I have had quite the exciting, travel-filled, and busy month which I will regal you all with presently. However, I have been thinking for the past few months that I need to talk about the generosity of the culture here. It really is quite remarkable the extent to which this generosity is a part of the everyday life of the people.

I wanted to make sure that I knew a little bit more about the culture before I talked about it, because I wasn’t sure how different my experience as a foreigner would be from the average Egyptian. Although my experience is certainly different as a foreigner, I don’t think that this takes away from the culture as a whole.

In Cairo, and probably some of the more touristy places where they are used to foreigners it is common for people to try and take advantage of the foreigner. So for the first month this was mostly my experience in Egypt. I had to make sure I knew how much things should cost so that I wasn’t charged extra for being a foreigner. And there are some touristy places, like the pyramids, or the Egyptian Museum where foreigners actually have a separate entrance price than Egyptians. I understand that these places take up-keep and that foreigners in general have much more money that Egyptians, so I understand why they have this policy, but it still meant that I had to be aware.

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Who can resist an open air market? In Shan State they have a very clever system by having their farmers market run on a five day cycle. So, for example, around the mystical Inle Lake, the market will be one day in Nyaung Shwe, the next at Mein Tauk, the next at the other corner of the lake as a floating market, etc. This way local farmers can sell their product without having to go too far afield, and tourist just love going to the different locations each day. It is a system worth considering bringing back to other areas of the world. The Burmese have been forced to maintain their traditional methods of farming and subsistence living, which may in the long run be a blessing in disguise for them and the rest of the world. If any of us want to know how to live really sustainably, I recommend following in the footsteps of E.F. Schumacher (author of Small Is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered) by going to Burma and learning from them.

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One of the things about being broke all the time is that the best way to get places is to walk. Which is actually very good for you — mind and body-wise, and fortunately, we love it. While living in Wellington, unfortunately our laundromat was at the bottom of a huge hill so every two weeks on my one day off a week we dragged our backpacks stuffed with dirty clothes down the mountain and hauled our freshly folded clean laundry back up a steep hill. It sure felt great when we got to the top and flopped down looking out over the hilltops of Wellington.

Wellington really feels like the end of the world in many ways, being at the tip of the North Island of New Zealand. With the wind and waves of all of the mighty Pacific Ocean rushing through the narrow Cook Straight, it gets the most changeable weather and wild winds of any place I have ever lived. I loved walking around the coves and rock pools that made up the wild coast-line, each cove had quite different characteristics than the next.

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The first time I visited Burma/Myanmar was in December of 1995. We stayed in the YMCA in downtown Yangon (formerly Rangoon) and were harassed by bed-bugs all night. I remember the streets being particularly gray at that time, except for the bright blue, tiny little taxi’s that were the only vehicles tearing around the roads. This little trucks seem like little blue ladybugs and can still be seen today, packed into the traffic filled streets.

Since then I have had the opportunity to get to know the markets of Rangoon. Most tourists don’t stay long in Yangon, the more mystical tourist destinations are Bagan, Inle Lake or even Kyaiktiyo — the Famous Golden Rock Pagoda, and most tours follow a highly scheduled ten day whirlwind dash to these favorite sites.

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I took a biodynamic agriculture certificate course while living in Wellington, New Zealand. The course involved spending a week every few months on a biodynamic farm in Havelock North, New Zealand. As a result we were able to spend a bit of time road tripping across the North Island. Unfortunately we lost a lot of the photos we took when we had to get rid of our car, but we had a great time with friends in Tauranga and Napier.

I particularly love the Cabbage Trees of Aotearoa, they always make me feel like I am living in a Doctor Seuss book. New Zealand flax, and the massive ponga (ferns) are another of my favorite vegetation. It is always fun to see the sheep that New Zealand is famous for.

We had some amazing slow trips along bumpy dirt roads. It always seemed that every time we entered one of these mystical undeveloped sections of the road we would start seeing rainbows and double rainbows.

