InDepth (MYANMORE) - Volume 13, November Issue

InDepth No.13, November 2015

A Very Modern Poet Aung Cheimt

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MYANMORE InDepth Magazine / November 2015

TEAM

13

through the looking glass

MANAGING DIRECTOR Andreas Sigurdsson andreas@myanmore.com

Chit Chan Cho looks at The Ladies With Figures

EDITOR Bob Percival editor@myanmore.com

CONTRIBUTORS

San Lin Tun Tet Ka Tho Soe Moe Naing Mimi Wu Bob Percival Chit Chan Cho Borbala Kalman Mitch Albaniel Cliff Londale Harry Wardill Timothy D. May Diana Huysman Manny Maung

COVER PHOTO Taken by Gerhard Jörén (www.gerhardjoren.com)

PHOTOGRAPHY & ARTWORK Gerhard Jörén Hong Sar Salai Suanpi Thahara Pindaya Myanmar Home Design

ART & PRODUCTION Kyaw Kyaw Tun

CONTENTS 5

8

streets of yangon

21st Street - Chinatown wooden shutters, antique barber chairs, and downbeat noodles

10

art

Borbala Kalman meets artist Htein Lin to talk about his extrordinary life

12

translation

An original San Shar Story - The Burmese Sherlock Holmes - The Scorpion's Traitor

14 cover story In conversation with Aung Cheimt, a very modern poet who wento to prison for his poetry

16

design

Yann Lefebvre talks to Mimi Wu about turning steel boxes into homes

18

travel

Cliff LOnsdale introduces us to teh other side of Pindaya, sans caves

20

heritage

26

sports

32

fashion

34

bistronomy

37

infocus

A living renovation in Yangon's historic downtown takes shape on the corner of Merchant and 40th Streets

Tim D. May takes us inside the the world of Yangon football

Dressed up and casual Zac Posen bags

PUBLISHER U Myo Aung (Permanent No.00315) InDepth MYANMORE Magazine 1st Floor, Annex Building, Strand Hotel, 92 Strand Road, Yangon

Santino Cafe, Alex's at teh Loft, Max Novotel Dim Sum, Sule Shangri-La Sunday Brunch

PRINTER Shwe Naing Ngan Press Permit No: 05745 No.90(C), Kabar Aye Pagoda Rd., Bahan Tsp., Yangon.

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Dance Music on the Beach - Electronic Music Festival @ Ngwe Saung

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6 WHAT’S ON events 5th - 19th November Latin Vibes | Activities

50th Street bar presents Latin Vibes for a social evening of music, dance and fun! Get your groove on the sultry sounds of Salsa, Bachata and Kizomba. Supplement your dancing skill with their silky smooth sangria big enough to share - 15,000 Ks. 50th Street Bar - 9/13 50th St, Botahtaung Tsp (off Merchant Rd) | 8:00 PM - 10:30 PM

6th November Japan Expo 2015 | Business Official Sponsored By Embassy of Japan in Myanmar. The Japan Expo 2015 will include trade promotion, cultural exchange programs (photo display with dresses, scene, 3-D display such as Fujiyama, Kimono, Yukata etc), Educational counseling counters and job opportunities counseling counters.

Tatmadaw Hall - U Wisara Rd (Next to Minder Ground), Dagon Tsp | 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM

Whisky Tasting: Highland Single Malts | Social From the light and citrusy to the big and smoky via the rich and fruity; Highland single malts cover the full range of Scotch. You will not believe how different these single malts are! From the light and citrusy to the big and smoky via the rich and fruity; Highland single malts cover the full range of Scottish Whisky! Price US$25 or 32,000 Ks. Price includes 6 single malts and snacks. Contact British Club (britishclubrangoon@gmail.com) to reserve a place.

The British Club - Gyoe Phyu St, Alan Pya Pagoda Rd | FROM 7:00 PM

7th November 2015 Try it Out: Scuba Experience | Sport Have you always wondered what it would be like to breath underwater like a fish and float totally relaxed as if you were weightless. Now is your

chance to have your first "Scuba Experience". The Myanmar Divers Association offers the opportunity to try out scuba diving in a safe and professional environment. During the "Scuba Experience" you will learn and try out the basics of scuba diving. It is NOT a certification, but a beginning to see whether you like it enough to start an official diving course. Participants need to be able to swim! Minimum age is 12 years old. Price: 30,000 Ks (excluding pool entrance fee of 5000 KS). To make sure you get the time you want, sign up by sending an email to 'myanmardivers@ gmail.com' stating: the number of people in your group, your preferred language, your age and size (for the dive suit: XS, S, M, L, XL) and your preferred time sloth.

Western Park Kandawgyi Swimming Pool - Kandawgyi, Nat Mauk St | 12:00 PM - 3:00 PM

BOGOSS! Children’s Workshops | Activities Fun and friendly activities for children aged from 5 to 11 years old. With Julien, exceptional art facilitator, your children will discover many ways for being active and creative. To balance the dynamic moments, there will also be short chill out sessions with story-telling or screening animation movies. Through individual and team activities, the kids will get the chance to explore and enjoy many different techniques : Juggling, Acrobatics, Origami, Puppet, Mask, Costume painting. Fees: US$6 per session / US$66 for the 11 weeks sessions.

Registration compulsory. Info. & Registration: courses.ifb@gmail.com.

French Institute - 340, Pyay Road, Sanchaung Tsp (Close by Hanthar Waddy Bus stop) | 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM

MYANMORE InDepth Magazine / November 2015

10th - 14th November

13th - 14th November

James Bond Week | Activities

Salsa | Activities

James Bond Week will be celebrated at The British Club from 10-14 November. Live music, Casino, Cocktails, M’s Quiz, Movies and more.

The British Club - Gyoe Phyu St, Alan Pya Pagoda Rd | FROM 6:00 PM

12th - 15th November K-Products Fair in Myanmar 2015 | Exhibition Korean Products Fair 2015 will include about Food & Health, Fashion & Beauty, Kitchen & Appliances & Living, Furniture & Interior, Machine & Used Machine & Auto parts, Architecture & Housing.

Tatmadaw Hall - U Wisara Rd (Next to Minder Ground), Dagon Tsp | 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM

13th November 2015 IRON CROSS: LIVE 90 | Art & Stage LAY PHYU vs. AHNGE [Part 1]. Ticket prices are 10,000 Ks. [Free Standing] and 15,000 Ks. [With Seat]. Tickets available at 5 Network Showroom , 4 Digital Showroom, The Sun Music Production, City Mart Branches City Mart and 1876 Call Centre. More details at 01-400878 01-2306166.

Myanmar Event Park - Shin Saw Pu Rd, Sanchaung Tsp (near Myay Ni Gone City Mart) | FROM 8:30 PM

Union Bar & Grill is happy to announce new SALSA WEEKEND in November! Please join them for great music and atmosphere with Dj Teef and Ricardo from Latinos Bangkok. Tropical Salsa Night with Ricardo and Dj Teef at 14th November. Watermelon Vodka Cocktail - US$4.

Union Bar - 42 Strand Rd (Same building as Red Cross by Strand Road) | FROM 7:00 PM

17th November CommuniCast Myanmar 2015 | Business Connectivity opens the doors to opportunity. Visit CommuniCast Myanmar 2015 to meet Myanmar’s leading solutions providers and more than 150 leading companies from the world of communications technology and software applications. As Myanmar steps up its ambitions for satellite sovereignty the second Myanmar Satellite Forum provides a platform for government, industry and service providers to exchange ideas, develop relationships and build partnerships. The Forum will be held on the 18th November in central Yangon and is an integral part of the CommuniCast Myanmar 2015 exhibition, where more than 20 satellite industry companies will be exhibiting.

Contact details at Mr. Fraser Hawkes, +951 512887 or Email: fhawkes@oesallworld.com.

Myanmar Event Park - Shin Saw Pu Rd, Sanchaung Tsp (near Myay Ni Gone City Mart) | 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM

18th - 27th November Balloon Festival Myanmar | Festival Balloon Festival Myanmar is a traditional and famous event mostly happen in Taunggyi, Shan State, Myanmar, which showcases products like Balloon festival happens every year between October to November. This is held after the celebration of Buddhist Lent in honor to the Sulamani Pagoda. The balloons are 15 to 20 feet tall and are decorated with colorful lanterns, candles and artistic designs from cartoons, animes, animals, shapes and various creatures.

MYANMORE InDepth Magazine / November 2015

One of the highlights of the festival is the hot air balloon competition between the villages. The biggest hot air balloon show up will amazed the crowd of over 20,000 people as the balloon is uplifted during the night etc. in the Consumer & Carnivals industry.

Taunggyi, Shan State, Myanmar

19th November

Construction, Electrical Power & Renewable Energy and Mining & Minerals Recovery for Myanmar. These related industries will be presented together as 3 in 1 international trade exhibition for Myanmar rapidly developing industries. Electric Power & Renewable Energy Myanmar 2015 will present over 170 leading companies from around the world. More info at fhawkes@oesallworld.com.

Myanmar Convention Center - Min Dhamma Rd (Close by Victoria Hospital) | 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM

28th November Myanmar Youth Speak Forum | Business The Myanmar Youth Speak Forum is an event that provides aspiring young entrepreneurs to discuss the importance of entrepreneurship in career development and economic growth, with the corporate enablers of the country. The forum aims to create an environment where people from diverse backgrounds can share ideas, share insights and gain new perspectives with an aim to create actionable ideas for impact. There will be workshops, panel discussions, and an opportunity fair to develop skills, gain insight, and mobilize the youth.

Office cubed - No.7, Lay Daunt Kan Road, Thingangyun Tsp | 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM

21st November Where is Charlie? | Nightlife He’s back for an exclusive revival of Yangon’s favorite BLUES NIGHT at Union Bar. Union Bar - 42 Strand Rd (Same building as Red Cross by Strand Road) | FROM 7:00 PM

26th - 28th November Electric, Power & Renewable Energy Myanmar | Business Electric Power & Renewable Energy Myanmar 2015 is the 3rd international trade exhibition for the Building &

Happy Thanksgiving | Dining Thanksgiving Buffet dinner at the AERA Club on November 28th! Adult – US$22 per person, Children (5 to 10) – US$11 per person. OPEN TO ALL! Photo ID required! Need reservation!

Contact at- Kay Thi, 01-660244, NaingKT@state.gov.

American Club - 27, Malikha Rd (Close by Shwe Sa Bwe Restaurant) | 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM

Ngwe Saung Beach 27th - 29th November Pi.T Electronic Dance Music Festival at the Beach! | Festival Pi.T @ Eskala is truly Myanmar’s first ever proper 2-Night EDM festival, where the music is underground and played almost non-stop throughout the entire weekend. Guests will be dancing to the highest calibre underground deep, tech and funky disco house. Headlining is DJ “Radieux” (owner of internationally supported “Doué Music Label”) – he will be spinning for 5-6 hours for both nights. They have other DJ’s flying in from across the world.They also have a B2B set from two Scottish DJs, brothers that play live. Ticket prices : Resident packages - US$70 per night per person (3 per room) and US$80 per night per person (2 per room). For more information email to pitevents.info@ gmail.com.

Eskala Hotel Ngwe Saung Beach, Myanmar

WHAT’S ON 7 promotions

Tasaungdine Festive Assorted Cake @ Lobby Lounge 1 - 30 November US$10.00 per box of four piece Loy Krathong 2015 at Emporia Restaurant.

Celebrate Loy Krathong and Ta Zaung Daing Festival for US$35 per person.

Thai special buffet dinner with complimentary Krathong, free flow of Herb Juice and one glass of Wine or Beer. Then experience a floating of Krathong on the pool together after the dinner.

For reservations call 01-544500 ext 6287 or fb.chry@chatrium.com Chatrium Hotel Royal Lake Yangon 40 Nat Mauk St, Yangon

cinema SPECTRE 007 | Action , Adventure, Thriller A cryptic message from Bond's past sends him on a trail to uncover a sinister organization. While M battles political forces to keep the secret service alive, Bond peels back the layers of deceit to reveal the terrible truth behind SPECTRE. Director: Sam Mendes Writers: John Logan (screenplay), Neal Purvis (screenplay) Stars: Daniel Craig, Christoph Waltz, Ralph Fiennes

PREM RATAN DHAN PAYO | Drama, Romance A king, who is loved by his subjects, wants to lead a normal life away from all the responsibilities and his kingdom, while his step brother plans to steal the throne from him. But things are changed when the king finds out the common

Kebabs & Curries Festival @ Pirate Restaurant At the Pirate Restaurant you can enjoy international breakfast buffet and world cuisine à la carte dining all day. With the bustling interior and the interactive open-plan Robinson Bar lending a sense of excitement, this restaurant with its sunrise open deck extension showcases a range of cuisine, from authentic Myanmar, Indian dishes to European, Japanese and Pan-Asian specialties. The open deck alfresco extension is an ideal setting for romantic dinner or a lavish brunch.

