Macau to Yangon

[Above photo: The Macau MGM Casino in foreground with the Grand Lisboa Casino to the right. Photo taken on our harbor cruise.]

5 January 2020

I can recall thinking of 2020 off in the distance, so far that I imagined it was beyond my reach. Here I am, feeling 18yo again at times, and girding my loins for a 5 month teaching sprint. I’ve gotten myself into a busy spot, I think, running my 7 ½ month Child and Adolescent Psychiatry course again, as well as teaching and supervising leaders of a local NGO who have just gotten a UNICEF grant. Plus I’ll teach  assorted short courses, starting with the Mandalay University of Nursing Mental Health Faculty. Oh, well. Might as well do it, if I am going to do it. I’m also a great believer in sublimation, Freud’s term for turning sexual desire into productive (not reproductive) activity.

Aillen and I enjoyed walking around Macau, going into several of the numerous old Portuguese Catholic churches, the restored theatre, and a great little noodle shop with a very surly hostess. We took a tour boat for a cruise up, down and all around the island, getting new perspectives on the massive and fabulous hotels (see above for a sample). And we went up the Macau Tower, the longest bungee jump in the world at 233 meters. We were on the floor below the flight deck and watched a couple of daring fools leap off and plummet past us; my attempts to catch them on the fly with my camera were futile.  We had supper in an elegant but not expensive Japanese restaurant; one tasty item was robata foie gras. Tired, we re-tired but at the stroke of 12 the fireworks started. We couldn’t see them from our room but could see crowds in front of our hotel “ooing” and “aahing” so we rushed downstairs just in time for the finale, which was pretty good, it being China. I wonder if Iran and the US can just have dueling fireworks displays; the loser either lifts the sanctions or dismantles their hydrogen bomb program. Norway can judge.

We seem to be in an escalating spiral with The Donald, and it is frightening to think of He-of-the-serious-bone-spurs at the helm. I’d rather it be John F. Kennedy or, actually, anyone. Millard Filmore. SpongeBob. His impulsive, inadequate self has stirred up a hornets’ nest and Americans and many others will die because of it. Think back on how well it actually was working with Iran under Obama. Yes, there were Hezbollah and Hamas and other bad regional proxies but I think we may now see things seriously deteriorate in the Middle East. Who thought they could deteriorate? But they can. All in the name of diversion from his Senate Impeachment trial. The good senator from Tennessee is such an evil SOB and all the spineless minions that kowtow to him are nearly as bad, enabling him as they do. Memo to self: Write yet another letter to Susan Collins.

It was a relatively short hop to Bangkok and another to Yangon. As a good omen, I was met in the Arrival Hall by a taxi driver offering me a 10,000 Kyat ride, as opposed to the standard 12,000 kyat at the front entrance. Of course, we had to hike a kilometer through obscure airport halls to a distant parking lot but it was good to walk after being cooped up.  Arriving at my apartment, the lock on the inner door stuck and I couldn’t make it work. So, I called the landlord and as we were chatting, lo and behold, I got it open. Bring out the umbrella and the sprinkle stops.

My apartment was filthy. I like to think it is dust that accumulated while I have been gone but I’m not so sure. That theory wouldn’t explain the condition of my pillowcase, for example. Anyway, 1 ½ days later, all is washed, dried, folded, put away, dusted, and swept. My bathroom is spotless, as is the kitchen. I’ll do the guest bathroom when awaiting a visitor, under the general proposition that things do get dirty when sitting idle. At least that’s a more encouraging idea than that the pig-sty condition of my apartment was due to my prior sloth. I did make a very tasty sautéed garlic chicken with chili black bean sauce and fresh asparagus for lunch, so I’m not a total bum!

The weather is super and it is cool enough that I can sleep with the window open and no A/C. I had meals with two friends—-brunch and supper—-yesterday and caught up with them. Today I’m hanging out on my own and may watch a film tonight. I plan to look around for a somewhat larger place, although I really just want more wall area on which to hang paintings, a large outdoor table with two more outdoor chairs, another book shelf, and a large toaster oven. My location is perfect for my work and I certainly don’t want to try to travel each day in this traffic. My route to Children’s Hospital is up Pyay Road in a direction opposed to most morning traffic, so it is a snap.

I feel so sad for the GI’s that our Dear Leader-of-the-bone-spurs is going to use as cannon fodder, let alone all the innocent and not-so-innocent civilians who will find themselves in harm’s way. I fear a conflagration. We are again acting, true to form, as the Great Satan.