N  125.        Rice We Eat 

 

As most Asians we, the people of Myanmar eat rice. It is our staple food.To eat rice for meals rice has to be cooked with water.When rice cookers are available as it is now , it is easy to cook rice,and it takes only a few minutes. But needless to say,cooking cannot be done without electricity. 

When eaten at a meal rice is not eaten by itself.It is eaten with curries, which have to be cooked seperately.A meat or fish dish, a fried or salad vegetable dish, and some kind of soup make a complete meal for many people. Those who can’t afford much,will have to do with anything,whether it be some grains of salt,a lump of ngapi,( fermented and pounded fish ) and some chillies.

A wide varieties of rice are grown in Myanmar. The rice produced differ by their appearance, how much they will expand when cooking (most people like rice that expands much because they can feed more, and are called ou tat ) . Some are fragrant that the best kind of rice is called Paw Hsan Hmway. Hmway means fragrant.The price of rice varies according to their properties. 2024

Being a Shan I like Shan rice which is stickier than  Myanmar rice of the Myanmar lowlands. Shan people of the last era even ate the real sticky rice.To cook the sticky rice we have to soak the rice the whole night.In the morning it is put into a wooden or bamboo steamer and steam for about an hour.When it is cooked the rice is spread on a bamboo mat to let out some steam.Then the rice is put back into the steamer ready to eat. When people need to go somewhere, like to farms, rice is put in bamboo containers and carried with them, along with a packet of curry to eat with the rice. 

Actually what I want to write is about the rice which is grown in the Shan States and is called Shan rice. The Shan rice is softer and less sticky than the sticky rice.This rice is grown all over  Shan State by wet method on flatlands ( in fields by irrigation system or rain dependent ). But in hilly regions it is grown , depending on rain wholly and is called  Taungyar Hsan.Rice grown in fields is of better quality than rice grown on hilly places. 

There is a place in Southern Shan State where they grow rice in a unique way.I doubt if there are other places which grow like this. There is a small town called Nawng Wawn which is about 30 miles from Taunggyi.It is at the mouth of a lake called Pone Inn.This Pone Inn is like the famous Inlay Lake of Nyaung Shwe.It is quite long and we can travel along it by motor boat.I had gone along this lake once passing through houses and villages until it ends at the foot of Mwaydaw Katku. I was so amazed to know that we can reach Katku by 2 ways. By land and then by waterway.But this waterway can be used only in the rainy season. So Pone Inn is said to be 6 months dry and 6 months wet. The people who live on it live like the Innthar of Inlay Lake.Their houses are on dry land and on water according to the season. They have boats and they travel by boats as necessary. 

As rice in our country is grown in the rainy season , in Pone Inn it is also grown likewise. The paddy plants start to grow when the water is not too deep. But as the rainy season continues,the rice plants also grow. At about harvest time the plants have grown so tall,out of the water level .Their tops heavy with paddy seeds, that they’re bending down. 

To harvest farmers have to paddle around in boats and cut the parts with grains with sickles, put them in their boats and take them to the prepared place where lines supported by bamboo poles are already made . Here the paddy plants which are tied into bunches are thrown onto the lines and leave there until they are dried.When they are dried they will be taken to dry land, mostly at the farmer’s house to be thrashed and stored for consumption or sold. 

This Pone Inn district with its unique way of paddy cultivation has been a  considerable rice producing area in the Shan State . It has contributed in supplying rice for a part of the Shan State.The Shan people living there enjoy a satisfactory livelihood with traditional religious and boat rowing festivals held from time to time. But the sad thing they are facing now is because of the deadly floods of this year rice could not be cultivated again. Like other flooded places people have lost most of their belongings and I read that they can’t even buy seeds for next year cultivation. It is sad, but we cannot do anything to relieve the troubles. 

We will just have to hope that there will be a turning point that will enable their lives to become normal again…..

Photos credit to. …. Shan Queen photographer and original owners…..

6th October

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N 124. Feelings I am an expat living in Chiengmai , Thailand. I had written about how I have come to live here in my blog N 117. I don’t expect to live here long, but only until the political situations in my country become settled and peace prevailed again. Until now I don’t see signs of improvement. It is still bleak and uncompromising.

 Hoping that the conditions become better or a turning point suddenly appear, we watch and listen to the news everyday and at any time. But the news until now are only making our hearts sink and hopes dwindling. Fightings between the dictator MAH’s Myanmar army and people’s army, which consisted ethnic armies of Kachin, Chin, Ta Ang, Rakhine, Karen, Wa and PDFs of Burma Proper are still continuing. Mostly these people’s army won over the Myanmar army, resulting in towns and cities and outposts fell into these opposition troops,where in some places, the forces are trying to establish their own rulings. 