11:00 am to 11:00 pm Reservation call 01-9010532 ~35, 01-9010555 Ext: 521 Vintage Luxury Yacht Hotel No. 6, Botahtaung Jetty, Botahtaung Township

man who looks exactly like him and they change their identities with each other temporarily.

Director: Sooraj R. Barjatya Writers: Sooraj R. Barjatya (story), Aash Karan Atal(dialogue) Stars: Salman Khan, Sonam Kapoor, Anupam Kher

THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY PART 2 | Adventure, Sci-Fi After being symbolized as the "Mockingjay", Katniss Everdeen and District 13 engage in an allout revolution against the autocratic Capitol.

Director: Francis Lawrence Writers: Peter Craig (screenplay), Danny Strong(screenplay) Stars: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth Review Credit to imdb.com For complete cinema schedules on http://www.myanmore.com/yangon/ category/cinema/

MYANMORE InDepth Magazine / November 2015

8 STREETS OF YANGON

21 street st

Bob Percival goes downtown looking for some shade and quite, and finds classic Chinatown architecture, a rare collection of antique barber chairs, and a downbeat genuine duck noodle shop.

I

t’s 8 o’clock in the morning and already the city is burning with a blue-sky sun. In Bogyoke Aung San Road, the traffic has started to bank up, and we are both been nearly run over by a taxi as we try cross a pedestrian crossing. My friend and translator, Chit Pyu, looks at me with a quizzical smile. After all, this is Yangon.

The lower block of 21st Street at first seems barren and neglected but it hold a treasure trove of classic early 1900 Chinese-style shuttered dwelling, usually two to three storey high. It’s a time capsule of this architecture, so rare, even in Chinatown these days. No. 10 is a perfect example, with wooden shutters covering its whole façade. No. 16 is a more sophisticated version, with the facade being broken up with rosetta-shaped wood framed windows, enclosed by ornate masonry arches. There is intricate ironwork, here, and above the entrance a yin-yang sign to mark its Chinese ownership. As well, there are some beautiful early 20thC green & cream coloured English tiles decorated with handsome peacocks. The whole building is completely closed off. Maybe the Chinese owners return only at special times of the year to celebrate.

Across the street at No. 13/15 there is the ‘Dhamar Yone’, which looks like temple but is in fact a Buddhist community centre. Here the local Buddhist residents cook huge pots of rice and curries once a week during Buddhist ‘lent’, which they then transport to a local monastery to feed the monks during this time. Locals can also hire the oversize cooking pots for a small donation, to use for cooking in wedding and birthday celebrations.

Further along the lower block there are more fine buildings to see at Nos. 24, 25 and 27. Look for the old English tiles and the intricate woodwork at the entrances, including the small carved wooden lions above doorways to pro-

tect the house. At No. 28 we talk to a local Chinese-Burmese family. The man we talk to is 68 years old and was born in the house. His father is Fujian from mainland China and came here 80 years ago. The place now also acts as a small shop.

Up near the corner of Mahabandoola Road on the right hand side we find a classic traditional noodle shop, the 21st Street Chat Noodle. It looks genuinely downbeat but the food is good. Kaw yee noodle & chat noodle, both with an option of steamed chicken or duck (which is their specialty). They also have excellent phat htoke (wonton).

This place is for enthusiasts only.

On the right hand side near the corner is the jewel of the street. A traditional barber shop (predominately Chinese clientele), with an impressive array of eleven classic antique barber chairs – a rare sight indeed – haircut and razor cut shave for only 3000 Ks. There are more fine example of wood-shuttered building facades at Nos. 89, 90/92 and 129/131. One old place at No.138 is in very good condition and runs as Sharkees Car Mutimedia, selling the now ubiquitous DVD screens you see playing in taxis, while you wait in traffic.

The Chinese-Burmese family has been here for three generations. The house and the one next to it were originally a combined residence, with interconnecting doorways that you can still see.

Up on the corner with Anawratha Road is the Laung SanTaung Chinese Temple. Make sure you go around and enter its front courtyard. There are two gems there. Two iron lampposts topped by four covered lights, still in perfect condition, donated to the temple in 1931 – ‘Presented by the Boon-Sun Tung Society. Rangoon’. Take a rest for a while in the stillness of the temple’s confines, before heading out into bustling downtown Yangon. Enjoy. g

MYANMORE InDepth Magazine / November 2015

STREETS OF YANGON 9

Photos by Hong Sar

MYANMORE InDepth Magazine / November 2015

10 ART

Show Me Your Hands

And I’ll Tell You Who You Were Some people know already as a child what the aim of their life will be. Others on the contrary first lead a life following an outlined track and discover only later what their true belief is. Several other scenarios exist for the unfolding of our personality; the same goes for artists. But few people experience a similar path to Htein Lin, whose artistic strength was mostly forged by “Life”. Each single chapter of his past probably encloses enough ordeals for one single existence. Together, they form an extraordinary and unique trajectory.

Borbála Kálmán meets artist Htein Lin to talk about life – with and without art.

A Visual Poet Healing Pain

He became an artist in the middle of the jungle. He had had affinity for arts in his previous years, but he would only develop his true skills in the mid-nineties, after the nightmare period following his escape from the camp. After months of hiding, he spent half a year as a guerilla fighter in the jungle, followed by a long period of detention and torture before he managed to break free in 1992. He safely reached “home” and attempted to continue his life where it had previously stopped four years previously.

Back in Yangon, Htein Lin was a rebel with long hair, trying to learn again how to sleep and lead a normal life. He finished his interrupted law studies. He became an actor in Zarganar’s films.

Htein Lin is today a well-known contemporary artist from Myanmar. His works belong to private collections in the Netherlands, Hong Kong, India, Sweden, and the USA; he has exhibited around the world and participated to international art fairs and festivals. One couldn’t imagine that twenty years ago, he was recovering from a deep trauma of four years spent in a camp and fighting in the jungle. Around 1992, while he was trying to reinvent himself, he could hardly envisage that in 1998, he would be creating art whilst imprisoned for almost seven years in one of the most notorious jails of the country – for no just reason.

Mainly active in the field of performance and painting, Htein Lin considers himself an artist – not a political activist. Yet, his art inextricably intertwines with the experience he gained through his past, revised by an inner process of meditation; instead of a “fight back”, complex and pertinent responses are born. In spite of the horrors the works hold true, Htein Lin’s art becomes visual poetry thanks to the pictorial metaphors he uses to reflect on the most inhuman atrocities and injustices.

His art is about the inexplicable and deals with immeasurable sorrow and pain. It is a strength and wisdom that grows out from the surfaces and takes form through the body of the artist.

Tale from the Jungle Born in 1966 in the Ayeyarwady Division, Htein Lin arrived in Yangon at the age of seventeen. Although he studied law, he also performed as a comedian at the university. In 1988, almost at the end of his studies, Htein Lin won an important competition in which Zarga-

Plasters and their inventory number. The aim is to go beyond at least 1000.

nar, the well-known Burmese comedian and director, was a member of the jury; actually, in the nineties, after a “black hole” in both their lives, they will end up working closely together. Back in the eighties, Htein Lin was still committed to a form of art tightly connected to theatre. Occasionally, he drew, some realistic women portraits or copied his favorite illustrations of Bagyi Aung Soe. But acting and performing in the traditional way was his main channel of expression.

The most extreme circumstances were needed for Htein Lin to unfold a deeper connection with visual arts: the long years he spent in the refugee camp after he fled Yangon following the events of the ‘88 student uprising. Htein Lin ended up at the Indian border, hermetically closed in the camp. Among the other

refugees, one of the commercially most successful artists from Mandalay, Sitt Nyein Aye, decided to start art classes to help keep the men occupied. Few took it seriously, drawing with pencil-ends on two A-sized paper-sheets per day or on the pieces of newspapers thrown away by soldiers. Nevertheless, the “course” surely changed the life of one student, the young comedian. Having no books, the “students” relied on their imagination and the rhetoric of the “camp master”. “The way he talked about Picasso, Van Gogh and how important they were, the way he explained expressionism, impressionism … he was sharing his knowledge but I simply could not envision this. Back then, I had never seen illustrations of Van Gogh. It was really weird – following only his words to make art,” remembers Htein Lin.

A pile of hand-plasters – this is just a small part of the whole.

MYANMORE InDepth Magazine / November 2015

ART 11

Htein Lin in front of the plasters - about five hundred already exist.

But above all, he firmly decided to become an artist.

Show Me Your Hands…

The history of Myanmar performance art is tightly connected to the period of the mid-nineties, Htein Lin being a pioneer in this field. Performance was the form of expression that suited him the most, in order to convey his personal story and of those who could not raise their voice. Following the advice of senior artist Aung Myint, he tried out a form of expression based on his comedic past. Htein Lin’s first performance was in October 1996. No documentation remains of the event in which he walked in the streets of Downtown, wrapped in plastic sheets and holding a flower pot in his hands. At the same time, he had his first solo show at the

Lokanat Gallery.

Htein Lin was preparing his third show in 1998 when he got arrested in the middle of the night. It turned out that an old jungle comrade wrote him a letter mentioning the ‘88 uprising and the idea of planning an action to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the event.

Htein Lin spent almost seven years in prison for being mentioned in a letter he never even saw. The author was sentenced for forty-two years.

In prison, artist Htein Lin “was very busy”, always trying to find material on which he could paint and draw. Using soap, prisoner uniforms, bowls, cigarette lighters or bits of paper, he created works which he managed to smuggle out – thousands of them. His wife at that time collected the paper-works in

her parents’ house. During their subsequent divorce, when papers needed to be signed but Htein Lin, still in jail, objected, his wife sold the paper-works by their weight. The series “Recycled” reflects the disappearance of these works: Htein Lin, once out of jail, bought sheets of recycled card from his neighbourhood recycling company, hoping that the original works might be still somewhere in the paper-mass.

Among all of his series, one stands out particularly. Moving back in 2012 to Myanmar after a period spent in England with his new family, Htein Lin started to work on a major documentary and performance piece titled A Show of Hands, mixing sculpture, photography, video and text. It is a process in which Htein Lin meticulously encases in plaster the forearm of former political prisoners

Photos courtesy of Htein Lin

while talking with them about their past.

Already several hundreds of plaster casts exist (around five hundred), and sadly, the aimed number of one thousand will be “easily” achievable. The process will hence end sometime in the future. “The visual impact of these arms will remind the audience of just how many people gave up their freedom of movement to try to fix a broken nation.”

A broken hand heals through plaster – Htein Lin attempts to heal on a bigger scale. Recently, he presented in Yangon an exhibition which would have been banned just a few years ago. The works he showed at the Goethe Institut were tightly related to this “healing process”, but also connected to the works created in prison. Raising his voice through the visual, Htein Lin conveys the past of thousands of people, just by taking a look at their hands. g

12 TRANSLATION

MYANMORE InDepth Magazine / November 2015

THE SCORPION'S TRAITOR san shar - the burmese sherlock holmes Episode Three: San Lin Tun takes us into the world of famous detective San Shar in 1930’s Rangoon, with his translation of Shwe U-Daung’s Thiksabauk Kinmyigauk (The Scorpion’s Traitor).

P

ostman Lar La Khan has suddenly disappeared on his mail run. On investigating, San Shar finds that all of Lar La Khan’s deliveries have been made but that he has not been seen again since heading towards a house, in Hteetan Street in Kyi Myin Taing, which is supposedly haunted by a poltergeist. The owner of this house, an Indian named Muhammed, tells San Shar that he has recently rented another house nearby, and San Shar notes that the key to the vacant house has been surreptitiously wax molded by someone. Muhammed gives San Shar the keys to house to investigate. In the house they find the postman-wallah propped against the wall dead. He had been there about here days. They also found a diary. Ko Thain Maung, San’s Shar’s Dr. Watson, tells the story …

We left the body as it was, and exited the house from its rear door. We locked the front door and headed for the post office. We related to the post office master that we had found the body of Lar La Khan, but were unable to catch the perpetrator, so we didn't want to move the body from there and interfere with the police, that it was the responsibility of Maung San Shar to go to the police station.

