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From 15 December 2006 to 02 January 2007, I visited Yangon (in Southern Myanmar) and Mandalay (Central Myanmar). Much of my time there was spent meeting new friends and visiting some people I already knew prior to my trip there. On several occasions, I had to perform some ministerial functions like preaching a sermon. Other than that, it was purely rest and learning.
The streets of Yangon.
As you walk along Yangon city, you'll come across roadside bazaars like this one. They sell all sorts of stuff - belts, wallets, books, medicines, torchlights, and many more items. And they're cheap.
Sights like this are very common in Myanmar. This is a tea shop by the roadside. They're anywhere and everywhere! And people crowd in tea shops and spend the whole day chatting there.
This is a house church in a very far suburb of Yangon. It's the preaching point of Immanuel Telegu Baptist Church, which is situated right in the centre of Yangon city. And there I am, about to deliver a message for Christmas. Unfortunately, you can't see the pastor's face because it's rather dark in there. But he's Oliver's father, Revd Peter Joseph, who's the pastor of Immanuel Telegu Baptist Church. A point of interest to note is that the Baptist church in Myanmar is much more sacramental than the Baptist churches I've seen elsewhere.
Here we are, taking a ferry to a village church in Dala (a town across the Yangon river). Alex Zaw Min Thu, my friend who used to study at the seminary, is from the said village. So we wanted to visit him and his village.
That's Alex and me in front of his Methodist church.
The village has no electricity and water supply. This well is the sole source of water there. It didn't take long for this little boy to realise that I was trying to figure out how the well worked. So whilst taking his bath, he gave me a demonstration on how he scooped water from the well.
That's me, being put on the spot. I was almost spontaneously asked to share a message with the villagers who had gathered in the church in the evening to pray together. So I gave a brief message on the Lord's Prayer. Oliver interpreted the message for me. Notice Oliver is wearing a longyi (pronounce as "lone-gee") or what's known in Malaysia as the sarung. That's a most common attire for the Burmese people.
And here, the villagers begin praying after my message. Notice that the boy in front has something applied on his face? That's sandalwood. The womenfolk and young boys in Myanmar often apply this as a kind of makeup. It's supposed to smoothen the skin and protect them from the sunlight.
We took a bus from Yangon (Southern Myanmar) up to Mandalay (Central Myanmar). The bus ride was a freaking 14 hours on bumpy and narrow roads! From Mandalay city, it took over an hour more for us to travel up to the highlands by car. We went to Pyin Oo Lwin, a beautiful township on a mountain. Pyin Oo Lwin is in the Mandalay division. That's me in front of our motel at Pyin Oo Lwin. We were later told (after the trip) that the motel is haunted, and that there's a lady quite often seen floating around! Yikes!
Streets of Pyin Oo Lwin. It's rather funny... when an important official is passing by, you'll see people by the roadside planting trees several minutes before that!
This is Li Su Theological Seminary in Pyin Oo Lwin. It has a very beautiful campus. Simple but beautiful. Hey, I really wouldn't mind leaving everything behind and going to teach in a seminary on a cold high mountain!
That's Oliver, sitting at a tea shop in Pyin Oo Lwin. His face is full of glee and his eyes sparkle helplessly whenever there's a scent of tea nearby.
This is the Purcell Tower in the town centre of Pyin Oo Lwin. It was built by a British man many decades ago.
This is a dish of noodles cooked by the Shan people. We had it in Pyin Oo Lwin. Tastes great. See those pieces of beancurd? They tasted so great that we finished the entire plate of it in almost no time!
The horse cart is quite a common means of transportation in Pyin Oo Lwin. It's really nice riding in a horse cart in such a cool weather. On the way, the horse stopped to drink some water by the roadside.
Now, what's a restaurant like this doing in Pyin Oo Lwin? Got me confused for a while. In the first place, Myanmar seems rather far from Singapore in terms of its affiliation. In the second place, I hardly recall Singapore ever being famous for its chicken rice.
These pics were taken on the way down from Pyin Oo Lwin back to Mandalay city.
These are pictures of the streets in Mandalay. If you notice, whilst motorcycles and bicycles are prohibited in Yangon, the Mandalay streets are full of them. Also, notice the way the women in Myanmar carry stuff on their heads. They can just turn around at any time with absolutely no problem keeping their balance... it's amazing.
Oliver has a Kachin friend in Mandalay who has like 6 sisters and 3 brothers! Yeah, you read correctly; go ahead and faint from horror! But they're such a nice bunch of sibblings. They took us out for a nice dinner consisting of grilled food. Lots of it!
The above pictures are about the Oo Pein Bridge in Mandalay. The Oo Pein Bridge is a 2-mile long bridge constructed singlehandedly by the head of a village many, many decades ago. He constructed this bridge to connect two villages in order to facilitate their coming back and forth. Today, this bridge has become an important tourist attraction in Mandalay. The middle three pictures reflect the surrounding view I captured while standing on the bridge. It was a rather breathtaking experience, really.
This is a kind delicacy we found being served by a stall at the Oo Pein bridge. It's fried fresh water fish. It tastes divine. Immediately after snapping this picture, I almost gobbled up the entire plate and forgot to feel embarrassed about it. It's rather expensive though, by Burmese standards.
This is my most favourite Burmese food of all time! It's called kyay oh (pronounced as "chay oh"). It's a soup dish with noodles, lots of pork, intestines, and an egg if you like. I had a compulsion to have this for dinner almost every day.
Above is what we in Malaysia know as the nasi briyani or the briyani rice. But I'll tell you this - it tastes much better in Myanmar! There's lots of spices, and they even add cashew nuts into the rice! And it costs less than 5 ringgit, which is less than 2 USD! Yummy.
And now, for the grand finale... this is the lapei (pronounced as "luh-pay"). It's actually tea with milk. It's the most popular drink in Myanmar, so everybody drinks it. It's like the Malaysian teh tarik, except that the lapei comes in much smaller cups. The lapei (and all dishes at eating stalls) is always served with the Burmese tea together with little cups, because they assume that as people stay and talk at the stalls, they'll want to sip their tea while chatting. I like this in a culture! Going slowly nowhere...