 The costs of these fightings are high. Many soldiers of the Myanmar army lost their lives, so that the army is dwindling, that they are recruiting new soldiers by hook or by crook and by reviving the unlawful conscription law.Among men who are forced to go into the three months training, I think not even 1 percent want to join voluntarily. They know they surely would lose their lives ,when they were sent to the front. 

 many young men from the age group of 18 to 35are fleeing ,so as not to get conscripted.Many fled to the neighboring country of Thailand.There are also many who went to join the ethnic arms group and the PDFs.Only who cannot bribe the people in charge with packets of money ,and cannot go anywhere had gone to training camps,and upon finishing the three months training were sent to the front .Most of them met their deaths without compensation and their families not properly informed. 

 People living in the battle areas also are like living in hell. When Myanmar soldiers come to their villages, they would find fault like the villagers supporting PDFs and arrest them, rob them of all valuables, torch their houses and sometimes torture and kill them. Until now more than 100,000 homes,which were built with scrapings and sweat of the people had gone to ashes in their hands.People have to go into hiding where they think is safe, but without shelter and with little food. 

 Everyone in Myanmar cannot live in peace now.Those who have children within the age group of 18-35 are dreading when their children will get conscripted. Then another law or order , I don’t know clearly, said people within the age group of 35 to 65 must also get some training and protect their neighborhoods.This order also is detested by the people. Even without these laws people are having difficult times because the money they earn does not cover the cost of living due to inflation . Many are jobless and displaced people and refugees also cannot work but have to depend on aids. 

 The army which is being defeated in many fronts and losing many soldiers are now depending on its planes to bomb cities and villages which it had lost. Mostly they bomb places where there are no fightings, but only on villages and towns , and public places like hospitals and schools causing innocent people’s lives. Because of these bombings people from (like Lashio ) flocked to place like Taunggyi ,where there is no fighting yet, that the roads are crammed and the town has to bear the burden of refugees .Think about the difficulties the refugees would have in this rainy season. Some fled with nothing but only the clothes on their back. 

 The root cause of all these troubles and sufferings is Min Aung Hlaing , (who I think is envious of DASSK ) who is craving to become the president , that he confiscated power from the Democratic Government led by NLD. The people of Myanmar who had had met this kind of fate more than once ,did not stay quiet but took to the streets ,where they were quelled by the army with live ammunitions resulting in many deaths,arrests, thrown into prisons and tortured. Many young people joined the insurgent groups and got trained by them . And this is how the PDFs are born. 

 Fightings are still continuing. With the losing of towns and cities and outposts, the army has become so much weakened. The whole country is facing shortages of fuels and even basic goods like cooking oil, because there is no foreign currency and the situation is very bleak. But then the high position personnel of China came to the capital and offer to back MAH with an enormous amount of dollars. This ease the fuel problem of the moment and at the same time, MAH is also free to bomb towns and villages as much as he like. 

 Our country is not fortunate in having its neighbors. There is no country which will side with Myanmar people’s wishes.They prioritize their interests before the welfare of our country. China says that they won’t meddle in neighboring countries’ internal affairs,but everybody knows how much it is taking advantages over Myanmar. By economically and then politically. Maybe it is aiming to get the country under its power.The great power of India also is not a good neighbor. Although it doesn’t have many economical interest like China,it is making profits by selling arms and ammunition to the unlawful government of MAH. 

 As for Thailand it is the country which has to bear most of the brunt of Myanmar. Because our country’s economy is not really good before the coup, many people from Myanmar had gone to live and work in Thailand.But after MAH seized power and the conscription law revived many young men fled to Thailand by tens of thousands.These and the already there made the number of Myanmar people in Thailand enormous.Myanmar people working in Thailand do not have a prestigious life and are permitted to do only lowly jobs. The Thais who are afraid they will lose their livelihood to the Myanmars even tried to restrict these jobs.Myanmar immigrants cannot be a shop owner or even a helper in a food stall.On the other hand Thailand benefits because it can get workers at a cheaper price.

 But at present we are hearing that the laws concerning immigrants have become more lenient at the requests of some organizations. There is no doubt that everyone in Myanmar are looking forward to the day when the country will be free of dictators , when peace prevails, and the country back on its track towards a federal democracy state. Only then the misplaced people and everyone who had to left their home will come back to their respective places.Most people including me don’t want to live in this alien land forever,but would like to return to  our homes . Even if I were to die I prefer to die in my own country . The same will go to many others as well…… V

this~ this

   N 123…..This Ailing World

Would you agree if I say that the world we are living in is ailing….Beside ailing physically  it is also ailing mentally. If one looks around one will see troubles and conflicts and struggles everywhere. And all these are caused not only by nature  but also by men.

