MYANMAR TRAVEL DIARY01 Nov 2010

I had never been blessed by nuns before!

We all sat on the floor of the nunnery’s meeting hall, surrounded by about 30 nuns of all ages, everything was quiet. I had taken a group of travellers with our local guides into a convent I often had walked in front but never had the time to stop. Today was the day and after asking permission, we walked slowly, removed our shoes and waited for mother superior to arrive. Many of the nuns were quite young and very curious to know why a group of westerners wanted to come and see them. We asked questions about their daily life, they asked questions about our travels and if we liked Myanmar. Mother Superior asked our translator if I would think about becoming a monk... I replied if this was a job offer and they all exploded laughing...

The magic moment came as we bid farewell, we gave the nuns some fruit and a donation to help the convent to finish rebuild their leaky roof and the nuns in return offered to give us a blessing from Lord Buddha. The chanting was incredible, it lasted a few minutes and the feeling of peace and serenity was…well, we could all feel it... and there was not one dry eye in our group…

As we walked down the road to our ship, where cold towels and drinks were waiting, I knew this was one more Myanmar Moment, one where this amazing country who is suffering so much had given our travellers an experience they would never forget.

Myanmar is pure magic, from Inle Lake to Yangon, cruising down our private ship down the Irrawaddy River, walking through villages, meeting locals, we live with the sunrise and the sunset, some follow our local guide Cho-Cho in her ritual of meditation at dawn, others prefer their cameras and capture the perfect sunset. Let Si Fang show you how to experience Myanmar, maybe you’ll be blessed by nuns.