N  104  A Day Trip to Nam Koke

Nam Koke is a small town about an hour drive from Taunggyi. It is on the Taunggyi Loikaw road. I happened to visit it a few days ago.

I had made arrangements with my friend Daw Sao Mya Waddy to visit Nam Koke but on that day we drove separately in our own cars. Sai Leng took us by the Kakku road which branched towards the east at about 10 miles from Taunggyi.  From there on we drove along unpaved road passing neat Pa Oh villages, fields of garlic and other crops, and at one place a small group of old pagodas.

 The paddy fields were just harvested. Some paddies may have reached the barns of the farmers, but some were still lying in the fields in bundles and not yet threshed. Some threshed paddy stalks that have become hay can be seen lying around as simple hay stacks. This reminded me of the hay stacks I had seen in Australia. Because everything is done by machine there packing hay will surely be done by machine that their hays are rolled neatly to become a round cylinder like bundle. But this is Shan State and we are living our own way.

The scenery was stunning. The vast land and fields dotted with golden bundles of paddy and hay stacks spread towards the low blue mountains in the distant , that the scenery looked like a magnificent panorama. Panoramas on all sides. I imagine what a good photo this panorama would  become if taken by a good photographer.

After driving for some time we reached a concrete bridge and then saw the expected small river . Sai Leng told us that this is the river from which its water is planned to divert to use in Taunggyi where water resource is scarce.

We stopped here, got out of the car , took some photos and then moved on again. We got  to the end of the road where it meets the paved road and to my surprise saw that we have reached Nam Koke, and this made me happy that we had reached our destination.

It still is early to have lunch, but we have to eat , so we looked for a place to eat and settled at a restaurant which look nice and ordered lunch. Although the compound of the restaurant is not big , the owner had taken care to make it impressive, using wood and logs for decoration. Beside the main room there are some small compartments where about up to 10 people can sit and eat, and these are parted with logs or wood with some plants in between, To come in we have to cross a small bridge which span over a drain where colourful fishes are swimming. Not bad decoration for a small restaurant in a small town I thought. And the food is not bad too, though the price was not cheap enough.

After we had eaten my friend and company had arrived  and while waiting for them to finish eating we enquired for some places to visit and were told there was a festival ground at the end of town. So we got into our car and headed there. We saw vehicles standing by at one place and people in new Shan dresses streaming out onto the street at one place and assumed that this must be the place. We parked the car at the edge of the festival ground and got out.

When I am at home I never go to festivals. The Tazaungdaing festival had gone by yearly but I would never lay my feet on the ground.I don’t like walking a long way especially among crowds as it is tiresome. But this small festival made me feel happy. It reminded me of these kind of festivals we had enjoyed in our hometown when I was young.

The short dusty lane in front of us was crowded with people, who were coming out or buying things at the stalls that were stretching along the lane in front of us. The stalls were selling usual festival goods such as toys, Shan dresses,  headdresses, and bags and hats.There was also a stall selling warm clothes and woollen hats.The shopkeepers were people who came from other towns and cities.

This festival was held to celebrate   the past Tai New Year and also offering of new harvest to the Lord Buddha.The people enjoying the festival were mostly Shans (Tais  )wearing Shan dresses. Even small children were dressed in cute Shan costumes. There was no entertainment at this time of day,but there may be some shows on the stage at night. But people were enjoying themselves, strolling around the ground, eating, buying things especially what their children badger them to buy for them. My small grandson got a toy guitar and with that he climbed onto the empty stage and acted like strumming it and singing and enjoying himself which made us and some bystanders smile happily.

At this time my friend and her company had finished their lunch and so we joined them to visit another place. It was a group of old pagodas , said to be built by the famous Keng Tung Sawbwa’s sister Nang Tip Htilar and is about 3 miles out of town. They were situated on a hill which overlooks all sides. On reaching the top we saw some partly collapsing old pagodas and a large banyan tree with some branches cut down near them.My friend is interested in restoring the pagodas and she discussed about it  with the engineers she brought with her. They have experiences in building and restoring old pagodas like these. They gave their own views concerning the restructuring of the pagodas.My friend has her own plans to do so and I hope she will succeed in realizing her dream.

We visited a flower farm with plans to take photographs among pretty flowers . But the flowers were all harvested by this time that there were no flowers to see at all.

By this time we were all tired, that even our little monkey had fallen asleep by himself at the back seat . So we headed home. We came back by the KBZ road which is reached by driving some miles out of town.Then through unpaved road passing some settlements, and fields until we came to the paved Pin Pet road.After some miles the road join the main Hopong Taunggyi road.

I posted on my facebook account in Burmese;

A visit to Nam Koke

Nam is water and koke means mortar  ( where we pound rice )powered by running water

It can be reached about an hour

went one way and came back by another

I was contented to travel on these new routes

Without expecting, visited a small festival there

It was  to celebrate   the past Shan New Year and also the offering of new harvest to Lord Buddha

Even if it is a small village festival, seeing these old and young Tai people in traditional dresses make me feel enchanted and happy….

