{"id":3681,"date":"2015-03-10T10:02:27","date_gmt":"2015-03-10T17:02:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/?p=3681"},"modified":"2015-03-10T10:05:26","modified_gmt":"2015-03-10T17:05:26","slug":"golden-divinity-thiwala-myanmar-03102015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/?p=3681","title":{"rendered":"Golden Divinity \u2013 Thiwala, Myanmar \u2013 [03\/10\/2015]"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"OLYMPUS<\/a>Every crew tour is a little different, but their chaotic beginnings almost always seem to be the same. We\u2019re never quite sure where the bus is, no one else seems to be either, and the one person who is<\/em> sure is usually running madly about trying to make sure that we have packed lunches \u2013 and hoping that said lunches haven\u2019t mysteriously disappeared from the Crew Mess where they were being stored for pick-up.<\/p>\n

Because we\u2019re still in Code Red the Hotel Director popped into the bus before the tour began and warned us all to be careful what we ate while ashore and to make sure that we washed our hands at regular intervals\u2026he cares about everyone on board, and he wants to make sure we stay safe and healthy, which is something we\u2019re all grateful for.<\/p>\n

Then there is always the inevitable crew member who is a few minutes late, or some other reason that departure seems to be delayed \u2013 which just seems to be a part of whatever tour, no matter what. But at last, we finally did get underway.<\/p>\n

My first thought as we rattled and bounced our way through the arid and narrow streets is that Myanmar seems to be a country that is dying even as it lives. It\u2019s dry season, and there seems to be nary a spec of green. Even the palm trees seem dry and dusty, as if they\u2019ve been crisped under the heat and have forgotten what colour they are supposed to be. The country seems to be wilting under it\u2019s own sun. Nature\u2019s grandeur at the end of its cycle. But as I\u2019ve noticed with so many other places that I have been privileged enough to visit, there is a beauty here \u2013 even if it is a touch singed by the Burmese sun.<\/p>\n

I remember, standing on a roadside in Puerto Rico once, looking out over the slums of the city with Amras,<\/p>\n

That\u2019s how about half the world lives Sis\u2026aren\u2019t we the lucky ones<\/em><\/p>\n

Oh yes, oh yes we so very much are\u2026sometimes I forget that, and it takes something like looking out a bus window at dusty brown and tumbledown ramshackle to drive it back home again\u2026<\/p>\n

Once we reach Shwedagon Pagoda \u2013 I found myself in a position that is rather rare for me as a writer \u2013 I was lost for words.<\/p>\n

Firstly, the temple complex is massive. In the 45 minute fly stop we had there was nowhere near enough time to see it all. And everywhere you look is gold, gold as far as the eye can see; I\u2019m told that when the sun sets it looks like it\u2019s turned to molten. I found myself feeling like Aladdin in the cave of wonders<\/p>\n

Just a handful of this stuff would make me richer than the Sultan<\/p>\n

And yet, I can\u2019t help but think\u2026in a country with this little\u2026that one roof\u2026it could make so many smaller ones. Not that I should dare to question a culture or it\u2019s priorities but\u2026I can\u2019t help but wonder\u2026<\/p>\n

Anyway it\u2019s not about the wealth, there is something about the place that makes it about so much more than that.<\/p>\n

They also require you to remove your shoes before you enter the temple complex. It\u2019s been a long time since I went barefoot, and the temple platform is located in direct sunlight. I wasn\u2019t the only one who learned to walk on her toes very quickly, and not to step on the green tiles (the dark colour must absorb the heat more than the light).<\/p>\n

Once our visit to the temple was over \u2013 far too quickly \u2013 we loaded back into the bus and made our way to the sprawling expanse of Scott\u2019s Market. I will admit I would have been in a better position to enjoy the market \u2013 which was complete with a line of 7-year old nuns filing through the stalls looking for donations \u2013 if by that point the extreme Myanmar heat hadn\u2019t been starting to get the better of me, the world was starting to swim ever so slightly in front of my eyes, and I was seeking out shade more than I was jewelry. I am \u2013 at heart \u2013 a northern girl (okay, the west of Canada is not nearly as \u2018north\u2019 as the rest of the country, but still, I\u2019m not built for extreme heat levels) and the temperature today was topping out at 101F. That\u2019s not just hot, that\u2019s boil-a-lobster\u2026<\/p>\n

Having never had a fantastic tolerance for the sun, I was just as glad when the bus rattled it\u2019s way home and deposited us back to the blessed A\/C of the ship\u2026<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Every crew tour is a little different, but their chaotic beginnings almost always seem to be the same. We\u2019re never quite sure where the bus is, no one else seems to be either, and the one person who is sure … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[79,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3681","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-grand-world-voyage-2015","category-historical-sites"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3GtNE-Xn","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3681","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3681"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3681\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3684,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3681\/revisions\/3684"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}