Glenn's Underground Cabin Update

glenn kangiser · January 31, 2013, 08:08:12 PM

Thanks, Andrew. Yes...though a poor country, the people make it a place that will be hard to leave and not come back to. I'm afraid it will get harder as the adventure continues.

I was going to upload a couple pix but internet and power is sporadic here so I have not been able to upload them.... even one at a time. Maybe later. Myo will be here soon.

glenn kangiser · January 31, 2013, 09:11:59 PM

Finally got the upload issue worked around.

Here is the picture of the nice lady with the two patiently waiting children who I gave the tops to.

...and here is the very nice and effective little sales girl in the Bazaar at General Aung San market. She was fun to deal with.

Maybe video of her later as I get time to edit it. Off to North Myanmar soon. Awaiting Myo's arrival.

January 31, 2013, 09:25:11 PM

Sometimes people would just say hi and wave even from far away... I must be quite the spectacle... a friend magnet.... [ouch]

Not sure the story on this lady... she was obviously very tired.

Myat said some of the market workers have to go to work at 3AM to get their wares from the wholesaler and get to market on time.

She may have just been old and poor though.

glenn kangiser · February 01, 2013, 01:38:05 PM

On the road to Bagan... I had a great posting written up but the power went out and I lost it so here is the abbreviated version...

Nice young fellow along the road that Myo says no American has ever traveled except me...

It is off the beaten path and pretty well off limits to the common tourist...

Where's the beef?

Oh.. there it is and here's the rest of it....

Barbecue tonight... Yum... [bbq]

Maybe he will invite the bamboo logger also...

...but he'd better hurry because here comes momma...

Pardon the composition of the shots... Myo had to drive between 60 and 140 kph all day long to get us to Bagan by 9 or so pm tonight... I had to shoot through the side glass or the front window which was dusty for most of the trip. We had few times to stop for a shot. ttys....

glenn kangiser · February 02, 2013, 12:02:25 PM

Chuck Norris here...

Two people here in Burma have recognized me as a Chuck Norris look alike... [ouch]

First a Buddist Monk...

With all of the respect and proper ways of talking to and addressing Monks here in Burma, I did not think it proper to ask for a picture. To my surprise my friend Myo said the Monk thought I looked like Chuck Norris and wanted a picture with me....

He put my hand on his shoulder for the pose....

Next a man in the market said the same thing...

Myo has kept the tables completely filled with Burmese traditional food... and me too for that matter...

Which meal was this?

February 02, 2013, 12:24:32 PM

The last pix was breakfast this morning with a wonderful coconut milk and gelatin traditional dessert... I ate most of the plateful.....

On to old Bagan to look at the Temple and monastery ruins.. over 2000 of them with some from the 6th to the 13th century.

Everywhere you look are more as far as the eye can see....

Hey look over there....

This nice young lady made sure I got my Thanaka bark makeup on properly to make me beautiful and prevent sunburn.

Don't I look nice now?

Nearly all of the Burmese people do...

It was a great friend maker here.

Whitlock · February 02, 2013, 09:52:10 PM

What no more e-mails!!
Glad to see you are doing fine.
I will check in from time to time to see how big your head is getting

I always thought you looked more like Papa Smurf than Chuck Norris

All is well here and at the UGCC

Good night ,W

Ernest T. Bass · February 03, 2013, 12:40:41 AM

Amazing buildings there.... Looks like a great place to film a movie! (yeah, that's always the first thing in my mind...

)

That food looks a lot more appetizing than the last time you posted foreign dishes.

glenn kangiser · February 03, 2013, 12:17:55 PM

Whitlock...sorry dude... laqst night was a badd internet bnight anbd I had a hard time even making my posting. Lost it once and had to redo it... not quite as elaborate but z got it posted....

Who the heck is Johnny Walker and what the heck was he doing at my dinner table in Myanmar?

Well, my friend Myo ...at the end of the day, had a couple of his rice miller friends meet us in Mandalay. They chose me to be the guest of honor because ...likely they could not find anybody else.

One of his friends had his wife meet us there also for dinner. She rode her motorcycle....and she was a real sweetheart.

After another wonderful meal cooked at a special table with a gas stove cooker in the middle his friend says... I love you... this is my wife... you are my second wife....

I said... don't hurt me honey...

My friend Myo was laughing so hard he was crying as well as the rest of the people at the table. Everyone was in hysterics.

My point....... People are people no matter where they are. Good people are good people...bad ones are bad....Share the love.

After governments, corruption and greed are out of the way, they are just like us. The next time your government wants to attack some defenseless small country and create collateral damage...just say no.

