21feb2011 (Mon) - Mandalay: Monks & Orphans, by Bike

Rented bikes today. Not quite up to the quality of Dutch bikes, but
that end of the weight spectrum. Traffic here is a mixture of cars
(20%), scooters (40%), bikes (15%), pedestrians (10%) and 15%
assorted. Ok, maybe there are more cars than that. Some SUVs and the
latest Audis, lots of bangers from the '70s. At the traffic lights on
the rare 'broad street' intersections I had a Mad Max moment, staring
down a phalanx of motorbikes facing 'my' phalanx of motorbikes with
equal intensity, fingers gripping the accelerator ready to go full
throttle. Actually, the lights 'count down' here, so you're warned
when they're about to turn green -- or red, which is just as well,
since the brakes on our bikes didn't work too well. At the
intersections without lights, bigger vehicles take precedence over
smaller ones; but everyone is pretty polite about it and traffic keeps
moving very smoothly. My strategy was to hug the wheel of the cyclist
ahead of me, making my move in their wake.

Our first destination was the monastery of our monk friend Ashin from
Mandalay Hill, on 62nd between 31st and 32nd. The railroad tracks
between us and him forced us on a bit of a detour, and we biked past
the monastery twice before Ashin came to collect us at the local
temple where we were asking for directions a second time. He served us
a full-on Burmese meal out of his steel canister stack (Naew's maids
in Bangkok transported the family's evening meal in a similar
contraption), and we sat and chatted and had an impromptu English -
Burmese language exchange. And longi-tying lesson.

Our second destination was the Orphanage of the Burmese Buddhist
Association, which was the first place we'd stopped to ask directions
to Ashin''s place. 157 boys between the ages of 5 and 13, getting a
basic education before continuing classes in government schools
(though they typically continue to live at the orphanage). The teacher
we'd met earlier took it upon himself to show us around the campus:
the kitchen where the older boys cook the food for all the residents,
the dining hall, the library, the classrooms, the language lab, the
computer lab. We didn't go into the dorms. All very basic, but very
much 'cared for.' A German charity is one of the main funders. The
guest book was full of comments from Europeans (Germans, Austrians,
Swiss mostly) who had visited. One was from a family who lives at 91
rue des Tourterelles in Thoiry; go figure.

Ashin then took us to the local pagoda, which is under
re-construction. A group of women near the entrance were making
sunscreen by rubbing logs with a special bark on flat stone blocks wet
with a little water. We all had fun smearing the white paste on the
foreigners' faces, and taking pictures together.

Biking in the cool of the morning was lovely. Walking parched down
shadeless streets in the early afternoon, I felt heat-stroke coming
on. I must carry water with me always, and buy a hat.

Got back to the hotel about 3pm and blissed out in a cool shower, then napped.

In the evening (5.30pm on), visited the Night Market held on a main
street which is closed to traffic, just down from the Clock Tower,
Perused the book sellers wares -- saw another copy of Burmese Days,
along with Windows manuals from 1995 and English text books long out
of print -- and the tables of sandals (both plastic and leather) and
the vertical racks of t-shirts and the stacks of pirated DVDs.

Stopped at a chapati-stall for an 'apperitivo' before landing at a
street-side Indian 'restaurant' -- so dubbed by us since it had kitted
out its boy-waiters in identical t-shirts and they were all hustling
very professionally. The outdoor tables were arranged 'around' the
corner of two streets, where the manager / cashier had a
panopticon-like vantage point on all runners.

Found a shop that prints photos, as we'd like to give the monk and
teacher and sunscreen-makers copies of ones we took this afternoon,
and finally landed at an internet cafe where most of the other people
are playing video games.

Night night!

PS. About posting photos to the blog: I'm sorry but that's not going
to happen until I leave Myanmar... :(