N 94  My Annual Visit to Yangon

I don’t remember how many years I have come back to live in Taunggyi. But during these years I usually went to stay in Yangon for the winter, because Taunggyi is too cold in the winter months.

But this year I decided to go later and see if I can braveTaunggyi’s winter. And… I saw I can do it quite well. It is nothing much compared to colder places, not to mention the world’s cold places, but only in our country. Even places like Pinlaung, Namsang, Loilem, Mogok, Momeik, and the Chin Hills are colder than Taunggyi. The temperature at those places are only a little degrees above 0* like 3 or 4 degrees . But I found the indoor temperature in my house is over 10* on colder days. I wonder how people can live in sub zero degrees with snow covering everywhere.

So it was on the 6^th of February that I finally went to Yangon. The main reason was I have to do some paper signing at a bank where we have home loan and I also want to do some medical checking. The paper signing work at the bank was done within a few hours after we reached Yangon.

I did the medical check up the next day. I have some problems with my heart, narrowing of the arteries.. I had planned to check up with my nephew Sai Kyaw Tay Zar who is now a cardiologist. He examined me with echo machine and told me the result is not so bad, to do some more checking after some months and gave me prescriptions for some medicine.

On the 8^th I attended the wedding ceremony of another nephew Sai Kyaw, who is the brother of Sai Kyaw Tay Zar. Sai Kyaw lives in the US and also the bride’s parents and they are going to US after a few days. The wedding was held at the pool side of Sedona Hotel. This was my first time there and everything was nice and pretty for me. The bride and groom, the environment, the preparations and agenda, and also the food. I wish the couple to have a long, happy and pleasant life together in the US.

On the 10^th I attended another wedding which was held at Pandittayama Monastery near our house. Hsun was offered to Sanghas and yogi’s , and guests were treated with buffet lunch in commemoration of their wedding. The bride Aye Aye Myint is my daughter’s friend and we also met with some other friends at the ceremony.

The next day we had a gathering of friends whom we had lived together in Kunhing. Not many of them but only five. We had lunch together at my house, and we talked about our past and present lives. To meet friends and having some talks is a pleasant and happy thing to do. It is nice because it means that we are still alive and can go about, even some including me are not quite well and healthy enough. We cannot meet like this if we are gone forever. Next year if I am well enough I will have a more bigger gathering with people whom we lived together in Kunhing.

When I didn’t go out I did some dusting and cleaning at home. Because the house had undergone major alterations and repairs there is dust everywhere, but this time it was a lot better. I did some organizing of the wardrobes in my room and the book cabinets.

As I love books I collected some starting  from long ago. I still have Reader’s Digest and novels from my school days and Time magazines of 40 years ago. I keep my books in cabinets with unsystematic catalogues. Whether systematic or not I can know how many books I have and how many I have lost (but I don’t have many ).  I have lost more during  my absense but  I don’t let this trouble me. Anyway nothing is permanent in this world, but it is distressing that my children, my grand children are not reading books anymore.  (Exception…Nang Nang and Naung Naung who has started to read , but they read English books only )

I had asked my granddaughter Baby to send me to bookshops and she did so one Thursday when she didn’t have tuition. Because we left late and of traffic it was time to eat lunch when we reached downtown. So I was taken to 800 bowls Restaurant where we had noodles and dumplings. Then we went to Sarpay Beikman , the Goveernment’s bookshop where I bought some books to take home.

A short walk on the platform around there brought me memories of long ago. When I was young I liked walking on the platforms where there are vendors selling everything. I would walk on these platforms tirelessly looking at inexpensive things and buying some upon seeing things I needed. During this short walking I saw a book I had wanted( Pascal Khoo Thwe’s From the Land of Green Ghost …. a book I had read its translation and had liked )and I bought it happily. Though I had wanted to go to other bookshops I cannot do so because to go from one place to another in the downtown area is not a simple and easy thing to do but a complicated and time consuming thing .

I didn’t want to go back home without visiting at least one new shopping mall. So I was taken to Junction City . It was my first visit there and upon entering it I couldn’t help mention that it looks like a shopping mall in  neighbouring foreign countries.It is a modernized one with some garden like decorations and a plant wall where people were taking photos.But most shops are selling branded items and the prices are not cheap.

Many shopping malls like this one are sprouting here and there around Yangon . And we are hearing that our country is facing economic recession at the moment. But there also is a wide gap between the rich and the poor. So shopping malls and branded things will be for the elite, the rich and the upper class people only.

I had posted about my one and only visit to Signature restaurant on the bank of Kandawgyi Lake in my facebook account. So my daughter and her friend commented they will send me again when I come to Yangon the next time.And they really did send me there on the last day of my stay. I don’t like to go out much ,but it is nice to do so sometimes. We ate those foreign foods and took pictures with the nice surroundings there. The pleasant weather and environment,the food , the relaxation I had, all are great experience for me. Thank you…Ying, and Hnin Yu Khine for sending me to a nice place like this. Let us go to another nice place when I come again next year……