Visitors, Rain, Taungoo

We had our first visitors on Sunday – Miche, Cathy and Sham. Of course it had to completely pour with rain that evening, meaning we couldn’t get a taxi (everything grinds to a halt in heavy rain it seems) to where we intended to go for dinner. Actually it turned out fine as we went to a local place and had a delicious meal with fish, prawns and meat.

We took Monday off and again it rained heavily in the morning. We took our mates downtown and it eased up slightly as we walked around Sule pagoda and around the streets and old buildings. We managed to walk to Botataung pagoda and go inside without getting too wet. The rain continued intermittently but we stopped off at Lucky Seven for some snacks and it was just really nice to catch up and show them around. We ended the day in Chinatown where it continued to rain but we still managed to sit outside and enjoy the atmosphere and a delicious dinner, plus try fried crickets for the first time. The following day, they did Shwedagon and Bogyoke market while we went to work. We had dinner at Padonmar restaurant where the food was nice but I was a little disappointed in the decor/building. Wasn’t what I expected.

The rainy season has started good and proper. It’s true that it rains most days but it’s very off/on and apart from when we had visitors earlier this week, hasn’t limited what we’ve wanted to do. It rains all year in England so it’s not like we aren’t used to it. The major plus is that it is much cooler and more bearable when it has rained. I actually now remember what it’s like to feel not hot.

Tony kindly offered to let us tag along on his day trip to promote telemedicine to a village near Taungoo this weekend which meant a slightly painful 5am start. We weren’t really sure what the day would involve and it was slightly random but fun. It was a pleasant drive on the expressway, passing through lush countryside and mountain views. This road leads all the way to Naypitaw and Mandalay. It’s in good condition relatively speaking and was relatively quiet. We found out that lorries aren’t allowed on this main road that links north to south. Only normal cars. Instead, lorries have to trundle along a single lane old road. Make what you want out of that fact!

The final part of the journey from Taungoo to the village was a little tortuous, crossing a wooden bridge (see below) etc. This emphasised that telemedicine would probably be quite useful here! We went to what I can only describe as a sort of village hall, where people congregated, I guess the village elders etc. We were given tea and snacks of rice cakes, sticky rice, mango and bananas. We then had lunch, chicken, fish and veggies. Just in case we needed anything else we were presented with cake, more mango and more bananas for afters!! Tony and his colleague Dr Chit then did their presentation and a few people got chest x rays done to have a go at the equipment. Apparently it went very well so they’re hopeful. We then went to a monastery and well I’m not sure what was going on entirely but we got shown a selection of antiques on a large wooden lazy Susan.

We got back to Yangon around 9pm and had been invited to a party by a friend of one of my friend’s in London. It was in a huge house with garden in the ‘British Compound’ hosted by some people from the British Embassy who live there. We were pretty shattered after Taungoo but thought it would be a good opportunity to meet the friend of a friend. When we arrived we knew not a soul and felt awkward – I feel awkward at the best of times so this was massively awkward. We made the most of the generous beer and pizza being handed round. We recognised one person who we had randomly seen when in Dawei (there were no other Caucasians in Dawei so this was no special feat) and approached him literally saying, ‘We don’t know anyone here but we recognise you!’. As the night wore on we did bump into two other people we knew. However the person who invited us, the main reason I went, we didn’t meet and I haven’t a clue if she actually ever got there! I think I’m just too old and socially inept to enjoy these sort of functions. Also, seeing this amazing house, garden, you could imagine yourself far removed from real Yangon – made myself think I’m doing the wrong job (no, not really).

In other more medical news, this week I had a few deaths of patients I had reviewed so felt a bit ‘could I have done anything differently’ reflective Low Cd4s and probably might have died even in the UK. It’s the not knowing exactly what happened to cause the death which is a bit frustrating; when the patients go to hospital you can’t find out what happened or get a ‘summary’ like you do at home. You can only make a guess at what information the relatives (if they have them) can tell you.