The earth we are living in had been green and healthy. The population is not so thick as it is now and so the basic needs for men and also animals are sufficient then. But now the population has overgrown so much that shortages are arising in everything from food, water and even  the air which we breath freely.

The ozone layer which shields the earth and its environment from the sun’s harmful 

Ultraviolet radiation is depleting which resulted in a big hole millions of square kilometers wide. This is caused by wild fires, burning of fossil fuels, use of chlorofluorocarbons, eruption of volcanoes and other factors.Beside nature,humans also have a hand in the causing of this destruction .

One big problem the earth is facing is pollution. Major kinds of pollution usually classified by environment are air pollution,water pollution,land pollution and plastic pollution.Some kind of pollution can be caused by natural events such as forest fires and volcanic eruptions, but most pollution are created by human activities. Establishments of great number of people caused pollutions of all kinds and have become problematic that cannot be overcome.

And then there is the most destructive element of climate change. 2023 was said to be the hottest year, but 2024 is no better and even more hotter. Our country is encountering a very hot summer with some cities being among hottest places.People in some countries including Myanmar are dying because of heatstroke.

Because the temperature is increasing glaciers at the North Pole and ice covering some peaks like the Himalayas are melting ,which will cause seas and oceans to swell, and accordingly make islands and cities and towns sink underwater .Because fresh water is stored in the ice,the world will also lose its fresh water supply.

These are only some problematic factors the earth is facing now. There are also many ,many other threats it is facing and has to overcome such as floods earthquakes,powerful storms,tornadoes, landslides, wildfires,tsunamis, heavy snowfalls, heatwaves,water shortages,drying of rivers and streams,extreme heat or cold, and so on.

Beside having to face these natural disasters nations of the world are not enjoying peaceful and joyful lives. Buddha said human beings  who are full of greed,anger and ignorance cannot have a peaceful life and cannot go to a better place in the next life.However many nations and people are being like that and they are acting accordingly. As a result  the world is full of wars, like Russia- Ukrainian,Israel -Hamas,

Myanmar’s ethnic minority plus PDF against military junta war.Beside these there are many wars in different parts of the world, which are fought between the countries’own citizens or with other countries.

In Myanmar citizens are suffering much. Citizens are killed by bombings, caught between gun fightings, killed intentionally by soldiers, houses destroyed or torched 

that people have to leave their homes and their livelihoods and flee to live in forests and mountains without shelters and adequate food or medicines .Economic and education situation in Myanmar will not be able to rise again for many years .

Even if a country doesn’t have wars every single country has its own problems,such as political instability,economic stagnation,over population, religious tension ( India ) ,provoking countries with missiles and A bomb while it’s people live in poverty (North Korea ),mounting debts countries are facing,severe weather threat,trash and sewage dumpings, drug related problems,pornography which is on the rise, sexual abuse of women and children,gender inequality,famine,money laundering and scamming, gun control, epidemics. Mental instability are on the rise these days, that we are seeing mass shootings or stabbings in schools,universities,and people in crowds. These are only a few . There may be many more if you come to think about them.

A country or say an institution is stable and grow if the leader or administrators are able and have good intentions.But what we are seeing now are that  many leaders who are in power and leading the country are power hungry,greedy, don’t care about peoples wishes, bear jealousies,and don’t think about the country’s development.(Our country Myanmar )

So the results are not good either on the physical situation or the activities of men on the world. Many factors are leading towards bad outcomes.The famous Sayadaw Dr. Nandamalar Biwuntha preached (according to the Buddha’s teachings ) that the world will come to its end when there is sexual misconduct like committing incest , which are committed by lowly men and we are hearing about.

In my opinion the world is facing bad situations than what is good. Because everything has its beginnings and ends the world may come to its end some day.Like Buddha’s teaching that the world will end someday if people misbehave , there also is the word Apocalypse in the Bible…which means final destruction of the world.

What is your opinion about me?  Will you dub me a pessimist? If you say so, I think you are not wrong. I don’t have much hope for our country to become stable again to be on the road of recovery . Neither for the world which is deteriorating in many ways.

If it keeps to be like this,our world is not far from its end……

9th May 2024

Credit to the net for some facts and photos…..