On reaching it, Maung San Shar told the police station master the same thing as he had said to the post office master, and made a request for them not to move the corpse for that night. The police station master knew very well of Maung San Shar and agreed that if Maung San Shar took responsibility, he would give his consent to it.

On that night, as the tea shops on Hteetan Street put out their lights and closed their doors, the houses on the whole street were dark. Maung San Shar, the police station master, and myself went out into the back alley, and went to the vacant house, and entered through the rear door. It was Maung San Shar's opinion that the murderer had looked for his lost diary everywhere, and he could not find it, and then at last remembered it might have been dropped in this

house. If it was so, San Shar knew that if there was no news of a corpse being taken away or of a book being found by anyone, the murderer might come back here to look for it that night. If he did not come, there was nothing to lose. If he came, he could be caught. With that scheme, the three came here and waited for his arrival.

When we entered the house, the clock showed just past eleven o'clock. We kept silent, with no talking or smoking.

Since accompanying Maung San Shar, I had met fearful things, it was true. But this night vigil was the most intimidating. Being fearful in a no-one-dare-tolive house, being midnight, being dark, having the occasional foul smell of over-three-day old sudden-death corpse swirling into your nostril, on awaiting an enemy who did not care much about another's life. My spine chilled with anticipation, because of the fear of a ghost, fear of losing life, fear of poltergeist, so many causes.

Knowing it was twelve o’clock, on hearing the clock strike from the police station, no one appeared and everything was silent. Nothing happened though it struck one, then two, then three; and a bark or two from afar. Then five minutes later, slow steps along the rear alley were heard, so that Maung San Shar touched me. The police station master, on also hearing the steps, pulled out a pistol from his waist.

The steps became closer and closer and halted at the rear of the house. After hearing three steep ascending sounds, someone then slowly pushed the door, opened it and let the flash of the torch stream in. The station master directed his torch towards the door and shouted, "Hey, don't run away!" All of a sudden, confronting each other torch to torch, we found a man standing at the rear ladder who happened to be an European accoutred Indian man.

As soon as the station master shouted at him, he was shocked and dropped his torch and turned over the ladder and descended from it. Then, the station

questions in English without hesitation.

Shar: " I think you've heard about the murder of the postman-wallah around here?"

Lar: " Yes, I've heard."

Shar: "A diary has been found in the house where the murder took place.

Have you ever seen the book?"

Cover of 'The Memoirs and Records of Shwe U-Daung'.

master shouted, "A step more, I'll shoot you!" But, he did not stop and ran down the ladder so that the station master's gun went off. We found the man staggering from the ladder. All of us rushed there and looked for him under the ladder or house, but no one was found.

Then, hearing the fire of the gun the locals opened the doors, holding torches and became noisy. They looked for the Indian man in every alley, but he could not be found.

Shar: "Where did you shoot?"

Station Master: "I shot his leg."

Shar: "No blood was found, and he wasn't hit. It seems he was shocked and fallen. We'd better wait for him upstairs.

Because of thr foul smell of the corpse, we waited for him downstairs, so we let him escape. But we still have our chance. He’s not completely free yet."

The next day, the police officers dispatched the corpse to the hospital.

Maung San Shar and I went to a house in a small alley, two hundred foot away from that house. On reaching the house, an Indian man inquired us of the matter. [Maung San Shar had been thinking about the case the whole night, and he had gotten this idea to take me here.]

As soon as the Indian host asked about the matter, Maung San Shar asked him

Saying this, Maung San Shar handed the book to the Indian man, and looked at him attentively. Though it was a surprise to show him the diary, a sign of shock could not be traced anywhere on his face. Then, Shar: "I'm the detective Maung San Shar. I think that the murderer is a Bengali and you are only person of this appearance around this house, so, we came to enquire here."

When Maung San Shar said this, that Indian man stared at him with an indifferent face. Then, Maung San Shar continued, Shar: " If the police know all this, they will surely arrest you. So, you should share the truth with us, or do you want me to transfer you into the hands of the police."

He discerned the unflinching face of the Indian man.

Indian man: "Let's the case be settled with you. You can ask me if you have something to do. I'll tell the truth as far as I know."

To be continued ...

Shwe U-Daung (1889-1973) was a pro-Burmese writer and translator, who in the 1930s adapted many of the original Sherlock Holmes stories, placing them in the setting of the author’s Rangoon, in a time of nationalist fervour, high crime rate and social unrest. The Scorpion's Traitor was an original story, not an adaptation.

MYANMORE InDepth Magazine / November 2015

THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS 13

The Ladies With Figures

By Chit Chan Cho

T

he thought alone quails, the heart palpitates and the palm perspires. Grown men have been known to become a puddle of mush at their door and few leave unscathed. These ladies rule the roost and their presence can be felt in every organisation, be they big or petite (organisation, not the ladies). Any decent chap would wonder why these ladies were made into creation. It was possibly the kind of wondering Adam would do whilst choking on the proffered fruit or Samson when looking at the lady barber’s handiwork. The unassuming plaque with a bland typeface outside their doors would spell ‘Finance’ but even the unwise would hear the whispered counsel. Beware.

It is not every day that one would recoil from the notion of receiving naked cash. Yet this is exactly so when the monetary gains (or paltry reimbursements usually) come with Atlas’ burden and a sermon long enough to turn a fellow’s hair white. It is not to say that men do not exist in such surroundings (they do) but it is a rarity of the cow jumping over the moon sort. But the general disinclination to interact with them does not discriminate by gender. Men and women alike experience this little sinking feeling in the innards when commanded to request for cash from them. An inspection is commenced upon the submission of the documentations and the verdict differs little every single time. Documentations are always missing, mistakes are always found, signatories are never high enough, procedural steps taken are always wrong and the person requesting is always mentally deficient.

The general perception of these ladies is that of being bespectacled, shrewd, painfully difficult and an empty hole where compassion is supposed to be nesting. The ladies are not unnecessarily unkind or purposefully mean (one can only hope) but there is little love lost when they refuse to cough up dough that is already signed and sealed

by the brass. Any protest is met with rational reasoning that few could dispute. Even the need to count rice by the grain could be attributed to getting the tally right and tight. Malevolence does not need to configure as an ingredient for the ladies to inflict mortal damage.

They simply need to do their job well enough.

One victim of a job well done was a luckless bloke who was bitten by one of the dogs in the office. Nothing to write home to mother about, considering that he was the fourth victim in two weeks.

However, the finance lady in charge of handling cash became fed up with paying for the medical shots and kindly requested the poorly chap to get further approval from Management. Half mad with the thought of being rabies-laden for the rest of his natural life, he waited for the Management to come down to earth. As the world would know, Management is as free as a jay bird, therefore the managers found out only after the

hours of decency and greeted the intelligence with a what-in-heavens and a sacrebleu or something fouler. The chappie got his shots but the lady did not get a rap because technically, she was acting in the interest of the company’s coffer.

On the flipside, the world is indeed not rainbows and roses for these number ladies. Mistakes are an anathema in their trade and personalities are not stomached. They churn numbers day-in and out into the wee hours with little contact with the outside world except to confirm that such-and-such is correct and so-and-so has not been swindling the company blind. But life is not as dreary as one would imagine from the other side of the looking glass, there is much excitement in internal gossip and slightly more so in lunch. There are also the little disputes with the Sales and Marketing Department or any other department with voluble personalities to add spice to the office life.

Exams also comprise a weighty chunk of their upwards

mobility in the food chain, and they communicate through acronyms namely ACCA, LCCI, IFRS, CPA or some such flummery. Their days would start with exciting classes towards the attainment of one paperwork or another and concluded with a day of fiddling with numbers or making some poor soul miserable.

A seasoned number-churner has fair-mindedly mused that their trait of not letting any funny shade of anything flit pass their eyes might possibly stem from the differences needing to be settled out of their very own pockets. The notion of footing for another’s mistake would play a rather substantial role in the abolition of an uncontained conscience and this concern could have transformed these kindly ladies into one where money needs to be extracted by means of chloroform or a mace. Any small problem or mistake that they have closed a jaundiced eye upon will usually accumulate and blow up on a larger scale at an elevated level. Therefore, it is only understandable that they pinch the life out of anyone’s buzzing glory on one hand, and prepare for anything fate have up its sleeves on another.

Much unlike other departments in a typical company, the finance department is forcibly blessed with a watchdog that comes once a year at least to turn their lives upside down.

‘Audit’ becomes a bugaboo that the ladies employ to keep themselves in check, and it is the ultimate rationale for them being constitutionally incapable of flexibility.

One has to appreciate that having a team of auditors sweeping in with the sole intention of picking out mistakes is not for the weak of heart or want of wit. To put the cream on the cake, the auditor’s report will gleam on the directors’ desks for retribution later.

Let us give them credit for keeping us poor mortals in line and for violently presenting the benefits of following the system to our advantage or detriment (naturally the choice is ours). It is not the most enviable role but someone has to do it, just as Prometheus. For the greater good of humankind (or BOD pockets). g

14 COVER STORY

MYANMORE InDepth Magazine / November 2015

A Very Modern Poet Aung Cheimt

It was during his solitary confinement that Cheimt started composing poetry in his mind. He would, “pick off pieces of lime mortar between the bricks of the wall.” He start writing his poetry and on the floor. He would commit the poems to his mind, before they disintegrated into white dust. He would then turn up his mattress and on the floor underneath, “would very gently write his poem with a nail so it was so faint you could only see it by its sideways reflection.” Again he learnt the poems by heart. Then when released from his solitary cell, went back to the prison hall with the other prisoners, where he could write his poems down properly. “This is the only thing that gave me the power to live on” he relates to the translators.

By Bob Percival

A

s I stand in the middle of darkened 20th Street, in the heart of Chinatown. Aung Cheimt comes into view, walking towards me, arm in arm with his daughter. I had been told he was an angry and tough man, that I would have to be very careful with him. He welcomes me with a warm embracing smile. The feeling between us is mutual. We almost hug.

We are close to the same age and both writers. I feel privileged to be in his company. Maybe a better word is humbled.

Aung Cheimt is a great person and a great poet. He and three others – Thu Kha Mein Hlaing, Phaw Wai and Maung Chaw Nwe – were at the vanguard of the revolutionary poets who took Burmese poetry from the traditional to the modern. They wanted to transcend the traditional rhyme and subject matter of those poets that came before them.

They lived in different times and there needed to be a new language to express their feelings and discontent.

Two translators, Brian Aye Min Tun and Aung Pyae, have been arranged for the interview. The five of us sit quietly inside the modern confines of BII0 bar looking out through the plate-glass onto 20th Street, now bustling with locals returning home. We settle down with cold beers and a fruit juice for Cheimt’s seventeen-year-old daughter. It is obvious she adores her father.

Cheimt, who is 67, tells us that when he was a young student he would come down to Chinatown but of course in those days there were very few foreigners. It was the time of the military regime. Bars were very expensive, as were hotels. Instead he would go to the teashops with friends. This was in his early twenties. They would sit there all day just drinking cups of tea. At nighttime they would go to a small pub, drinking local white liquor (3Ks), which was all they could afford in the time of the socialist party. One bottle would get two people

Cheimt first became interested in poetry when he was sixteen. Before that he was supposed to be interested in painting. He had thought of himself as an artist but it was not him. It was only when he was in jail that poetry came to him. “It struck me. It picked me. From that time poetry became my life. Poetry is my daily life. Myself and poetry can never be separated,” he says with a quiet determination.

Photo by Gerhard Jörén

drunk. He has many good memories of these experiences with his friends.

Their favourite tea shops were Wa Zi, Shwe Kyi Aye, Aung Café, and the Oo Chit Café at Yangon University. There they would talk about politics and poetry. In the 1970s they were known as the Moe Wai group as they would contribute their poems to the Moe Wai magazine. They talked about how politics and poetry could not be separated, that “their’s was a revolution”. They were also called the “revolutionary poets”.

In 1968 there had been a calculat-

ed campaign by the Ne Win military regime to arrest those related to this revolution. One hundred poets were arrested. It was known then as the Spring Suppression. The arrests were “to stop the Underground Poets.” Cheimt defines revolution as, “when the artists stand on the peoples’ side.”

Cheimt was not arrested at this time, but before this, in 1965, for fifteen months in the notorious Insein jail. He spent three months in a solitary confinement cell. He was allowed a letter once a month.

