Mandalay and Hsipaw

We are in damage control. Win Kyaing is taking his damaged back back to his village at his father’s request. I volunteered other medical suggestions, but it seems rest is the most important thing.

We are now working on Plan B. Luckily my phone is on roaming so we can keep in touch.

Saya Tay and I called on Pyone Pyone to give Tet Tet, the new baby her first dress. The photos will show that mother and big sister Kyaw Tazin like it too. 

Kyaw Tazin at kindergarten. Below as a model! 

Hsipaw in Northern Shan State, where one of the festivals will be held, has a romantic story attached to it – albeit with a sad ending. Cont. myandering.blogspot.com. Two young people studying in America in the 1950s fell in love and got married. The bridegroom was Shan and he took his bride, Inge Sargent, an Austrian-American, back to his home in Myanmar. Their ship docked in Yangon and surveying the cheering crowds on the quay, Inge remarked to her husband that there must be some very important people on board because there were hundreds of people waiting to greet them.  He then revealed that he was a sao pha: a Shan prince!   He took his bride to live in his haw sao pha or palace in Hsipaw.

The couple had two daughters and did much to improve the lot of their people. The prince was philanthropic and progressive and gave land away to the people who worked it. Then, in 1962, the sao pha failed to return from a meeting in Yangon and has not been heard from since. His disappearance coincided with the March 1962 military coup by General Ne Win. The prince, like many others, was arrested and perhaps died or was killed in prison. Inge remained in Myanmar for a long time trying every avenue to find her husband or even hear news of him. Eventually, intimidated, Inge returned home.