2 hours ago, simon43 said:

The events in the Middle East are seriously affecting the availability of jet fuel in Myanmar, and most (all?) domestic flights are cancelled until further notice. MAI assure me that my flight from Heho to Yangon on 4th April is OK, but I guess that is just 1 big lie! I don't want to miss my flight back to Bangkok on 5th April, so I really need to make alternative travel plans, since I don't want to get to Heho airport on April 4th and be greeted with "Mingalaba, sorry but we lied...".

I still need to visit orphanages in Taunggyi and Kalaw, and I will take a local taxi to reach those destinations. So my cunning plan is to take a taxi from Kalaw to Naypyitaw, about 5 hours away. In NPT, there is a 1,000 kids orphanage (Sama Mountain Orphanage) to visit, which I have supported with books etc for years. So I can stop for a day or 2 in NPT, perhaps visit my old school, and then take the DEMU train or taxi back to Yangon.

I've got plenty of time to do this - the extra cost is annoying, but I guess Trump isn't going to send me any refunds......

2 hours ago, simon43 said:

seriously affecting the availability of jet fuel in Myanmar,

Sorry to read of your predicament Simon, but I bet the Tatmadaw has sufficient jet fuel for its fighter planes to attack and bomb innocent civilian targets!!

Good luck.

It's a sunny Monday morning, and I'm off to the Pa-Oo ethnic group orphanage for young teen boys and girls in the village of Minethout, about halfway down Lake Inle. I don't want to cycle that distance in the heat of the day, so opted to take a longtail boat from Nyaung Shwe to Minethout dock, then grab a motorcycle taxi for the 5 minute trip up to the orphanage.

This all went well, and as I reached the orphanage I heard the local teacher calling out "Teacher Simon!" This orphanage already has my English vocabulary posters all displayed on the walls of the classrooms. Today was going to be science donations, and I donated a new digital microscope and sample slides, as well as a pair of powerful binoculars for star/planet gazing. Apparently, I was the first foreigner to visit them this whole year...

I already knew the orphanage facilities, but had another look around and especially in the weaving room, where large weaving looms are used by the girls to weave cloth and then make items to sell in the local market. I was given a nice scarf that had been weaved by the girls :)

This is a great example of a spinning wheel, made out of a bicycle wheel.

With my trip to Minethout over, I headed back to Nyaung Shwe by boat.

Worrying about the lack of mains electricity while teaching online yesterday (my laptop battery and 2 car batteries just had enough juice to power my computer for all the lessons), I was able to buy a 30,000 mAh power bank in Nyaung Shwe. I'm charging it up right now (yes, there is mains electricity today for the moment - but I'm sure it will be cut just before my first lesson!)

7 minutes ago, simon43 said:

It's a sunny Monday morning, and I'm off to the Pa-Oo ethnic group orphanage for young teen boys and girls in the village of Minethout, about halfway down Lake Inle. I don't want to cycle that distance in the heat of the day, so opted to take a longtail boat from Nyaung Shwe to Minethout dock, then grab a motorcycle taxi for the 5 minute trip up to the orphanage.

This all went well, and as I reached the orphanage I heard the local teacher calling out "Teacher Simon!" This orphanage already has my English vocabulary posters all displayed on the walls of the classrooms. Today was going to be science donations, and I donated a new digital microscope and sample slides, as well as a pair of powerful binoculars for star/planet gazing. Apparently, I was the first foreigner to visit them this whole year...

I already knew the orphanage facilities, but had another look around and especially in the weaving room, where large weaving looms are used by the girls to weave cloth and then make items to sell in the local market. I was given a nice scarf that had been weaved by the girls :)

This is a great example of a spinning wheel, made out of a bicycle wheel.

With my trip to Minethout over, I headed back to Nyaung Shwe by boat.

Worrying about the lack of mains electricity while teaching online yesterday (my laptop battery and 2 car batteries just had enough juice to power my computer for all the lessons), I was able to buy a 30,000 mAh power bank in Nyaung Shwe. I'm charging it up right now (yes, there is mains electricity today for the moment - but I'm sure it will be cut just before my first lesson!)

You are a good man Simon, take care and stay safe and well.

10 minutes ago, xylophone said:

You are a good man Simon, take care and stay safe and well.