I am sure if you get to know them that people all over the world just want to be friends. Don't believe the propaganda that says we have enemies anywhere. The enemy may just be within.

Check it out for yourself before you lend your approval.

My new friends are going to meet us in the morning to go onto the next part of our adventure with us.

They were going to give me money for hats just like mine... I told them to hang on to their money... I will send the hats. It is the least I can do.

Having trouble transferring pix tonight......

February 03, 2013, 01:23:45 PM

I'm glad to see you are have fun.

Talk soon,W

glenn kangiser · February 03, 2013, 06:02:10 PM

Thanks Whitlock.

As we were sitting at the dinner table I told them that my friend from Laos said they would treat me like a king. I said "You are all treating me better than a King."

They said "You are the King."

I said "Good. You are all my great and loyal subjects."

They speak pretty good English but to clarify, Myo translated it for them. They all continued to laugh like crazy. Soon we were the only ones left in the restaurant. They taught me the Myanmar form of "Bottoms Up".... Clear the glass.....

We did that a few times. I suggest that if you or anyone wants to come here that you do it without hesitation. 85% Buddhists I think. Most of the people are poor as dirt, but do not steal. They only want to work and help each other survive. Crime is extremely low here.

They are happy even though they have very few physical possessions. Maybe they are happy because they have very few physical possessions.

Note that Myo as a doctor, educator and business man in the private sector is in the upper class here but he loves and cares for his fellow country people. He has been asking me about information for alternative building and solar power for a school he plans to help. I am trying to quickly fill him with as much information as I can to benefit his people.

Myo and I in front of his car at the Sky Palace in Bagan... I think it was my Palace in Bagan.

My dear new friend, Miss War War (pronounced wah wah... means yellow in Burmese), teaching us how to make Laquerware at her village. She is 15 years old and is the breadwinner for the family of 5 I think it is.... yes ...she supports them. Her father died from alcohol, so she has taken on the responsibility of being the family provider.

She wanted to stay in touch but had no e-mail. I gave her a card and by the evening she had her friend ... my new friend, Soemoe Thet contact me. He owns a restaurant at her village. Sorry I did not get to meet him due to our schedule. We will be in touch. She is so smart.

Another older girl selling her wares outside a Pagoda ruins in Bagan spent about a half hour telling us history and showing us a secret way through a monastery ruins to get to the top so we could get better pictures. I wanted to donate for her time so she could also make a living.

She said, I don't want free money. I just want you to buy something from my shop.

I did not consider it free money as she spent so much time helping us. I told her her time had value. She still only wanted me to buy something so I did. My bags are filling up and I am only half way through my trip. I will buy what I can from these people who only want to do genuine work to support their families.

Here is a demonstration of grinding ground nuts (peanuts) to get the oil out of them. I will come back to add more pix at a later date.

The cake left in the center of the grinder comes out as a pressed cone that is dried to feed the cow. He loves it.... sticks his tongue out to get it like a child reaching for candy...

Note that after the last power outage the motel router must have reset and my pix started uploading. The net and power both have a lot of problems here....but are available at least in hotspots.

My new friend and I sitting in front of his still, drinking the alcohol he makes from the juice of the Torrey palm tree I think it is called. Daily he climbs the trees to set pots and gather the sap which is then boiled down for alcohol or processed even further for candy. Climbing the rickety bamboo ladder tied with only ropes is dangerous, and sometimes some fall from the tree. The sap is also collected fresh... wasps strained out and sold for a fresh sweet drink or fermented into beer..... of which I drank some of each and suffered no ill effects.

I better post this before the next outage... ttys.

glenn kangiser · February 03, 2013, 06:27:19 PM

Oh yeah... thanks for helping keep an eye on the Underground Command Center, Whitlock.

I had 3.5 hours of sleep tonight. Must post as the internet is up and running...

My friends ultimate rocket stove... run perfectly burning sticks to boil down the sap. The sequence of pans keeps the top of the channel closed for a good draft as well as sequentially cooler pans for processing the sap.

The sap instantly comes to a boil from the intense heat produced burning things such as the stalks of the sesame seeds or other agricultural waste. Being similar to the rocket stove design there is nearly no smoke as the fire burns.

Look at the boiling sap....

Good Whiskey...yum...ahhhhhh that was smooth...

Thanks to all of my Myanmar friends and especially Myo for inviting me, setting up the itinerary and making this adventure possible.

glenn kangiser · February 04, 2013, 10:48:14 AM

Well, Our two rice miller moguls decided to take off of work and go with us because I am visiting their country....

