today: the last afternoon in
Dawei .... I wander the streets, it's a lot less cloudy and no rain for a long
time, clear sky.
Powering along on foot, suddenly
I get the inspiration, '...you know, you really ought to look at the beach.....
12km away"
for the first time in 7 day I
really FEEL like getting out and walking and seeing it.
 |
| First view of the Andaman sea |
When I first arrived in Dawei
I just wanted to crash in the Hotel, it has an inviting upstairs lobby, with
wifi and space and a quiet. lovely atmosphere.
I was somehow tired out and just
ate, walked, typed and went to sleep early .
I think lots internal stuff
was processing.... whatever.
I was too tired.
After a week of this I had
recovered - something happed deep in the bowls of the subconscious, - I could
tell I was back to normal because I felt like staying up late.
I feel like I've spent the
last 7 days in a womb, in cave, enjoyable, but now I gotta get outta there.!!
The last thing I read, in my
cave in the afternoon was .... how the deeper parts ourselves, our sould,
subconscious, has it's own rythems, and how it always moves and pulses just
like physically we breathe. -- it has it's own cycles and rhythems.
Ok so having wandered quite
some distance on foot, how the h*** do I get to the bitch, oooppps I mean"
BEEECH ", pardon my bad pronunciation.
I stand around by the side of
the road and look like I want a ride, and voila, someone stops and offers me a
ride.
He looks like he's just going home from work,
and doing some freelance taxi driving when he sees the chance.
The guy has guts, we speak
zero of each other's language, but that does not matter, gestures while talking
your own lingo works fine.
He's worried though, he stops
and gets more petrol, --- good idea. It's going to be faaaaaaaaaaar
But he's still worried,
because he's not yet figured out where exactly this foreigners wants to go.
 |
| On the way out of Dawei |
I mean, where would any
foreigner want to go if he points in the direction of the beeeeeech ?
The beeeeeeeech of
course !!!- surprisingly enough.
But he had guts, he never
drove a foreigner before I think, he's totally fazed.
We stop at another shop and
he asks the guys there, "hey where dya reckon this crazy tourist wants ta go ? I got no bloody idea, can you figure out
what he's saying ?"
We waffle a bit and the word
"bitch" or " beeeech" pops up.
I Jump on the word, and nod
vigorously, YES ! YES! beeeech! that's right BEEEECH!!!
Who needs big vocabulary ? gestures and one of two key words and all
is fine.
Ok we all got it now, he no
longer looks worried and we go much faster, the purpose of the trip has been
established yeehar!!!
 | |
| Drier and author (holding camera at arm's distance) |
He still points and asks me the directions. I've never
been here in my life, but I pretend I know what I'm doing since someone has to
make a decision.
- STRAIGHT I point - Right I
point...etc...
As we go over the little
mountain ride (a very modest ridge) there is the sea, The Andaman sea.
Wow.
....and then something
"gets" me... images and feelings of far away places, nice memories of
beaches, no idea where they come from, with a very distinctive flavour and
taste swamp me.
OMG
I got to spend more time here!
I can't leave tomorrow.- I'm not MAKING a decision - I'm not making it, I'm simply recognizing
it as what I WILL do
-
Gosh... I wonder why I didn't
come earlier ?
...cycles of the soul.....
Ok, yea, that makes sense. It wasn't time. I really had no desire to get out
there, 7 days ago....
But what really got me is
that this energy, flooded me the
instant I saw the sea, I knew, this was "it",
It was like meeting a human person, with a personality and all.
The trip to the beach was
simple, more directions from me guided by a rough sense where it ought to be.
At the beach a young man
asked me where I'm from what I'm doing etc.... and for some reason I totally
don't mind.
In fact I tell him with gusto
and we chat away.
Pretty soon I get this
sense... oopps ok the 'guys upstairs' have set this up, they've sent him to
you.
"Walk with me..." I
ask hiim.
We head for the water.