Now, back to swimming. Carb overload after this weekend

Maungmagan and Dawei minibreak

We were up early on Saturday for our flight to Dawei. We got a lift with Kim May, Tony’s lovely wife, who was going to Kyaityo. On the way to the airport we narrowly missed a low hanging and moving electrical wire which must have been damaged during a storm on Friday!

Domestic flights involve having a sticker with your airline’s emblem +/- destination. They do announce boarding in English but I’ve found the safest thing is to locate someone with the same sticker early on and basically stalk them in the departure lounge so that you know when to move.

The flight to Dawei was just over an hour passing over some beautiful scenery of mountains and coast. On arrival, immigration involved the writing down of our passport details in a big book. We then tackled the next task of finding a pick up to take us to the guesthouse. A Dutch family (the only other foreigners onboard) were going to the same place so we shared. The journey took about 40 minutes, going through lush village scenery, mountains and finally a view of Maungmagan beach. We arrived at Coconut Guesthouse around 10am. It’s the first accommodation in the area that has been open to foreigners. When we were in Myanmar in 2012 you were allowed to come to Dawei but had to stay within city limits (we didn’t make it that time); for the last six months this has been lifted so we can now visit the surrounding areas, which is great for us.

We threw on our bathing gear and went to Maungmagan beach. It’s well established for Myanmar people, with a long stretch of beachside seafood restaurants and some shops. The sea was the warmest I’ve ever experienced – like a bath!! The beach itself is huge and beautiful but the only negative was that unfortunately there were patches of litter and no bins. Also there are dogs and as much as I love dogs I was wary of some of these ones.

We walked along the beach for a while and everyone was very friendly. Several wanted their photo taken with Ned as I guess he is a novelty still in these parts. We had a lazy rest of the day, enjoying the cooling shaded area at the guesthouse and chatting with the other guests (another family plus the Dutch family). We headed back to the beach for sunset, accompanied by one of the trusty guesthouse dogs who guarded us against some of the beach ones.

Dinner at the guesthouse involved a delicious fried fish with ‘Dawei sauces’ – we could identify lime, fish sauce, chilli. The next day we were a little tired as it was quite hot overnight and although there was a fan, the electricity is off between midnight and 4am, so sleep was restless. We decided to go exploring and each got a motorbike and driver – we could have hired one motorbike for one of us to drive us both – decided we didn’t need the stress and definitely the right decision given the road conditions. I’ve been on bikes in Asia before but being older now and well aware of being the furthest I’ve ever been to trauma medical care, I was pretty nervous.

Firstly we went to Myawyik pagoda which is south of Maungmagan (45 mins drive). The road was quite dodgy in parts and some was being surfaced with big buckets of tarmac, meaning some careful avoidance by the drivers. The pagoda is on a small island which you reach by a causeway across the water. It is really picturesque and calm with great views back across Maungmagan.

We then got back on the bikes and after a brief stop to repair a puncture on Ned’s bike, went to Nabule beach, north of Maungmagan (45 mins). Firstly we were dropped at a pagoda on the beach, many rocks and very pretty and no one around. We then were taken to another area of beach. This was very long, with white sands (in contrast to Maungmagan which is more clay coloured), clear water, no litter, absolutely not a soul around, no shops or buildings, barely any vehicles going along the road. I’ve never been anywhere like it and it was very special. We really wonder how his will be in the future (planned deep sea port coming, more tourists, ???)

We had a very welcome shower on returning to the guesthouse in the afternoon and enquired about having a crab for dinner. They didn’t have one but rang around and managed to get us one (they are really so accommodating and helpful here). We were also a bit sun and windburnt by all the motorbike time. We went to watch sunset at Maungmagan beach before dinner and saw a pig on the beach as you do.

The crab was amazing. It was cooked in some kind of curry powder with garlic and peppers and was full of meat. Wow.