N 122   My Recent Connections with Books

I am an amateur translator who  does according to my wish. As I have written before I had translated more than 10 books and produced them with my own money , except for the last one, which is  “From a mountain in Tibet “.

Because I say recent I will have to start from this book. In 2022 October while visiting Bangkok I went to  Kinokuniya bookshop as usual . I didn’t have a special book I wanted to have in mind, so when I saw this book I chose it because Tibet is a place I am interested in plus another mind broadening book.

I read the book and found it interesting ,that I finished it before I got back to home in Taunggyi. I decided to translate it ,and finished it in time before I left for Chiengmai, where we were going to live temporarily. Before leaving I met with producer U LO and he said he will produce it without even reading it.So, I said to myself…. just let us wait and see if it will become true.The time is the beginning of March 2023.

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I had been warned that to make a book would take some time .It was June when he asked me to write a preface for the book and send me the cover of it. So it was assured that it will become a book. But the book came out about the end of August. 

I heard it sold well and that  he will have to do a second edition.I was glad for the producer because he did not lose money . As for my work I asked for 50 copies of it, some of which I sold and some given to friends as present.

In the meantime I had been looking  for a book which I had wanted to translate. I heard about it from the venerable Sayadaw of Kham Buddhist Spychology Institute in Taunggyi. The author is Sao Noan Oo ,daughter of the late Sawbwa of Lawksawk,and friend of Sayadaw. Sayadaw didn’t have the book and neither the author ,who is living in England. I looked for it in Amazon page and found out that there  was only one old copy with the price tag of 52 $ . It would be 150000 kyats not including the shipping fee by Myanmar currency and I think it is not worth the price. So I gave up about acquiring the book. Oh…. the name of the book is My Vanished World. 

But my daughter’s friend who is also a Facebook friend of mine  Thuzar Khin from The Netherlands ,wanted to give books to me as present  ordered it along with some Silk Road books ,to be sent to me in Chiengmai. So before long the book got into my hands.Just going through it for a while I decided to translate it and finished it after some time.

During this time I contacted the author ,who is living in England for permission to translate and produce it ,but at first she was reluctant ,because she was afraid the translation would be incorrect or faulty, especially if it was translated by a Burmese translator. I assured her that I myself is a Shan and know Shan customs well and even the spoken language of Shan peoples and Sawbwas well and that I usually do direct translation . So in the end she gave me permission to do so.

But a Burmese translator who had the book in hand, and knowing that I was doing it ,translated the book quickly and advertised the date of the circulation .My producer told me that he would produce it if I wish, but that wouldn’t be proper with a country with only a handful of  readers. Besides that the book is not written in favor of the military of Ne Win’s era, which had suppressed the Shan people and where the Sawbwas had become victims and faced a tragic end.Our family decided it was not a proper time to produce it now ,but to wait for sometime when we can do it freely.So my draft would be lying in a drawer by itself for the time being.

I had been wanting to translate another book about the Silk Road.Despite the many books Thuzar and my daughter Nge bought for me I chose to translate “Journeys on the Silk Road “ which I found in the internet. I didn’t hope it will become a Burmese version book, but I have to do something to pass the time ,while I am able to do it. I did it  only about half a day  and it took three months to finish it. I don’t like it much because it is not particularly  about the Silk Road but mostly about the explorer Aurel Stein.Whether it will come out as a Burmese translation depends on the producer…..

During this time my producer who had published two of Jung Chang’s books wanted to publish another one, which is Empress Zishi. Some years ago I had translated that book because a producer asked me to do so. I finished it and submitted it to him , but he didn’t like it and did nothing about it. Maybe he didn’t like my direct translation and it is not a flowery one. I didn’t ask to get it back, so the script is in his hands the whole time.But now my producer said he wanted to read it and to get it back from him. 

At last I got back the script and passed it to my producer who had interest in it. It was heartening for me when I heard him said he will start computer typing it. So if it become real my work would not go to waste.

I had written about my connections with books. I am living an idle life in Chiengmai now with nothing special to do.I have to look for things to occupy my body and mind the whole day. It is thankful that I like reading,  listening to news and music watching documentaries from  You Tube .Facebook is a thing that consume our time without us knowing it , but I don’t read every detail of every post .I just scroll through it. Dramas from Netflix cannot capture my mind now because I cannot find something I like as before.