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It was our friend’s birthday, he was just getting into fly-fishing and arranged for us to do a day float down the East Branch of the Delaware river, which is a great place to fly fish for brown trout.

We rented canoes from Al’s Sport Store, made sure we got some sandwiches and beers from a local deli, piled the dogs into the canoes and we were off. Or so we thought. Fortunately just before we reached the first covered bridge we remembered we had forgotten the cooler of beverages and one team quickly turned back to rescue it.

It was peaceful and quiet on the river, except when the frolicsome dog, Roxy could no longer resist the cool water and jumped in and began her favorite game of barking and tossing water into the air, while snapping at the falling droplets. The fish all fled and she was quickly dragged back into the canoe and forced to sit still.

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I was given a melted popsicle from a local ice-cream seller while visiting a pagoda in the suburbs of Yangon/Rangoon. It was a bit of a surreal experience. The old man smiled so kindly as he eagerly handed it to me. He was so sweet and toothless. He had come across me as I was trying to find the vendor of the incense stall so I could offer some incense to Garuda my Burmese deity. In Myanmar your horoscope is the day of the week you were born on. I am Sunday born and therefore my Burmese name must begin with an A and my special animal is the Garuda which is half-beast and half-bird. Interestingly it is said that worship of Garuda is believed to remove the effects of poisons from one’s body. On this day, my worship of Garuda brought a colony of destruction down on my gut.

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After a long journey from Yangon to Sittwe and then up the Kaladan river we finally made it to Mrauk-U, Rakhine State, Myanmar. We were heading back to our guest house before the electricity went off we came across the other six tourists who were visiting Mrauk-U which was, at one time, more affluent than London or Amsterdam.

They were discussing what were good things to give to the kids that occasionally hung around the temples. They were worried that simply handing out money would create a situation similar to that in Angkor Wat. They wanted to be able to give them something to help ease their own discomfort at seeing the poverty of these kids-their extended bellies and runny noses. The best they had come up with was pens, coffee-mix (instant coffee with powdered milk and lots of sugar), soap…things along those lines.

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Kalaw, a cool, former British hill-station in Shan State, Myanmar, rises 6,000 feet above sea level and is famous for its flowers and farmlands. It is now a gateway to a variety of interesting treks. A three day trek will take you through the mountains to mystical Inle Lake, through the villages of the Pa-O and Palaung hill-tribes, staying at monasteries along the way.

For me personally, I just like to hang around Kalaw. It has such a peaceful air about it. The air is thinner and less humid because of the high elevation. The people themselves calmly go about their business, stopping to chat as they meander down roads with cute pony carts tripping by.

The market is vibrant and filled with all kinds of interesting happenings. In one corner, ladies sort some of Myanmar’s famous pickled tea into piles of various qualities. Dried venison can be found at small stands. Further into the market is the food-stall area.

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It was still misty. The unexpected cyclone in the middle of the winter had caused havoc on the road up the mountains to Kalaw. Twenty miles outside of Kalaw the large air-conditioned bus with it’s frozen passengers came to a halt. Christmas morning was fast approaching and my family was gathering in Kalaw this year, I was anxious to arrive. In the last few minutes before the sun rose I was advised to go to the toilet.

“Why?” I asked, expecting to hear some explanation about how if you pee before the sun comes up it is much better for your body than if you pee once the first rays are shining down on the earth.

“Because once the sun comes up everyone is going to see you, there are trucks backed up all the way around the bend,” came the logical answer.

I quickly went and did my business. As the sun rose I went to have a look at what was holding up the traffic. After passing about fifty huge buses and trucks on their way to Kalaw, Inle and Taunggyi, I finally came to the source of the problem.

A truck overloaded with cabbages had tried to pass another large truck on a corner and the edge of the road had crumbled after the unexpected heavy rain. The truck was lucky to still be on the road, the front left tire hung over a drop that quickly disappeared into the mist.

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