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!

And so back to Yangon and then Bangkok...

Flights from Heho Airport (Taunggi/Inle Lake) were suspended due to lack of fuel for the plane! When they restarted, I decided to bring forward my return date to Yangon and Bangkok. The reason for this was not only because I didn't want to get stuck 'up-country', and perhaps needing to pay for an expensive taxi back to Yangon -but also because I had big problems maintaing a reliable internet connection from my laptop for my online science lessons.

Of course I was aware that internet access can be 'flaky' in Myanmar, but my on-the-ground experience was that mobile network data internet using my Android phone was good, but too slow from my laptop. Therefore, I had to resort to doing my Zoom lessons from my small-screen phone, which worked reliably, but was a challenge to manage the share screen etc.

But this was useful feedback for me! On my return to Bangkok (on an ungodly hour 6am flight from Yangon), I visited Fortune Town and came away with a 9 inch screen Android device, with built-in Sim card support, wf-fi etc. Including a free sturdy metal stand, the price ws 4,500 baht, which I think is a bargain.

Therefore, on my next trip to Myanmar, I'll take my laptop mostly for offline work (video/image editing/creation), and use the large screen Android device for my Zoom classes.

I also bought a 20,000 mAh power bank for my old laptop, and one to charge up my android, mobile phones and led light, so as to avoid disruption when the mains electric is switched off. Every time I pass through customs with my 12v/220v inverter and car battery charger, I get pulled up and grilled, especially about the iffy-looking (no case, just the transformer and soldered wires) car battery charger. Leaving those items at home will be good.

Here's the Heho to Yangon plane :)

"Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain. Thank-you for heeding the advice of Myanmar International Airlines for each of you to bring 1 gallon of fuel for our plane. We regret that this will not be enough to complete our journey to Yangon. Our plan is to take off and fly as high as we can with our fuel allowance, and without you all dying from oxygen-deprivation in this non-pressurised plane. We will then gracefully glide towards Yangon Airport with our fuel depleted, and expect to crash-land somewhere around Bago or Taungoo.."

I don't remember if I posted the link to my YouTube channel, where I'm posting short videos about this trip. Here it is:

www.youtube.com/@simonfrancisluttrell5818

Really interesting Simon ! Thanks for all you do.👍

9 hours ago, simon43 said:

And so back to Yangon and then Bangkok...

Flights from Heho Airport (Taunggi/Inle Lake) were suspended due to lack of fuel for the plane! When they restarted, I decided to bring forward my return date to Yangon and Bangkok. The reason for this was not only because I didn't want to get stuck 'up-country', and perhaps needing to pay for an expensive taxi back to Yangon -but also because I had big problems maintaing a reliable internet connection from my laptop for my online science lessons.

Of course I was aware that internet access can be 'flaky' in Myanmar, but my on-the-ground experience was that mobile network data internet using my Android phone was good, but too slow from my laptop. Therefore, I had to resort to doing my Zoom lessons from my small-screen phone, which worked reliably, but was a challenge to manage the share screen etc.

But this was useful feedback for me! On my return to Bangkok (on an ungodly hour 6am flight from Yangon), I visited Fortune Town and came away with a 9 inch screen Android device, with built-in Sim card support, wf-fi etc. Including a free sturdy metal stand, the price ws 4,500 baht, which I think is a bargain.

Therefore, on my next trip to Myanmar, I'll take my laptop mostly for offline work (video/image editing/creation), and use the large screen Android device for my Zoom classes.

I also bought a 20,000 mAh power bank for my old laptop, and one to charge up my android, mobile phones and led light, so as to avoid disruption when the mains electric is switched off. Every time I pass through customs with my 12v/220v inverter and car battery charger, I get pulled up and grilled, especially about the iffy-looking (no case, just the transformer and soldered wires) car battery charger. Leaving those items at home will be good.

Here's the Heho to Yangon plane :)

"Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain. Thank-you for heeding the advice of Myanmar International Airlines for each of you to bring 1 gallon of fuel for our plane. We regret that this will not be enough to complete our journey to Yangon. Our plan is to take off and fly as high as we can with our fuel allowance, and without you all dying from oxygen-deprivation in this non-pressurised plane. We will then gracefully glide towards Yangon Airport with our fuel depleted, and expect to crash-land somewhere around Bago or Taungoo.."

May I ask if you went to meet the Manager of the airport?

6 hours ago, georgegeorgia said:

May I ask if you went to meet the Manager of the airport?

