Enchanting Myanmar

My work brought me in touch with various embassies but I had no one among the foreigners who was a close friend. Maybe it was due to my English, which I could not speak with a good accent. But as I was not holding a high position there really was no need for me to [...]

Rainbow over the Hopong Valley Myanmar is dependent on the monsoon rains for growing rice, the staple food for her people. The farmers depend on the rains to plant the paddy and villages rely on the rains to replenish their ponds and lakes where water is taken for drinking, cooking and other household chores. Normally [...]

Myanmar has a long and proud tradition of gold and silver crafts since the 2nd century. The Pyu of central Myanmar and the land of the Rakhine on the West coast are two civilisations that flourished almost at the same time. The Greek geographer Ptolemy noted a land called Argyre, Land of Silver, in mapping [...]

Now, then. I should write about married life, after pondering on it for so long; whatever backlash I suffer as the result, I alone have the responsibility. With all the millions of people on this earth, think of the millions of marriages. With all the creatures of the world, fish and fowl, think of the number of their marriages. [...]

MOE YWA YIN MOE YAY CHO MAE (WE SHALL PLAY IN THE RAINS) “Moe Ywa Yin Moe Yay Cho Mae”, that is a ditty that every Myanmar child knows. As Myanmar is a monsoonal country and enjoys abundant rains it is not a surprise that all children love playing and splashing about in the rains. [...]

AS THE BLACK FACE WEEPS(မ်က္ ႏွာ မဲ ၾကီး ငို လိမ့္ မယ္) “The black face will weep and the dead shall come to life”. That usually means that the black monsoon clouds has gathered to bring the much needed rain on the parched land and the dead vegetation and the hibernating animals, like the frogs, will [...]

“Myanmar Country” The words ‘Myanmar Pyay’ (ျမန္မာ ျပည္)are seen on a stone inscription dated 597 ME (Myanmar Era) or 1235 CE. The stone is from the reign of Kya Swar, (1234-1250) son of King Htilo Minlo (Nadaung Myar), Bagan. It is known as the Yadana Kon Htan Inscription written in early Burmese script, It is at present in [...]

THE HOLY MONTH OF KASON “The land dries up in Tagu but all is parched in Kason (တန္ ခူး ေရ ကုန္၊ က ဆုန္ ေရ ခန္း)”. That is the saying in Myanmar as the sun scorches the countryside with its blazing heat. The village ponds are dry and the rivers are low. But soon there will [...]

ေသြး ေဆး ကန္ {Blood Washing Tank(pond)} It was the time of intense fighting between the invading British forces and the Myanmar King’s army during the 2nd Anglo-Myanmar War of 1852. After a period of tension between the Myanmar governor at Yangon and the British naval officer Commodore Lambert over a protocol detail, the British struck [...]

Thingyan is an auspicious period for all Myanmar Buddhists. They go to monasteries and observe the Sabbath or engage in many meritorious deeds. One of these is a unique ceremony call စတု ဒိ သာ(Sadhu ditha). It is offering of free food to everybody who passes by, regardless of race or religion. And at these events [...]