The following day U Siri, the monk I befriended in Mandalay showed up at my guesthouse whilst I was having breakfast. He bought tickets for a sightseeing tour of Pyin U Lwin. We walked towards the Win Yadana taxi stand where I met James the day before and I noticed people staring at us. He told me sometimes in smaller towns people aren't accustomed to seeing monks walking with females, particularly younger females. At more remote places, such sights are even frowned upon but he said, "...it is okay. Don't worry. I have other friends who are girls".
When I first saw U Siri in Mandalay Hill, I was actually engaged in a conversation with another person called Kyaw Kyaw. Kyaw Kyaw was telling me about his studies in university, his family and his aspiration to become the President of his country. Yes, I'm not kidding! He spoke English fluently and offered to take me to the ancient cities in his friend's car but I said I had already visited them.
Kyaw Kyaw has big dreams. I bumped into him the next day on my walk to the monk's monastery.
In the midst of our conversation this monk walked past. I noticed him because his robe was draped slightly different - usually monks drape their robes in a way that their right shoulders were left exposed - but this monk had the usually hanging end of his robe pulled up, covering both shoulders. Yea, I know I sound like a freak to even notice that but I guess you just pick up these kind of details after being in a country with so many monks! Anyway, I didn't notice him just because of that. I usually greet almost everyone whom I had eye contact with and I greeted him "Mingalaba!" cheerfully when he walked past us. He had this amusing, twinkling look in his eyes as he nodded his head in acknowledgement.
Half an hour later with Kyaw Kyaw's email and phone number scribbled on a piece of paper, I continued walking down the hundreds, if not thousands of steps. I came to a rest stop where a local guy had his drawings sprawled out on a small table and he invited me to have a look to see if I was interested in buying any.
From the corner of my eyes I noticed a monk sitting on a chair nearby and further investigation revealed that it was the monk whom I had seen earlier. His nose was buried in a brownish, worn little book but as I approached him he looked up and flashed me a smile. I immediately felt very drawn to him. There was just something about his face, his smile, his entire mannerism that made me feel so peaceful. Yes, peaceful. I feel as though his face was the epitome of kindness and it made me think of all the good in the world. In a way, it was weird - but good weird.
We chatted for awhile and he introduced himself as U Siri. He spoke slowly and paused occasionally to find his words. "My English bad," he said from time to time especially when he had difficulty making me understand him. He told me he had been a monk for 13 years and that he had stopped studying English for awhile to master the Pali language, an important language for monks and even more important for a monk who wants to train to become a preacher like himself.
U Siri
Somehow we ended up agreeing that we both wanted to go to Pyin U Lwin the next day and he suggested that we go together. My first reaction was, yeah sure, why not? Then what followed in my head was, "Eh...how? Issit okay for him? I have to be very careful not to come in contact with him (females cannot touch monks)... Is it wrong for me to agree to go together? All these things were running through my mind the entire time when he suggested that I meet him at his monastery in the morning the next day. He was also worried that I might not be able to find the monastery as it was only my second day in Mandalay, not to mentioned the country. So we looked in the guidebook and I said, "Okay, I'll be there at 9am tomorrow."
So the next morning I hauled my backpack and walked ten blocks to his monastery. I arrived late, at 9.20am because it was on a back alley and I had to walk in and out of several teashops to get directions. He must have thought that I was not going to show up because I saw the surprised look on his face whilst I was standing at the monastery door. I was invited in, he showed me his sleeping area and introduced me to every monk there. They insisted we stay for a Rakhaing curry lunch before starting our journey. So of course, all my troubles thoughts from yesterday went away immediately.
Going back to our sightseeing tour in Pyin U Lwin - half an hour after my breakfast we found ourselves cramped, yet again, on the back of a similar pick up truck to the one we sat in yesterday. I was very glad that it was a local tour.
U Naung Gu, natural cave containing several Buddhas used by local meditators
After our first stop at the cave, everyone was on to U Siri about the girl from Malaysia that he was travelling with. Towards midday, everyone on the pick up was offering me strawberries and other snacks bought from snack vendors. This family of three even 'adopted' me and told me to hush and not breath a word of English when we got to the National Kandawgyi Garden so I didn't have to pay 'foreigner fee'. I guess I do look Burmese after all. U Siri said to me, "Now you have a lot of friends!" By the end of the trip, we were one big happy family and few of them even extended me invitations to their homes, mostly in another province altogether.