I didn't spot him, but I did see the pilot of my plane arrive at the airport 30 minutes before take-off, cycling on an old rusty bicycle....

The waiter at the nearby cafe suddenly changed jobs when some passengers arrived for the plane, quickly donning a 'porter' vest and helping with suitcases for a small fee.

Rumour has it that the pilot also has 2 jobs - pilot and local statistician.....

I flew back to Bangkok a few days ago, and on my way back to my 'base' in Siem Reap. I delayed my onward flight to buy and receive some useful items from Lazada:

• A big-screen Android device that I can use with Zoom to teach online if/when internet access from my laptop is blocked/throttled, (as happened during my recent visit). I managed to teach using my Android phone, but the small screen was rather impracticable. I bought a 9-inch screen Android device for just 4,500 baht :)

• A high-capacity 5 volt power bank to power that Android, other mobile phones and my LED light during power-cuts

• A high-capacity 20 volt power bank to power my laptop computer during power cuts (this can replace my 12v/220v inverter and lethal-looking battery charger, this latter item always creates suspicion at airport customs, and of course I no longer need to buy a car battery locally in Myanmar)

• A USB memory stick and adapter that can plug into a standard USB laptop socket, but also into an Android phone or iPhone.

So.. armed with these items, I hope to be back in Myanmar in May. I also bought a new wheeled, cabin-size suitcase that I can carry my laminated A3 vocabulary posters in - my backpack didn't protect them very well and I was getting tired with a heavy pack on my back!!

Did I post this photo before? It's a beautiful, small temple on a big rock! On the way to a monastery school just outside Nyaung Shwe. With no taxis available (no fuel), I rented a bicycle and SLOWLY cycled to the orphanage at that school (my lungs only work at 50% on a good day - and luckily it WAS a good day!).

One project that I attempted whilst in Myanmar was to receive images from a Russian weather satellite as it passed over Shan State. (This is part of science projects that I currently do with a school in Yangon). So I brought my antennas and radio receiver with me from Cambodia.

At the required time, I walked out into a rice field opposite my hotel and attempted to receive the weather map images, (much to the curiousity of the farmers!). Sadly I had no success because my laptop shut down automatically due to the high temperature that day, even though I shaded it with an umbrella. I might see if I can use my new large-screen Android device next time....

Thank you for all your contributions. Hope for more when you go back in May.

Keep up the good work....

I'm back in Siem Reap and planning my next trip. My plan is to go to the city of Mandalay, which despite having zero green spaces within the city (after it was all but destroyed in WW2), is my favorite place to live and teach (my last in-class teaching job just before the earthquake last year was in Mandalay).

One institution that I was supporting then was the Girls' Orphanage, on the east side of the old palace, and within walking distance of CityMart. So I've printed up a laminated set of posters at my preferred copy shop in Siem Reap (the woman owner gives me a discount because it's for a good cause). 20 A3 laminated colour vocabulary posters cost the equivalent of $20, which is a fair price I guess.

There are at least 3 other orpahanages in Mandalay - so I'll print up 3 more poster sets and order flashcards from Lazada for delivery to my 'pick-up' address in Bangkok. (Lazada delivery to Cambodia is expensive, far more than the 22 baht/flashcard set cost!).

Here's a photo of the window of the cafe in Nyaung Shwe, next to the canal and popular with local Burmese youth. Apart from the chocolate waffles on offer, the cafe was good enough to stick my QR code poster in the window (yes, you can scan it through the glass - I checked!)

8 hours ago, simon43 said:

I'm back in Siem Reap and planning my next trip. My plan is to go to the city of Mandalay, which despite having zero green spaces within the city (after it was all but destroyed in WW2), is my favorite place to live and teach (my last in-class teaching job just before the earthquake last year was in Mandalay).

One institution that I was supporting then was the Girls' Orphanage, on the east side of the old palace, and within walking distance of CityMart. So I've printed up a laminated set of posters at my preferred copy shop in Siem Reap (the woman owner gives me a discount because it's for a good cause). 20 A3 laminated colour vocabulary posters cost the equivalent of $20, which is a fair price I guess.

There are at least 3 other orpahanages in Mandalay - so I'll print up 3 more poster sets and order flashcards from Lazada for delivery to my 'pick-up' address in Bangkok. (Lazada delivery to Cambodia is expensive, far more than the 22 baht/flashcard set cost!).