When he was a primary school student he had been taught the poems of Saya Min Thu Wun but did not know there was such a thing as Khit San style poetry, Saya Min Thu Wun being the leading exponent. Khit San had the meaning of ‘testing times’ or ‘experiment with a new age’. It’s content was not of the Royal Court, like the poetry which preceded it. It focused more on daily life, philosophy and romance. It still held an internal rhyme, and was not overtly political.

When in jail Cheimt had the chance to read from four magazines – Ngwe Tar Yee, Thwe Thauk, Shuma Wa and Myawaddy. It was from these magazines that he first read Khit San poets.

He still did not know they were Khit San but he liked them very much. It was only after he was released that he learnt of their history, and of Saya Dagon Taya, the Literary Revolution and Literaryism.

MYANMORE InDepth Magazine / November 2015

I ask Cheimt, how and why he made this change to modern ‘rhymeless’ poetry. He explains that, “before Khit San poetry there had also been a very traditional school of poetry led by Thakkin Kodane Hmine. I had learnt both this and Khit San. At the time I was a young student, I was trying to push into changing my style. I was trying to express what I was feeling. I was not aware that I was trying to make a new trend. I was just following my feeling.

It had nothing to do with the education that I had been given”.

Cheimt and his contemporary revolutionary poets had read Vladimir Mayakovsky’s poem ‘A Cloud in Trousers’, translated by Maung Tha Noe, a great influence on these poets, especially through his landmark, In The Shade Of A Pine Tree, which contained Burmese translations of such modern poets as T.S. Eliot, and was published in 1968.

This book was Cheimt’s “guiding star”.

To Cheimt, In The Shade Of A Pine Tree, was his survival guide. Aung loved Eliot, Mayakovsky, as well as Goethe’s Ethics. He especially loved the imagery of Goethe. There was an image that he wrote of a grilled dove flying into the mouth of a man. The man says no to eating it though, as it has not been prepared in pieces. I had wished that I could be so lazy”, he explains, then laughs.

His favourite Eliot poem was the ‘Love Song of J. P. Prufrock’. He had loved the title of ‘Wasteland’ when he first saw it. It made him laugh, but he was depressed once he read the poem. “I thought Eliot too feminine, not a real man. His voice was not tough enough.

Mayakovsky was much stronger. He used ‘I’, not ‘we’,” he explains.

I asked him whether he thought that Yangon was also a wasteland. “Yes the whole country is a wasteland,” he says. “When I was young I was with my poet friends. I wanted to be happy, but with the military regime everything got turned upside-down. My friends were also not happy. We found happiness at the tea shop, and at pubs in the evening talking poetry and politics. Young people spent more and more time in places where they could talk and gather ideas.

Only the government employees had jobs.”

Cheimt is very aware of theyoung poets, today. Two of them are translating for him. He thinks that these poets are strong and very hard working people.

He sees the poets as different from those writing prose that the poet is more related politics and is very emotional about issues.

“Poetry can still be relevant. Revolution is necessary in poetry, otherwise it is not meaningful. Nowadays you can write poetry that is relevant without having to go to jail. You have to learn the right words to use. This makes for a better poetry,” he explains. Downtown he see the fantastic bright colours, but there are also the poor. It is this contrast that he wants to examine in his poetry Cheimt wrote poems even when under pressure in regards to words he could use. “Now, when I write there is no pressure,” he says. “I know how to compose poetry without being seen as revolutionary.”

For Cheimt, poetry is still an essential part of his life – it his daily life. “I wrote a poem yesterday, I wrote a poem today, and I will write a poem tomorrow, because writing poetry is my life,” he says with an assured smile. He is increasing sure of this as he gets older.

“In this country when a government employee is sixty years old, he has to ‘take his pension’. I do not feel that I am old enough to take a pension,” he says, then laughs again.

Cheimt has always been portrayed one of the only poets able to make a living from his poetry through selling his poems to numerous magazines and through sales of his own numerous books of poetry. Cheimt smiles at this constructed image of himself.

“I live in a humble house,” he says. “My life is not opulent. This is not possible.

It is a struggle in life just to write poems and have no other jobs. I am happy to have led this life.” He doesn’t feel as though he has made wrong decision, that money cannot in anyway bring the satisfaction that poetry has given him.

There have been sacrifices however, especially in regards to family.

“My family have had to lead a simple life because of this. My wife loves me, but she ahs been frustrated with my choice of life. The life of poet can be very hard here, and I have had to follow my passion.”

He is now writing more and more and feels he now has more appreciation from his readers. He has published over twenty books, though in relatively small numbers.

COVER STORY 15 poem not worth reading age when singing is an obsession out of the drawers it forced itself out jumping I learnt riding a bicycle shouted in Thingyan wrote poems tremendously read lots of books apples are sweet bitter gourds are sweet too the great sky’s beautiful walked on earth peace, leftist, rightist, life ‘course I read, ‘course I learnt mother and mother-like old sister indulged me I like tea and drank tea sat, everything else forgotten the age of “my poetry, my religion what’s wrong?” what I want to tell is not these I too am no longer that I friend, don’t read this poem is this poem worth reading?

Young lady, throughout my life’s history as if coming out of a cave, carrying a torch I’ve waited history is slow at times and quick at other times like one waiting for the train at the station I’ve waited “will she be on it? will she not?” young lady I’ve waited Aung Cheimt

Cheimt believes that it is his karma that has chose him to be a poet and he has to accept this. “It depends on the individual on how this treat this fate given to the me. I want the to be poet in next life as well. I was also in previous life. I often wonder why this has happened.”

The last part of the interview takes place at Cheimt’s house in North Dagon. I finally have an opportunity to meet Cheimt’s wife. His daughter is also present. On a wooden beam next to where I’m sitting is written the word ‘struggle’ in chalk. The house is decorated with numerous paintings, posters and writer’s paraphernalia. It is homely and artistic.

Cheimt and his wife have been married since 1977, and have lived in their house for thirty years. The streets outside are quite. When he first bought the house they were dirt, now they are newly concreted. The local traffic is still mainly bicycles with very few cars.

The birds can still be heard singing.

Cheimt stands there smiling, looking content with what he has. I ask Thein whether he is in love. “Yes, I am in love,” he says. I have my wife Daw Nyunt Nyunt Thein and my two daughters. We all live together in this house.

Our memories are here forever. We are still in love.”

16 DESIGN

MYANMORE InDepth Magazine / November 2015

Shipping Containers, the New LEGO

By Mimi Wu An architect and engineer walk into a discarded shipping container‌ Mimi Wu chats with Yann Lefebvre of Myanmar Home Design about the global trend of turning steel boxes into homes and offices in Myanmar.

Offices, classrooms and meeting rooms for the Institut Francais Birmanie  

Photos: Myanmar Home Design

MYANMORE InDepth Magazine / November 2015

W

hen you were a kid, LEGOs were the bomb. You could spend hours stacking brick upon brick to create that cool, futuristic house or physically impossible tower.

The final structure was limited only by your endless imagination.

As adults, architects and engineers are taking a page from their childhood to dream up endless structural and interior designs made up of stackable shipping containers.

Thousands of jungle, mountain, and flood-proof steel boxes retire their weary sea legs each year. Though hardly a new trend – the first industrial use design can be traced back to 1962, and the patent to use containers for “habitable building” was granted in 1989 in the US – upcycling containers has gained mainstream, global traction in recent years.

What makes container homes so appealing is their low cost (used containers can be bought for $1,500 to $4,000) in the face of increasing land and rental prices around the world’s cities, including Yangon. Consumers’ interest in paring down their lives and being environmentally conscious friendly dwellers also pairs well with container sizes and their transportability by truck, train, and boat.

Measuring 20 or 40 feet long and a standard 8 feet wide and 9.5 feet tall, these stackable boxes are repurposed as simple micro homes, transportable beach houses where there is constant danger of soil erosion, and contemporary architecture providing space of over 2,000 square feet.

Myanmar Home Design (MHD) began filling Myanmar’s domestic market when their company launched in July 2012. Owned by two Frenchmen and a Myanmar partner, the company provides temporary and permanent solutions using refurbished containers for residential, technical, and commercial spaces.

Serge Pun & Associates’ Star City is one client, who has ordered temporary offices for a construction site. Yann Lefebvre, a partner at the company, said, “They will be relocated once the project is finished. [The container spaces] are not something that you have to throw away. This solution allows you to transport everything. [The office] comes with lights, flooring, AC; we just need to assemble it on site and connect the electricity and water.”

Thus far, MHD has worked on 26 projects, each with up to 40 unique modules, including “remote offices and accommodation for oil and gas companies and NGOs, meditation cabins in the countryside, pool houses, classrooms, shops, and take-away restaurants,” reports their website.

MHD is also responsible for the stacked classrooms at the Institut Français de Birmanie, where I had the pleasure of learning Burmese by Ear. Equipped with air-conditioning units and projectors, and finished with white plaster walls and hardwood cladding, it is impressive that students now sit in containers that formerly shipped everything from diapers to boxed cake mix.

“This was a big project. We are now nearly completing phase two – there is an extension of the building. [Phase two] will be an office space, classroom, and accommodation on the side of the original building with a terrace,” said Lefebvre. “We play with materials to use the container building for many purposes without compromising the quality.”

MHD’s European engineers dedicate much of their time training local workers to use precise building processes that are subject to stringent quality control tests at their North Okkala factory.

Having a central development site allows for control against rain, humidity, air, and absenteeism that cause building delays. Simple containers can be built in as little as two weeks, while more complex requests take merely one week longer.

Compare that to traditional on-site construction projects, where materials are exposed to the elements, poor weather can lead to absenteeism, managers spend half their day in traffic from the office to the site, and building can take months.

“Most of the clients want a turnkey solution. They don’t want construction and headaches on site, so they say ‘OK, take the office, you build it, we don’t get involved. So we come up with layout, 99% construction [at the factory], and then after building, it is transported to its final destination.”

“Final destination”, though, is not always permanent. MHD designs their containers to be mobile, and they can be continually re-installed in different terrains and climate. “In order to pro-

DESIGN 17 tect them from the hot days of a tropical climate or from cold nights of a mountain weather, we paid a lot of attention to thermal efficiency. We use several techniques from avoiding direct sunlight, using reflective surfaces, and installing thermal insulation by default to optimize airflows. The result: our modules are comfortable even without air-conditioning.”

prices and strict land ownership laws.

Landowners who look to profit from high land prices must “sell the land and the house together. Containers make it possible to leave the place with your home or building. At some point you can put your luggage inside and move without changing anything.”

Bungalow demonstration module, side view

The idea [with mobile homes] is you can keep the building and put it somewhere else. So it gives very secure thing in an unsecure situation.

In addition to standard finishings, each and every module is tailor made for its own specific use. Take the newly constructed primary French school, sponsored by the oil and gas company Total.

There was a “synergy of different actors. Total was handling all the actors, talking with teachers, who wanted bigger windows and safety for the kids and ‘what about the wood?’ Every material was being discussed. On the other side, we talked with parents of the children.

The parents association gave ideas for what will be the best for the children.

We were mixing design and engineering for the people who will live there and use the building.”

Mobile modules have strong appeal among landowners and local and foreign renters as they contend with high land

Renters, particularly foreigners who cannot own land and thus cannot build housing, “do some refurbishing to the apartment, so technically they own the paint, tiles, and flooring work. But it is tricky to remove that when they move.”

Lefebvre says this, and I immediately think of a several friends who have transformed concrete boxes into luxurious accommodation easily quintupled in value that they must leave behind after one or two years.

“The idea [with mobile homes] is you can keep the building and put it somewhere else. So it gives very secure thing in an unsecure situation.”

MHD has responded to growing demand by ballooning staff from three in 2012 to 50 within three years, and Lefebvre’s sentiment resonates around the world.

With no end to the tens of millions of containers shipped and the thousands retired each year, shipping containers are the LEGO of construction material: pragmatic and simple with potential for complex and individualized creations. “[Working with] containers are cool, bringing an old thing into new life, keeping the story going. Many shipping containers travel for ten to 12 years, and we are turning them into a home.” g

MYANMORE InDepth Magazine / November 2015

18 TRAVEL

The Other Side Of Pindaya

By Cliff Lonsdale

There is more to Pindaya than just the caves…

A oxen-cart crosses the Pindaya landscape at sunset after gathering kout yoe from nearby fields.

