Xenne and i are in Thailand for a quick visa trip. We do have a 6-month multi-entry visa but in Burma that means that you still have to leave every 10 weeks..... Luckily we don't have to go to the embassy, just leaving the country is enough. So yesterday afternoon we flew out and this morning we'll go back. I'd planned to do some shopping but that never happened. We went into the nearest department store and spend enough time there for Xenne to be exhausted by 5. He fell asleep shortly after we got back to the hotel. Only to wake up for 2 hours in the middle of the night. Now he's keeping the receptionist busy while i time this quick update.
When i opened this i realised how long i haven't been online. In Burma they are doing some maintenance on the internet backbone. At least that is what they say. Amazingly enough it is mostly news sites and email that we can't access.....
But we're all ok. Xenne is busy exploring the world and he can already do that by running around on his little baby legs. So yesterday at the airport it was a game of him running ahead and me following with the stroller..... All the time till we could board. Then he fell asleep......
Ok, i'm going to see if any of the malls or supermarkets are open.....
Saturday, 28 March 2009
Friday, 13 February 2009
Lagging behind
I hate it when i've just typed a huge post and then when i want to send it, the page just deosn't want to go trough. And of course i handn't paid attention and missed that there were no drafts either... So i have to do it all again. It'll probably be shorter this time.....
Kyaw Kyaw is in Bagan (or actually in Nyaung-U which is literally next door to Bagan). He needs 1 paper for his passport extension (yes here in Burma you can get a passport extension!Then again, a passport is valid for only 3 years). even though he hasn't lived in his village or Nyaung-U for over 15 years, he still needs to go there to get this one paper. Or pay an exhorbitantly high fee to have someone else arrange it for him. Even family isn't authorized to do it except when they pay a lot. Anyway, on the bright side, he visited his family yesterday so that was nice. He had troubel (again!) on the way up there. Apparently he and his fellow passengers slept alongside the road becasue the bus broke down. He arrived in Bagan 24 hours after he'd left Yangon. Even though it is normally 15-16 hours. And it has been like that for the last 3 times that he went there. So he wasn't all that happy since he had planned to get the paper he needed on wednesday which would allow for an extra day if need be. Now he can only hope that it can be done in one day otherwise he'll probably need to stay the whole weekend.
Me, i spend my time in a whole different manner. Yesterday i had a lovely day alone with Xenne. Even the maid had a day off which both she and i enjoyed. The only drawback was that we didn't eat pasta yesterday as i had planned. Xenne wanted to be held all teh time yesterday evening. And since he was ill last week i couldn't deny him that. But cooking AND carrying a toddler at the same time does't work very well. So i ordered in some fried rice. He only wants to eat whatever i eat anyways now. I had made him some nice porridge and yoghurt yesterday but when we were at the teashop he wouldn't eat anything else than my noodlesalad. No matter that the salad was medium spicy... And this morning it was no different, though i was prepared this time and asked them not to but in any chilli.....
Wednesday we had our annual sportsday at school. Well, sportsday.. More fun-and-games day. Coconut shell relay (where the kids walk on coconut shells cut in half), sponge toss, banana relay (which involves blindfolds and unpeeled bananas), water balloon toss, golden coin relay (with the attributes of bowls of flour), tug-of-wars etc..... Much fun. But i think we should have some more water-based games next time. Even though it wasn't extremely hot yet, being out in the sun all day just asks for a waterfight.....
Ok, let's see if i can post this....
Kyaw Kyaw is in Bagan (or actually in Nyaung-U which is literally next door to Bagan). He needs 1 paper for his passport extension (yes here in Burma you can get a passport extension!Then again, a passport is valid for only 3 years). even though he hasn't lived in his village or Nyaung-U for over 15 years, he still needs to go there to get this one paper. Or pay an exhorbitantly high fee to have someone else arrange it for him. Even family isn't authorized to do it except when they pay a lot. Anyway, on the bright side, he visited his family yesterday so that was nice. He had troubel (again!) on the way up there. Apparently he and his fellow passengers slept alongside the road becasue the bus broke down. He arrived in Bagan 24 hours after he'd left Yangon. Even though it is normally 15-16 hours. And it has been like that for the last 3 times that he went there. So he wasn't all that happy since he had planned to get the paper he needed on wednesday which would allow for an extra day if need be. Now he can only hope that it can be done in one day otherwise he'll probably need to stay the whole weekend.
