This is Myanmar (Burma). It is beautiful out there, but it takes effort... real work to see it. As the sun rises and the worm light replaces the darkness I see all that is in this country. Monks and Nuns making there way, Monks in there usually in single file nuns in groups of two or three, alms bowls in hand. Street sweepers picking up trash and moving the endless dust from one part of the street to another. Business men and woman going to work, kids on there way to school. Shop workers opening there shutters for the days business and vendors and eateries preparing for there daily customers. We pass Stupas, Pagodas, Monasteries, Temples, Churches, Mosques, Buddha's, and any other honorary form that is imaginable. Some old to the point of being no more that a pile of ruble, some new, all revered. A profound respect for the sacred is the standard that this culture lives by.
This is a raw and rough country full of worthy and honorable people. But these last several decades have taken there toll. The people of this country have been beaten down by a soulless and repressive government that has done it's best to plunder any wealth that this land has and to squash anyone who would offer any resistance to there thievery. The effects are evident... from the people to the infrastructure it has been a struggle to survive. It effects all things but is no more evident than in the behavior of the people themselves.
What is impressive is the number of people who have been truly resilient to the oppression that they have experienced. They are truly kind, trusting and generous. It is sometimes difficult to break though the hardened exterior but once through it is like exiting this broken down taxi and seeing with unfettered eyes the clear beauty that is the Burmese people.
These last weeks have been difficult and being here has been real work, but I would do it all again... I will be back, and with luck perhaps some of you will be with me.