Here's a photo of the window of the cafe in Nyaung Shwe, next to the canal and popular with local Burmese youth. Apart from the chocolate waffles on offer, the cafe was good enough to stick my QR code poster in the window (yes, you can scan it through the glass - I checked!)

Hi Simon.

Enjoy Siem Reap, it is very hot here. The temperature hit 100F at 4.30pm this afternoon.

On 4/8/2026 at 4:42 PM, Burma Bill said:

Hi Simon.

Enjoy Siem Reap, it is very hot here. The temperature hit 100F at 4.30pm this afternoon.

Yep very hot, (but NPT was hotter in 2018 - about 45 degrees C as I cycled around the park...)

Well, as I'm planning a trip to Mandalay, my old school in Mandalay which employed me up to the earthquake has asked me to return. I'm not keen to work full-time, so I'll see if I can agree perhaps 4 days/week :)

I already have a weekend-only offer from my old school in Yangon, which is an appealing option, except that I'm not keen on busy Yangon. Another Taunggyi college also wants to interview me (they missed out a few weeks ago because I had to head back to Yangon early - the Heho flights were disrupted by the fuel shortgage).

Working/living again in Myanmar is always at the risk of my lungs complaining and refusing to work properly! But I decided that it's making better use of my time than waiting to die in the UK (which could be tomorrow or 30 years later...)

So a busy time in the next week or so, but I'll be hiding in my 'wardrobe' during the water fighting next week lol - I stocked up on emergency provisions (that means beer) this afternoon at Makro....

Enjoy your beer Simon and a Happy Khmer New Year from Siem Reap.

Like your goodself, I will be at home avoiding the water splashing which fortunately is much subdued out in the suburbs. Pub Street will be awash!

Well, in a couple of days from now, I will be back in Mandalay and teaching in-class again!

I had planned for a retirement in the UK, but my 2 month visit just after deportation from Laos at Christmas, convinced me that I was not ready for retirement. Sure, it will happen some day, but I could drop dead tomorrow or in 30 years, and if the latter, then 'waiting for God' in Minehead is not top of my list of things to do....

After returning back to Thailand/Cambodia at the end of February, I busied myself with my educational charity efforts, with a trip a few weeks ago to Taunggyi and Nyaung Shwe orphanages and monastery schools. I then got an email from my old school in Mandalay, asking me to come back to teach, and they agreed to me teaching 4 days each week, ending at 2pm on each teaching day. So I can continue my existing online teaching AND have more time (on Fridays) to create and donate more educational resources.

What about my lung illness? I promised myself that I would try to not let it curb my work in Myanmar (despite that happening on previous occasions!). I will 'grin and bear it' if I have a flare-up. Right now, my lungs are working well (that means about 50% capacity when compared to a healthy person). Flare-ups reduce it to 25% and then I feel like sh*te and breath like a steam engine...

I've spent the last week in Bangkok having some one-to-one Burmese language lessons with a native speaker. With this effort, my Burmese language ability (spoken and reading and correct pronunciation and writing) has (finally). moved up a good notch. I don't need to speak Burmese with my private school students, but some language knoweldge helps with the youngest kids in the government schools etc to give them confidence to speak in English.

And finally, after many many requests from friends, I am trying to put down my many memories of the last 25 years on paper/e-book etc, perhaps with a title such as 'My Crazy Road to Mandalay', because the early part of my expat life was published in about 8 episodes on Stickman's website under the title 'My Crazy Life', and many events - although almost unbelievable - were true and definitely crazy!! BTW, there was nothing 'saucy' in that text - it wasn't a 'my time with a Nana Hooker....'

Edited May 6May 6 by simon43

Thank you for the update....

39 minutes ago, Halfaboy said:

Thank you for the update....

Actually my comment "BTW, there was nothing 'saucy' in that text - it wasn't a 'my time with a Nana Hooker....'" is a lie!! I went back and looked at my opening chapters from years ago and I'll need to clean it up before publishing lol...

After a year away from teaching in Myanmar, and trips in-between back to the UK and over to siem Reap, today I finally returned to Mandalay. At check-in at Don Muang, I was surprised to see that tennis rackets are strictly forbidden! (See photo). Now where are my glasses?

The flight to Mandalay was uneventful, with the plane only half-full. At the immigration desk at Mandalay Airport, there were only 3 'Western passengers - myself and a Russian woman with her son. It was no surprise to find out that this woman had also been recruited by the school in Mandalay, with her son in tow....