I

f you were to ask a dozen visitors to (or residents in) Myanmar if they had ever been to Pindaya, I would bet a bottle of beer that the majority of answers would be in the affirmative. If you then asked those that had been there to describe the town or name the hotel that they had stayed in, I would bet a case of beer that most people would probably respond, “Oh no, I only went to the caves” or words to that effect.

Sometimes the ‘tick-box’ approach we take to tourism means we only really get to skim the surface of the country we are visiting or living in. Perhaps due to a lack of time we often set our sights

on the highlights, and try to sample a little of everything, which means we often miss our chance to experience all that is really there. Without doubt, the caves at Pindaya are fascinating; with over 8000 images of the Buddha inside a naturally formed cave complex it is a remarkable place to visit. But there is more to Pindaya than just the caves.

Despite the popularity of the caves, very few of the tourists that visit them each year actually make it into Pindaya town itself, which is both a good and a bad thing. Bad in the sense that it means that those visitors miss out on experiencing one of the most wonderfully re-

There is plenty to see and do in and around Pindaya if you are so inclined, but it is also the perfect location to take time out and enjoy some peace and relaxation.

laxing and peaceful towns in Myanmar, and likewise the town misses out on the money they would subsequently spend

Photos by Thahara Pindaya

there. But the positive aspect of their absence is that Pindaya retains the very thing I am advocating, it is still very much a quiet dusty laid back country town.

Pindaya is enticing, from the centuries’ old Banyan trees that line Pone Ta Lote Lake in the centre of town, to the early-morning ox-carts lazily heading to the weekly market laden with agricultural produce grown in the surrounding farmland. It feels like it hasn’t changed a great deal in the last century. Its location under the shadow of the mighty mountains to the west, and surrounded on all other sides by lush farmlands, is

MYANMORE InDepth Magazine / November 2015

TRAVEL 19

a

Pindaya is blessed with steep limestone mountains covered in tea-plantations, and lush green forests.

made all the nicer by the temperature. It is much cooler here than in other parts of Myanmar, it gets decidedly chilly in the evenings.

There is plenty to see and do in and around Pindaya if you are so inclined, but it is also the perfect location to take time out and enjoy some peace and relaxation. Nothing happens very quickly in this little town, and sometimes that is exactly what is needed.

If you are looking for a taste of luxury, then look no further than the recently opened Thahara Pindaya hotel. The owner Ma Aye Aye, having worked at

some of the top hotels in the country has returned to her hometown to establish her own place. Part of the Thahara group, the Thahara Pindaya is the epitome of excellence, as you would expect - serving fabulous home-cooked Shan food, and providing accommodation and service of the highest standard.

With only six guest rooms, booking is essential, and a room on the first floor is highly recommended as you have your own balcony to relax on and watch the sun set over the hills. The restaurant has two floor-to-ceiling glass walls, and this is also an excellent spot to take a drink and admire the scenery. If lazing around is not your thing, then Ma Aye

Bicycle riding is the best option to experience the diversity of the Pindaya has to offer.

Aye and her husband can assist you in organising activities in the local area.

All over the town, you can go and watch the intricate and incredibly satisfying process of producing paper umbrellas in houses - men turning the wood on a foot-powered lathe whilst women complete the complicated operation of combining the wood and mulberry bark paper into the finished product at a speed that belies the delicate nature of the materials. Or you can observe someone create a bamboo hat that you can then buy for less than US$1, which is incredible when you’ve seen the effort involved in its production. You can even find some shade to squat in whilst marveling at the ladies who create the beautiful yet practical terracotta pots from nothing more than earth and water and a hand-spun potter’s wheel.

Pindaya is one of two townships that make up the Danu Self Administered Zone (SAZ) within Shan State, the other being Ywangan. The area is home to the Danu, Pa-O and Palaung tribes. You don’t need to travel far out of town to be able to visit the traditional villages of these tribes, and in fact if you are feeling a little adventurous or energetic then Pindaya is perfectly located to take a walk up into the tea plantations and experience a real slice of rural Myanmar.

Twenty brand new routes have just been mapped out in Danu SAZ, ranging from a half-day hike, to a four-day trek, and local tour guides are being trained in order to provide a high quality experience for tourists looking for something a little different. Although nearby Kalaw is renowned for its excellent hiking opportunities, Pindaya is a less well known trekking destination, though that will soon change. Blessed with steep limestone mountains covered in tea-plantations, and lush green forests, Pindaya offers a seriously challenging hike for visitors looking to work up a sweat.

Those looking for a gentler stroll can meander through the colourful lowland farms filled with a myriad of fruits and vegetables growing in the rich red soil.

Getting there is quick and easy with several airlines, including Golden Myanmar Airlines, Asian Wings and KBZ operating daily flights to Heho from Yangon for as little as US$80 each way. Pindaya is only 45 minutes from Heho airport (thanks to a new road), so is an ideal place to head to for a weekend away from the hustle and bustle.

For more information about trekking from Pindaya, or to book a trek with a local guide, visit www.danutrails.com.

For more information on Thahara Pindaya hotel visit thahara.com/destinations/pindaya. g

20 HERITAGE

Mason repairing decortive plasterwork at Merchant Street.

MYANMORE InDepth Magazine / November 2015

MYANMORE InDepth Magazine / November 2015

HERITAGE 21

A Living Renovation in Yangon’s Historic Downtown Photo by Tim Webster

22 HERITAGE

MYANMORE InDepth Magazine / November 2015

Carpentry workshop organised by David Gole from the Yangon Heritage Trust

T

orquise Mountain, Yangon Heritage Trust, the Prince's Foundation for Building Community, and the Government of Canada through its Department of Foreign Affairs Trade and Development, have all combined resources to implement a 'landmark' model for restoration of heritage buildings in Yangon.

O ne of Downtown Yangon’s typically beautiful, but woefully neglected, historic buildings is being restored to secure its future and that of the diverse community that lives in and around it.

The project is being undertaken by international NGO Turquoise Mountain – an organisation with a track record of successfully delivering urban regeneration within threatened historic cities in other parts of the world.

Shrouded by a green scaffold, it is difficult to appreciate the architectural beauty of the building as in undergoes much needed works to not only make it a liveable again, but also celebrate the craft that originally led its creation. It

embodies so many of the qualities and challenges of properties in the Downtown; it is a prominently placed elegant colonial era building with grand internal spaces and vibrant street life surrounding it, but is in a very poor state, littered with unsympathetic additions and in need of urgent repair. For these reasons it makes an ideal exemplar project, as the achievements and lessons learned will be applicable across the Downtown.

The building sits on the bustling Merchant Street, within the historic heart of Yangon – an area which is a key focus for project partner the Yangon Heritage Trust, who initially brought the building to Turquoise Mountain’s attention.

The restoration project forms part of a wider planning project for the historic Downtown area of Yangon, being undertaken by the Yangon Heritage Trust in partnership with Prince Charles’ Foundation for Building Community all being carried out with funds from the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development. The

overall objective of this work is to engage the public and government in a conscious decision making process regarding the development of Downtown Yangon, and to guide it to promote and integrate its unique urban heritage into a 21st century vision of Yangon as one of Asia’s most liveable cities.

One thing that can still be appreciated about the building, in spite of the scaffold, is the rich community that lives in and around it – and the fact that they remain in place during the involved and comprehensive building works. This clearly adds challenges and constraints to the works, but is fundamental to the aims of the project, as breaking it up - if only for the duration of the works - may mean that it never fits together again. Work is being carried out in parallel to document this living heritage, but that’s another story…

It’s a project of many layers, and one of these is the vocational training in traditional building crafts that is being delivered. Hundreds of craftsman, architects and engineers will be trained during the

Photo by Tim Webster

works, with the aim of providing vital skills to the local construction industry, enabling them to sympathetically renovate some of the many other historic buildings that are currently underused and underappreciated. These skills are not only good for the buildings, but for the workers too, as they can command greater wages, better job security, take pride in their work and ultimately gain greater satisfaction through their craft.

The works, which began in July, will be completed by the end of March 2016.

What will be left at the end is a beautifully restored historic building, which is safe and dry to live in, with the community within maintained and strengthened, and the added legacy of a core of trained people who can do the same to other buildings - that is, if the project has the desired effect of engaging people with their heritage and inspiring other similar projects.

[Thanks to Harry Wardill from Turquoise Mountain for compiling this article.]

MYANMORE InDepth Magazine / November 2015

HERITAGE 23

Turquoise Mountain is a non-profit, non-governmental organization specializing in urban regeneration, and traditional arts and architecture. Turquoise Mountain was established at the request of HRH The Prince of Wales and the then President of Afghanistan, and has been successfully completing projects in Afghanistan since 2006. It was set up in Myanmar at the end of 2014 and is working with the Yangon Heritage Trust to carry out practical heritage led regeneration projects in Yangon’s historic Downtown as well as delivering a programme of vocational training to complement this. It is also working to promote and develop Myanmar’s traditional craft industry.

Yangon Heritage Trust is an independent centre of excellence working to promote and integrate Yangon’s unique urban heritage into a 21st century vision of Yangon as one of Asia’s most liveable cities. YHT advocates for heritage protection, develops clear and sustainable policy options, engages with government, business and civil society, communicates its ideas to the widest possible audience, undertakes specific conservation projects, and facilitates research and training. g

Scaffolding in the 40th Street section of the site.

Photo by Tim Webster

Watercolour rendering of what the Merchant Street & 40th Street building might look like after restoration.

Artist Aung Soe Myint

26 SPORTS

MYANMORE InDepth Magazine / November 2015

Glow Returns to Golden Land’s Beautiful Game

By Timothy D. May

Cezar getting head shot trying to score to Chin United

Photo by Hong Sar

MYANMORE InDepth Magazine / November 2015

SPORTS 27

I

n the 13th minute of a recent Myanmar National League professional football match between Yangon United FC and Kanbawza FC, the ball found its way to the feet of Yangon’s prolific star striker, Cezar Augusto Hermenegildo, in the opposition’s penalty box.

If ‘Cezar,’ as he is known, had decided to shoot, no one would have blamed him. In fact, the afternoon crowd at YUFC’s grounds on Insein Road were screaming at him to shoot – jumping up and down, pounding their YUFC-issued foam batons in a frenzy – demanding it.

Why should there be any question?

Behold Cezar: The record-breaking striker on the best team in Myanmar, two-time MNL Golden Boot winner, scorer of more goals than anyone in the league’s six-year history. At that moment, Cezar already had 99 club goals to his name, one shy of an auspicious centesimal. In the VIP section of the risers, the club’s General Manager, Kyaw Linn Htwe, gripped a glass trophy emblazoned with a full-length image of the photogenic forward in his teal-and-white kit, leaning back to kick a football with ‘100’’ etched on it, in black.

Let us also consider that Cezar is Brazilian, as are two of YUFC’s other three internationals; the fourth is Japanese.

Brazil, as everyone knows, is a fountainhead of preternaturally talented attackers. Nearly everyone in the stadium expected the goal-hungry Brazilian to seize his chance.

Everyone, that is, except the other YUFC Lions player just abreast of him.

Without hesitating, Cezar flicked the ball fluidly over to his Myanmar teammate.

Kyaw Ko Ko, an elite striker in his own right – a Myanmar National Team standout rumored to have drawn recent interest from a team in Germany’s Bundesliga – finished clinically.

It was an important moment in the match, which YUFC would win, 2-0, bringing the club closer to another championship. But the assist from Cezar – the veteran Brazilian passing to the rising Myanmar Lion – also hints at something bigger: Renewed hope for the future of the Beautiful Game in the Golden Land.

For decades, Myanmar has languished as a footballing nation of consequence,

Kyaw Ko Ko drawing the ball to pass to Cezar

the demise of its once regionally feared teams perhaps a reflection of other lengthy struggles.

There was an age, however, when the level of football in the nation formerly known as Burma rivaled that of perennial regional stalwarts such as Korea, Japan and Iran. In the 1960s and early 70s, Burmese teams were crowned champions of the Asian Games in 1966 and 1970, and won the South East Asian Games an astonishing five times between 1965 and 1973. In the mid-1970s, though, the country drifted into the football doldrums, failing to win major competitions or qualify for World Cups, its top domestic league reduced to a clutch of mostly government-sponsored teams in Rangoon.

A host of encouraging developments, however, indicate Myanmar is kicking itself into a brighter footballing era.