My vacation is causing half of Asia to starve....

I met the most wonderful government agricultural agent today. She is Myo's friend and the farmers love her. We had a great discussion about EM ... she also teaches it. A slightly senior lady but Myo says he can't keep up with her on her motorcycle.

Hang with me and after I get back I'll try to get some videos posted.....

Internet upload problems again tonight.

Windpower · February 04, 2013, 07:03:06 PM

We are enjoying your vacation, Glenn

almost as good as being there

February 04, 2013, 11:27:25 PM

You are keeping us amazingly well informed! Better than any of us possibly could if in your shoes, I'm sure.. Very interesting and a special treat for the whole CP community to be enjoying this adventure with you.

ben2go · February 05, 2013, 08:34:09 AM

Glenn,I live vicariously through you.

glenn kangiser · February 07, 2013, 02:19:27 PM

Thanks for the comments people. That makes me want to keep sharing with you.

As usual.. had a posting - Firefox crashed.... lost it..

As I mentioned, our rice miller friends took off of work to hang out with us. Here is a shot of the waterfall they took us to way out in the boonies....

We went to Myo's other friends in ShweBo where they were happy to start their steam engine for me and be sure that I got the best access for photo ops. This thing is a real beauty with the big flywheel being about 12 feet in diameter. This thing runs smooth as a baby's bottom...

The engineer came and got me and made sure I got some good pix of the boiler as well as prompted me to climb up on top of the boiler and get some shots of the safety valve.

Hauling hay... I have noticed that we are spoiled wimps here in the US... (if I was there)...

These guys are macho all the way...

They even loaded the cows. [ouch]

Love to post more but Its 1:48 AM here and I need to get up at 6 AM...

Ta Ta for now....

glenn kangiser · February 07, 2013, 06:58:16 PM

Short time... a few more pix before we leave for breakfast ...

Free Ride or at least cheap

Nice Haystack

The water truck

I have only seen one man lying on the highway, but the ambulance was on the way....

PEG688 · February 07, 2013, 11:07:58 PM

Thanks Glenn , stay safe, enjoy!!

glenn kangiser · February 12, 2013, 02:54:08 AM

Made it back to Sassy's last night about midnight.

Got some sleep there after keeping her up half of the night talking about the trip.

A bit of jet lag tonight dozing off once in a while but finally able to get started gathering trip files from my hard drive and chips and getting them in some kind of order.

Mr. Ed and the animals seemed happy to see me. Hoping to get some pix together soon. [ouch]

I currently have plans to do more with Myo regarding helping his people improve conditions there as well as plans to help them educate a skilled labor force. We are currently kicking a few ideas back and forth regarding areas of need and ways to make a modest living while helping them also. [idea]

February 12, 2013, 06:50:36 AM

Glad to have you back. Sounds as if your trip was enjoyable.

Windpower · February 12, 2013, 07:02:19 AM

Glad you made it back safe and sound

rest up -- we look forward to your pics and commentary

ben2go · February 12, 2013, 11:31:42 AM

Oh goody!Glenn is back!

Tell us all about your trip,after you rest up.

glenn kangiser · February 12, 2013, 01:55:32 PM

Thanks everyone. Where do I start..... the first?

How did I get here?

Hopefully I can keep this making sense and hold a train of thought as I begin again to go through this journey in my highly cluttered mind.

Recap.

After my old Bobcat burned we bought a bigger Bobcat for work on the Underground Command Center. I began doing side jobs for neighbors and there met one from The Little Church on the Hill. They worked with Bridges International and International Students Incorporated as well as others bringing International students from California Colleges to visit the park, stay in our homes as well as have the opportunity to attend a Sunday Church Service before leaving back to their respective colleges.

UC Davis also had the Humphrey Fellowship group sponsored by the US Department of State, where fellows from countries all around the world in mid-career are brought here to study and to be introduced to the US, now globalist, way of thinking. These people are gathered together for an educational experience that will promote change throughout the world in the direction that US Policy makers and money interests hope it will be steered.

I see it as not all bad... not all good but good for invested interests and possibly for pollution control and improvement of general living conditions worldwide. Wars of aggression will likely continue for the war machine manufacturers to make a profit as well as those who want to profit from such things as Global Warming or the new catch phrase... Climate Change.... thanks Al Gore....

Once the idea of Climate Change... right or wrong is spread throughout the world, it will be easy for World Bank, and Carbon Credit sales to make new loans or taxes benefiting the elite, corporations and world bankers. Loans are currently being made or negotiated to clean up off gassing of landfills in the Philippines.. that is just one that I noted.