Me, i spend my time in a whole different manner. Yesterday i had a lovely day alone with Xenne. Even the maid had a day off which both she and i enjoyed. The only drawback was that we didn't eat pasta yesterday as i had planned. Xenne wanted to be held all teh time yesterday evening. And since he was ill last week i couldn't deny him that. But cooking AND carrying a toddler at the same time does't work very well. So i ordered in some fried rice. He only wants to eat whatever i eat anyways now. I had made him some nice porridge and yoghurt yesterday but when we were at the teashop he wouldn't eat anything else than my noodlesalad. No matter that the salad was medium spicy... And this morning it was no different, though i was prepared this time and asked them not to but in any chilli.....
Wednesday we had our annual sportsday at school. Well, sportsday.. More fun-and-games day. Coconut shell relay (where the kids walk on coconut shells cut in half), sponge toss, banana relay (which involves blindfolds and unpeeled bananas), water balloon toss, golden coin relay (with the attributes of bowls of flour), tug-of-wars etc..... Much fun. But i think we should have some more water-based games next time. Even though it wasn't extremely hot yet, being out in the sun all day just asks for a waterfight.....
Ok, let's see if i can post this....
Sunday, 1 February 2009
Somepictures from our trip to Moulemein/Hpa-an
Sunset seen from our ferry
A beautiful river trip it is
This is the way we use the buggy in Burma ;-)
Xenne, being his usual happy self. I think he likes to travel.Saturday the 31st
Slowly I’m getting behind on this blog too… But I’m trying, really I am. But it is a bit harder since Xenne got his hands on the laptop again. Now we’re not only missing the ‘D’ but the spacebar is not working very well either. I know that we have to get the laptop to the repair shop but somehow it is never the right time even though I haven’t used it much in the past weeks…
As I wrote last time in my quick update, school has started again. And my class is much smaller. Now I have only 11 kids. The brothers are back in Malaysia, their father was transferred back there. And another boy now lives in Singapore. It makes huge difference 11 or 14 kids. Actually 14 or 10 kids since one of the girls only comes back from holiday this week. She didn’t show after the holidays so we called to check up and her aunt told us that the family was away and wouldn’t be back until after Chinese New Year. No message was given to the school and I doubt there’ll be an excuse apology either. But it does mean a lot of extra work for me since she has to catch up of course. It is so funny, many parents here take their kids out of school during the term for a holiday. Sometimes we’re told, sometimes, like now, we find out later. But the parents still expect their kids to be top of the class and sometimes blame the teacher for their kid’s lower scores…. Like we’re magicians!
It is the end of January and I have the feeling that the temperatures outside are already rising again. March and April are the scorching months here, summer they call it. I’ll probably think with nostalgia and regret of these past 2 months when, on occasion, I had to cover myself with a shawl because it was a bit chilly. And the last few days we’ve had thick, all-covering mist in the very early morning. So much that it almost looked like it had rained. But now it is nice. The windows are open, there is a nice, light breeze and I’m looking at Inya Lake and kids playing football outside.
Alright, I’m of to play a bit with Xenne…..
As I wrote last time in my quick update, school has started again. And my class is much smaller. Now I have only 11 kids. The brothers are back in Malaysia, their father was transferred back there. And another boy now lives in Singapore. It makes huge difference 11 or 14 kids. Actually 14 or 10 kids since one of the girls only comes back from holiday this week. She didn’t show after the holidays so we called to check up and her aunt told us that the family was away and wouldn’t be back until after Chinese New Year. No message was given to the school and I doubt there’ll be an excuse apology either. But it does mean a lot of extra work for me since she has to catch up of course. It is so funny, many parents here take their kids out of school during the term for a holiday. Sometimes we’re told, sometimes, like now, we find out later. But the parents still expect their kids to be top of the class and sometimes blame the teacher for their kid’s lower scores…. Like we’re magicians!
It is the end of January and I have the feeling that the temperatures outside are already rising again. March and April are the scorching months here, summer they call it. I’ll probably think with nostalgia and regret of these past 2 months when, on occasion, I had to cover myself with a shawl because it was a bit chilly. And the last few days we’ve had thick, all-covering mist in the very early morning. So much that it almost looked like it had rained. But now it is nice. The windows are open, there is a nice, light breeze and I’m looking at Inya Lake and kids playing football outside.
