Author Archives: Chris

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Inle Lake – life at and around the pagoda

We were on the short boat ride from our hotel to the five-day market (in a different village every day for five days), when passing the pagoda we saw a boat decorated as though for a wedding or such. Our guide said it would be for an initiation ceremony (Shinbyu) of a young novice; we promptly pulled over and went to see what was happening. As Twe Twe explained, this ceremony is a very important rite of passage both for the young boy and the family. For parents, it is deemed the most important duty that they owe to their son by letting him go forth and embrace the legacy of the Buddha at least for a short while, perhaps longer, if not for the rest of his life. Therefore, those that don’t have sons of their own, will often seek an orphan or a boy from a very poor family in order to receive this special regard by the Buddha. Many believe that allowing a son to spend some time in a monastery, even only a week (although they can become novices on more than one occasion), is the best religious gift the parents can give.

Evidently the first Shinbyu occurred two and a half millennia ago, when the Buddha’s own son asked for his inheritance, and he was stripped of his princely garments and given the robe of an ascetic, head shaved and sent to the monastery.

We could walk from the pagoda to the market, which was vibrant as most markets are and with a wonderful array of vegetables, spices and everything else imaginable.

 

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Inle Lake, Myanmar

It is such a great feeling to be greeted at the airport (Bagan Air flew us from Yangon to Heho) by a smiling face, and this one belonged to Twe Twe, our guide during our visit to the Inle Lake area. Having spent the day with her, she is super and her english superb and totally understandable (this can sometimes be a problem, even if their vocabulary is good!)

Some facts and figures about Inle Lake: A beautiful highland lake, 900 meters above sea level, but at its deepest only about 4 meters. The lake is 22km long and 10km across, and inhabited by many different ethnic nationals of the area. The Intha people are the lake dwellers who are unique for their leg rowing. The lake is located in Shan State, the largest state in the country with about 30% of the population comprising 33 different tribes with 33 different languages and is considered part of the Golden Triangle.

On our ride from Heho, we visited the Shwe Yan Pyae Monestery which houses 700 or so Shan Buddha images. Beautiful intricate glass decoration and gold leaf were a part of its former glory. The school part of the monestery, built of teak now weathered, still houses young monks.

In Nyuangshwe we dropped off our bags at the jetty and hopped on bicycles to ride a couple of miles along country lanes to the Red Mountain Winery. A winery was about the last thing I imagined we’d visit in Myanmar! but thanks to a local Shan resident who, as Twe Twe put it “hit the jackpot” in gem mining, here we are! He imported vines from France about 8 years ago and is now producing some very nice wine. We had a delicious lunch and tasted wine in the hilltop setting overlooking vineyards and Inle Lake.

After cycling back to the jetty, we boarded our long boat for the exhilarating ride to our lake hotel. We saw many of the local Intha leg-rowing fishermen. What an extraordinary thing! but they all do it effortlessly. I know where one person would land if attempting it! We arrived at our hotel, the Shwe Yee Pwint, after about an hour. Wow! our own little chalet on stilts over the water. I have always been addicted to the thrill of the journey, and the series of long haul flights to get here were so part of it all! Now we can enjoy a few days of relaxation on this beautiful lake.

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Yangon, Myanmar

Anyway, back to our visit to Yangon: Our main destination was to be the Shwedagon (shwe=gold) Pagoda at sunset, but we were beaten to it by the King of Norway and his security entourage, so that is on tap for when we return to Yangon. Instead we went to see the magnificent 70 meter long reclining Buddha with the most spectacular glass eyes.

Chauk Htat Gyi Reclining Buddha Image – Yangon, Myanmar.

 

Chinatown night market and Indiatown.

Sule Pagoda in the center of town and about 100 meters from our hotel.

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Sule Pagoda – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

 

 

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+15 hours

Thank you, Lord, for all the blessings of this life. The obvious go without saying, but the opportunity to widen horizons and fly business class are well worth being extra thankful for! Our detour to Chicago, and our flight on Cathay Pacific (CX807) was well worth it. We are here, in Hong Kong, on time and having experienced superb service on the way.

