Myanmar has lots of Thai influence. Most restaurants serve Thai food. In fact when my friends asked what food I wanted to eat, I told them I wanted to eat authentic Burmese food. They had a tough time looking for a restaurant that served authentic Burmese food without mixing Thai food in their menus.
Another memorable moment was the last day as we were driving to the airport. It was the day that the water festival was to start (actually at noon). Crowds were gathering and some had filled up tanks of water with water hose to spray at passers-by. We were really amused as some were holding plastic water pistols. How much water can they spray and get people wet? All over town, temporary stages were built along the roads so that people can gather on the stage to throw water at passers-by. We experienced being sprayed twice and fortunately we were in the van and so nobody got wet. In fact, the day before our departure, I was invited to attend a water splashing party but I declined as I didn’t want to get sick as the weather was very hot and dry.
Not
only are they
smart kids, they are very polite as well. All of them
do very well in school. Two of them were top students not only in their
class/school but also in the state. Pat took photographs of them
holding their awards. The children entertained us with songs in English
and in Myanmar. We took chocolates for them to eat. The CBC Team prayed
for every child a blessing before we departed.
I
did a little shopping at
the Bogyoke market. The market is very similar to the Russian market in
Phnom Penh. Little stalls, selling clothes, materials, ladies’
accessories like pearls, jade and other gems, slippers, shoes, wood
carvings, paintings as well as pictures made up of either gems or sea
shells. We had a great time bargaining.
Myanmar is a good place to visit at least for one time. They have plenty of land. There are big colonial type houses with big gardens. Unfortunately, most of the houses and buildings are very old and run down.
Myanmar has frequent power failures. One of my friends told me that she has to wait till sometimes late in the evenings before power returns so that she can catch up with her reading. Most of them don’t even own televisions and for those who have televisions, they get frustrated as most of the times during an interesting program or movie, the power is cut. Most of them have generators in their homes.
Cars are very expensive there. For example, a 1987 model car costs approx. US$22,000. Are we not thankful to live in Malaysia? Altogether, my trip to Myanmar has been an eye opener.
| UPDATE AFTER THE CYCLONE NARGIS HIT MYANMAR (Monday, May
12, 2008)
We were in touch with sister Levi Lim at the International House of Prayer in Kansas City as we could not communicate with Yangon for several days. Levi managed to hear from Andrew, her brother, soon after the cyclone hit the city on May 5. Our concern was for the children, and this is what Levi wrote:- “Andrew left a message that actually made me laugh even in the midst of such a difficult time. He said that while the storm hit the neighbourhood, he saw roofs flying away, trees uprooted. That made him worried about the children we adopted. He went over to the children’s apartment as soon as he could. When he arrived, the children just got up from their sleep and knew nothing about the storm. The children slept through the storm, protected by Jesus through the concrete building. The children were shocked when they saw their neighbours’ buildings destroyed in the morning. Praise be to Jesus for His sovereign protection.” Only after a week were we able to contact Yangon. Most of our friends’ houses had their roofs blown away by the cyclone. CBC is raising funds to help meet their immediate needs. When more information comes through, we would be able to help our Christian friends more effectively. |