Yangon Thu

Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust

In the streams of the Yangon river
shall the ashes of your body rest..
I picked the perfect spot under
the single ray of light...
to where the ashes could return to their origins...
I hope it can atone for all our sins....

I hope the tide is knowing and the tide is true
to all the kindness that you have shown to strangers
and friends alike who have passed through;
to deliver your remains
to where you want to peacefully rest.

I'll keep the vow I made on that little boat
I hope you hear me where-ever you are
in this cycle of life that we go through.
It became very clear than - what I must do.

Bamboo grove in the city

2 pictures of the same bamboo grove in the middle of Singapore in Bukit Timah.

I grew up in Burma with a Bamboo grove on one side of my house. I paid little or no attention to it till my family and I discovered that inside this bamboo grove lived a snake. How did we discover said snake? It bit the newborn puppy of one of our dogs and poor thing laid there whimpering all night.

Men were trying to chase the snake out but somehow, the little devil didn't go out or kept coming back or something. One day, something must have scared it. As I was walking along my front yard to go and play (while mom or one of the grownups was yelling at me to come inside and study) said snake came out of the bamboo grove and whizzed past me and I swore it gave me a swift sideways glance that scared the bejeezuz out of me and went on. I didn't scream (like I would have if I would have seen it today) - I was a tough little tomboy back then - I just kind of went back inside to study. I thought - this is probably what I get for disobeying the elders and not staying inside to finish my homework - near brush with death - coming face to face with a deadly snake! A neighbor killed the snake a few days later as it kept hanging around. I think my sister handed him the brick with which to kill the snake, I saw it happen. I told you - we was tough! hahaha :) (Now I'm gonna have PETA on my back for animal cruelty or curelty towards animal - but hey, it was survival for life back then!)

In the land of the free, you can be what you want to be...

A variety of Burmese snacks, picture taken at Bogyoke Aung San Market, Yangon, Myanmar.

So, I have not been writing about Burma news lately. Well, it was because after one time of writing too many sad news, I realized that I was writing alot of sad news on my blog and I kinda felt pressurised to have a happy blog like, well, everyone else. (You see there's that tendency for me to assimilate kicking in, again, somebody help me.) But you cannot have a happy blog all the time, if you are going to write about Burmese news and politics, (well, like, duh!) and also if you are going to be a crack head like me (hahaha!).

So here is a link o rama to update you on what has been happening in the Golden Land, where I was born and partly raised:

They are killing ethnic minorities but telling everyone else that they are only killing them because they are terrorists (hmm, sound familiar?)

The Burmese military government is reshuffling the Cabinet (they are not rearranging their bowls and plates, guys, they are firing people!). And "lets" some staff "retire" - meaning they realized that some of them are taking too much liberty than some of them would like and hence, their ass is gone.

The typhoon hit Burma (and it wasn't even monsoon season yet!) and caused some damage.

Senior U.N. official Ibrahim Gambari reports that my heroine Aung San Suu Kyi is "doing well". Well, I suspect that she is doing as well as she could be for being under house arrest, on and off for around 16 years and this was her first visitor in 3 years.

United States renews Sanctions against Myanmar - but meanwhile, countries like Russia, Singapore, China, India and others continue to support the Burmese military government. But then, I wonder, if they don't give Burma business, how will the people there survive? I don't know, do I?

My aunt keeps continually being sent to live and work in the new capital called Naypyidaw ( means - capital where the king resides - *laughs*) and she reports - "there are sheets and sheets of mosquitos and we are made to live in "dormitoritories", and the food, thamee (daughter), it's so horrible - that I won't touch it. And everytime I go there, it seems as though I'm made to stay longer. But I have to keep going as long as I continue to need this job. Every week, they keep threatening to fire us.

So there, you have it. My dose of depressing Burmese News. But here is a link to pictures of loads of smiling Burmese people, who go on smiling, even though the government keeps being shitty to them. But hey, life goes on, right? What are you gonna do? (These are not pictures by me - because I'm too shy to approach Burmese people to ask if they will let me take pictures of them- like tourists do.)

2 new Blog links Alert

2 new Blog links added:

1. His Swankiness Himself, my good friend Edmund at swankynswish.com . Visit to read about his travels Down Under and if you are a Mac fan, you'll get along with him.

2. Crazy Aunt Purl crazyauntpurl.com. Laurie knits, takes the bus to work in LA and is witty like nobody's business. You gotta love her.

Don't expect too much from me, Perfection is no test for me, Because the best I'll ever be Is just like you: A human being

Kabar Aye Zay Di Daw (Kabar Aye Pagoda) in Yangon, Maynmar

The last pagoda that I visited with my dad.

Goodbye, for now

Dear Dad,
everyone misses you. I love you so much. I know you are resting in peace now. I wish we had more time. But I want you to know, you are so well loved and will be so well missed (I don't think people in peninsula Plaza, Singapore will ever be the same again without your generous, good natured presence).

Everyone asks me how I'm doing. I can't explain the hollowness inside, so I just say I'm ok. Everything reminds me of you.

If we ever meet in other lives, I hope we will be very very good friends.

Love always,

(Thamee Lay)