​AUDREY CHIN 

Sometimes trips don’t start well My outbound plane to Myanmar left 15 minutes late. Then we circled for nearly an hour over fogged-in Yangon Airport. A French woman pushed at me in the immigration queue. At the foreign exchange counters, they wouldn’t let me change more than one $100 bill. Lining up to get my bags through the Custom’s Department’s xray machine, I kept getting jumped by more aggressive local people. I was really and truly in chaotic, underdeveloped, over-burea

No pictures, just some words describing a scene while waiting for a flight in the domestic terminal at Yangon Airport. They were five Off the plane Crossing the airport hall In jungle green In control – the tallest A  ranger hat slouched over his head Protecting a face already turned to stone On the right flank – the one just grown His teak brown cheeks newly shaven Smooth as planed wood and as unmoved Then two more – pushing a baggage cart Captives? Cargo?  Kin? I c

I was reading in Myanmar. It was my time, my panel appearance at the Irrawaddy Literary Festival with Canadian literary prodigy Karen Connelly. We were to be speaking about my novel As the Heart Bones Break. We ended up speaking about Myanmar. Not of course in so many words… But as I learnt last week in Mandalay, there’s text and then there’s sub-text. As the Heart Bones Break is a novel about Vietnam but it’s also about division, isolation and transition. It’s about layers o

Words can’t describe this natural wonder seemingly balanced on a hair (Buddha’s apparently). The Golden Rock of Mon State – It’s a miracle! This slideshow requires JavaScript. Where is your favourite rocky place? Do share a link to a picture. BTW – I also like the 12 Apostles on Victoria’s Great Ocean Road #Amazing #Rock #Myanmar #Travels #travel #Asia #MonState #Burma

I spent February 12, Myanmar’s Union Day, among the Karen. Union Day celebrates the signing of the Panglong Agreement between the majority Burmans and the minority ethnics to struggle together for an independent Union of Burma. The meaning of Union remains contested among the minorities. Indeed the Mon and Karen minorities were not even original signatories. But more on that another time… I did not see any signs of the differences that are being negotiated with gunfire in the

I stole 2 days before the Irrawaddy Literary festival to visit Karen State and Mon State in South Eastern Myanmar. Here are my first impressions of Karen State, from the initial sight of Zwekabin Mountain (the state landmark), past a village to Hpa An, the state capital situated on the banks of the great Salween River. This slideshow requires JavaScript. Pictures can say more than words in this case. More to come over the next few days … #HpaAn #KarenState #Myanmar #Asia #aci

Yesterday I posted a Reuters report about how the Rohingyas, stateless Muslim refugees escaping from ethnic violence in the Burmese state of Arakhan, were apparently being spirited from Thai border camps and held for ransom or trafficked. “Horrifying! Reprehensible!” my fellow Tribewriter Kathleen Caron commented. “If the Thai govt won’t do anything, why doesn’t the UN step in?” she asked. Today, one day after the great statesman Nelson Mandela’s passing, the web is buzzing w

It’s been almost two months since my visit to Myanmar and I’m still caught in the Burmese web. I’m not the first to be captured by the country. There was Rudyard Kipling, Amitash Ghosh, Emma Larkin… Karen Connelly Courtesy of Amazon.com Now there’s Karen Connelly. I’ve just put down her book Burmese Lessons: A True Love Story. It’s brilliant, you need to read it. But it also stirred mixed feelings on my part. Here’s the story. Karen Connelly is wonderful writer, one who makes

Someone told me yesterday I was getting too religious and hence difficult to get along with. That certainly caused me to go look in the mirror and consider my shortcomings. I was hoping that deeper spiritual growth would mean a kinder gentler me. Obviously, this person didn’t think so. Possibly, in my pursuit of beauty, justice, truth I was becoming more legalistic and judgmental… Possibly, in leaving everything to a higher being up there, I had become irresponsible. Possib

We found a strangler fig growing in a corner of the bathroom, in a tiny space between the wall tiles and the frosted glass sun-roof.  From down in the shower stall it looked like one tiny leaf.  When we got the ladder and climbed up to check we found a full grown plant with 6 leaves and roots 3 inches long.  Over a period of a hundred years or so, this is what might happen! I’m reminded of the strength of nature, unleashed and unchecked. I’m reminded of what happens when the

Have you ever wondered how they make gula melaka or toddy palm sugar. To find out, do go over to my friend Kathleen Caron at “Full of Life: Soul Food” where I’m guest posting. http://kathleencaron.com/how-coconut-sugar-is-made-guest-post-by-audrey-chin/ #coconutsugar #gulamelaka #Myanmar #Food #travel

In Myanmar, they’ve been switched off for 50 years. It makes for a slower pace of life and a more crafty approach to manufacturing. Don’t let’s talk about productivity though… A business center A call center A taxi in the suburbs A water taxi Milling your own face powder Pressing cooking oil Drawing lotus fibres Hand-spinning silk Setting up a hand loom Hand-rolling sugar Wood-fired stills #Yangon #Myanmar #Meiktila #travel #Asia #Muslim #Buddhism #Burma #Arts

A picture is worth a 1000 words. I have so much to say, I’m just going to surrender and go with the snapshots.  For the more in-depth stuff … wait for the short stories. Credit: National Geographic Magazine A river runs through it. The Ayeryawaddy is the lifeline of Myanmar. Starting 1,300 miles up in the Himalayan Range, it runs through Myanmar’s jungly and strife worn Northern regions to the hot and dusty plains of Central Burma before reaching the Andaman Sea just East of

It’s been a long time since I’ve been so excited about a trip. The last time I experienced this degree of anticipation was 20 years ago, when my husband brought my two older children and me to Vietnam for our first visit.  I can understand why I was so anxious to see Vietnam. The country and its history loomed large in my experience. It was my husband’s birthplace, his family had become mine if only through their monthly letters through the 15 years of my marriage before the

Since the US lifted the embargo on Myanmar last September, it’s become the it destination We’re going there in March and the trip’s been one of the conversation topics at every Chinese New Year visit. As with all newly emerging countries, everyone who’s just gone has tips. Here are the 5 things I’ve been told not to forget  – 1: My visa.  Yes, even citizens of ASEAN (like Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Laos, Cambodia or Vietnam) need visas into thi