Across all of Asia the monks rise at dawn to walk barefoot across towns, cities and villages to collect food from the devout. I neither travelled barefoot (let's not forget the orthotics), rise at dawn (I'm just not a morning person) or obviously am a monk!! However there were so many times when I was treated to a meal, or a tea and as always I come away from this absolutely incredible trip with a spring in my step knowing that the world is full of the most amazing, kind, thoughtful and generous people.
Interestingly I had a long conversation with a Burmese guy now living in New York whilst I was waiting for a coach. He noted, as he had been away for ten years, that Myanmar had changed beyond recognition. Even a year ago people would have been too scared to speak to travellers for fear of reprisals from the military. Now under the ever present guidance of Aung Sung Suu Kei, she is asking everyone to embrace travellers and make them feel truly welcome to this incredible country. These are such wise words, as across the globe travellers are spreading the word of this incredible country and its wonderful people, and this is really powerful. The recent visit from President Obama put all eyes on Myanmar - just to witness his over zealous embrace of this gracious woman! Even though he was only here for a few hours, the significance of the visit is huge.
My travels are all about the people first and the places visited take a second place, and this is definitely the order! My thanks to everyone who made the trip so special, to the National league for Democracy household who gave me a flag, to the woman on the bus who brought me lunch, to my excellent guide in mawlamyine, who was an amazing guide for two days and made a special trip to take me to the bus station with a Christmas card to present!, to the man at the bus stop who was so interesting, to the boat drivers, cycle rickshaw drivers, the teachers who invited me into their schools, the monk in Mandalay who gave me some cakes, the women at the noodle shop who gave me lunch, my tuktuk driver who waited with me at the train station for an hour, as the train was delayed, to everyone who I sat with and then let me take their photo - here's a huge 'jay-zu ding ba-de' - thank you.....
I asked my wonderful guide when I was in the south what I should do to support the democratic movement when I returned home and his advice was to spread the word as to how wonderful Myanmar is and get as many independent travellers coming, as this will make a huge difference, in both opening up the country and bringing in money that will increase entrepreneurship - so come, come to the most amazing, welcoming and stunningly beautiful country.....
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For those of you who love to travel and hear of others travels please subscribe to 'Betty in the sky with a suitcase' - Betty is an American flight attendant and her pod casts are fab, with hilarious stories from flights and interesting travelling tales.