Burma - Journey of the Monk Magnet: Part 1 (2012)

Why the Monk Magnet? During this trip I travelled with a friend, Coralyne. Towards the end of the trip when we were following another Monk that had invited us somewhere, Coralyne looked at me and commented ‘If I turn my back for more than 10 seconds you are talking to yet another Monk, you are the Monk Magnet’!! We were fortunate enough to have some amazing and truly unique experiences.

Yangon

The humidity, the heat, the aroma, the pulse of the people, the noise: all colliding and collaborating to provide the unmistakable welcome to Asia. Yangon is not what I would describe as my sort of city; it is big and bursting at the seams. However, it is where my journey began and finished and for that reason it will be somewhere special when I reflect on this trip. I also had the pleasure of staying in the home of a friend of a friend, initially a refuge from the overwhelming arrival and finally a farewell from an incredible country.

Buddha: Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.

Bagan

The shrewd buzzing of my alarm makes no apologies for jolting me from my sleep. Slowly I begin to reconcile; I am not at home, I am not in Australia, I am in Bagan, Burma. I fight the urge to roll over and have just a little more sleep, for it is dark outside and my body is not ready to stand. But we are chasing some time with the sunrise so I pay no notice to the objections voiced by my body and roll out of bed, dress and meet Coralyne at the pushbikes. We ride out into the darkness having decided to seek out a knoll that we had discovered the day before. Neither of us is really sure which dirt track leads to this isolated spot but we are hopeful that through the darkness we will recognise something.

We push on and, after a while, a smile crosses my face and I veer right onto a dirt track, it is a small pile of rocks that I have recognised. Ten minutes later we are standing silent on the knoll. Before us dawn is tentatively breaking and the shadows of the Stupas litter the landscape. As the sun continues to emerge and the landscape takes shape before us, it is as if we can hear the countless prayers that have been given voice over the ages in this place: calm, peace and serenity surround us. The beauty is overwhelming and we continue to marvel in silence as the colours evolve and unfold revealing this extraordinary place.

 

Buddha: Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.

 

Around Bagan 

It is difficult not to have tunnel vision at Bagan, focusing on the road from the accommodation to the Stupas and back; direct and efficient. However, on one of our days, we decide to deviate and explore. We hope that a dusty track leading towards the River would take us somewhere interesting. Our bikes struggle in the numerous sandy patches but our desire to discover drives us on. Before too long the dusty track has morphed into the laneway of a village with huts on both sides. We dismount our bikes and stroll along the laneway taking in all the sights. At one of the homes a young girl is playing out the front so we stop, smile and say hello. In the background her mum, grandmother and baby brother sit on a platform in front of the house. The mum beckons for us to come and join them, which we gratefully accept. We sit, as guests, enjoying their company and sipping green tea. I am so humbled and honoured, it is a shame I could not express just how much to them.

 

 

 























Buddha: However many holy words you read, however many you speak, what good will they do you if you do not act on upon them?

Irrawaddy River 

It is not a trip to Asia unless there is at least one challenge with transport and ours comes in the form of what was meant to be a pleasurable cruise down the Irrawaddy. A comfortable 9hr boat trip turns into a 16hr sauna. When we board the cruise vessel, the most noticeable feature is the massive hole in the floor exposing the engine which meant the noise and heat went completely unchecked. This means the options were sitting inside with the noise and heat of the engine or sitting outside in the piercing sun. However, not quite satisfied with those options we befriend the captain and end up spending a fair amount of time in the wheel house. After 9hrs, we start to scan upriver for our destination but it remains unchanged. It is not until we were 12hrs into the journey that we are told that one of the engines has been out for most of the trip and that we would be there very soon. Around midnight, tired and hungry, we pull into our destination. Yes, the landscape is beautiful but if I had my time again…. it would be the bus.

Buddha: All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think we become.

Mandaly

I sit alone in a bus station, half way into our journey to Mandaly. Coralyne has gone to the bathroom and I am enjoying a coffee. A monk who is travelling on our bus approaches me and we start to chat, his English is exceptional. I invite him to sit and we continue to chat but only for a few minutes as the horn of our bus sounds signifying we are about to resume our journey. Coralyne re-joins me and we return to the bus and continue with the remaining 4hrs before we reach Mandaly. As we disembark the monk catches my attention and we go over to say our farewells. However, he invites us back to his monastery, which we are only too happy to accept. When we arrive, he explains to us that he is an English teacher and he would be very happy if we were to talk to his class of 50 students later in the afternoon. We are excited to oblige and we end up spending an amazing afternoon teaching English (well actually just having a chat) in a Monastery in Mandaly.

Around Mandaly 

We find ourselves in a small village out in the countryside, not another single traveller to be seen. Slowly we explore the alleyways, receiving a lot of inquisitive looks and smiles. An elderly woman seems to appear from nowhere, smiles at us and beckons us to follow her. Coralyne and I look at each other with a moment’s hesitation but both smile and follow. We zigzag through some alleyways and then into the yard of a house and again she turns, looks to us and beckons us to enter the home. Through the house and out the back we enter a workshop where 4 women are working on weaving looms. We sit and simply enjoying the clicking and clacking of the looms as they create. 

 

 

 

 

U Bein Bridge

It is just a bridge. The thought crosses my mind when my 4am alarm sounds. It is just a bridge. The thought crosses my mind when we exit the hotel and it is raining. It is just a bridge. The thought crosses my mind when we arrive and I look to the heavens and see no stars, only the darkness of the clouds. It is just a bridge. The thought crosses my mind as the wind blows with a chill through my thin clothes. Wow, what a bridge. The thought is embedded in my mind as the light penetrates the clouds and the monks / nuns make their daily crossing and fishers start to return. I realise that U Bein Bridge is so much more than a bridge - it is an atmosphere, an experience.

 

 

Taugthaman 

I marvel as 2 boys enjoy the simplest pleasures of throwing rocks into the water while their father ploughs the fields. Simplicity and contentment is a sobering observation.