coming home

"Periods of tranquility are seldom prolific of creative achievement. Mankind has to be stirred up."
-Alfred North Whitehead

Hi all,

Now that I'm out of Myanmar (and home, for that matter, but I'll get to that in a moment), I can talk about one of the best parts of our visit there-- we got to see the Mustache Brothers!

Okay, okay, I know many of you probably haven't heard of the Mustache Brothers. I can't pretend to be too super cool and knowledgeable on this one; I wouldn't have known who they were before I started researching this trip, either. But, they are quite famous by Burmese standards. You might have heard them mentioned in About a Boy: "Did you know in some countries you can get arrested for telling a joke? Next time you laugh, think of Par Par Lay, the Burmese standup comedian." The Mustache Brothers are a comedy troupe of two brothers (Par Par Lay and Lu Maw) and their cousin (Lu Zaw), as well as several wives and sisters. This group is unique because they do something that is basically unheard of in Burma: They publically (more or less) speak out against the government, and continue to do so despite the fact that Par Par Lay has been arrested three times, and he and his cousin Lu Zaw have each served over six years in prison for their show (in which they rightfully equate the Burmese government with the mafia, among other things.) And we got to see them perform! They are banned from performing in a theatre, so shows are in their living room with plastic chairs for their (now) strictly foreigner-only audience. I promised Lu Maw himself that I would write about them in my blog so that people knew what the Burmese people were going through, so here they are:-)

Our last few days in South-east Asia were pretty relaxed, with relatively few crazy misadventures. We found our friend Saisuku the monk in Yangon, and he played our translator for the last day and a half there, taking us to visit the Shwedagan Pagoda and helping us with a Lonely Planet suggestion of donating lacking supplies to a school-- because of course, there's no government funding, and in a school with 130 children, $60 easily buys supplies for all 130 of them. (Super worthwhile if you're ever in Burma, incidentally.) We also had a full day to spare in Bangkok, so we were able to visit the floating market and spend one last dinner with Punky and Jo.

And then, Wednesday, we were on our way home! We left Bangkok at 8:20 a.m. (which meant taking a taxi to the airport at 5:30 a.m., by the way) and arrived in California at 1:30 p.m., but wedged in there were about 10 time zones so it was not quite so short as it sounds for us. But, we made it, and we ended up with a bit of a welcome home committee, which was awesome, and it's always so good to come home. Amy was once asked, after having been prompted to recite her travels, which place was her favorite. She smiled and said, "My bed." It's so true. At the moment, I am also still kind of abnormally excited/confused about drinkable tap water, being allowed to flush toilet paper, not having to use a fan to ward of mosquitos at night, and an abundance of cheese.

It's also good to be back because I feel like travel is in many ways a search for something (even if we don't always know what), and being home makes what we've found clearer. There's definitely something, in south-east Asia. There's something up the alleyways of Saigon where old women scoop you up a bowl of pho for 40 cents, or at the top of an infinity pool in Laos as the water rushes past your ankles, or in casually climbing into the back of a songthaew, or in getting caught in a monsoon, or in front of a little woodshop with a dirt floor in Bagan when you're suddenly expected (as the English language expert) to sing lead vocals on "Hotel California." The people of the region, in particular, seep into one's very pores, and I'm excited to bring a piece of that home with me.

So, with that, I sign off for now, but I'll leave you guys with this video, in the hopes that you all find evenings as magical as this one was for us.



Love,
Sara

P.S. Additional photos from Burma have not been uploaded yet, but will be within 24 hours at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=228207&id=503370711&l=3a3deb14a2 :-)