Photography is certainly more than buying a camera and pressing a button. Takes time,patience and learning.
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December 3, 2009
December 3, 2009
What do my readers think of my stuff ? Comments please !
December 3, 2009
Some stuff I did recently.
November 5, 2009
Hi everybody,
Me doodles :
Last few months, we have had a bit more electricity for fans and AC’s in Mandalay. And was that welcome because the heat this year was simply too much. Well, except for 2 nights of heavy rain and a few light showers we have not had a rainy season at all. Hence, it seemed like an un-ending summer.
A real drought it was. But as I write this, the cool north winds have started to blow, the nights much more conducive for rest and in the daytime, if you stay in the shade, its quite agreeable. I agree quite much that the climate has changed as the cool season which used to set in around Thadingyut or beginning of October, now appears about 15 days to a month late.
Went to the “Nat” spirit festival in Taungbyone about 12 miles from MDY and found it as noisy ,crowded and cool ( “in the cool,man sense” ) as those adjectives can be . Put together with the heat and humidity, and hordes of people pushing forward to get to a little palace that houses the figures of the Nat spirits, it was certainly an experience.
Strangely though, I liked it, even though I was drenched in sweat and crying for a Coke! I tried to take a pic of a spirit medium by standing on a high ledge nearby while two strangers helpfully held me steady but sadly the photos turned out very poor. Seems my hands were shaking while the ear-splitting music of the traditional band played,joss-stick smoke whirled and people pushed forward for a closer look at the wild dancing and statues of the flower bedecked deities. Lots of villagers came in ox-drawn carts and filled the fair-grounds and pagodas nearby. I even saw a puppet show which advertised a dancing and singing Michael Jackson puppet. Alas, I forget whether I went to this festival before or after the demise of the man-child popstar. So although he may have gone to the afterlife, he still is well and kicking at the Taungbyone spirit festival.
The Maymyo/ Pyinn Oo Lwin flying lantern /hot air balloon festival attracted lots of people this year.
Not many village folk but about half the population of Mandalay was up there, tearing up the streets and blasting away at the usual serenity with their motorbikes. At the fair grounds, there was pushing,shoving and plenty of banter. Actually all that was quite enjoyable. So different it is it from our mundane daily lives whoever,whatever or wherever we are. They say all hotels were full in POL but I guess you could still get a room somewhere if you looked real hard and quick. As usual the San Francisco Restaurant was excellent especially their roast chicken.
Now if you got kids and thinking of visiting any of these festivals, hold on to them tight. You see, if they get separated from you ….. TROUBLE… WORRY … TERROR……… . And the police won’t be much of a help even if you find a few. Or better still carry thekids on your shoulders. But then you gotta watch out for them pickpockets…. Just joking !
And don’t get angry if you get your bottom pinched either. I didn’t .. I even welcomed the fact that someone scratched my itching behind which was impossible to access in that mass of surging people. … Just joking again ! How dare they pinch my bottom !
I have been trying to learn to take acceptable photographs and I hope I have some presentable enough to show you soon. It’s a steep learning curve. There’s a lot of technical stuff which I fear I will never learn but I keep snapping away.
I went shooting pics in Amarapura ( “City of Immortals” as translated by some ) with an English friend of mine who held my stuff for me while I was trying to get pics etc. Many people here probably thought it was crazy because it is usually the foreigner with the big camera and the Burmese guide carrying the stuff.
On the news websites, it says the world’s economy is getting better blah blah… but so many people still are unemployed or unable to get jobs. Maybe they mean that the financial portfolios of the wealthy are recovering but businesses will run now with the number of people they have after letting go of most.
My wife organized a “Katein” which is a donation of supplies of what the monks need throughout the year apart from their daily alms. Toothpaste, brooms , robes, plastic containers etc. All the students chipped in and we had a merry procession to the monastery with all the stuff on trucks. The monk, then gave an hour-long sermon! Arghhh ! Just try to envision me fiddling and squirming in front of the monk while he was giving his endless repetitive and frankly speaking boring sermon.For an hour it was ! Arghhh. Funny sight it must have been.
Lots of “kateins” are organized around the full-moon day of TazaungDaing which falls in the first week of November and the shopkeepers of Zaycho usually have their mass donations at the monasteries of the Sagaing Hills. It is said they take offertories there in the afternoon,spend the evenings cooking alms for the monks’ breakfast and have high-stake card games all night. They probably snooze through the sermons given the next morning too. Ha ha ha .
Other news is that my expat staff’s elder son got dengue and had to be treated at the SOS Myanmar clinic in YGN. He’s OK now. Before that ,as I was taking them in my van to the airport so they could go on a visa run, I hit a large bump and the same son who was without a seat belt, lurched forward and up and hit my windscreen. The kid was OK but my wind screen cracked. Well it seems he is made of stern stuff and has a skull of steel. I have encouraged his father that his son join the New Zealand rugby team.
Now all you Myanmar / Burmese students out there, for scholarship info write to soelay>sssmyamnar@gmail.com. He has a wealth of knowledge on that subject and can provide assistance concerning taking language tests etc.
Well that’s all for now
USL
July 26, 2009
Man, it has been quite some time since I last posted. But here I am again ! Quite a few things have kept me occupied …. Like a ball-shooting game called Zuma which took me 2 months to conquer…. and other more serious stuff like………. David from New Zealand has joined our staff here at Best Language School.
