MYANMAR IS BACK IN THE NEWS, BUT DON’T BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU READ

It seems impossible that twenty-one years have gone by since Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel laureate, who won an overwhelming victory (82%) in the elections of 1990, was put under house arrest by the Junta, which failed to recognize her election as the head of the National League for Democracy and future prime minister. To this day the repressive military dictatorship still rules with an iron fist. This past summer Suu Kyi’s house arrest was extended until after the upcoming elections this spring. And just today the National League for Democracy disbanded and refused to participate in the elections, saying that to do so would be to renounce the validity of the last democratic election, something that would undermine their dignity and nullify everything they’ve stood for all these years. As you can imagine, this raises questions about both the future of the Burmese opposition and the credibility of the upcoming vote.

Recently, The New York Times had reported signs that a change is coming to the beleaguered people of Myanmar, but only on the junta’s terms. I have my doubts about any real change, from other sources that tell of the continued persecution, torture, and incarceration (under the worst possible conditions) of 2100 dissidents since the peaceful uprising by Buddhist monks in 2007.  This information is widely available on the Internet and I urge you to read it.

Something I had not realized is that during her arrest, Suu Kyi was also awarded the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought in 1990. She used her Nobel Peace Prize money (1.3 million US Dollars) to establish a health and education trust for the Burmese people.

As you know, I spent almost four weeks in Myanmar in January of 2007 and reported about these friendly, welcoming people, who are living under such tyranny and deprivation. I did not dare write to those I met, however, nor mention their names on this blog for fear of reprisals due to their association with me, a Westerner. I also made five photo albums, which you can find by going to my facebook page and clicking on view albums. Here is the link: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=584094331#!/profile.php?v=photos&id=584094331

Below are more pictures that I hadn’t yet posted on facebook, but will give you an idea of a country I hope to revisit at the end of this year. I start at the famous Kandawgyi Gardens that James Wilson and I explored when coming back from a visit to Thipaw in the mountains, reached by going on the train over a notoriously high tressle that nearly scared me to death. The gardens were designed by the English at the beautiful Hill Station of Pyin oo Lwin.

First are some shots of the orchids, then the flower gardens and birds:

The military is everywhere

The next pictures were taken on the all-day boat ride from Mandalay to Bagan

Children playing along the riverbank

Standing in the water and selling to the passengers

Business as usual

Fields of flowers everywhere

Family picnic

Now the Day is Over....

A HIGHWAY TO ANNAPURNA. WHAT’S NEXT? AN ESCALATOR UP MT. EVEREST….

Many of you, like me, read in the Travel Section of the NYTimes this week that they’re building a road into the beautiful Annapurna Circuit, which I traversed in 1999.  Here is the link if you wish to read it. The lead photo is exactly like one I took on Poon Hill facing the  magnificent 26,795 ft. Dhaulagiri peak.

http://travel.nytimes.com/2010/03/21/travel/21nepal.html?ref=travel

I must say, at the risk of sounding like a curmudgeon, that I’m glad I laid eyes on Nepal and on Kathmandu, and trekked into Annapurna, Kangchenjunga, and Everest Base Camp before it turned into an out-of-control haven for tourists. Those were the days when you went there to be IN the mountains, not just to look at them from a jeep. There were the broken-down buses with their hangers-on that labored over treacherous mountain passes to get you to a trailhead, and there were well-worn trails to get you into the wilderness. You struggled, you huffed and puffed, and you grooved on the excitement of a possible snowstorm as you climbed up the Thorong La (17,500 ft) at 3 AM and ran down the other side like a mountain goat, so relieved to have made in over the top and survived.

M.P. on top of Thorang La

The only way you got to Muktinah, the Kandiki Valley, Manang, Chame, or Tatopani was on foot, just as the Nepalis did. This was even more so on the difficult 30-day Kangchenjunga trek where you could look down on the Jannu Glacier from Kampachen and risk a “yak attack” from thundering mountain herds at sunset. Sometimes our small group walked on paths the width of a single foot, tamped into the side of mountains, right after the original trail had been washed out by an avalanche of falling rocks. We walked through isolated villages and used the footpaths of the locals. We slept in our own tents, since there were no public teahouses at that time (1996). We made friends with local policemen and children and grandmothers. It was joyous! We felt part of Nepal, not an isolated group of tourists.

As Ethan Todras-Whitehill, the author of the disturbing  Times article put it: Trekkers want places where only their own feet can take them.

Here, just for old times sake, are some of my happy memories of Annapurna and the pristine Himalayas in days of yore.

Typical bus heading for the mountains

The Annapurna range lies ahead

One of many footbridges over the Kali Gandaki River

The gate through which we leave Chame

Trails leading to the pass

Here's what happens when there is no bridge. Let me tell you...it's cold!

Yours truly outside of Pisang, before the pass

One of many stone stupas. Stones are intricately fitted together without cement

A typical trail near the Kali Gandaki River

The wilderness outside Hongde

Morning friends. Herds of goats and sheep blocked the trail

Children greeted me with Namaste and took me to their home

Tibetan woman with her child, living in the valley. This was her first photo, she told me.

Kalu, our wonderful guide

Mani stones under the prayer wheels

M/P., Kalu, and Denise kicking up our heels on top of Poon Hill

Dhaulagiri from Poon Hill

Sacred Jwala Mai Temple in Muktinah

The leader of the pack. Move over!

This delightful schoolboy walked several miles with me to his school, practicing his English

We arrived at the school

Terraced farms

Leaving Manang and heading for Thorong La (the pass)

Typical scenery as we descended

Neat farms and villages spread out below us

Young women working in the field

After the "Gurung Staircase" we reach our final camp, Birethanti, where the porters are playing a heated card game

Morning and evening shots of the magnificent fish-tail peak of Machhapuchhare