That being said, I have met the most wonderful people in the world through this work.

Once I realized that these people were not just a bus load of foreign tourists, but rather were intelligent, thinking, caring, warm individuals with different life experiences and knowledge they would share if I just cared enough to ask, I began to get somewhere.

Students from China concerned about how they can help our economy. Students from Jordan telling me how to populate my pond with the proper type and amount of fish, others from China asking me about business experiences they could use for their journey through life.

That is how I met Myo. Sharing our Underground Complex with a group of Humphrey Fellows for three days as we took them to the park. Dr Myo Aung Kyaw, Secretary General of the Myanmar Rice and Paddy Traders Association and member of the IRRI, International Rice Research Institute: helps reduce global poverty & hunger by helping farmers grow more rice & keep people & the environment healthy. EM educator (Effective Microorganisms), Medical Doctor and Founder of the Pioneer Post Harvest Development Group, building rice and crop driers around Asia to prevent crop losses after they are harvested.

While in our home Myo showed me the pictures of his land and work. Farmers working the fields with primitive equipment, water buffalo and wooden wagons. Rice mills being run by steam engines that were only new in the days of my Great Grandfather. I love old technology and have studied it since I was a child. I talked to Myo about it and all he would say was "You need to come to Myanmar and see it for yourself."

I repeatedly told him I would some day but never knowing when.... never putting my money where my mouth was... but this year I had a check come in from summers work... open time to my next job... a repeated invitation from him... a time between his work in the Philippines and Vietnam he could arrange to host me.

Now a change in the government there with one of the good generals being elected President, and Aung San Suu Kyi being let out of house arrest and allowed to be voted in to Parliament there to help improve the lot of the people. New flights from the US to Myanmar are now available... impossible to find two years ago.

The generals seized power about 50 years ago and pretty well kept the money for themselves while keeping the country in a state of suspended animation from WWII times. After a massacre in the streets of student protesters in 1988 an election was held. Aung San Suu Kyi came back from Britain and was overwhelmingly elected President. She was placed under house arrest at that time as the generals continued their iron fisted rule. She could leave if she chose, but remained under house arrest by her own volition, to firmly and silently support the people of her country who she loved.

So began my journey to Myanmar to meet Myo who was at the Underground Complex two years ago, and Thang Za Lian (Regional Director for Save The Children) who stayed at our house last year. Myo told me, all you need to do is get to Yangon International (RGN) and I will take you from there. I trusted Myo as my own brother and true to his word, he showed me the trip of a lifetime.

glenn kangiser · February 12, 2013, 09:32:01 PM

On the morning before Thang met me to take me to the airport, Myo dropped by at 6:20AM as he was leaving, to bring me a chip with his photos from the trip. They are especially good because, one.... he had to stop driving for his photo ops, and two, he is a great photographer. I will be using his photos also as we go along.

We were headed up the road when Myo mentioned that we had come upon a government farm. It looked as though there was a visiting dignitary to him as there was a lot of activity going on and way too many people for the job at hand.

During the reign of the generals resources were kept mostly for the government use with the people mostly fending for themselves the best they could. That is just at the very beginning of change now. Hopefully the generous, hard working people begin to get a better lot in life with less exploitation as time goes on. Excesses were on display for the people to see as they were kept powerless with often violent retribution if they were to object. Dissent was not allowed and gatherings of 5 or more in the cities were reported, investigated, people interrogated and punished if the PTB thought it necessary.

In order to keep this interesting I think I will pop back and forth from Myo's chronological trip pictures and My pix of everything so we can get more of an overall picture of what is going on. Trying that take... back to my first day pix.

There are markets everywhere. They were some of my favorite places on the trip having Kodak moments around every corner.

So many fruits I have never seen before. This one is called Durian.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durian

Apparently loved by some .. hated by some...

Shops often have different types of preserved foods and meat is common in the stores as well as open markets. Many places have no refrigeration especially in the villages. In the city and motels there is refrigeration but common power outages daily. There are resources but the government has been exporting power and gas to China for profit at the expense of the people. Gasoline is around $20 per gallon... (4800 kyat per liter when I was there - 855 kyat to the dollar)

The favorite bananas over there are the ones we would consider to be about half length though a bit bigger around than the ones we see. The flesh is a bit less firm I think and more flavorful... kind of hard to describe. Not soft but less dense having about the same texture... if that makes sense.

Hopefully this will work... progressing on the trip and filling in info along the way... let me know....