Alright, I’m of to play a bit with Xenne…..
Monday, 26 January 2009
No i haven't forgotten about you
I wanted to write several times in the last weeks but somehow i have never gotten around to it. Of course, it is difficult to use the laptop if there isn't any electricity (and you have a very cheap chinese-made laptop with a battry that lasts about 20 minutes...) but it isn't much of an excuse. Truth is, i had better things to do. And of course, school has started again. So that also takes a fair bit of time. Hopefully i can write some this week. There are many things i'd like to write about. The new term, the parents who consider it absolutely normal that you can take your kid for an extended holiday without informing the school (one of my kids is due back tomorrow evn though school started again 2 weeks ago), the slowly increasing temperatures (yes, already) and more....
Anyways, i'll post this first so y'all know i'm still alive (and so are Xenne and KK ;-) )
Anyways, i'll post this first so y'all know i'm still alive (and so are Xenne and KK ;-) )
Saturday, 10 January 2009
Our trip to Moulemein/Hpa-an part 2
Ok, where did I leave off before everything got really hectic around here…
Oh yeah, the boat trip to Hpa-an. Xenne nowadays loves throw things away and then look where it has gotten to. The German couple who sat next to us (true, they sat in the only available chairs) had a small bag of mandarins. We had them too but they were in the stroller, so Xenne saw the German’s bag first. And he loves those. He wasn’t hungry so he started to play with the fruit and both the German woman and the tour guide played with him. He would roll the fruit to them and one of them would roll it back. And then suddenly Xenne threw the fruit overboard and wanted to see where it had gotten to. All at once there was a big scramble of adults going for a baby…. In the end he managed to get three mandarins in to the river but we managed to keep a fair few on board…
.Kyaw Kyaw and I took turns in keeping Xenne busy while the other would admire the view and decide whether it was possible and worthwhile to take a picture. There is a much-acclaimed boat trip between Mandalay and Bagan which many tourists take every year (at least many of the people that actually come to Burma, which in tourism standards is not a high number). I did that trip to a few years ago and found it terribly boring. But this part between Moulemein and Hpa-an is a whole different matter, that trip is fantastic. For one thing, the views are much more spectacular and the boat is a local boat and not a tourist boat (which does a whole lot to the price and for me personally, I like a beautiful view much more when I know I haven’t paid through the nose to see it). Besides that, the trip is about half the time which is also very nice since it leaves you with time to do something else (instead of getting up at 5 am in the morning to get to the boat on time).
In Hpa-an we got to a hotel that was reasonably priced (we thought) until we saw the bathroom. Ok, it was a room on the first floor (nice with a baby and a stroller) and it had a hot-and-cold shower (also very nice with a baby) but the bathroom was so yucky we asked for a different room. There we all crashed. Xenne fell asleep almost immediately and spread himself out on the bed as much as he could. KK went out to get us fried rice (we’d skipped lunch so were fairly peckish). At around 9 we were all fast asleep.
The next day we hired a yep, what shall I call this, a motorcycle with attached car? A pick-up motorcycle? It isn’t really a tuk tuk but similar I suppose. Though for me it is more a cross between a motorcycle and a blue taxi (in the back you sit facing each other parallel with the sides of the car. And off we went to see some cave outside Hpa-an. Along the road were beautiful, traditional style, wooden houses that I tried to photograph in vain. There were too many bumps in the road to get even a half-decent picture. But KK and I kept yelling at each other to turn around and see that beautiful house behind us. The cave where we got to was small but full of Buddha statues. Even the roof was decorated with small, clay Buddha figurines. Fantastic. And while I tried to take the best possible photo of that ceiling (or a part of it), I completely forgot that I was standing on a small platform. So with my eyes and camera looking upwards, I stepped into a void and sprained my ankle…. So while I sat there massaging my ankle, our driver went out for tiger balm and KK tried to keep Xenne busy AND check whether my camera was still working properly…Luckily all that was ok. And my ankle, well that has been a mess for ages…. We hang around a while longer since it was such a nice spot and Xenne liked to walk some more. On the way back our driver told us that there was another interesting place to see and it was only a short distance from our way back. Sure, we said expecting another cave of sorts. We drove through some jungle and ended up at the foot of what, to me, looked like stairs. So I asked how far up this interesting place was. The driver asked one of the women who had a teashop there. An hour’s climb was the return answer. Like that was an option with a baby, not to mention a sprained ankle…. So instead we drank some tea and enjoyed the tranquillity of the village square. Xenne was tired so after a Burmese lunch we headed back to the hotel where both Xenne and KK instantly fell asleep. In the evening KK wanted to visit the bonehealer (physiotherapist?) for my ankle but she didn’t feel well. So I still haven’t met a traditional medicine man/woman…. Instead we went straight for dinner and after that back to the hotel. We had an early bus to catch (7 am).
