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Published: October 31st 2013
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Mal & Boat Owner
all good with the boat guy at Inle, "no problem about broken plank or chair all fixed now" One of our travel companions, Mal (or Big Mal as he was often called) had an unfortunate run of breaking things, plus finding himself in some very funny situations.
It all began when I took him for a beer at our “local” in Yangon just a few doors up from the Bliss Hotel we stayed at. We bought a round of beers and Mal stretched back in satisfaction ---- crack went the plastic chair. Mal almost landed on the floor and all the patrons in the bar could not help bursting out laughing. Once Mal composed himself we belly laughed ourselves.
The plastic chair was soon replaced by a sturdy wooden one and Mal felt much safer. Mal tried to pay for the broken chair, but the staff could not understand a thing we were saying. Eventually, after a lot of laughter and hand gestures they got the idea and Mal is now the proud owner of a broken plastic chair in Yangon.
Next came an interesting trip to a village to make some donations. This involved a boat trip and a motorcycle ride. On the boat the driver had a very, very worried look ever time Mal
moved. The driver was even more concerned when Mal stood up to take some photos. Each time Mal swapped sides in the boat a number of other passengers had to move to ensure we did not tip. When the guys with the motorcycles picked us up, Mal jumped on the back and there was more laughter when it looked like the rear tyre had gone flat. Mal took all this in good humour.
Next came the gold leaf affair at a Pagoda. Mal and I were rubbing gold leaf on a Buddha statue for our companions and us (the ladies were not permitted to do so on this statue). Mal swears that he felt someone rubbing gold leaf on his shoulder having mistaken him for the Buddha statue.
Not long after, while boating around Inle Lake, we made a stop to look at some silk weaving. When we re-boarded our boat Mal stepped into the boat and a load crack was heard. One of the planks on the bottom of the boat had broken, in Mal’s defence it did look rather rotten but this did not stop all the local onlookers and the boat driver from laughing unmercilessly
while Mal tried to point out the wood rot.
Not long after, Mal lowered himself into the wooden deck chair and again a loud crack was heard and poor old Mal found himself sitting in a broken chair. The usual belly laughs came form all who witnessed the event, locals included. Again Mal pointed out the chair was rotten anyway and again this did little to reduce the hilarity of the situation.
Some days later, Mal took a rest from viewing the Mandalay Palace. Mum was sitting in the next chair. As Mal sat next to her a load crack was heard again and Mal immediately stood up to avoid any more destruction of the flimsy plastic chairs. To his credit he got up just in time to avoid breaking this one. More laughter as expected.
In Bagan we had a nice 22 seat bus, very comfortable for us all. At one sight seeing stop Mal used the handle on the back of the seat to help him get up and you guessed it another loud crack was heard and Mal sat back suddenly with the plastic handle in hand. More belly laughs at Mal’s expense.
I will desist from listing any more unfortunate events involving Mal, I know he takes all this in good humour but I don’t want to push my luck. He was a great travel companion and provided us and many others with a barrel of laughs – thanks mate!
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Yong
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Great Fun from "OKAY" team
Thanks Rob for the recollection of incidents with Mal from this journey. Also thanks Mal for his "generosity" to share the fun, being the funniest man of this amazing journey. The team has great laugh over the boat incident, as well as the local Burmese at Inle Lake. Mal, without you, we could have missed so much thing in this journey..........thanks "OK" team!