N 103  Green Taunggyi @ Nar Poung

 Nar Poung village is about 8 miles from Taunggyi, on the Taunggyi – Kakku Road.It was the place we looked for to plant trees after Sin Taung. At first we checked at Loi Kaung monastery compound, but found it was already packed with trees,and the monk directed us to look at Nar Poung. So we came to be at this place which is farther away from Taunggyi , but were excited and happy to find a vast compound where hundreds of trees can be planted. We also got permission from the Abbot to plant trees in the compound.

It was June 30^th when we went to plant there. For this day’s planting our Green Taunggyi group was joined by a walking group of 30, who are friends of USTM. After eating breakfast of fried rice and fritters at our gathering place we left for Nar Poung, amid mists and light rain, taking with us tree saplings, tools, stakes, sacks of fertilizers, and some refreshing drinks.

The compound is a perfect place for tree planting. Only some places are weedy while most of the place is covered only with grass. But I heard that there are termites, so I prayed that all of our trees will not be destroyed by these pests.

As holes had already been dug by workers the group happily planted the tree saplings and after about an hour or so nearly 400 trees were planted and marked by bamboo sticks which made the field more attractive.

So our third day of tree planting at Nar Poung ended without mishap or inconvenience which left everyone satisfied and happy with renew spirits to plant more the coming week.

N 102      Green Taunggyi

During summer this year, before the rain came, Taunggyi was very hot, hotter than any other years , people said. Facebook posts and other medias pointed out the disadvantages of trees disappearing and urging people to grow more trees. I could not resist the urgings and so decided to form an environmental group to plant trees, do some educative movements, such as erecting billboards and hold some public meetings to discuss environmental issues.

 So with confidence that I will be able to do so with the help of my two daughters, who are also interested in environmental issues, I decided to form a group which is the first thing to be done. I called a meeting with the people I had in mind , who will be acting as ECs and asked them to participate in the group, and nobody disagreed about their positions. I took the part of patron only along with two others with Sayagyi U Sein Aung as chairman.

For some members I recruited office and plant workers from our Mya Nanda Tun construction. My aim is if young people who participate in tree planting become interested in environmental issues it will be good for them and also the environment.For other members I asked some from my surroundings and they joined willingly. Some joined by their own wishes after I posted on FB.

I named our group Green Taunggyi which need no explanation other than to make Taunggyi green with more trees and thus leading to a better climate and environment. As for funds I don’t expect to cost much, and so will be taken care by me and my family.

So three meetings were held to explain why Green Taunggyi was formed and how to plant trees. And also to form groups which will enable them to have more interests in their group and be more responsible for their parts.

Meanwhile members of the EC prepared (bought ) the needed equipment such as earth drilling machine,bush cutter, hoes, shovels and spades. Bamboo sticks to mark the plants had to be ordered. Some members went to Taung Lay Lone to buy manure and  burnt paddy husk to use as fertilizers. I have to add that preparing fertilizer is somewhat tiresome. The dried manure have to be pounded and then mix with burnt paddy husk and put in sacks to distribute to the planters. This job is done only by staunch members who are willing to give time and energy for tree planting.

Then we have to look for places for the planting. We had received 1ooo trees from the forest department and that is the number our group was determined to plant this year. One acquaintance  took us to his village, Sin Taung, to a monastery which is bare except for a few trees. We inspected the place and all were pleased to have found such a nice place for the trees. We estimated that it will be enough not only for this year planting but also for years to come.

So on 19^th June , the day when the whole country was planting in commemoration of State Councilor’s birthday , we all went there to start planting trees. Some digging had already been done by some members and I heard discouraging news that the soil is hard and full of stones. My daughter took a backhoe from her father’s batching plant and dug some days which resulted in the entire southern side of the monastery full of big sandy holes. Some as deep as 4 feet and still no soil or earth can be found. Some have some earth in them , but to  put in a plant  they have to be filled again with earth which is very tiring.

After 2 days ( 19^th and 23^rd ) we haven’t planted many trees. I had calculated to plant 250 trees each day , but it was far from the expectation. I was discouraged and want to look for other places.I was also afraid that members who are planting found this place too tiring and depressed.But my daughters don’t want to give up yet. Some said  that  trees can be planted by filling up the pits with earth and that Swedaw trees thrive well in such places.As Swedaw is not in our collection we went to Taung Lay Lone plantation to buy them.

Well for the time being I can only  expect for the day when young people succeeded to fill this rocky high ground with greeneries.

Meanwhile some of us had located a place where we can plant trees by hundreds. It is at Nar Paung village , in its monastery compound.And had hired a worker to dig as many holes as he can. It should be volunteer work , but there are not many in our group who can do this work.So money has to be used for the digging.

Tomorrow , the 30^th of June some of us are going to plant there. Only some of us will be going because some members from a walking group volunteered to join us. So I will narrate about Nar Paung tree planting only in my next blog….