Blogs from Thandwe, Western Burma, Burma, Asia

This country is amazing , it really is the place that time forgot . Everywhere downtown are people sitting at tables with telephones with cables 10´s of meters long connecting them to the nearest telephone socket , people come along make a phone call and chuck a few coins in a tin then carry on , no cell phones here ( well there is one network for the extreme rich) and no telephone booths either . The vehicles are mostly all 30 years plus old and the pavements nearly non existent.No tall skyscrapers and no flashing neon lights.The men wear a sarong , which is like a wrap around skirt with Buddhist monks everywhere to be seen. Auntie S. took me for breakfast to her local favourite foodhall and we ate at 9 am a nice ... read more

What the hell am I doing back here? This was my first thought as I walked through the front door of the Dhama Joti Vippasana Meditation center. There are hundreds of Vippasana centers all over the world and it all started from right here, in Burma(Myanmar). I attended my first hardcore Vippasana course back a year ago when I was in Nepal, and I barely made it out alive. Now, for some insane reason, I find myself walking into another Vippasana course. The only difference this time is that I’m walking into battle with my pops. Allow me to paint the picture of what this rigorous course looks like. Keep in mind that in no way am I exaggerating or complaining for if there is one thing that Vippasanna has taught me, it’s to observe reality ... read more

servas mitanand, servas die wadln! am freitag dem 30. maerz hatten wir unseren letzten tag bzw. unseren letzten sonnenuntergang bzw. unseren ersten sonnenaufgang in bagan. um 05.30 uhr sind wir richtung pagode aufgebrochen. dort angekommen sind wir gleich die dunklen und wirklich kleinen treppen in der pagode hinaufgestiegen. dank neuer technik, sprich stirnlampen, ist uns nichts passiert. so, jetzt zum eigentlichen: von oben hatten wir einen sensationellen ausblick. die sonne kam erst ein wenig spaet, aber sie kam. erst mit sozusagen vorwehen nur ein wenig rot, dann leicht terracotta farben im himmel mit leichten woelkchen zu sehen und dann als kroenung stiegen noch die heissluftballons auf und dann war sie da. sozusagen ein geschmeidisches ding am morgen. dauert laenger wie abends und ist auch schoener. man(n) merkt richtig, wie sie sich mit kraft vollsaugt und dann ... read more

Ngwe Saung We had read about the unspoilt deserted beaches which lined the east coast of Myanmar. For once we were not disappointed with hardly any other tourists there we had this lovely pristine beach to ourselves and the loan gun boat anchored out in the ocean. There’s very little to do here and we spent four very relaxing days soaking up the rays. This has to be one of my favourite beaches. It is definitely an ideal place to sit and do nothing - something which I'm becoming very good at! The town itself is charming in a small off the beaten track sort of way, full of curious friendly locals. There are a handful of family run restaurants which for the first time in Myanmar served up some great local seafood. We still managed ... read more

The arctic zephyr plays sweetly across my hot and clammy skin, momentarily transporting me from hot and dusty Mandalay to a cooling mountain meadow. I stand in bliss as the air conditioner artificially aids my body’s sweaty-messy attempts at natural temperature regulation. We’d arrived in the late afternoon after a day’s travelling down from the cooling hills into the steamy plains. Then after only a short AC fix we reentered the furnace, the body once again preparing for battle as beads of sweat appeared almost instantaneously and quickly formed a defensive layer of moisture. After commandeering a cycle rickshaw we were on our way around the Royal Palace’s 4sq. km moat, to catch the sunset atop Mandalay Hill. At the foot of the hill we shed our shoes and began frantically dashing up the 700 plus ... read more