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Published: February 14th 2015
Village women farming chick peas.
Village discovery stop -- chick peas grow on short bushes. Pea inside small shell. Women are collecting the dried peas for pick up by oxen carts.Another early a.m. flight as we left Bagan and now in Mandalay. Mandalay airport is the largest in Burma and the only one that has long enough runways for internatitonal flights. It was just a 25 minute flight from Bagan. Translation of "Mandalay" is "pleasant plain". 1 M population but 6 M in the region. Bus ride took us through another village visit -- love seeing the villagers starting their work day. Stopped for conversation with 3 women who were gathering chick peas to dry and for harvest. Each chick pea is encased in an outer shell and grows in a small 1 ft. tall bushy plant. Burma's population is 70 % rural with 70% of those people farmers.
Visited temples again (another name for OAT is "Oh, Another Temple"). Virtually all parents dream of their male child (also female) to serve as a monk in a monastery -- at least for a short time. Sandor did it twice, both times for 10 days. The first was when he was 13 and the 2nd, when 23. The family puts on a Noviciation Ceremony for the child. Extremely important time in a child's life -- this is when he becomes a
School children
Dressed in their school uniforms playing along the road. School begins at 9:00 a.m. and it is 8:00 a.m. Novice. Sandor dressed as a Prince, rode into town on a horse. The father gave him his alms bowl. Mother gave 3 robes. Other family members and friends give blanket, bamboo mat to sleep on etc.. At the end of the day, he enters the monastery as a novice (under 20 years) or a monk (over 20 years old). This means the child is entering Buddhism and becomes revered by all. His friends at school, even his parents treat him respectfully as a novice or monk. We later saw nuns during their Noviciation Ceremony at the Temple (see pictures). There are 400,000 monks in Burma who are dedicated for life. Others may do a few days, month or a few months. There are also many meditation centers and in addition to his stints as a novice and monk he has attended numerous times at a meditation center. One can only "experience" the transition -- he has reached a level of levitation.
At the Kuthodaw Pagoda there is a 12' tall Buddha which is the most revered in Mandalay. Men only (women are not allowed to touch a monk) will purchase gold leaf to apply to the Buddha which is
Village
Drive-by photo of villagers. believed to be the only Buddha statue actually designed by Buddha. Thus, this statue has part of Buddha's "soul" within. This statue has gotten fatter and fatter over the years due to so much gold leaf being added since built in 1901.
Mandalay Hill is where we watched the sun set over Mandalay -- beautiful views of the city from this Temple. As our bus pulled into our hotel this evening Sandor received a phone call. Suu -- "The Lady" is staying at our hotel........ she had just entered and many people were mingling around after having witnessed her being escorted to her room --- we are staying with perhaps the most famous and influential person in Burma as she represents the NLD -- the party working toward independence from military rule. As I write this at 7:00 a.m. people are beginning to mingle outside the hotel gates (we overlook the area from 6th floor). They are waiting with cameras to see her leave. I exited the elevator at 8:00 a.m. and she followed me just a few minutes later --- see below picture.
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Mary Grigware
non-member comment
Brenda I am loving traveling with you, however I believe I still prefer Grand Rapids. How many days left to your trip ? Do you miss Augie Doggie as much as I do ?