On the way to Chin State

We have all had a worrying time. Win San came alone from Nyaung Pin Zauk to pick us up from the Royal Palace Hotel in Pakokku. Where was Saya Htay? She was back in the village with her mother who was very ill. They couldn’t decide whether to bring her to Pakokku hospital or wait and see if she recovered. Win San asked me to go back to the village to help them make up their minds. Fortunately Sue Winn the diesel-oil village has an ambulance, which was already on its way. We arrived in Pakokku Hospital to learn that Daw Myoi Twe was too ill to be treated there, she needed an operation which had to be done in Mandalay – five hours distant. Saya Htay obviously had to stay to look after her mother, so Win San, Sebastian and I set out alone for Chin State, the next planned stop on our itinerary.

Chin State is bounded on the west by Bangladesh and the north by India and we aim to give away the glasses in as many remote villages as possible. Without the very capable Saya Htay I will be giving out the glasses fortunately with Win San’s help. Sebastian will be filming.

We drove west through Pale, Mintaingbin, Kyaw and Yemyetme where we turned north climbing several mountain ranges. On the whole the road was good. We had to leave it occasionally where a bridge was in course of construction or where they were widening it. This entailed dropping down onto a temporary road, which was partly under water. We learned that there was a cyclone affecting Mandalay, Sagaing and Magwe Divisions and we were receiving some of its rain. As we had come here in April specifically to miss the rainy season this was not good news. These mountain roads are impassable in the wet.

We pulled in to several villages to ensure we were on track and the way was open ahead. In Myanmar visitors can only stay at guesthouses or hotels that have a permit. Our destination was Gangaw, which has a hotel, and we will branch out into villages from there.