In 2010, the Myanmar Football Federation overhauled the limping Myanmar Premier League and rebranded, launching its expanded professional league, the MNL, including teams from all regions in the country. Corporate sponsorship (currently by Ooredoo) and allotments of foreign-born players were allowed, infusing the new league with funds and fresh talent, and drawing attention from abroad. The league has an understudy, MNL 2, and academies are planned to recruit and develop youth prospects. “There is talk of Valencia CF (a UEFA Champions League side from Spain) investing in an academy here –

most likely in Ayeyawady – but whether that translates into players making the top leagues there is still a way to go yet,” said Matt Roebuck, sport editor and football guru at The Myanmar Times. (Ayeyawady United FC play in the MNL and are based in Pathein.)

I think football in Myanmar is getting better and better.

In 2011, the renaissance continued.

Myanmar’s Under-23 men’s National Team came in a surprising third at the South East Asian Games, bringing bronze home from a tournament that saw Kyaw Ko Ko’s emergence to score five goals. Progress carried into 2015, when Myanmar’s Under-20 men’s team qualified for the World Cup in New Zealand, though it failed to advance out of the first round. The Myanmar’s women’s National Team is improving too. Currently ranked by FIFA at 47th in the world, the senior women’s team rates much higher than the men, still stuck at a lowly 163rd, sandwiched oddly between Samoa and American Samoa.

But FIFA rankings don’t tell the whole story. All one has to do is look around Yangon – its tea shops overflowing during televised matches; morning recleague games unfolding on dirt pitches before work on weekdays – to feel the

Photo by Hong Sar

temperature of this feverish football society.

Or, ask the assessment of amateur pundit and player Htun Khaing Lynn, a student at Myanmar Maritime University in Yangon and certified football fanatic, who has plenty of theories: “I think football in Myanmar is getting better and better.”

Htun Khaing Lynn, who goes by Zach, organises friendly futsal matches at his university, fervently follows Chelsea in the English Premiere League, and recently played in the successful inaugural season of the new Myanmar International Football League. Initially hosted at YUFC’s football complex, the 7v7 league launched earlier this year with eight teams and its own sponsor, catering company 57Below. The mixed-gender league drew a melting pot of teams including locals, Europeans, Americans, Asians and other expatriates, and is set to expand next season, when it will move to Thuwanna training grounds, where Myanmar’s national teams work out.

“The reason why we got a chance to go to the [U-2] World Cup is only because of the proper trainings and longterm goals set by the Myanmar Football Federation, with good discipline,” Zach opined when asked whether football has reached a tipping point in Myanmar. “It is unarguable that youth football in Myanmar has a good shape, but is still needing to improve in lots of aspects, like having lots of fields for ev-

28 BUSINESS

MYANMORE InDepth Magazine / November 2015

MYANMORE InDepth Magazine / November 2015

ery single youth from every corner of the country to play football, anytime.”

Kler Heh, a former Karenni refugee from Myanmar and talented young footballer who resettled with his family to England in 2008, would likely agree.

Born and raised in a camp on the Thailand-Myanmar border, Kler Heh improbably worked his way into Sheffield United’s academy system – the same youth system that produced current England internationals Kyle Walker (Tottenham) and Phil Jagielka (Everton) – where he caught the eye of the League One side’s senior team. Though the professional club currently sits two flights below the English Premiere League, Kler Heh is now regularly training with Sheffield’s first team, and may get a chance to show his quality against EPL teams in the Capital One and FA Cups. Conceivably, Kler Heh could even become the first-ever player from Myanmar to make it into the EPL, the apex of ultra-elite professional football. Whether he does or not, the Myanmar Football Federation is report-

edly very interested in sorting out his passport so he can play for Myanmar soon – preferably before Myanmar’s next World Cup qualifying match. For his part, Kler Heh is desperate to turn out for his homeland.

“I think they [Myanmar’s senior national team] have a great chance of qualifying for the World Cup 2018 and I wish I could help or be part of the plan,” Kler Heh said. “It feels great to be in this position and to represent the people of Myanmar and Southeast Asia. I have come a long way and I still have a long way to go … but I know I have the ability. I know I can make it to the top.”

David Vaughan has seen and played a lot of competitive football in different parts of world including in Asia, Europe and North America. The British expat lives in Myanmar now, and closely follows the fortunes of football here. He founded the new MIFL amateur league out of love for the game and his own desire to build something new to “create a community between expats and local Burmese players, and offer the chance

SPORTS 29 It feels great to be in this position and to represent the people of Myanmar and Southeast Asia.

I have come a long way and I still have a long way to go … but I know I have the ability. I know I can make it to the top.

to show everyone’s football skills and share experiences, so more people can learn and understand about Myanmar football. A lot of the foreign players in our league may not have been so familiar with Myanmar football, but they’ve learned a lot. When the National Team played New Zealand in that friendly in September, a lot of us [MIFL players] went to that, and it was a fantastic atmosphere,” Vaughan said. (The game finished in a 1-1 draw.)

Vaughan was also there, of course, for the YUFC match in October against Kanbawza, but arrived too late to see the 13th minute goal. KBZ is a respectable club from Taunggyi that boasts its own foreign marquis player in Caleb Folan, a capped Ireland National Teamer and surely the only player in Myanmar to ever score against Manchester City in the EPL. But that October day in Yangon belonged to Cezar, who notched his inevitable 100th in the second half, and to Kyaw Ko Ko, the Myanmar player who scored the goal that mattered most.

Timothy D. May has played as much football as possible since his coach reluctantly used him as a substitute left-back in his first competitive match, circa 1976, at South Run Park in Springfield, Virginia (U.S.A). More recently, he played for the MIFL championship-winning Dirty Bassetts FC, whose manager also used him, occasionally, as a substitute left-back. g

MIFL Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MIFL2015?fref=ts

MYANMORE InDepth Magazine / November 2015

ADVERTISEMENT 31

32 FASHION

DRESSED UP & CASUAL Zac Posen Bags

By Mimi Wu

Z

AC allows women who love fashion to dress with a little more ease while retaining the glamour and attitude that gives them an edge. It is for power women in the making," said Zac Posen of his versatile handbag collection launched in fall 2013.

"ZAC has a dressed-up, casual attitude that works perfectly for day and evening. It is a distillation of 11 years spent honing my design signature, keeping it updated and modern in finishing and fabrication. ZAC lets me offer women a way to dress that has looser, more relaxed ease, while featuring the level of detail and sophistication of designer (clothing)."

This month at The Avenue, the fashion forward can try several styles of Posen’s carefree American sophistication Eartha and Blythe collections.

Eartha has a distinct, structured look, which favors trapezoid shaped bags with accordion sides that fold outward and flap tops. Blythe’s city casual sling bags are pragmatic and chic.

The bags are constructed from calfskin and are quite heavy. Each piece – from cross body bag, sling backpack, and shopper tote – has a fold over clasp closure with visible knuckles, much like a door hinge. The hardware comes in gold, black, and gray metal. The label is engraved on the underside of the clasp.

It makes a statement about the bag – the colors, lines, and construction – not the “status” or designer.

MYANMORE InDepth Magazine / November 2015

MYANMORE InDepth Magazine / November 2015

FASHION 33 The Avenue offers two separate color schemes: a fall line of dark, muted colors with names like charcoal, vino (dark red-brown), and grape (dark reddish purple), and brighter pops of orange, sky blue, white, and red.

This season’s signature bag is the Eartha Iconic Soft Top Handle Bag (645,000 – 695,000 Ks) and befittingly comes with a top handle and detachable shoulder strap. It is a large, geometric piece, made even larger with its folded out accordion sides. The clasp comes through the front flap to close down upon it in different colors. The bag itself comes in both fall and bright hues. The standout print was the snake embossed leather exterior purse with smooth black leather flap and silver clasp; however, it is a confused piece. The snakeskin is edgy.

Even in solid colors, it is an interesting day bag. Its mini cross body version (385,000 Ks) is adorable and best suited to an evening out, especially in the blood red patent leather.

The Eartha Envelope Drawstring Bucket Bag (595,000 Ks) in ocean, a dark navy blue, and buff, a nude, is a bucket bag shape with structure. What makes this bag is its front closed-loop drawstring that continues, hidden, inside the bag. A wide shoulder strap is attached to polished, gold hooks, where also hangs a Zac Posen signature, removable key fob. The bottom third is wrapped in an additional layer of leather from which gold feet adorn its base. Unlike most in the collection, this bag is lined with black fabric in a subtle Zac Posen print.

For a modern, casual cool purse, look no further than the Blythe Sling Bag (495,000 Ks), which comes in brown and a beautiful dark teal leather. The grape Blythe Sling mixes leather and suede. The front takes a shape that allows the bag to lie right against the body. A longer front handle is sewn to the interior of the purse and is pulled through the back of the bag. There is no front flap; instead, the antiquated hinge

clasp simply closes over the front of the bag. Hardware, like metal clasps, accents the base. Though not offered, the Blythe Sling Backpack is even cooler, and it makes better use of the flat back shape.

About the Designer Zac Posen, 35, is a native New Yorker, who shot to fashion design fame at a dazzling rate due as much to his early-found talent as his close connections.

In the 10th grade, he interned with designer Nicole Miller, after which he enrolled in a pre-college program at Parsons The New School for Design at age 16. For the next three years, he was mentored by Richard Martin, the curator at The Costume Institute of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and after graduating from high school in 1999, he began a womenswear degree program at London's Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design at the University of the Arts London.

His big break came when he designed a dress for Naomi Campbell in 2000.

The next year at age 21, he launched his eponymous collection of modern American glamour. In 2004, he won the Council of Fashion Designers of America’s Swarovski’s The Perry Ellis Award for Women’s Wear.

Zac’s designs are beloved for their strong, feminine style among prominent figures such as Michelle Obama, Natalie Portman, Kate Winslet, and Cameron Diaz.

Zac Posen bags can be found at The Avenue, located near the intersection of Kabaraye Pagoda Road and Nat Mauk Road.

The Avenue No. 18A, Kohmin Kohchin Road, Bahan Township, Yangon Ph: 01-860-3337 or 01-545-929 Zac Posen Learn more about Zac Posen http://www.zacposen.com/

34 BISTRONOMY

MYANMORE InDepth Magazine / November 2015

A favourite with something for everyone Santino Café, Bakery and Restaurant

By Mitch Albaniel WHAT IT IS A much loved spot downtown since 2006, the recently rebranded Santino is making the rising market know they’re here to stay. Frequented by both expats and locals, it is primarily a restaurant with diverse choices of Thai and Western dishes. But then it is also a café and bakery with coffee from Singapore.

ATMOSPHERE Their new logo, updated menu and interiors are refreshing. It is well lit, clean and can hold around 80 customers. The interiors are a little confusing when you walk in since their sections are not labeled and have different sets of furniture.

RECOMMENDATION Their chef who has trained in Thailand for 15 years is the star of the restaurant. Her authentic Thai dishes such as the Coconut Red Curry (5000 Ks) and Malay Flat Noodles (5500 Ks) are im-

ey. The Thai food and coffee selections are the best they have to offer while the Western dishes comes in second, and the bakery comes in third. Santino is a humble restaurant so don’t expect prime cuts imported overseas but if you are looking for inexpensive food with good quality, Santino is a great option.

They now accept credit cards, deliver within the quarter and are available for catering services.

peccable. The Beef Tenderloin Steak with Croquette Potato (7000 Ks) was surprisingly good for the price as well.

you’d rather stick to the classics, their normal Cappuccino (2000 Ks) I dare say is one of the best in Yangon.

Their café serves everything from a simple brew (1000 Ks) to a Nutty Raspberry Iced Cappuccino (2700 Ks). If

Final Thoughts A meal here will cost you roughly 10,000 Ks, so it’s good value for mon-

Yangon Address: No.18 / A-1, Bo Yar Nyunt Street, Dagon Township.

NPT Address: No 10, Thapyay Gone Market, Hill Top Restaurant, Nay Pyi Taw Phone: 01 387 880, 0942 105 0413 Opening hours: 7:30am to 10:30pm, Open everyday

A Gastronomic Journey Alex’s

By Diana Huysman WHAT IT IS Alex’s is an international restaurant with relaxed atmosphere and delectable food. Located on the ground floor of The Loft hotel in Yaw Min Gyi Street it is a great new dining option for fine cuisine. It is easy to locate and you can find plenty of parking spaces close by.

ATMOSPHERE The restaurant is decent size (up to 60 covers). You are sure to be impressed by the imagination and creativity of the Italian chef, the restaurant’s commitment to utilising quality local ingredients, and the excellent service of the English-speaking staff. The wellspaced tables, the soft comfortable chairs, the ambient high windows and the eclectic music will make your dining experience memorable.