The bus was a little less luxurious than KK had thought (after seeing a leaflet or something like it). The aircon was a big, open window. And the seats weren’t too comfortable either (one was a little broken) but all in all it wasn’t too bad. We did start out almost an hour too late though. I assume that this is more often the case but somehow the driver got all confused about the stopping schedule so the first break was when someone yelled to the front when the bus was going to make a stop. People do have to pee and all that (cigarettes and tea amongst others). So the bus made an unscheduled stop and people scrambled over everything (the middle path was filled up with plastic stools for people to sit on) to get out for the things they needed to do. Then suddenly the driver realised that there were 4 monks on the bus and monks are not allowed to eat after 12 noon. It was already 11 o’clock. So the bus stopped at a tiny restaurant so that the monks could eat. Everybody else stayed in the bus. It took them 10 minutes before they found out that there was no food for the monks to eat. For the next hour the driver asked at every possible place whether there was food. He didn’t succeed until 11.55. The monks got out and had their lunch while the rest of us stayed in the bus, in the scorching sun. It took them over 20 minutes to finish and all this time not a single person complained. I knew that monks were very revered but I couldn’t imagine a bus in the west spending an hour and a half to satisfy the need of a religious person or anybody else for that matter).
The rest of us didn’t get a chance to eat until around 1 when we pulled up at what was obviously their usual stop. We came home at about 6 and KK’s brother who had been house-sitting for us, made us a quick meal. It was nice to be home again even if it was only so that Xenne could rest a bit again. Travelling was much fun and he loved it but it was tiring. For all of us. Maybe next time we should book hotels and things like that in advance. I say now. Knowing us, we’ll go off without anything like that again next time…
Xenne’s birthday (9-1-2009)
A quick note on Xenne’s birthday. It was busy all day with people dropping in at all times. But it was fun. And he got so much attention that he was laughing out loud half the time. Of course he also got some presents. A huge (ugly) bear which he immediately tried to chew on and our present that we had brought from Thailand (the nearest place to buy kids toys since here you only have bad Chinese quality and nothing for under the age of about 4-5).
Oh our visitors have arrived. More later (or not).
Oh yeah, the boat trip to Hpa-an. Xenne nowadays loves throw things away and then look where it has gotten to. The German couple who sat next to us (true, they sat in the only available chairs) had a small bag of mandarins. We had them too but they were in the stroller, so Xenne saw the German’s bag first. And he loves those. He wasn’t hungry so he started to play with the fruit and both the German woman and the tour guide played with him. He would roll the fruit to them and one of them would roll it back. And then suddenly Xenne threw the fruit overboard and wanted to see where it had gotten to. All at once there was a big scramble of adults going for a baby…. In the end he managed to get three mandarins in to the river but we managed to keep a fair few on board…
.Kyaw Kyaw and I took turns in keeping Xenne busy while the other would admire the view and decide whether it was possible and worthwhile to take a picture. There is a much-acclaimed boat trip between Mandalay and Bagan which many tourists take every year (at least many of the people that actually come to Burma, which in tourism standards is not a high number). I did that trip to a few years ago and found it terribly boring. But this part between Moulemein and Hpa-an is a whole different matter, that trip is fantastic. For one thing, the views are much more spectacular and the boat is a local boat and not a tourist boat (which does a whole lot to the price and for me personally, I like a beautiful view much more when I know I haven’t paid through the nose to see it). Besides that, the trip is about half the time which is also very nice since it leaves you with time to do something else (instead of getting up at 5 am in the morning to get to the boat on time).
In Hpa-an we got to a hotel that was reasonably priced (we thought) until we saw the bathroom. Ok, it was a room on the first floor (nice with a baby and a stroller) and it had a hot-and-cold shower (also very nice with a baby) but the bathroom was so yucky we asked for a different room. There we all crashed. Xenne fell asleep almost immediately and spread himself out on the bed as much as he could. KK went out to get us fried rice (we’d skipped lunch so were fairly peckish). At around 9 we were all fast asleep.
