Hill Stations

Saturday, Sept. 10, Maymyo/Pyin U Lwin

I'm surprised I don't have a stiff neck this morning. The pillows here are too big. I've experienced over-stuffed pillows in another country, but I don't recall which. I tried to sleep with it, then without it, then with it again, etc. Finally, I slept with it most of the night which was a rainy one. For hours there was a steady rain. then, maybe around 2 a.m., there was a heavy, HEAVY downpour. All of this was straight-falling rain with no winds and no thunder.

The sky this morning is a bright, cloudy one like it was yesterday. I'm hoping that means it will be rainless during the day like yesterday.

My mefloquine (anti-malarial medication) has really kicked in now. I have lots of clear, detailed dreams when I take it. I think I dreamed about almost everyone I know last night. and unrelated people are mixed together. For instance, in the last dream, it was a Saturday evening. I was supposed to meet Greg and Diane (divorced for years) at the State Fair of Texas at 7 p.m. It was almost 8, and I was hoping they would return then. As I was entering, I was thinking about how much my mother would enjoy going to the fair when I saw Ken Maroney leaving the fair grounds with the members of the university basketball team. That's when some sound outside awoke me. And that's just one of many dreams I had throughout the night.

I'm trying to remember if Myanmar is the first country I've visited that does not use coins. The most common bills used are the 1000 (about $1), the 500, the 100, and the 50. There are also 20 and 10 bills (the latter equilvalent to about 1 cent) that are sometimes encountered. Fortunately, the 15, 45, and 90 bills one of my guides warned me about (in relation to being cheated on exchanges because tourists can't easily count them in those multiples) no longer exist in circulation.
_____
I spent part of the day in Copenhagen with Arne. We went to Tivoli, to Frederiksberg Have, Dryrehaven, and to Frederiksborg Slot Have. Then we went to the apartment and were there together. How was this possible? When I arrived at the National Botanical Gardens here, a combination of the sight of the flowers and the smell and the freshness of the air did it. It was like a beautiful day in May in Denmark. The air was so cool and nice. The blossoms were everywhere. The gardens were like Tivoli without all the buildings. My mind soared to Denmark and my memories put me in all those places with Arne. What a wonderful experience!

I spent four hours at the gardens. They are among the nicest anywhere. They almost rival those in Capetown. There is a broad span of land around three lakes that has colorful (pink, orchid, purple, red. orange, yellow, white, and blue) flowers in beds scattered across it. There are special areas--an orchid garden, a bamboo garden, a rainforest, a swamp, etc. Each is well done. They have been smart not to build a glass house; so many tropical places do it because it has been done in Europe and America. But they don't need one; their orchids and palms thrive outdoors, since it never freezes here. A nice feature was the treetop walkway allowing visitors to walk at the level of the branches and the leaves. I saw a teak tree, the provider of most of the outside income to Myanmar. And wonderful dragonflies with dark red bodies and butterflies were everywhere. My favorite butterfly had rather small black wings with a fixed stabilizer tail, and the body was a phosphorescent pinkish purple.

My bad was ready and looks like it has been repaired well this time. I think I was over charged (3 times the average daily income here), but it's nice to have the bag to use again.

I'll leave here to go further up the Burma Road tomorrow to Hsipaw, less of a town than this. It's a center for trekking to Shan villages. The housing facilities are more limited there than here, so it will be interesting to see if I like it there or not. I'll take the train over a 100-year-old bridge that used to be the second highest railroad corssing in the world.

Hotel (1 Night) $5.00
Botanical Gardens 2000 kyat
Bag Repair 3000
Sweets (Indian) 140
Dinner 2500
Water 150
Total = $12.49