Travels and what not
I went to Angkor with me mum .. Twas a great place… breathtaking carving… and there I visited Ta Prom ,the hindu temple where Angelina Jolie filmed Tomb Raider. Siem Reap was a touristy place but clean and convenient mostly.But the numbers of tourists there : unbelievable !
Bangkok on the way back was.. well … Bangkok ! Tuk-tuks, crowds etc etc . Kinokuniya bookstore was treat though. I also dropped into Ayudhya which once the Burmese had sacked again and again.Some had warned me that Burmese / Barbarians from the west were still not that welcome there. Nevertheless, My mum and I spoke Burmese loudly while exploring the ruins of temples there. We were overheard by a shop assistant who came from Burma and she gave us a whopping 70% discount on souvenirs ! There are so many people from here working over there in Thailand… a pity… surely a pity. I empathize their struggles and recognize their courage.
Back in B….
Also in March, my family went on a trip to Taunggyi for a few days : delicious weather and food there and witnessed a buddhist novitation ceremony of a nephew.
Was originally suppose to go Putao / Fort Hertz, way north of Myitkyina and try to get to the snowy foothills of the Himalayas during the April holidays but couldn’t for a lot of reasons. Will try to get there again in the coming years !
So instead during the Water festival we rented a truck for 2 days for all the staff to enjoy being drenched and baked in the sun. One young female teacher from my staff took too big a swig of whatever toddy a young male teacher offered and started throwing up and etc. I pretended not to notice…
The recession seems to have hit Mandalay hard too. The fashion shops seem to be deserted. At my school from February to May, student numbers were way down but now they are picking up a bit.We are resilient bunch of ….. well whatever and will surely weather this downturn. The economy of Myanmar never ever has been that great, so experiencing it going down is something we’re used to rather than boom times. Our annual school bash for the summer kids program had to do without refreshments this year as a money-saving measure but our children’s choir was angelic …. their singing made up for the school’s lack of budget many times over. Totally cool these kids were and I thank Saya Parami for the super care, prep and work he has done withe kids…. Smashing they were…. we are recruiting more kids and soon will have the ” Mandalay Children’s Choir”.
The exodus of those who can, to work and study in S’pore has slowed down drastically but it will surely pick up again.
Weather-wise in Mandalay we had just about 2 days of rain at the beginning of May and that was it . Phut !! No more….. a major drought.. with winds blowing the clouds away … now the winds have died down and we are left with only energy-sapping heat… Friends visiting from Germany have really suffered.
I hope to write more and promise that I will, in the future…. I hope you enjoyed the photos stuck up on the blog too… Will stick up more fotos once I figure out how to to do so with the buttons in WordPress.They seem to have changed a bit since last time !
Best Wishes to everybody….
December 11, 2008
Hello Everyone,
A few pictures to gaze upon, and reflect upon what life has to give you and … oh! enjoy!
These come to you relayed from Singapore!
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- The Daily Collection
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- Expecting Too Much
December 11, 2008
Loads of bad ones
Lots of tacky ones
Many expensive ones ( grand mansions built by /for a ____ baron )
A lot of unlivable ones
Far-off ones surrounded by paddy fields and other unlived-in houses
Tons of poorly built ones
Crowds of careless owners
Some domiciles said to be haunted
Heaps of heat absorbing concrete-paved compounds bereft of plants
Run-down ones
Paint-peeling off living-space-less ones
Some in dire need of a major refurbishment
Some just ready and waiting to be torn down
Some should have never been built
Some are warehouses masquerading as residences
Some are just hole-in -the wall whatever you wanna call them
No condos
No serviced apartments
No rent-wise mid-priced flats
Water is got thru manning the pumps when electricity is on in the dead of the night for a few minutes
Electricity is now ( 10th of December 2008) for only 2 hours a day
I shudder to think of what will happen to us in summer @ 36*C + in the shade
Eye-sores galore
Unready & unfinished ones
Soul-less and depressing ones
Unsafe and security-less ones :Leave home a few hours and all your posessions carted-off
Ones surrounded by mosquitoe-breeding grounds
Drains and pools of stagnant water just screaming : “Dengue ! “
The ones that have character and comforts are few and far in between
The best ones are those in which the owners themselves live
A dozen in the whole town that are perhaps decent and affordable
The good ones are all ” TAKEN”
And taken ” YESTERDAY” to boot !
The brokers are be-diamonded ladies with bee-hive hair-dos driving old Land-rovers
Younger ones with mobiles and motorcycles, jabbering house locations and conditions
All trying to talk up the “advantages” of places and hoping we’ll decide on a house asap
Some silently swearing at us for being “choosy”
Flattering us, then urging us to buy the mansion around the corner for a few mil…
Rolling their eyes behind our backs when we say : ” Lets see another place .”
Gnashing their teeth, sighing, swallowing saliva
Steeling themselves for trip across town for the next viewing at the next place
We criss-cross the town in vain
But one good / decent / acceptable / livable / not too expensive one will be there for us
So……
We call our friends to call their friends etc..
We send our scouts ( real estate brokers / agents ) out tomorrow again
And hope
December 7, 2008
I have been off-line for some time now because in September I couldn’t access the blog. I think WordPress was blocked but now, here I am again !
In the meantime I have started GCE “O” Level classes and been to Mrauk U in the Rakhine State. I was supposed to be off to Angkor Wat but the demonstrations at Bangkok Airport coincided with my trip and so I couldn’t make it to the Angkor. I will be writing more regularly and uploading more photos of my trips ,Mandalay and its environs soon.
Thanks for visiting the O’l blog
SL