 

Many will criticize me that as an old woman I am not fulfilling religious duties for the benefit of next life. But I think I  have been good ,living according to Buddha’s teachings ,not committing any sins, give charities and alms as much as I can. I am not saying that I am not doing any religious duties. On the contrary  I am doing as much as I can as a good Buddhist ,and never forget, but bear in mind the three gems which are Buddha, Dhamma, and Sanghas , that  my next life will not be that bad ,but a good and satisfying one… 

 

 . . N 121  Continuation of Visiting Hometown 

•     U Sai had asked a friend U Maung Maung for some help to cross the border, to keep our car while we were in Taunggyi,and so he came for us at about 9 and we were driven towards the Thai Myanmar border. 
•     The crossing point was crowded with cars and peoples, many with bags and luggages. We got down from the car and went into the Thai immigration to get our passports checked, take photos and give our fingerprints.Then to the Myanmar immigration and got checked again . There was no problem until now. But after waiting sometime and my daughter and grandson didn’t appear we had to call her and learned that there was something wrong with their passports. They had gone to visit Singapore in October and though the departure seal was on their passports there were no records in the computer. Anyway they were released after waiting more than half an hour.
•        
• After that we went to UMM’s house and stay there for a short time. As our Tachileik plane will leave only in the evening,we have some time to visit some places in Tachileik. So we did what any Buddhists tourists might do, visiting temples and pagodas. 
• After Maesai, Tachileik is untidy and dusty. The one main road is crowded with cars and motorcycles and cannot drive fast enough. The bad condition of the roads also made driving slow. But we learned that only the main road is crowded while the other roads are not that much. Business seems to thriving . I saw many gold shops with aluminum barriers that is a sign of unsafe  condition.Comparing with Thai towns  and cities there are much municipal works to be done here but I doubt no officials are interested in doing so.

        We visited three pagodas. The Shwe Dagon replica pagoda , the Thuwanna Theingi  pagoda and Loi Yun Kham pagoda.All are situated on not very high hills

and all are gilded  and shiny with its gold and own designs.The Shwe Dagon pagoda is exactly like the Shwe Dagon, the Thuwanna Theingi pagoda is built on a boat, Loi Yun Kham pagoda is a small Thai design pagoda. Beyond this pagoda there is a place with big and small figures of men and beasts and other beings which a monk commissioned for them. People come to take photos with these figures ,so the place looks more popular than the pagoda itself.

After 3 we went to the airport . Traveling by plane is convenient for domestic travels

because they don’t take long.Let me narrate one incident we encounter on our way back. One passenger near me enquired about the flying time from Heho to Tachileik and when he was told about an hour he was amazed.He kept murmuring oh… only a little time, oh…. so fast.It would be his first time on a plane.When we landed he was still saying oh….really , like he even couldn’t believe it. 

Something about Taunggyi……the weather in Taunggyi is cold.We had to face it with warm clothes,wearing socks the whole time and sleeping with many layers of blankets. But it is hot if we go out in the daytime. I think winter in Taunggyi is not as cold as it used to be,when we had   to warm ourselves with coal earthen stoves, because there were no electric heaters then.Cherries are only budding , so we will miss the blossoming season this year and also for how many years to come ,nobody knows. About the town itself we can say it is bustling with a grown population buildings and traffic jams now that it can’t be said to be a cool and pleasant town.

The two weeks of my stay in Taunggyi went swiftly by.I saw the three friends who are all I have, ate with two of them twice and visited one whom I think was not very well.Visited relatives at Golden Valley-once and had lunch with friends Ko Aung -AAT at Shan Queen there. Went coffee shop hunting which my daughters like very much but ended at Ayetharya vineyard. Oh… nearly forgot to mention another one which we went to: The Pine coffee shop at Payar Hpyu.

I went on a day trip to Kalaw once. It is a popular visitor’s destination now and I had not really been there. I went and pay homage to the Bamboo Buddha and spent some time at a coffee shop (even in Kalaw  and not long after lunch ) We got to visit the Myin Mati cave,the Byaik mountain and  the new viewing deck which is beside the road near Aungban as new places I have never been.

While at home I sorted out old clothes for donations.My daughters also did the same. We got altogether 13 sacks, so with some cash a friend went and donated them to the needy for us.There are still many clothes and things which need to be discarded and we haven’t finished all this time.So they will have to wait for our homecoming  next time. I entertained guests who came and visited me but there were not much .Apart from these activities there are not any really interesting things done which are worth mentioning. But I have some regrets because I haven’t gone to some places I intended to go, like our Loikong farm and checking on trees we planted to see how many survive.

So when the day for our return arrived, we said goodbye to friends and relatives and to our hometown  and departed through Tachileik, Maesai, to Cheingmai. The border crossing, the retrieving of our car took much time and the 4 hours drive was tiring because it was at the end of the day. But at last we arrived back to our 2nd home safe and sound.