The next day we hired a yep, what shall I call this, a motorcycle with attached car? A pick-up motorcycle? It isn’t really a tuk tuk but similar I suppose. Though for me it is more a cross between a motorcycle and a blue taxi (in the back you sit facing each other parallel with the sides of the car. And off we went to see some cave outside Hpa-an. Along the road were beautiful, traditional style, wooden houses that I tried to photograph in vain. There were too many bumps in the road to get even a half-decent picture. But KK and I kept yelling at each other to turn around and see that beautiful house behind us. The cave where we got to was small but full of Buddha statues. Even the roof was decorated with small, clay Buddha figurines. Fantastic. And while I tried to take the best possible photo of that ceiling (or a part of it), I completely forgot that I was standing on a small platform. So with my eyes and camera looking upwards, I stepped into a void and sprained my ankle…. So while I sat there massaging my ankle, our driver went out for tiger balm and KK tried to keep Xenne busy AND check whether my camera was still working properly…Luckily all that was ok. And my ankle, well that has been a mess for ages…. We hang around a while longer since it was such a nice spot and Xenne liked to walk some more. On the way back our driver told us that there was another interesting place to see and it was only a short distance from our way back. Sure, we said expecting another cave of sorts. We drove through some jungle and ended up at the foot of what, to me, looked like stairs. So I asked how far up this interesting place was. The driver asked one of the women who had a teashop there. An hour’s climb was the return answer. Like that was an option with a baby, not to mention a sprained ankle…. So instead we drank some tea and enjoyed the tranquillity of the village square. Xenne was tired so after a Burmese lunch we headed back to the hotel where both Xenne and KK instantly fell asleep. In the evening KK wanted to visit the bonehealer (physiotherapist?) for my ankle but she didn’t feel well. So I still haven’t met a traditional medicine man/woman…. Instead we went straight for dinner and after that back to the hotel. We had an early bus to catch (7 am).
The bus was a little less luxurious than KK had thought (after seeing a leaflet or something like it). The aircon was a big, open window. And the seats weren’t too comfortable either (one was a little broken) but all in all it wasn’t too bad. We did start out almost an hour too late though. I assume that this is more often the case but somehow the driver got all confused about the stopping schedule so the first break was when someone yelled to the front when the bus was going to make a stop. People do have to pee and all that (cigarettes and tea amongst others). So the bus made an unscheduled stop and people scrambled over everything (the middle path was filled up with plastic stools for people to sit on) to get out for the things they needed to do. Then suddenly the driver realised that there were 4 monks on the bus and monks are not allowed to eat after 12 noon. It was already 11 o’clock. So the bus stopped at a tiny restaurant so that the monks could eat. Everybody else stayed in the bus. It took them 10 minutes before they found out that there was no food for the monks to eat. For the next hour the driver asked at every possible place whether there was food. He didn’t succeed until 11.55. The monks got out and had their lunch while the rest of us stayed in the bus, in the scorching sun. It took them over 20 minutes to finish and all this time not a single person complained. I knew that monks were very revered but I couldn’t imagine a bus in the west spending an hour and a half to satisfy the need of a religious person or anybody else for that matter).
The rest of us didn’t get a chance to eat until around 1 when we pulled up at what was obviously their usual stop. We came home at about 6 and KK’s brother who had been house-sitting for us, made us a quick meal. It was nice to be home again even if it was only so that Xenne could rest a bit again. Travelling was much fun and he loved it but it was tiring. For all of us. Maybe next time we should book hotels and things like that in advance. I say now. Knowing us, we’ll go off without anything like that again next time…
Xenne’s birthday (9-1-2009)
A quick note on Xenne’s birthday. It was busy all day with people dropping in at all times. But it was fun. And he got so much attention that he was laughing out loud half the time. Of course he also got some presents. A huge (ugly) bear which he immediately tried to chew on and our present that we had brought from Thailand (the nearest place to buy kids toys since here you only have bad Chinese quality and nothing for under the age of about 4-5).
Oh our visitors have arrived. More later (or not).
Tuesday, 6 January 2009
Pictures
I have been trying for the past hour to upload some of our holiday pictures but to no avail. Since i still have to write the rest of our trip account anyway, i hope the connection will be better tomorrow.
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