N   71    Melbourne  3

around city….

 

       Victoria Market…..is a large open air market more than 100 years old. Souvenirs, clothing, fruits and vegetables are sold here .It is a major tourist destination today.

     

   Cherry Farms….December is summer in Australia and the season when cherries ripen. We visited these farms 2 times by driving in our cars. One thing I need to mention here is about the GPS a device u have to  stick  onto the front glass of the car. If u print the place u want to go it will automatically guide u to your destination. Using this GPS we reached the farms successfully. After paying our entry fees we went in , picked and ate as much as we can, but for the fruits we were taking home we have to pay when we exit.It was a pleasant and happy experience especially because we had our babies ( granddaughters  ) with us.

     

  Arts Centre….situated on the south bank of the Yarra, the Arts Centre with with it’s golden spire is a distinctive landmark.It is Australia’s largest performing arts venue, consisting of a complex of theatres and concert halls . It hosts a large number of Australia and international performances and production companies.

     

  Docklands…..is a suburb of Melbourne 2 kms west of central business district. From art to sport and culture Dockland offers a colorful variety of events and attractions . We would often go there for shopping as there are direct outlets and specialty stores, as  well as entertainments and other attractions. It is a nice place to take photos along the waterfront and among the sculptures.

      

 Melbourne Museum….is a natural and cultural history museum located in the Carlton Gardens. It was established in 1854. It has 7 main galleries a children gallery, and a temporary exhibition gallery.It showcases Australia’s history,Indigenous cultures, science and the environment.

     

 Philip Island….we met with our friends U Sai Ba Nyan and U Kyaw Tint’s family 2 times in Melbourne and we sometimes went on trips together. Once we went to Philips Island On the way we visited a Koala conservation centre. At the reception we learned that koalas sleep about 20 hours out of 24 hours, that a newborn is very small , only the size of a pea, and that they feed on eucalyptus leaves. Then we walked along the walkways looking for the small creatures and eventually saw them dozing on trees.

      

 Then we continued to the Nobbies , a magnificent headland on the south western tip of the island. We strolled along the boardwalks absorbing coastal views at lookout points, set amongst seabird gardens , where we saw many gulls and some other birds. We learned that there is Seal Rocks home , Australia’s largest colony of fur seals although we didn’t see them. If we stay till evening we learned that we can observe cute penguins coming home called Penguin’s Parade, but we cannot wait to do so. Even then hearing and seeing pictures of  these cute creatures and the  dynamic views of the sea and land made this trip one of the amazing experiences we ever had..

N 70    Melbourne 2

Around the city….

As I have said we had been to Melbourne 3 times and each time we stayed about 1 month. During these stays we usually went for 1 long trip and at other times we visited in and out of the city.

      

Transportation in Melbourne is very convenient . My daughters were staying in a rental flat near Swinburne University which was not very far from the train station. We just had to walk about 5 minutes, buy  tickets, and board the train when it comes in. When we reached the city centre we again boarded a tram or a bus which will take us to the place  we wished to go to. These transportations were never crowded ( of course we avoided rush hours ) and we surely had seats to sit. But it was possible only because our daughters who had been studying there for some years knew the way and could guide us well to our destinations. 

     

During our stays we tried to visit all landmarks and even then I am not sure that we did so. Anyway I will try to relate the places we visited.

      

The road I mentioned in my last blog, Swanston Street goes by the name St. Kilda after crossing the Yarra River and if we go south along this road , before long we came to the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV )It is an art museum founded in 1861 and so is the oldest public art museum in Australia . In its collection of artworks are treasures from ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome etc.Also includes a distinguished array of European and Asian decorative  arts .There are also an outstanding collection of European and British paintings and sculptures dating from 1200 to today.

      

Further south along St. Kilda road is the famous Shrine of Remembrance. Walking there we had to cross the Queen Victoria Garden, Birdwood  Avenue and King’s Domain which are all nice parklands and well kept  gardens. This whole block consists of gardens and lawns and parks so well kept that it is my favourite spot and made me have yearnings that our towns and cities have parks like these for people’s recreation and enjoyment. In my eyes there are not much to do. Only green lawns and tree lined lanes and some benches will do. But people in our country are striving for their livelihood at present and are not in a position to think about nice recreation places.

       

 And then we came to the Shrine. It is an iconic landmark built in 1928 – 34 with carefully chosen classical style as a memorial to the men and women of Victoria ( Melbourne is in the state of Victoria )and now to all Australians who have served in  war. It was built on elevated ground overlooking the city, within 13 hectares of beautiful parklands.

        

During our stays we visited St Kilda beach more than once. It is a beach on the south of Melbourne. There is a park there called Luna Park and a Sunday market where people sell souvenirs and hand made ornaments in small tents on Sundays. I saw 2 three stories houses with the names Mandalay over the road there.