RECOMMENDATIONS I followed the chef’s suggestions and went on a gastronomic journey of a

five-course meal that was impressive with its presentation, consistency and taste. The first course was a delightful Vichyssoise (US$7), a soup typically made of pureed leeks or onions and potatoes – here revisited by the chef’s inspiration with raw cauliflower, caviar, parsley and cream. The orange of the caviar and the green of the parsley added vibrant colour. It’s understandable why this dish won the 2014 Malaysian Gourmet Festival prize.

The second course was a Grouper Carpaccio with homemade Yuzu dressing and black olives (US$8). It had the expected ‘finesse’ but it could use a bit more flavour. The third course was Butter Fish Marinated in Light Soya Sauce with Sauteed Spinach (US$14). It was smooth and buttery with fine flaky white flesh and no fat.

The fourth course was Grilled Angus Beef Tenderloin (imported from Austra-

lia) with two kinds of Shan mushrooms, a cherry tomato and two crunchy asparagus pieces (US$39). Three kinds of sauce were provided on the side. I especially enjoyed the black pepper sauce and the blue cheese. Caloric but oh, so delicious! Along with the third course, these were the stars of the menu.

The dessert represented the only authentic Tiramisu I have tasted in Yangon (US$6.50). An elegant and rich Italian dessert, it combined all the traditional ingredients and more. The use of lady finger biscuits added a distinctive dimension of texture that contrasted well with the silky layers of homemade mas-

carpone. It is worth mentioning that the restaurant has a decent and affordable wine collection from France, Chile, Italy, Spain, Argentina and Australia.

FINAL THOUGHTS Except for the beef, all products come from the Shan state in Myanmar. The food is very cleverly executed, as well as exquisitely presented. A wonderful feast for the eyes – and the stomach!

33, Yaw Min Gyi Street, Dagon Township, Yangon.

Phone: 01 393112 Prices are subject to 5% & 10% taxes

MYANMORE InDepth Magazine / November 2015

BISTRONOMY 35

Dim Sum me!

Max Novotel Dim Sum Sunday Buffet

By Manny Maung

M

y fondest memories of dim sum are relegated to Sunday brunches with my family in Sydney. We would gather every other week at our favourite dim sum restaurant downtown for a sibling ritual: to collectively gather our wits after a big outing the previous night while working through mountains of dim sum to recover.

Soothing black tea would restore some of our senses but mostly it was the essential ingredient to help digest as we gorged on delicious, flavour packed portents of dim sum (and to inadvertently rehydrate us after the previous night’s forays).

Dim sum is a traditionally southern Chinese, or Cantonese style cuisine where bite sized portions of meat and vegetables are wrapped in a flour encasing and steamed or fried.

It was with pleasure that I learned one of the more recent hotelier giants to open up in Yangon, The Max Novotel, was host-

ing an all-you-can eat dim sum brunch every Sunday. To ensure that my review would be true to form, I arrived with a couple of friends hung-over. Admittedly, it was not the best state for perusing the many items offered but the staff accommodated us extremely hospitably.

To help us get started, Chef Raymond and his team laid out a few items on the table beginning with barbeque pork buns, fried prawn dumplings, vegetarian rolls and siew mai, a steamed pork dumpling topped with fish roe – one of the dim sum all stars.

There are about 14 choices of dim sum on the menu all up, plus a few specials that differ from week to week. On this occasion, we were treated to an egg custard bun served hot – the outside casing was a delicious chewy texture and the interior, a bursting yellow viscous of sweet and salty custard guaranteed to expand your waistline. Another special that blew our taste buds into overdrive was the pork puffs, a sweet

meat filled buttery pastry that melted on the tongue.

If you’re feeling adventurous, try the steamed chicken feet or the more unusual dim sum option of steamed squid with curry.

Room for dessert is also a necessity. I opted for the mango pudding, an excellent way to finish off what turned out to be a rather heavy brunch. The mango puree was fresh and not overly sweet with a light texture that cleansed the palate perfectly.

My only gripe is to ask that coffee and

tea are included in the price. They are not traditionally part of a dim sum set but considering this is the first meal of the day for most people arriving on a Sunday morning, it would be a nice consideration.

Rating: 4/5 stars Max Novotel Dim Sum Buffet, Ground Floor, 459 Pyay Road, Kamayut Township.

Opening Time: 11.00am – 2.00pm, Sundays Phone: (+95)1/2305858 Cost: US$30.00

A Perfect Escape for Kids and Adults Sule Shangri-La Sunday Brunch

By Cliff Lonsdale WHAT IT IS From the carved-ice Champagne buckets at the entrance of the restaurant to the mouthwatering array of sushi and sashimi you will pass to get to your table, it is fairly clear that brunch at the Sule Shangri-La Yangon is going to be spectacular. And it is!

Sunday brunch really is the best meal of the week, a chance to refuel after a Saturday night of excess, and an opportunity to prepare for Monday morning.

Thankfully Yangon is blessed with a multitude of establishments providing this service, though you’d have to look hard to better the offering at the Sule Shangri-La. RECOMMENDATIONS As well as the magnificent array of fresh seafood, there is a banquet of cured

meats on the charcuterie stall including rich dried biltong and melt in the mouth smoked beef. The carvery provides three different cuts, on this visit it was roast duck, tender pork belly with a lovely crispy skin and an exquisitely tasty Tandoori-lamb, though the selection changes each week. If that is not enough for you then there is a make-you-own pasta counter, tapas selection and an international foods buffet that are worth planning your portion sizes around.

Be warned though, you should absolutely save room for the desserts. Situated pride of place in the centre of the room as if a shrine to the finest pâtisseries of Paris, the desserts section is breathtakingly beautiful. In fact it seems a shame to disturb the magnificent colourful symmetry of the display, but worry not the pâtissier is on hand to replenish the treats so that

no one misses out. Although the chocolate fountain (filled with a bright orange flavoured white chocolate fondue) provided the perfect ‘Willy Wonka’ finishing touch to the counter, it actually tasted pretty dreadful. Never mind you can’t win them all.

ATMOSPHERE However the real draw for many to the Sule Shangri-La brunch may well be associated with the atmosphere of the dining room as much as the food. Unlike some other Sunday offerings the ambience here is one of peace and calm. The reason for this is perhaps because the children of the diners were having their own Sunday Brunch next door. Under the watchful eye of child-minders the room was packed with kids eating child-friendly finger foods, and playing with balloons, watching cartoons and

having all manner of fun.

FINAL THOUGHTS Whilst the kids got on with enjoying themselves, the adults can do the same.

With free flow wine (sparkling, red and white), beer and non-alcoholic drinks the adults seem to be doing OK without their child chaperones.

Sunday Brunch is served every Sunday at the Sule Shangri-La Hotel, 223 Sule Pagoda Road.

Priced at US$36 per head, booking essential. For reservations call 01242828 Extension 6401, 6402 email: restaurantreservations.ssyn@shangri-la.com.

Food 9/10 | Atmosphere 9/10 Service 9/10

36 ADVERTISEMENT

MYANMORE InDepth Magazine / November 2015

h ttps:// www.f aceb o o k . c o m / Tub o rg M y a n m a r

MYANMORE InDepth Magazine / November 2015

Dance Music On The Beach - Electronic Dance Festival @ Ngwe Saung

F

or the dance musicz afficionados of Yangon, we have good news! Finally, it seems the obvious void of global standard dance music events is soon to be filled.

Pi.T Music Events Co. is pioneering the festival scene in Myanmar, bringing the nation’s first ever official dance music events with international DJ’s to untapped locations across the country.

At the end of this month, Pi.T’s inaugrual festival will take place over the long weekend of Tazaungmone, at the exclusive and #1-rated Eskala Resort in Ngwe Saung.

Pi.T’s management have organised music festivals all over the world, but here in Myanmar they share an especially long-term vision and a goal to remain at the forefront of the country’s dance music scene.

Their intention is to consistently raise the bar, not only in terms of the quality, but also in the sheer scale of their parties.

Headlining their first festival is the hugely talented and globally experienced DJ/producer, “Radieux”,

the owner of “Doué Music Label” and a former resident of “Stereo Sushi”, Ibiza.

Radieux has extensive experience mixing alongside global dance music legends such as Frankie Knuckles, Eric Morillo, David Morales, Mark Knight, Freemasons, Paul Oakenfold, and John Digweed, to name but a few. He can be found playing at global EDM hotspots such as Amsterdam Dance Event, Winter Music Conference (Miami), Eden (Ibiza), and Pacha (Munich).

Aside from blasting out latest in the nu-disco, funky house, beach house and techno on a stereo with enough power for 1000 people, Pi.T’s organisers promise to keep their guests entertained with banana boats, jetskis, beer pong, beach soccer, volley ball, a free-flow cocktail brunch, fire dance shows and beach massages, and not just for one day… throughout the entire long weekend.

Pi.T @ Eskala is truly Myanmar’s first ever proper dance music festival, and a spectacle not to miss; Myanmore will certainly be keeping a close on Pi.T’s progress.

So just to recap: Pi.T @ Eskala Hotel in Ngwe Saung, this November Friday 27th (10pm to 6am) Saturday 29th (12pm to 3am) So if you are interesting in being ahead of the game and getting your tickets sorted asap, please contact: pitevents.info@gmail.com | www. facebook.com/pitmusicevents

IN FOCUS 37

38 HOROSCOPE

MYANMORE InDepth Magazine / November 2015

Myanmar

Horoscope Tetkatho Soe Moe Naing has a Science Degree Major in Mathematics from Yangon University. Currently, he is writing articles and horoscopes for monthly magazines and weekly journals in Myanmar. Astrologer, philosopher, traditional medicine practitioner and author Tetkatho Soe Moe Naing looks to the celestial bodies to predict what lies ahead in arch, this month focusing on love and business.

In Myanmar astrology, star signs are determined by which day you were born. Each sign represents its own day, cardinal direction (utmost importance), planet (celestial body) and animal.

SUNDAY

Success Time You will succeed in your life examination. You will be proud of your present life condition.

Your family life style will be perfect. Everybody will admire your achievement and management power.

You will understand and fulfill your family's desire and want. During this month, you will make a very important decision.

Love – You will be lonely. Your love affairs will bring a feeling of unhappiness. You should spend your time listening to music.

Business – Your creative thinking will be high. You will find opportunity and advantages. You will think to produce new products.

Lucky numbers – 1.2.7 Lucky colour – Purple

MONDAY

Unforgettable Time During this month, you will be excited at good news. You will enjoy with your family members. You will get international knowledge from travelling. You will be interested in literature. To be healthy, you will eat fresh vegetables and fruits.

Love – You will meet an unforgettable love. You will laugh, cry, smile, sad, happy because of love. You will change because of your sweetheart.

Business – You will get information and data to improve your business. You will discuss with your customer about your new idea and opinions.

Lucky numbers – 3.6.7 Lucky colour – Brown

will get new experiences from adventurous travelling.

If you give up your smoking habit, you will be more healthy and wealthy.

Love – You should avoid excitement from love feeling. If you will control your feeling and emotion, you will be happier and happier.

Business – You will face changing fortune. If you will apply your organisation’s power, your business will be more success. You will repair or paint your office.

Your business financial condition will be very, very excellent. You will contact business partners from foreign countries.

Lucky numbers – 2.8.9 Lucky colour – Dark

TUESDAY

Improvement Time You will solve problems that encourage improvement in your life. You will heed your associate. You will be interested in discovery. You will contribute your labour, money and time to help needy people. Your mind will be very pure. If you spend time travelling to beaches, you will be more relaxed and healthy.

Love – Your heart beating for love will be silent. You will forget about love affair because of your work.

You will be too busy to think of love.

Business – Your business will succeed because of your thinking power. Your incredible plan will start during this month. You will get more income from this planning.

Lucky numbers – 3.9.7 Lucky colour – Yellow

FRIDAY

Lucky Time You will hear congratulation and applause. Don't forget to buy lottery tickets. You will learn about computer software and hardware. You will be famous in your environment because of your fashionable style. You will be confident yourself, but you should avoid being talkative. During this month, you will solve an important matter.

Love – Love will appear in your heart. Love will bring you trouble. If you will control your feeling, love affairs will be okay.

Business – Your product will be famous for attractive design. You will be excited by enormous income. You will be outstanding in your business environment.

You will be proud.

Lucky numbers – 1.2.4.7 Lucky colour – Orange

WEDNESDAY

Comfortable Time You will be kind-hearted.