He comes from Mandalay, did a
Bachelor of Physics, (standard stuff in Myanmar) and is a photographer, oh yes,
he has a camera slung round his neck.
 |
| Photographer from Mandalay, |
But he's not your average
country guy hopping round on his motorcycle doing wheelies, he seems like a
lost professor, an intellectual in search of his niche, wondering why the damanations he can't seem to fit in
anywhere (I can tell the signs, been there, done that, probably still doing
it... duhhh... )
"There are some hot
springs near here,"
"Oh really, how far
?"
"Five minutes"
"And,...see this ?"
He points to the edge of the crescent shaped bay.
"yep"
"Its the Myo yit Pagoda", sitting on the edge of the sea, quite a
distance away, but I know by now when something has that 'must visit, this is
meant for you' smell about it. This does.
Just as well I've already
decided to do another day.
I get paper and pen and ask
him to write it all down, in Burmese.
I'll show it to the motorcycle
taxi driver tomorrow.
"Oh and give me your email," I add.
Somehow I'm surprised at
myself, for taking charge and making decisions snap snap snap, - but I know I
have little and time and I'm like a dog let out of his (self imposed) kennel.
"Oh, and here is a book,
for your English," that Paulo Coelho book, I knew I had to give away....
"bye"
Hot springs are next, on a
slimy muddy, "road" with lakes and pot holes the size of a car....
 |
| Road to hot springs.... |
Yep the springs are there,
and "dey is damn HOT!"
All young guys hang around it, fully dressed, totally
wet, with plastic scoops to splash themselves.
Do I feel conspicuous ?
What gives you that idea ?
Just because I'm the only non-Asian
tourist in the whole region with a bright backpack and a camera ?
Best thing to do is to shout
a loud "Mengalaba" - which Translates as the equivalent of :
"Gidday 'ow arre ya going mates?" or something like that.
That breaks the ice.
 | |
| Hot Springs MaungMakan beach (nearby) |
More chatting,
Where are you from ?
Australia ...
the usual blah blah....
then it's time to hop on the
bike and take off. This is really just a reconnaissance trip for tomorrow. I
need to go and change my airline ticket and the office might be shut and the
sun is almost set already.
Something else I've noticed
about this little visited area of Myanmar:
There is a certain kind of
facial structure, a certain kind of racial mix I've never ever seen anywhere
else.
Not the usual Burmese face,
not even Thai looking, not round or any of the usual variants of faces I've
seen in SE Asia, no, this facial structure is totally uniquely different - It's a small subtle thing, but it is not
just the face, it is like a different kind of body build. And a different
attitude that goes with it. A different 'energy' or personality. Fascinating. Would like to find out more.
I met one man like that at the teashop, in the morning, - he
sat opposite me.
And now at the hot springs there
is a guy with the same kind of bone structure at the hot springs.
He is the one who talks to me
the most. Both of them had something
that reminded me almost of the fierce dignity of the Masai Warriors, a different kind of strength, what little knowledge
I have of all of that.
The whole Tenasserim area is
off limits for land travel, only flying is allowed, No tourist go there much .
Lonely Planet gives it one
page and says it's too hard to go there.
Well not if you fly.
But I hope it stays secluded,
though I doubt it.
A 50 Billion dollar pipeline
for gas/oil ??? is being built all the way from Kunming China, Dawei, to this
beeeech, and a new special deep sea port is going to change the face of the
coastline and the whole society for a long distance in both directions ...
Hm...
I'm reminded of the Tao To Ching....
Those who look down upon this
world
will surely take hold and try to change
things
But this is a plan
I've always seen fail
The world is Tao's own vessel
It is perfection manifest
It cannot be changed
It cannot be improved
For those who go on tampering,
it's ruined
For those who try to grasp, it's gone
Allow your life to unfold
naturally
Know that it too is a vessel of perfection
Just as you breathe in and
breathe out
Sometimes you're ahead and other times
behind
Sometimes you're strong and other times weak
Sometimes you're with people and other times
alone
To the Sage
all of life is a movement toward perfection
So what need has he
for the excessive, the extravagant, or the
extreme ?
Tao Te Ching, verse 29 (Star
translation)
--
---o(*O*)o----
Dance me to the children, who
are asking to be born
*- Leonard Cohen. *
No comments:
Post a Comment