Thanks Xylophone :) All is going OK and my lungs are not making any problems (touch wood!). Tomorrow I will go to Taunggyi (Shan state capital) to visit a home for disabled (mentally/physically) kids and adults. No point in bringing English language resources, but I have some (small) physio equipment for the physically-disabled and a portable player (USB stick/TF card) for the blind, with the stick preloaded with Burmese language stories and poems :) Also, another 2 kids orphanages to visit in that city....

Today is a day to mostly relax. I went to the print shop this morning to order some more sets of my posters for orphanages that I'll visit in Taunggyi on Friday. These sets of laminated A3 posters are not cheap to print, especially because A3 paper, colour ink and laminating plastic are all in short supply.

I returned to my hotel by the canal. As usual, the mains electricity was off, so I'm relaxing on the veranda and listening to an audio file of Burmese Days by George Orwell. Although this novel was written about 100 years ago, many of the themes in that novel seem not to have changed at all!

On the small road by my hotel the bullock carts amble slowly past, and about 20 'little nuns' in their pink attire receive balls of rice from the small shops lining the road. On the far side of the road, about 12 women are tolling in the verdant green paddy field.

It's a long way from my home country...

Another nice sunny day. Since the electricity has been 'out' for a few hours, I wandered over to the print shop to collect my laminated posters, (having had my loan application to pay for them approved!). I chatted with the owner, who bemoaned the cost and lack of availability of printing supplies - she had given me a discount on the price because of the charity aspect.

I chatted with this young hat seller (the adult, not the baby) down by the canal. She was very interested to improve her English and for her other daughter.

That got me thinking to place a small poster down by the canal in the window of a cafe. A quick design with Photoshop, an online message to my Burmese translator (I don't trust my own Burmese language skills for creating a professional poster!), a refusal by the translator to accept any payment from me (he is on Fiverr and does excellent work), and hey-ho, back to the print shop to print up and laminate a few A4 posters:)

I went up to Taunggyi today to visit 3 orphanages. I went on a motorcycle taxi, and the driver insisted I wear a full face helmet with tinted visor, and forbade me to lift the visor! Every time he saw a police checkpoint on the main road into Taunggyi, he turned off onto the side roads to skirt around the checkpoint....

Was this because of me? Or perhaps he was a wanted mass murderer!

At the first orphanage in the middle of Taunggyi, the staff (with limited English) said "she's dead!" when I asked to see the founder of the orphanage - a venerable old lady called Daw Gyi. This orphanage was established in 1905 and managed by 3 spinster sisters for the past 67 years, with each sister dying off over the years and leaving the last sister aged about 95 when I visited her last year. So it was no big surprise that she had passed away.

My visits to this and the other 2 orphanages all went well and the Sisters (all 3 orphanages are run by Christian nuns) informed me of their educational needs.

One childrens' home I hadn't visited previously, (because I didn't know of its existence). About 80 young students lodge and learn courtesy of the Zetaman Sisters of the Little Flower (!!). These students are not orphans - their homes have been destroyed by bombing in nearby Pekon and Loikaw townships, so the Sisters have taken them in since the childrens' parents have been left destitute.

They need backpacks for all their school books, and rather than buy these myself (I don't know the required sizes and I'm not about to lug 80 school backpacks around!), I'll find out from the Sisters of the cost and send the money to them.

Here's a photo of these happy students, with a taller 'student' (me!) in the back row... BTW, note the various posters on the walls. The Sisters and students have made a great effort to decorate their classrooms with learning resources etc :)

After getting back to Nyaung Shwe, I was 'annoyed' to find that internet access was now all but blocked on every wi-fi and mobile connection! Prior to today, internet access had been 'manageable'. This creates major problems for my online lessons, annoying both students, their parents and the online school who employs me. I'll try to see if I can manage my lessons tonight.... On Saturday, I'm due to fly back to Yangon, (and the airline now state that the temporary cancellation of domestic flights is over, so we'll see if that's one big fib when I get to the airport).

In any case, if I do manage to get back to Yangon, I might grab a flight straight back to Bangkok (1 week before my scheduled return date), if the internet in Myanmar is going to be restricted too much.

Hi Simon,

Many thanks for the updates.

What I find so very sad is that these children above will bcome the next generation of Burmese Society, but will be restricted in so many ways by a corrupt and genocidal military Government. I sincerely hope they will become true democratic citizens after the fall of the current dinosaurs!