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me and my baggage!

On board CX 807

 

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SE Asia bound

We are embarking on our long anticipated adventure (planned for 10 months) to Southeast Asia – namely, Myanmar, or as I prefer, Burma, Cambodia, Laos, and northern Thailand. The trip is made even more exciting because we were able to finagle business class flights through the use of miles and purchasing miles. Sweeeeet! Leg one from Boston to Dallas went without a hitch and very comfortably, thank you very much. Next leg starts tomorrow at 11.30 and will be a 17 hour flight to Hong Kong; change planes and onward to Bangkok. More on that later ….

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Visiting September 11 Memorial Museum

A grey and rainy day, but a good day to visit the September 11 Memorial Museum. We drove to Jersey City, leaving the car there and took a quick 5-minute ferry ride across to Manhattan and a stone’s throw from the 9/11 site.

The memorial is located at the World Trade Center site, on the former location of the Twin Towers, which were destroyed during the attacks. It is genius that the two pools are where to towers once stood.  The museum, which goes underground and has some of the original structures from the towers,  is extremely well thought out and the information and artifacts beautifully presented. I thought I would be much more affected by the reminders, but think the whole thing is so strongly etched in my memory from watching events as they happened on TV, that most of the pictures and images were familiar to me. Nevertheless, a sad and poignant place, but a lovely memorial for all those whose lives were taken on that fateful day.

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Early Autumn in Nova Scotia

A road trip to Nova Scotia was made even more enjoyable by a stop in Shediac and spending the evening with Odette and Jerry, whom we met on our Panama Canal/South America cruise in 2008.

A stop for lunch at Le Caveau restaurant in Grand Pre.

Our destination –  Bridgetown, NS – with good friends, Jean and John plus the added bonus of Irene and Arvid joining us from Toronto. We’re having a good catch-up and some good laughs along with celebration of Jean’s birthday on 28th.

Sightseeing on the Fundy Shore with quick visit to J&J’s cabin.

 

 

A drive to Luckett’s winery for lunch (near Wolfville).

To  Annapolis Royal for the Saturday market, then off to shop for lobster. The one Jean is holding is the largest I’ve ever seen – a 14lber!

Back to the cabin to cook and eat the lobster! the most perfect evening possible.

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Maine’s Common Ground Fair

Unlike some of my friends, I only go to the Common Ground Fair every three years or so .. not because I don’t like it, but because I have become shy  of crowds, queues, traffic, etc. – especially in Maine. Anyway, it was good to spend some time there today, despite the cooler than forecast temps. My favorite demo is with the sheep dogs, and the apple tasting wasn’t half bad either!

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A morning in the company of Forest Hart

For years we have seen the magnificent bronze moose sculptures as we drove back and forth on Rte 1, and knew they were the work of Forest Hart. It wasn’t until recently that a couple of friends mentioned they had visited his property and seen his amazing works of art. Arrangements were made, and off we went – five of us – to visit Forest and see his domain – hundreds of acres in Monroe with far reaching views.

Of course, why would I have expected anything else? This artist, a native Mainer, who took all the time in the world to explain the whole process, talk about his life, share the story of the horrible fire that took everything that he and Susan owned, and all in a humble and selfless way. His interest, at a young age, in taxidermy and his knowledge of anatomy is astounding. His stories of Fearless, the fluffy tailed white weasel, that visited them for 6-weeks, and the photos of the other wildlife on their  doorstep is fascinating.

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An evening in Dublin

Getting from the airport to our hotel (The Gibson) was an absolute cinch! The air link bus from the airport (€10 round trip) dropped us within 100 yards, and the tram that runs through the city stops outside the door at the last stop – The Point. A modern, and very comfortable hotel in the dock area.

We rode the tram in to Temple Bar area to find The Storehouse pub and restaurant – we weren’t disappointed! Great food, great Guinness, and terrific live music. The street entertainment was pretty darn good too! A fun evening!