Your power of imagination will be great. You will conquer every difficulty and trouble. You will enjoy a comfortable lifestyle. You will cheer up because of good news from respected people. You will get a special present from relatives. You will be interested in healthy eating and drinking.

Love – You will have difficulty in narrating your love story. Your love story will be very, very confused.

Business – You will start to make plan for your crazy business. You will get new idea to save money and time. During this month, you will develop your factory. You should accept customer's advice.

Lucky numbers – 2.5.9 Lucky colour – Violet

THURSDAY

Review Time You will hear gossip. You should review gossip. You will lead and take responsibility for your family and be happy together. You

SATURDAY

Truth Time You will have a cheerful mood. You will realise the nature of the human mind.

You will act between white and black, light and dark, advantages and disadvantages. You will love truth and not lies. You will get new friends from travelling.

Your family will be perfect because of kindness and sympathy. Everybody will admire you because of your healthy life and healthy style.

Love – You will get chocolate, cake and sweets from your lover. Your love affair will be great. Auspicious love will make you happiness.

Business – You will meet important business men or women for new project. You will be popular in your business environment.

Lucky numbers – 1.2.0 Lucky colour – Green Tetkatho Soe Moe Naing has practiced astrology and Burmese traditional medicine for 40 years.

Contact: 095012767

Organisations in Partnership with the MYANMORE Card:

MYANMORE CARD 00000001

RESTAURANT 999 SHAN NOODLE HOUSE - 10% off on total bill - Valid on weekends only, 1 person per card BULGOGI BROTHERS - 10% off on total bill.

- Free Flow Coke, Sprite & Max Orange - No room charge and no corkage fee - Valid everyday.

DIVINO - 10% off lunch and dinner - Valid everyday, maximum 4 people per card - (Not Valid for set menu, Business lunch and promotions) CHATRIUM HOTEL KOHAKU JAPANESE RESTAURANT - 15% off on A La Carte menu - Valid from Monday to Thursday, minimum 2 people.

- Booking required LOBBY LOUNGE - 20% off on Hi Tea Special (3pm to 5pm) - Valid everyday, up to 4 people per card.

THE EMPORIA RESTAURANT - 15% off on international buffet dinner - Valid everyday, up to 4 people per card, booking required.

TIGER HILL CHINESE RESTAURANT - 15% off Dim Sun Lunch - Valid everyday, minimum 2 people and up to 4 per card, booking required.

CORIANDER LEAF - 15 % off total bill - Valid everyday.

COUSINS BAR & GRILL - 20% off total bill - Valid everyday, 10 people per card EDO ZUSHI JAPANESE RESTAURANT - 10% off total bill, - Valid everyday, 1 group per card, advanced booking required.

ELIQ RESTAURANT - 10% discount on total bill - Valid everyday,1person per card - Advanced booking required, HARLEY’S - Buy a regular set meal menu and upsize it for free.

- Valid everyday, 2 people per card LA CAROVANA - 10% off total bill - Valid everyday (closed on Mondays) 6pm - 11pm L’OPERA ITALIAN RESTAURANT AND BAR - 10% off the A La Carte bill (not valid for set menu, business lunch and promotions) - 10% off “Romantic” packages (for couples) - Valid everyday, for cash payment only, for up to 8 people.

MOJO - Free glass of house wine, beer or soft drink with dinner - Valid Sun to Thurs,minimum order of 1 main course per person, for 2 people maximum per card.

between 2pm and 6pm - Valid everyday up to 12 people per card

cup/160g gelato cup) - Valid Monday to Friday, 1 person per card

THE MYTHS BAR & RESTAURANT - 10% off total bill - Valid everyday

MONSOON RESTAURANT AND BAR - 10% off à la carte bill - Valid ever!yday, 4 people per card

THE PIZZA COMPANY - 20% off Pasta, from Monday to Friday - 20% off Large Pizza, on the weekend - Valid for 1 person per card - The deals are applicable to 3 outlets Dagon Centre 1- Myaynigone Ocean Shwe Gon Daing Tamwe Junction Junction Maw Tin

SNOW FACTORY - 10 % off Snow Flake Menu - 10% off Coffee menus - Valid everyday, 2 people per card.

ORCHID HOTEL - 10% off for Restaurant Charges.

- Free fruit tray upon arrival - Valid everyday, 1 person per card PADONMAR RESTAURANT - 10% off total Food bill for a minimum order of 2 dishes per person.

- Not valid on Set Menu.

- Valid everyday, 4 people per card PARKROYAL

DI VINO - 10% off total bill for lunch and dinner - Valid everyday, booking required, maximum 4 people per card - (Not Valid for set menu ,Business lunch and promotions)

LOBBY BAR - 10% off food and drinks, except Happy hours - Valid Monday to Friday.

VINTAGE LUXURY YACHT HOTEL - 15% off food and drinks - Valid everyday, for 10 people!

SPICE BRASSERIE - 10% off food and drinks - Valid Monday to Friday, booking required SI CHUAN DOU HUA - 10% off food and drinks - Valid Monday to Friday, booking required SHIKI TEI - 10% off food and drinks - Valid Monday to Friday, booking required PORT AUTONOMY - 10% off total bill except Happy Hour - Valid everyday (closed on Monday) PORTICO RESTAURANT @ ROSE GARDEN HOTEL - 10% off daily Business lunch - Valid on food items only, on weekdays, 1 person per card.

SKY BISTRO - 5 % off total bill from 7 p.m onwards - Valid everyday.

SUMMIT PARKVIEW HOTEL - Deals exclude promotions, set lunch/dinner and cakes and are not valid for outside catering.

TAING YIN THAR - 10% off total food bill - Valid everyday, 15 people per card.

THAI 47 - 30% off total bill, Mondays to Thursdays - 15% off total bill, Fridays, Saturdays & Sundays - 2 for 1 drinks from 7 p.m onwards, everyday.

- Valid for up to 5 people, advanced booking required for weekend treatments.

THE MANHATTAN FISH MARKET - 30% off desserts for any main dish purchased - 50% off desserts for hot or cold drink purchased

BAR & CLUB CLUB 5 @ PARKROYAL - 10% off bottles of wine and hard liquor.

Valid Monday to Friday, not valid for loose drinks CLUB RIZZOLI @ CHATRIUM HOTEL - 20% off on total bill from 10pm onwards - Valid Saturdays and Sundays, up to 6 people per card.

SPACE BAR - 10 % off total bill - Valid from Monday to Thursday THE NEW BORIS - 10% off all drinks - Valid everyday, 4pm till late VERANDA BAR @ ROSE GARDEN HOTEL - Buy one Cocktail of the day, get one free (from 4pm to 6:30 pm) - Valid everyday,1 person per card.

CAFE D BISTRO - 15% off on all types of coffee before 12am (on weekdays only) - 10% off on total bill - Valid everyday, 1 person per card NERVIN CAFE AND BISTRO - 15% off on all beverages - Valid on weekdays, 1 bill per card - (Can not be combined with other discounts and promotions) WTC - World Training Center - 10% off entire selection of coffees - Valid everyday, for 2 people.

DESSERT FROZEE - Buy 1 Get 1 Free (80g gelato

SWENSEN’S - 20% OFF on Super Sundae on weekdays - 20% Off on Kids Sundae on weekends - Valid for 1 person per card - The deals are applicable to 3 outlets Dagon Centre 1- Myaynigone Ocean Shwe Gon Daing Tamwe Junction Junction Maw Tin

WELLBEING CALIFORNIA SKIN SPA - 20% off selected facial and full body treatments - Valid everyday, advance booking required, 2 people per card D SPA - 15% off total bill for 1 person - 20% off total bill when 2 people - Valid from Monday to Thursday, from 11 a.m to 3 pm, booking recommended - 10% off total bill for 1 person - 15% off total bill when 2 people - Valid on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, booking recommended FIRST THAI SPA - 10% off total bill for 1 person - 20% off total bill for 2 people - Valid from Monday to Friday, 2 people per card INYA DAY SPA - 15%discount on all spa services1 - 10%discount on Thai Body Massage(anytime) - Valid everyday,1 person per card PARKROYAL Fitness & Spa - 10% off spa treatments, except Happy Hours.

- Valid Monday to Friday, booking required.

PHOENIX ESTHETIC BEAUTY CENTRE - 20% off facial treatments when two people - Valid Wednesdays and Thursdasy from 10: 30 a.m to 6: 30 p.m, advance booking required.

- 10% off facial treatments for one person.

REVEAL - EMINENCE HAIR REMOVAL - 20% off one waxing service per bill - 10% off one I2PL (SHR IPL) service per bill - Valid everyday, 2 people per card, advanced booking required.

SENSE SPA - 20% off all spa treatments - Valid everyday,1 person per card, advanced booking recommended

DEALS

SPA ELEMENTS - 15 % off - JAMU pre- and post-natal care packages - 10% off - Face, body and foot spa // Mani-Pedis // Hair // Waxing and scrub - Valid on Wednesday & Monday, 1 person per card.

THAYA DAY SPA - 15% off Spa Services - 10% off Full Thai Body Massage.

- Monday to Friday, 1 person per card THE BODYGUARD - This hair salon and massage parlour had been designed by men and for men only.

- 15% off from 10:30am to 5:30 pm - Valid everyday, 2 people per card VINTAGE LUXURY YACHT HOTEL - 10% off all SPA treatments - Valid everyday, for up to 10 people!, Advanced booking recommended.

YANGON HAIR & BEAUTY CENTER - 20% off any single treatment - 10% off packages - Valid weekdays, one person per card YVES ROCHER SPA - 10% off total bill - Valid everyday, one person per card

GYM BALANCE FITNESS - 15% off 6 months or 1 year membership contract - Discount cannot be used with other promotions - Valid everyday, 1 person per card.

CHATRIUM HEALTH CLUB - 10% off on daily rate from Mon to Sun. - Valid everyday, 2 people per card, advance booking required.

SHOPPING DAILY MART - Free delivery for order less than 30,000 Ks - 5% discount in total bill for order above 30,000 Ks - (minimum delivery: Ks10,000) - Valid everyday ( 9am to 5 Pm only),1 person per card MONUMENT BOOKS - This bookstore is known for its wide selection of English language books.

- 15% off on weekdays - 10% off on weekends - Valid everyday,1 person per card PATRICK ROBERT THE GALLERY - 10% discount in all showroom items. Export orders and credit card payments not included.

- Valid everyday (closed Sundays), one person per card SELECT BOUTIQUE THE THIRIPYITSAYA - 10% off all Jewelry - Valid everyday (closed on Tuesdays) THE WAREHOUSE - 15 off total bill

- Valid everyday, 1 person per card VESTIGE MERCANTILE & RELICS - 10% off total bill.

- Valid everyday at: . Vestige Flagship Store, Yangon . Vestige Kiosk, Avenue 64 Hotel. . Vestige Flagship Store, Nay Pyi Taw - Valid everyday, 1 person per card YVES ROCHER - 10% off all products - Valid everyday, 1 person per card

ACTIVITY WTC - World Training Center - 5% off Barista & Bakery classes - Valid everyday, 1 person per class.

HOTEL HOTEL 51 - 15% off on all room types.

- Valid everyday, 1 person per card ORCHID HOTEL - 10% off on all published room rates - 10 % off restaurant charges - Free fruit tray upon arrival - Valid Sunday to Thursday, 1 person per card, advance booking required THAHARA (www.thahara.com) - 5% off on the published rates for all package booking from Oct to April - 10% off on the published rates for all package booking from May to September - Valid everyday, 2 people per card, advance booking required.

VINTAGE LUXURY YACHT HOTEL - 10% off all room rates - Valid everyday.

SERVICES HINTHA BUSINESS CENTRES - One hour free wifi + a cup of Gourmet coffee once a month.

- 10% off Meeting room rentals - 10% off Hot Desk packages (Daily, weekly, monthly) - 2 for 1 on hourly Hot Desk rental - Valid everyday, 1person per card, advance booking recommended K & H TRAVELS CO.,LTD - 10$ off for the second guest on any mini getaway tour - Valid on weekends, advance booking required.

BUY YOUR MYANMORE CARD HERE! MYANMORE Office - 1st Floor, Annex Bld, Strand Hotel, 92 Strand Rd, Kyauktada Tsp | 01-375680 50TH STREET BAR Balance Fitness Monument Bookstore Inya Day Spa Padonmar Restaurant Orchid Hotel Happy Footprints