Myanmar (Burma) and Thailand Highlights

The Wilson's wandered a great deal last year and got just a little behind on their travel posts, so we are happy to be able to share highlights and recommendations (because giving all the details would take too long) from our most recent trip last month to Myanmar and Thailand. Of course we wouldn't go to Myanmar without first stopping in Thailand. Using Delta miles we flew on Korean Air directly to Chiang Mai from Seoul, and discovered Thailand STILL has not figured out how to speed up their immigration entry process. After a short night, we took the familiar 30 minute flight from Chiang Mai to Maehongson, now flown by Bangkok Air in addition to Kan Air - both highly recommended. I posted a little more detail of our time in Maehongson on facebook but here are a few people and places I am especially fond of.

Fields, mountains and river in Patyng - my back yard growing up...

Fields, mountains and river in Patyng

Andrea and Doi

Andrea and Lee walking out to the orchards in Napajat

Ninae and Wi at Maesagert

Golf, Nam Waan and Ba Youie - Patyng

We had 5 wonderful days in Napajat and Patyng, seeing friends in both places. Then it was back to Chiang Mai and after a couple hour wait in the lovely Bangkok Air lounge, a direct flight to Mandalay.

Mandalay as a city was honestly a bit disappointing. As one of our guide books describes it, "spurred by massive Chinese investment in recent years, modern Mandalay is one of Southeast Asia's boom cities and a far cry from the low-rise, slow-paced, bicycle-powered backwater it was." In literature and history, Mandalay has somewhat of a mystique about it, but today, the actual city is just not that attractive. There are cultural and historical gems hidden in and about it that represent remnants of the four former royal capitals and some of these are definitely worth seeing. We had scheduled 3 days/4 nights but if doing it again, two days would be enough.

The highlight of our time in Mandalay was hiring a car and driver for the day who took us to three of these former royal capitals - Amanapura, Inwa/Ava and Sagaing for the princely sum of $40! The highlight of the day for me was on the island of Inwa, walking into Bagaya Monastery, a 200 year old teak monastery with massive teak floor boards and posts (267 to be precise, the tallest measuring 60 feet, one having a circumference of 9 feet). There was something so evocative about it, reminding me somehow of our former house in Dorpae where I lived during elementary school. It is also a lawsuit waiting to happen with nails protruding and gaps in the floors to slip through!

Ferry to Inwa

Quite the year...

If you were wondering if we created a card this past year (something we have done for the past 8 years)...we did, but time ran out and it didn't get posted for Christmas/New Year. Between Andrea and I, we traveled to 15 countries this past year but only two of them together. Our travel was the main takeaway from this past year, and there is much we are learning as a result. It was quite the year. A few travel highlights are captured in the two versions of our card below. We are happy to report that today we are embarking on a journey together for our "get out of the freezing cold winter" escape. Stay tuned. Here's to another year. #plantflowers

Ethiopia

In November I spent a week in Ethiopia - another first for me - as was finally flying on a 787, direct from Dulles to Addis. I don't have too many photos to post (although I did bring back two bags of great coffee). My colleague and I spent the week with an amazing team of people who persevere under the enormous restrictions they find themselves. We stayed at a very nice hotel (the King of Morocco was there on our last night with his entire entourage which was quite the spectacle), although we didn't get to enjoy it as much as we wanted as the days were long. But I appreciated what I could especially the grounds of the hotel and the literal banks and banks of roses. Ethiopia has such a rich heritage. I would love to come back and explore the country more fully one day. (For trip advisor report on the hotel, go here.)

Beautiful Roses

Views over Addis

Duncan

Somalia

Mogadishu was not somewhere I anticipated going any time soon and certainly not just six days after returning from Kenya, but the request was made and I was willing to go - not without a little thought and conversation with those around me. But, I was so glad I went as the team I worked with was so inspiring and courageous. My role was to provide education on stress and trauma and provide counseling as needed, but as is usually the case, they taught me a great deal also. Every country is complex and faces challenges and Somalia is no exception, but from the little I heard, in spite of the continuing al-Shabaab threat, Somalia is moving in the right direction. As in Nairobi during the previous month, I was so grateful and privileged to meet with individuals committed to peace and stability and life - even as they risk their own lives in the process.

