All’s Well, Even if it Ends Lousy; Reflections on Myanmar

January 29-30

We get a 3:45 AM FaceTime call from Phoebe. As reception is spotty, the call is short, but welcome. Hillary and driver drop us at the airport for our 1 1/4 hour flight to Bangkok. Okay, so here’s a short summary of what the final entry was supposed to be. Met at the […]

Art, Holocaust Remembrance and Return to Shwedagon

January 28

Breakfast, then off to a place near where Hillary lives to see and photograph monks going for alms. A bell/chime heralds their imminent arrival, and they pass by in a couple of minutes., extending their bowls for donations of rice.

Off to the Golden Valley Art Centre, recommended yesterday by Damon […]

Ferries, Trishaws and Visions for the Future

January 27

After breakfast at the hotel, we head for a return visit to U Hla Win’s gallery, but, as we are early, we walk through a market near Hillary’s apartment. It’s nice to see a market at which there are no tourists, though Hillary indicates that this is a market frequented by richer people, […]

Horse Carts and Farewell to a Magical City

January 26

Picked up at hotel at 7 AM for a horse cart ride. We’d resisted the obligatory horse- and ox-cart rides until now, but decided that they were in fact obligatory. Did not see monks lined up for alms, as we’d hoped to, because our timing was off. But the slow ride among some […]

Close Shaves and Alms

January 25

After buffet breakfast, we are picked up by Dee Dee and driver and we head to the market at Nyaungoo. This is the largest market in Bagan and is more interesting than the one we went to a couple days ago, catering more to locals, less to tourists. That does not mean that […]