I
return to Myanmar today and the draft itinerary has a few differences already!
Usually
I fly into Yangon, take a taxi to the Highway bus station, board a GI Group
overnight bus and arrive in Mandalay at 5.00 a.m. This time Saya Htay and Win
San are driving down from Mandalay to the Highway bus station (a five hour
drive I believe) and will pick me up.
We
should have headed first to Bago to find some poor villages (never hard to
find) and stayed on for me to write up the Bago Buddhist Pagoda Festival. However, first, we will go to Nyaung Pin Zauk,
Win San and Saya Htay’s village, because Saya Htay's nephew is doing Shin Pyu.
This is the novitiation ceremony when young Buddhist boys are inducted into the
monastery.
After
our time in the village we will head to Mandalay and on the 11th April meet
Sebastian Andrei at the airport. Sebastian is the documentary film maker who is
making a film of our project Gifts of Sight which, when completed, will go on
U-Tube. Win San and Saya Htay will go to their own home in Mandalay, Sebastian and I will
go to Garden Hotel, the owners of which will undoubtedly be pleased that a
documentary film maker is staying.
My
task to be completed before Sebastian arrives is to find out the occupation of
all the people to whom we have given glasses (in Nyaung Pin Zauk – not in the
whole of Myanmar!) to see if\how their life has improved now that they can see.
I am sure there will be a weaver and, doubtless, someone who can now see to
read. I remember last year we gave away some glasses to a man who was the
bookkeeper at the Pagoda in a village around Indawgyi Lake who had not been
able to read for four years. His bookkeeping ledger must have been imaginative
(like my maths).
My
task done in advance means that Sebastian can choose which subjects he feels
are the most interesting to people in other countries whom we hope will see the
film Gifts of Sight and take some gifts of sight when they next go on holiday.
I believe we will stay in Nauk Pin Zauk until Sebastian has all the footage he
needs.
The
Water Festival is on everywhere
in Myanmar 13-16 April. Doubtless wherever we are we will not avoid a soaking. From
15-22 April the Shwe Maw Daw Pagoda Festival is on in Bago and the Popa
Ceremony is on at Mount Popa from 17-23 April.
Of course we will be visiting one village after another when I have
finished writing up the festivals.
At some point on our journey we will overnight in Bagan not necessarily
to give away glasses, but Sebastian very much wants to film the incredible
sunrise and sunset for which Bagan is famed.
By Sunday 23 April, exhausted no doubt, we
will be back in Mandalay
recovering before the overnight bus to Yangon, which gets in at 5.00 next
morning. We will check into Beautyland II Hotel where they always greet me with
“Welcome home”! Sebastian will then have a whole day to see the sights of Yangon before
we fly back to Kuala Lumpur.
Now
I must finish my packing. That won't take long as I can take almost nothing but
the glasses. This time I am taking 245 pairs and I have almost the same number
in my trunk for my next visit in July.
I
have been given some great advice from some of my friends. The first involved
an email to Tony Fernandez CEO of Air Asia. I have asked for a few extra kilos
of baggage allowance free of charge, as I believe he is willing to help
charitable initiatives. Next time I will contact the Public Relations part of his
organisation to see if all the glasses baggage can go free of charge. We shall
see.
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