My 'adoptive' family in Pyin U Lwin. Mother and daughter travelled something like seven hours to see son/brother who is a cadet in the Defense Academy. The mother jokingly pushed her daughter to me saying that she should go with me to America for a better life. They don't speak English, U Siri did translation for us the entire time.
They were seated right opposite me in back of the pick up and I remember thinking that it was one of the very few times that I actually look on a family with real envy. They were so attentive toward the child and affectionate to each other at the same time, you know. 
Chinese Temple. Built by Yunnanese immigrants, the temple is unlike other Buddhist sites in Myanmar. It is also home to an orphanage and nursing home. The shoe friendly grounds include a six-storey tower with seating areas. Shot taken from tower.
After the sighseeing trip U Siri asked if I wanted to meet his friend who has worked in Malaysia for 10 years. He said, "He knows Malay language, you can speak Malay to him." One quick phone call to Phoe Kwa from the Win Yadana telephone stand sent him riding his motorbike to meet us. He then invited us to visit his home, a few minutes bike ride away. I climbed onto his bike and U Siri hailed another moto driver for himself.
In his home I met his mother and sister. The moment we sat down on their sofas, Phoe Kwa's sister disappeared into the kitchen to fetch us drinks. His mother went to a table in the sitting area and stuffed a few Kyats into an envelope. Phoe Kwa's sister, Ngo Pa Lone came back with two glasses of orange juice and placed them on the table in front of us. They then proceeded to kneel on the floor facing U Siri and bowed to him a few times, just like how I've seen locals pay respect to the Buddha in temples and shrines. Then the envelope containing the donation was passed on to U Siri. I felt really weird and uncomfortable, mainly because I felt really self-conscious about my being so casual with U Siri whilst they actually bow to him! The whole thing was over in a few seconds but left me with a lot of questions.
So when I started talking to Phoe Kwa in Malay, I took the opportunity to ask him a lot of those questions. Is it true that it is not good for a monk to be seen with a young female alone? Is it the norm to give donations and bow to monks like what just took place? Of course on top of those things I also asked about his experience working in Malaysia. He said that he entered illegally because it costs too much to have to pay for the permit. That was the reason why he never came home for holidays, as it would be troublesome to go back.
When asked for the reasons for coming back, he said his mother finally couldn't stand it anymore and begged him to come back, even though he was doing well and the money he made in Malaysia was more than he had ever made in his entire life. It paid for Ngo Pa Lone's schooling (she was 13 when he left), the motorbikes they own and on top of that they've also extended the house - now it has a full size kitchen. Now he grows flowers in the backyard to sell in the local market.
Phoe Kwa then gave U Siri a ride back to the main road to catch a pick up back to Mandalay. I told him I will look for him in his monastery when I am back in Mandalay in a few days.
L-R: Daw Than Than Aye, Phoe Kwa, Nyo Pa Lone.
Phoe Kwa's sister gave me a ride back to the main road and I was checking out from my guesthouse when this lady started talking to me in Burmese. I told her I don't understand but she kept pointing to my backpack. Then the person at the reception said to me, "She said your bag is very big. Not heavy? She is asking you where your friends are."
I asked if she speaks Chinese (some Burmese, depending on the area they are from, speak a little bit of Chinese) and she was very delighted. She said, "Yi tien tien. Hua ren?" So we began our 'chicken and duck' conversation with a little bit of Mandarin, a lot of smiles and some head nodding. She wanted to know where I was going and why I was checking out at this time of the day. I said I was headed to another guesthouse. She grabbed me by the arm and said, "Coffee. Coffee." She insisited on buying me coffee.
With her arms linked around mine, we walked into a busy teashop. She ordered for both of us and again, insisted on paying when our drinks arrived. Somehow these two guys who were sitting on the table next to us picked up our difficulty in communicating and translated for us a few times. They ended up joining us for quite an interesting tea (or coffee) time!
Ye Htut (in my mind he is the rock & roll dude) speaks very 'American' English.
I recently got an email from Vandamme saying "...in Myamyo (Pyin U Lwin) everyone is very happy because of water festival but I am not happy because my dreams have not come true." Vandamme dreams and prays for a better life everyday. He said, "...if only there is a way, I will walk there (America)". I said I will send him a postcard of New York's skyline to cheer him up.
Ma Maw Maw Aye, who was so adamant about buying me coffee. She invited me to visit her home in Shwe Bo, a long way away. Her sister recently left for San Francisco after winning the US green card lottery. She asked if she can visit me in NY if she ever make it to America.
Later that night I met up with James and he took me out to dinner at a friend's restaurant. I met the owner's daughter, Sarah who will be going to Taipei to further her studies.
Sarah Li
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