The following day we said farewell to Maungmagan and drove to Dawei for one night. We stayed in a very modern and clean hotel called Zayar Htet San – air conditioning, hot water, satellite tv – luxury! This was where our next task lay – finding Mum’s cousin Eddie who lives in Dawei. After basking for a while in the air conditioning, we asked a lady at the front desk about getting to Eddie’s address. Being a small place, turns out she lives near there and knows who he is (‘He is the English teacher. He looks like Chinese’ – I don’t know what he looks like!). So she did some investigative work and discovered he is in Yangon visiting an Aunt. What a shame we will miss each other! I’ve left my number for the lady to take to him when he returns and hopefully he will get in contact (he doesn’t have a phone!).

So we spent the day just wandering around the streets of Dawei, admiring the old wooden buildings and enjoying the peace and quiet. We had a sugarcane juice at the market and also found a random little bakery. We had dinner in a great Chinese style restaurant near the hotel of hot and sour fish.

Using the wifi at the hotel this morning to do some work for the coming week before the flight back to Yangon. It has been truly a special weekend far exceeding our expectations. When I get home I need to ask Grandma more about what she remembers of the place.

Rugby and ‘stuff’

It’s been a month now, which has gone very quickly. We have both been enjoying our respective workplaces and settling in well.

Usually in the mornings I’ll sit with a doctor in their consultation and provide some training and opportunity for case discussion. Then in the afternoon I tend to give support for the day case patients (the more unwell patients who tend to be newly diagnosed with opportunistic infections and can be quite complex). Other time is spent going to meetings, planning projects and audits we hope to do. I catch the transport to the clinics around 730 and we usually get back into the city by 7pm. That’s earlier than I get home most of the week in London so it really isn’t that bad. Ned has been doing a mix of things but in summary I think he could find himself a pretty nice job here if he chose to stay!

Many of the patients are pretty sick and having to rely heavily on clinical signs and your gut, in the absence of tests you’re used to, is a very different experience. The days are filled with multiple pathological x-rays, some very cute babies, endless TB and inevitably a new, surprising and unusual case. Never a dull moment really.

The ‘all over body pain’ of the clinics in the general (ie HIV negative) patients is ‘dizziness’. I’m never quite sure exactly what the patient means but I’m not surprised there’s a lot of ‘dizziness’ in this heat (still 38 degrees, on the tipping point of rainy season). This week there was a ‘diarrhoea day’ which one of the docs attributed to mango season (lots of spicy sliced mango stalls around, lots of flies, etc). Actually though in addition to the diarrhoea day (which were non serious cases) there have been several probable cholera cases due to a recent outbreak.

In other news, Ned took part in what is thought to be the first international rugby match in Myanmar for 80 years. He joined the Yangon Dragons in the week before the match and had an intensive 3 practices, having not played for maybe 9 years?! The match itself took place on a former cricket pitch on Pun Hlaing golf estate. It was great fun, lovely atmosphere with pitch side bar and ‘BBQ’. The boys played really well despite losing 10-23 to the Hanoi Dragons. Next match is in a month.

We are continuing to enjoy the food (obviously) though given that we are on a limited budget we are mostly cooking at home. I love the local market and all the great vegetables which taste delicious. And the fruit of course – mainly we have had papaya, watermelon and pineapple as it’s so cheap compared to home, with the occasional mango and bit of jackfruit (pictured!). We also love walking around and finding nice little areas, though everyone thinks we are crazy to walk miles in this heat.

We are taking a weekend mini break to Dawei, which is my maternal grandparents’ hometown. We wanted to see a beach before the rainy season hits good and proper and considered Ngwe Saung, which is the beach five hours drive from Yangon. But then it turned out to be cheaper to fly to Dawei and stay for an extra night!! So we will spend most of the time in Maungmagan beach and a bit in Dawei itself. We are hoping to find Mum’s cousin – all I have is an address – here’s hoping!

Looking forward to the arrival of our first visitors in just over a week too! 🙂