N 69   Traveloque…. (Melbourne / Australia )

While thinking about what I should write for my next blog I hit on an idea. It is to write about my travellings, concerning cities I have been. As I have been to some cities of the east my blogs will become a series and I will have much to write about. But I know most people don’t like to read long articles, so I will try to make them short , although it will be hard if there are many places and things that need to be mentioned, and I am sure every city does have those things. So I will start with Melbourne , Australia…..

I had been to Melbourne 3 times. It was because my 2 daughters had studied there and even now one granddaughter is still in a university there. So the reason for our first time visit in 2010 was to attend the graduation ceremony of our daughter Kham .She attended the Monash University and got her B A (acc )degree. At that time our youngest daughter Lin was also studying at Swinburne for master's degree in accounting.

 

My eldest daughter Ma Ying and her husband also went with us on that trip. I remember the first place we visited was the heart of the city which is called Swanston Street, where most landmarks are situated. We first visited  the Federation Square. It is home to major cultural attractions, world class events,  an array of restaurants and specialty stores that it has become the most visited attraction in Melbourne. St Paul Cathedral is close to this place.

 

After we had looked around and took some photos we moved northwards, and before long came to the State Library which I learned that it holds more than 2 million books. It was built in neoclassical architecture with a wide stairs and green lawn in front of it.

It was at this place that I encountered a  remarkable experience. I saw a rally by some people to free Julian Assange, a Melbournian and the co founder of  Wikileaks which hacked into some companies and important government departments including the Pentagon. He was having trouble with the law and was recently making news. So when I came across an incident concerning him I got excited and took many pictures of the rally.

This also is a place which tourists who come to Melbourne cannot miss. It is not far from Melbourne Central Station and shopping centre. We continued to stroll along Swanston Street , gazing at the Christmas preparations, and the people doing their last minute shopping, and window shopping before going back home.

N68            Books I translated (5 ) Part 2

After every step they had to give report to the Movement’s office. The 10^th step is the last step where they made sure that the trees they planted survived and then the women got paid 10 cents for each tree that survived.

This was a very small amount of money but as the women did not have other ways of making money they gladly did the work. And so this was how Wangari came to plant 30 million trees in Kenya.

Environmentalists usually turn into politicians and so it was like this with Wangari. The government at that time in Kenya was under the leadership of one strong man who did not rule the country democratically.While the government’s party was made strong by bribing and corruption the oppositions were being pressed. Those who opposed the government were thrown into jail where  they were charged   by corrupt lawyers and judges. The government also mismanaged their scanty resources. ( forests and parks and aid money from abroad….)

 I cannot help thinking , oh… how like our country  and the govt;  but then  our govt; and country  are  far wealthier than Kenya but in the end the 2 countries will be depleted of it’s resources if nothing is done to prevent this mismanagement.

As in Kenya Wangari who was an environmentalist became a political activist.Beside planting trees she led women in protecting parks and  forests which the govt; was  using for their own benefits. And she also advocated on behalf of women whose sons were held in jail for opposing the govt;.

After getting many awards from different countries and organizations Wangari was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 for contributing to sustainable development, democracy and peace.

I like this book because it gives me inspiration and admiration. Believe me or not… while I am reading the chapter about planting trees I really want to do like her especially when we are in a dire situation to plant trees.

Lately we have been facing disasters that came with overlogging and unsystematic minerals producing and there are chances that we will also have to face them in the coming years

 But I am old now and  not in a position to do so. I wish there will be someone or some organizations that can do like Wangari (to lead people in planting trees and not depend only on the government )

 Trees take time to grow but it is better to start  growing  again than doing nothing. So let us make Wangari our inspiration and take a part in making our country green again and save it from coming disasters.

N 67   Books I translated     (  5  )  Part 1

       

I had written about  some of the books I had  translated from English to Burmese. Until now 6 books had been  printed and the last which I am going to tell about it now is on it’s way to be made into a book.

     

  So firstly the title of the book…. I gave the title A Sein Yaung Chit Thu (Green Lover )and the original book is Unbowed written by Wangari  Maathai. I came across this book while reading ex president Clinton’s book  Giving  where he mentioned her name and which I later looked for in the internet.

     

   Wangari was a native of Kenya in east Africa. She grew up in the countryside which was blessed with earth’s abundant yields. She did cultivation with her mother , gathered firewood, and fetched water from the river,and also tended animal. She never thought of them as hard work but was happy to do them. When she was 8 she went to a primary school which was about 3 miles away. After primary school she went to mission schools ran by nuns where she studied for her middle and high school levels.