Having successfully passed immigration, I was greeted by a polite police officer who said 'Welcome to Myanmar' - and then the electricity cut out lol!

Travelling in the taxi to my hotel, I saw no sign of any earthquake damage from last year, but no doubt this will become clearer as I travel around the city in the next few days. I'll get my camera out :)

Today was my first full day back in Mandalay, so quite a busy day before school on Monday. I walked from my hotel to visit Ocean Centre to stock up on essentials (soap, shampoo etc), as well as the all-important whiteboard pens (I never rely on a school to have these available, often they are about 'dead'...)

I also topped up my different SIM cards for Atom, MPT and Mytel mobile networks. To do online Zoom lessons, it's not realistic to rely on just internet connection, especially when the power cuts kicks the hotel router offline for a few minutes as the generator cuts in and the router reboots.

I walked around the old palace, where some of the corner pagodas had fallen during the earthquake last year. These had mostly been rebuilt - this photo shows an intact pagoda at one corner.

I dropped into a money exchange to change some of my crisp $100 notes (I had just printed them lol!). The exchange rate was 4,150 kyat = $1 USD, whereas the bank rate is 2,100 kyat.....

Since I wasn't too far from Mandalay Girls' Orphanage, I dropped by to say hello again, and to donate a set of English vocabulary wall posters. At the request of one of the adult care staff, we did a short English lesson, identifying fruit and veg from my posters! Here are the students dragged into this lesson lol.

(Note that from now on, I've decided that I will use smileys to cover kids' faces. This is really to ensure that they can't be identified by 'other parties' - not that I really think this will happen...)

As I made my way back to my hotel, I saw this woman carrying what I hope is something very light! :)

Edited May 10May 10 by simon43

17 hours ago, simon43 said:

I saw this woman carrying what I hope is something very light!

Hi Simon,

Your photo reminded me of ladies I saw carrying baskets of pineapples at Hsipaw Station, waiting for the Mandalay bound train. These must have been heavy as well.

Enjoy yourself and good luck.

5 minutes ago, Burma Bill said:

Hi Simon,

Your photo reminded me of ladies I saw carrying baskets of pineapples at Hsipaw Station, waiting for the Mandalay bound train. These must have been heavy as well.

Enjoy yourself and good luck.

Actually, I guess those pineapples are heavier than the enormous bag that my photo shows - the woman is using just one hand - it's probably full of cotton buds....

Having been teaching back in the classroom for 2 days now, I begin to see the effects of March's earthquake. Last year, (before the earthquake), my school building was surrounded by other buildings. Now it stands alone! The neighbouring buildings all fell down.... Not to miss out on an opportunity, the school acquired the land on which those buildings stood and built an open play and food area....

My employer is providing me with free accommodation in an earthquake-damaged house lol! The house seems structurally ok, but builders are busy clearing the remains of neighbouring buildings.

Another foreign teacher due to teach iGCSE Chemistry has backed out, because of the warnings 'Do not go!' from their government. So I have to add 2 more hours to my 15 hour teaching schedule.

I'm teaching Biology (and now Chemistry) to year 7 and 9, and English to lower grades 2,3,4,5 and 6. Compared to students in Thailand (my experience - yours might be different), I find Burmese students very polite and hard-working.

Of course, I'm in this for the education aspect. It has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that I'm surrounded all day by young female Burmese teaching assistants eager to help the 'old man' lol

Friday is my day off and allocated to charity work. This Friday, I'll visit the print shop that I previously used and will print off and laminate an A3 poster set for an orphanage in south Mandalay that I haven't visited before. My school has provided me with a motorbike (on free loan), so I might try to 'brave' the Mandalay traffic...

More photos of Mandalay life to follow, maybe this weekend

Edited May 12May 12 by simon43

Please be careful !

37 minutes ago, Halfaboy said:

Please be careful !

Thanks! - In 15 years of living/teaching in Myanmar, I have never come close to any danger. In Mandalay, the police 'pill-boxes' have been modified to reduce the windows to narrow slits, each with a rifle pointing out all the time, (and a surly soldier holding the other end). I usually cross the road when passing pill-boxes, in case someone starts 'throwing' something at the soldiers. Usually, motorbikes are forbidden to ride pass the pill-boxes after a pillion passenger offloaded a missile at the Chinese consulate last year (my school is next door!!). Anyway, better than boring Western Supermare...