Myanmar hospitality

When we were at Popa about a week ago we started chatting with a lady from Mandalay called Aye Aye (pronounced A A), and her 11 year-old son Ricky. We mentioned we were visiting Mandalay and Aye Aye immediately offered to show us around for the day- she had to work but Ricky and his father, Yeh would be available. When we arrived at our hotel in Mandalay there was a message waiting and we arranged to meet Ricky, Yeh and Aye Aye's brother Min, at 10 am the next morning. Ljubo, our Swiss friend whom we spent New Years Eve with, was also staying at our hotel and joined us.
There are not too many sights in Mandalay, so we all set off to Pyin Oo Lwin, about 40 miles drive in Yeh's comfortable Toyota 4 WD on the road that leads to China.
Pyin Oo Lwin was an old British colonial hill station and stands at about 2,500 metres. It turned out that today was Independence day- the day in 1948 that Aung San Suu Kyi's father signed the agreement with the British granting Burma independence. So it was a holiday and many people were going to Pyin Oo Lwin for a day out.



Ricky



Mehmsahib, Ricky, Yeh, Min and Ljubo.
At POL we stopped off at temple at the site where a giant marble Bhudda fell off the truck taking it to China and has stayed there ever since.



We stopped for a great lunch at a garden centre which reminded us of summer in England



Ok, we can't grow orchids!
We then visited the beautiful National Gardens



Ricky is only 11, but speaks extremely good English and was our guide around the park.











The Mehmsahib and Yeh.

We arrived back at Mandalay about 7.30 pm, only to be whisked away to a restaurant for dinner where we were joined by Aye Aye who had been working all day training a business team. Aye Aye helps many businesses in Myanmar to be successful and has a great insight into the current economic environment in the country (more in future blog!).
After a wonderful dinner and fascinating discussions we were dropped off at our hotel by our wonderful hosts.
Anyone that's been to Myanmar will know the very strong tradition that if you are invited somewhere, the hosts will always pay - and so it was the whole day- having changed $50 at breakfast we still had not been able to spend a cent all day!! The hospitality and kindness of Aye, Yeh and their family is truly remarkable, although judging by our experiences not uncommon in a country where the people are so welcoming and happy to meet you.

Location:Pyin Oo Lwin