       

After she finished high school she was selected to study in the US through The Joseph .P. Kennedy Foundation where she studied for her Science degree  majoring in biology at Mount Scholastica University . After receiving her bachelor degree in 1964 she continued for master’s degree at the University of Pittsburgh  .

    

  Upon her return to Kenya she worked as a lecturer at the school of Veterinary Medicine of University  College of Nairobi where she also pursued doctoral studies in Germany and at the University of Nairobi and obtained the P. hd degree in 1971.

       

While she served on various boards of many organizations concerning environment and humanity causes she found out that the environment of Kenya was degrading due to overlogging. Because there were no trees on the hills , when the rain  came the soil was washed down into streams and rivers and gradually into the sea.Streams and rivers were also dried up and caused livelihood of people to become difficult and biodiversities to become extinct. Firewood for cooking , wood for fencing, also became scarce. Because the top soil was washed away vegetation did not yield abundantly as they used to be, and this caused people and animals not to have enough food.

….To solve these problems she introduced the idea of community based tree planting. and then continued to develop this idea into a broad based grassroot organization , the Green Belt Movement, whose main focus were poverty reduction, environment conservation and women’s right through tree planting.

Wangari used an incentive to make rural women more interested in planting trees. The Green Belt Movement developed a procedure with 10 steps,from forming a group,locating a site for tree nursery, to planting trees.                      

  …..to Part 2

N 66        The Future of our Parks

                                    I had just finished translating Wangari Maathai’s book ‘Unbowed ‘and was in the process of producing it when I saw  a post came up on facebook  today. It is about a park in Yangon, the Kandawgyi Park. In Wangari’s book there is a chapter about how she and the people defend their biggest Uhuru Park from being used in other ways than recreation place for the people and how they succeeded in the end. I realized that we the people of Myanmar are also needing to do so .

                                                                 Uhuru Park..... Nairobi / Kenya

  The post said that  Kandawgyi Park came under the management of YCDC (municiple ) in 2010  and from them to private companies, to develop and make it into a place where people can enjoy. But in 2013 April the people who have power over it leased it to 3 companies for 60 years which can be said for a lifetime , by their own freewill.

    

The companies leased the park at a very low rate and so it is a big loss  for the country.  Anybody knows that to get this low rate they (the cronies for sure ) have to bribe the people who have the power to give the lease.

                                                  

                                                             Uhuru Park..... Nairobi /Kenya

According to the contract the companies who leased the park have to make it into a recreation place for people to enjoy.They have to construct facilities that fits a water park such as water slides, pools for children and adults, waterfalls and pleasant things that would suit the eyes. On the lake they should keep boats of some kinds, water skis, create wave pools and such things for people to enjoy. We cannot expect big and expensive water worlds like in other countries because of the country’s economy where most people do not have money for leisure, but even then they should enjoy small basic leisure facilities , especially for children.

   

  But the companies don,t care for people’s enjoyment. They just do what they will get more profits. I have read an article  in a newspaper about this park. The writer said that this park which should be a recreation place for people to enjoy is being used as a place for rock music concerts with loudspeakers    booming which is a nuisance for people in the environment. Many shops are selling beer and liquor and the young people who come to the shows are high on intoxicating drinks and behaving wildly. So older people who just want to stroll along in a peaceful surrounding cannot do so.

                                                       Kandawgyi Park..... Yangon / Myanmar

   So the companies are not doing according to what they should do , to meet the real aim of a public park. They just look for profits. So trees are being cut down, buildings such as high rises and shopping malls  that don’t concern a park are sprouting  up, and building materials are also taking place in the park.

    

  Every  places of value in Yangon  like the  Inya Lake, the Pyithu Yinbyin, the Padonmar Park  are getting into the hands of cronies.They have access to these places by bribing the authorities, whereas the people cannot say anything.The money that get into the government is small, but the authorities get big money. The authorities are manipulating resources as if they are their own .

    

                                                           Kandawgyi Park..... Yangon / Myanmar

  Some members of parliament discussed these issues in parliament but come to no avail. There are no transparency in the way the government is doing its work. The government is very like the government of Kenya in the 1990s. Even then the Burmese government is worse than Kenya, because Burma has much resources than Kenya, which has only land and some forests to abuse.

   

The people of Burma have come to know that the resources are being handled in the wrong way, that the benefits do not go into the government’s  treasury, but instead only into the big and small official’s pockets.

   

   About public land use there is not much protesting in Burma. The only incident I have heard of is the protesting of building apartments by the USDP in a football field of S. Okalappa and led by U Ko Ko Gyi, who  was charged with prison terms round about May this year.U Ko Ko Gyi and Wangari Maathai are fearless people who dared challenge the people in power for the good of the public. In order to protect public places there should be more leaders like them, so as not to make public places disappear from our towns and cities forever .