What helps when dealing with trauma and stress

As you might imagine security is tight in Somalia because of the threat from al-Shabaab. I was picked up from the airport in an armored car which quickly had me inside a very fortified compound of the hotel I was staying - which incidentally was outside the green/safe zone. I didn't leave the compound except for the few times we went out a back gate for a very short walk to the team's office - always surrounded by armed guards. Needless to say, this was a new experience and the most intense security situation I have been in.

Barriers surrounding the airport

View from my room

Looking out to the ocean/airport/green zone from the hotel

Camel...first time

On the way back, after I had gone through the NINE security/ID checkpoints just to get on the plane in Mogadishu, we took off and as all planes flying to Nairobi from Mogadishu do, landed in Wajir, in the middle of the Kenyan desert, to do another complete screening of passengers and luggage before reboarding and continuing on to Nairobi. If there is going to be a security breach coming from Somalia, Kenya wants it contained out in the desert!

Flying into Wajir

Lining up under the only trees for one final security screening

Reboarding in Wajir

Duncan

Kenya

Part of the the work I do involves responding to critical incidents in order to sit with survivors to help them process their experience and feelings and give them information that will help. These requests can range from meeting with a team after an unexpected death of a colleague or after they witnessed something traumatic. These requests can sometimes require an immediate response. On an otherwise normal Tuesday this past July, I got a call to see if I would be interested in flying to Nairobi to meet with a team that was needing assistance. I had already made plans to have dinner that evening with my friend Jill, a former Chefoo student, who was over from London for a few days. We had a delightful dinner and catchup and  learned she was returning to London the next afternoon. By the time I arrived home, the go ahead for Nairobi had been given and tickets already purchased for me to leave the next day and I would be on the same flight as Jill! As it turned out, the British Airways flight we were supposed to leave on was eventually cancelled long after it was due to depart. Jill was put on the other daily BA flight from Washington while my colleague and I scrambled to find a hotel room for a few hours sleep before heading back to the airport the next morning and eventually being rerouted on a KLM flight instead. Sometimes travel plans don't work as well as they should.  But eventually, we arrived in Nairobi where we began to meet with the team that had requested our support.

Jill and I waiting at the airport before the flight was cancelled.

I won't share any further details about the teams I worked with other than to say what a privilege it was to witness their resilience and heart for each other and for the countries they work in. I wrote the following words on facebook while I was there.

Early morning thoughts from Nairobi where for the past two days I have heard stories from S. Sudan of people losing everything - if not their lives - fleeing without shoes, of family members and friends executed because they are from the wrong tribe.Meanwhile back in the US the killing continues also. We continue to reap the whirlwind of our choices and policies when it comes to how we treat each other - years of racial discrimination, neglect and abuse - silence or a blind eye turned away in the face of oppression, asking police officers to solve all our issues while not funding teachers and mental health but protecting so many loopholes and laws that allow easy access to guns. 

Yesterday as I sat in a hotel lobby, Andra Day's Rise up came on and I was so grateful as I thought of the many, who in the face of so much hardship continue to work to make the world a better place and who do what they can to protect the vulnerable. Most go unnoticed and unpraised. Others rise to the challenge when given the spotlight even under immense odds. 

So for all those who serve in whatever capacity, who are kind, who don't give into fear and who show that another way is possible - whether that is with your children, your elderly parent or neighbor, the punk down the street, the child bride or child soldier around the world - for all those who in the face of exhaustion and unbearable pressure continue to rise up and choose to make a difference, I am grateful.

I had several non-work highlights during my two weeks in Nairobi. The first was the unexpected surprise of meeting up with one of my high school classmates who has spent years in S Sudan/Sudan and who I hadn't seen since graduation! I discovered this 24 hours before I met him. Chris discovered this when I walked into the room. Talk about a surprise! It was so great to catch up over several meals together and meet his wife Nelly too. AND to try to recreate our senior pictures from 26 years ago!

Adventures on the farm

Everyone likes to have an adventure... whether that is strutting sedately...

... cooling off in the water...

... cautiously coming in for a close up...

...stretching and scratching...

... or simply going for a walk-about...even if it means getting carried part of the way...

...and everyone needs a little loving...

All photos taken at Faith Like a Mustard Seed Farm in Leesburg Virginia July 2016
Duncan