to find out why there are so many Buddhas, but I suspect that people have donated money to have them built—thinking that they will get good marks for doing that.

I saw most men wearing the long skirt that is tied in the front, and the females wear the same skirt on the side. The women wear blouses and the men wear shirts. I saw monks walking with even more fabric around their bodies as it comes up and over their shoulder with no shirt underneath.

On Tuesday, I went on a tour to Bago—an ancient city. (Well, really, the whole country is ancient!) In Bago, I went to a Buddhist monastery where Buddhists are taught. Every Buddhist male (almost all the boys in the country) are required to be a monk for awhile. I don't mean the government requires it, it's the Buddhist tradition that does. Girls can choose to go into a monetary for girls, but they are not required to do so. The young monks are educated in the teachings of Buddha but not anything else. Buddha taught people how to live a good life (think of the Ten Commandments plus more) and the practices to be good called “The Way of the Buddha.” As I said before, one of the practices is to treat the elders (Nanas) well, and I certainly have felt that. People make sure I don't fall down the steps in the Pagodas and monasteries. The age card really works here!

If a man wants to become a monk as a profession, he has to study in a monastery for many years before he is a certified head monk. It takes a long time to be able to go to another monastery and have responsibility for teaching others.

When we visited the Kay Kwat Wain Monastery in Bago (built in the 13^th century) where the monks had just finished eating, but there was one table left. I was told that for about one dollar I could have my picture taken near them. I was told to sit so I wouldn't be higher than them, but the best I could do was lower myself a bit. If I sat as low as the monks were, it would have been an ugly scene getting up. I'm sure people would have helped me, but too much drama!! Remember that the community supports the monastery by putting food in their bowls when they stand outside the monastery in the morning, but we arrived too late to “see” that.

We also visited the Shwe Tha Lyaung reclining Buddha—thought to be the oldest one in the world. It was built in 994 AD from bricks and cement. Apparently, there are a lot of reclining Buddhas, and the direction in which they are pointing means different things. I don't know anything more about that, except that the one we visited meant that he was truly resting. Yes, this is real gold, and I found the jeweled feet to be particularly interesting! There was an area in front of the Buddha where people could kneel and bend down to worship with their hands pressed together pointing up. Just as in the Pagoda, people brought flowers with them when they came.

We also went to the Shwe Maw Daw Pagoda, and since you have to take off your shoes and socks, I found out what it's like to visit during the day. HOT FEET! I walked carefully from shadow to shadow because the platform that is built to walk among the many Buddhas is scorching.

I saw many stupas in the countryside. Our guide, Tann Tann, said that every small community wants it's own stupa or pagoda and monastery. By the way, even though Tann Tann studied English all the way through university, she had a heavy accent that made it difficult to follow her. She also speaks Spanish and is a tour guide when tourists come from Spain to escape the heat in the summer since it is cooler in Burma then. Tourism is a booming business now, and it's important to know that the Chinese have built many roads and bridges for this country. (Hey—remember China is a close neighbor, right? Did you find it on the map?)

It is a long drive from Yangon to the ship, so I had a chance to watch the Myanmar/Burmese world go by out the window of the bus. Other than the terrain, it looks very much like the other developing countries I've visited: broken cement, plastic litter, shacks with small store fronts selling a few items, people busy talking and living outside, bicycle and motor bike transportation, dogs all over that belong to the community and no one in particular, western-like advertising billboards that seem brighter that usual, dirt so dry that it's dust, broken down cars and trucks alongside the road with few traffic lights. Until recently, there have been no new cars and trucks in the country for 20 years. Mostly, I see Toyota's and Honda's—Detroit had better start marketing here! I would say that that it is easier to sense the kindness of the people, quieter, and the pace is slower without people rushing. People along the road wave at the bus and most of us wave back.

Since I was pretty tired from Monday and Tuesday, I've taken today (Wed) to relax and write this piece. I had lunch with an interesting young woman from California who just graduated from high school. She's taking her first college courses on the ship and calling this her “gap” year. Her grandparents were born and raised in Hawaii, and her first name is “Melia”... of course, I said to her what everyone else says, “Hey, that's Obama's eldest daughter's name!” Makes sense, since they both have Hawaiian heritage.