Talk seventeen.
Yangon, 13th December
- After the morning chill around the Inle Lake, again we are in the humid heat of Yangon..
- For the first time we sightsee the city at daytime. It proves to be an astonishing mixture of all colours of Asia, which are so conspicuous. This noisy, busy, and polluted with exhaust fumes city pulsates with full life and irresistibly takes us back to the colonial times, although it hasn’t been anybody’s colony for a long time.
- Once again, I was surprised to see a dirty looking city which didn’t stink.
- The biggest pagoda in Myanmar – Shwegadon – strikes everybody with its beauty both before and after the sunset. That huge area that the pagoda occupies serves the citizens of Yangon not only as a temple but also as a recreational site which are not that plentiful in the city.
- Why did you decide to hire a private guide in Shwegadon?
- Mr Win won me with his good English and with the saying often used here: “I’ll help you and you’ll help me”.
- Instead of asking for money. Begging is below their pride. They are proud in spite of great poverty
- Right. As we soon learned, Mr Win graduated in economics but he’s unemployed. Guiding at the pagoda is his only job.
- Thanks to him we learned a lot about Myanmar.
- It’s not long since they’ve been allowed to talk with tourists about politics without lowering their voices.
- The changes are approaching.
- For him far too slowly. He blames the opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi for putting everything off until the elections 2015.
- They’ve just had supplementing elections thanks to which she joined the parliament.
- He’s young and impatient. He comes from an extremely poor family in a village without running water or electricity. They plough the soil with a wooden colter!
- He’s working in the capital to help the family financially.
- Without his support they wouldn’t be able to survive. He would also tell us the history of Myanmar and the intricacies of the country’s politics, which at times reminds me of ours from the years 1970 – 1989.
- With the economy from the nineteenth century, to mention the differences!
- Mr Win is looking forward to the changes with great expectations and he believes that democracy will come one day to Myanmar as well. And, for example, phone SIM cards won’t cost USD 500 in the country where people make a dozen dollars a month.
- This is a method to cut the citizens off the rest of the world!
- Did you see how happy he was when I gave him our old photo camera?
- Better an old one than no one.
- He promised to send us some photos but he hasn’t done it so far.
- He didn’t want to talk about gay life here, did he?
- He didn’t take up the subject when I asked him how to find the way to a gay club from our hotel.
- Which we never found, anyway.
- Because it wasn’t there. Maybe it’s got just closed down.
- It made me remember something.
- What? Who?
- Some gay clubs in Poland. Which was the first one you frequented?
- And the most important one for me because it has a lot to do with you. But before I met you there I had been there with Andrzej, an American James who was a teacher at PROGRESS, and his boyfriend Tomek, to celebrate a New Year’s Day at the beginning of the 90s.
- To the Galery motel near Jelenia Góra.
- Our relationship with Andrzej was on the decline but I wouldn’t realize it yet. His alcoholism was growing. Bouts of depression alternating with euphoria would occur more and more frequently. The hardest to bear were his attacks on me.
- Attacks of jealousy?
- Not directly. I think, he was getting tired with my activness (overactivness?) at work, in social life, and anywhere else.
- Sexual activness???
- Maybe too. Let’s go back to the Galery. It was our first New Year’s Eve party in Poland exclusively for gay people. It was great fun.
- Well, well.
- Don’t let your imagination go too far. We behaved very well. There were mainly couples who came in bigger parties from all over Poland.
- What happened there?
- Nothing in particular, except great fun we had till dawn, spectacular fireworks and good food and drink. I’d take photos of the dancing couples or whole parties enjoying themselves. I also took many photos the following morning at the breakfast table of the ones who showed up.
- Not bad for a collection.
- Not too bad. With the addresses, as I promised everybody to send them the prints.
- What is it for a word „prints”?
- Ugly, isn’t it? Yes, we would then call them prints. No e-mails! Out of a dozen of people only one thanked me. By post. There was a Wrocław telephone number attached. Accidently…
- And the accident happened, didn’t it?
- Many months later…
Talk seventeen.
Yangon, 13th December
- After the morning chill around the Inle Lake, again we are in the humid heat of Yangon..
- For the first time we sightsee the city at daytime. It proves to be an astonishing mixture of all colours of Asia, which are so conspicuous. This noisy, busy, and polluted with exhaust fumes city pulsates with full life and irresistibly takes us back to the colonial times, although it hasn’t been anybody’s colony for a long time.
- Once again, I was surprised to see a dirty looking city which didn’t stink.
- The biggest pagoda in Myanmar – Shwegadon – strikes everybody with its beauty both before and after the sunset. That huge area that the pagoda occupies serves the citizens of Yangon not only as a temple but also as a recreational site which are not that plentiful in the city.
- Why did you decide to hire a private guide in Shwegadon?
- Mr Win won me with his good English and with the saying often used here: “I’ll help you and you’ll help me”.
- Instead of asking for money. Begging is below their pride. They are proud in spite of great poverty
- Right. As we soon learned, Mr Win graduated in economics but he’s unemployed. Guiding at the pagoda is his only job.
- Thanks to him we learned a lot about Myanmar.
- It’s not long since they’ve been allowed to talk with tourists about politics without lowering their voices.
- The changes are approaching.
- For him far too slowly. He blames the opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi for putting everything off until the elections 2015.
- They’ve just had supplementing elections thanks to which she joined the parliament.
- He’s young and impatient. He comes from an extremely poor family in a village without running water or electricity. They plough the soil with a wooden colter!
- He’s working in the capital to help the family financially.
- Without his support they wouldn’t be able to survive. He would also tell us the history of Myanmar and the intricacies of the country’s politics, which at times reminds me of ours from the years 1970 – 1989.
- With the economy from the nineteenth century, to mention the differences!
- Mr Win is looking forward to the changes with great expectations and he believes that democracy will come one day to Myanmar as well. And, for example, phone SIM cards won’t cost USD 500 in the country where people make a dozen dollars a month.
- This is a method to cut the citizens off the rest of the world!
- Did you see how happy he was when I gave him our old photo camera?
- Better an old one than no one.
- He promised to send us some photos but he hasn’t done it so far.
- He didn’t want to talk about gay life here, did he?
- He didn’t take up the subject when I asked him how to find the way to a gay club from our hotel.
- Which we never found, anyway.
- Because it wasn’t there. Maybe it’s got just closed down.
- It made me remember something.
- What? Who?
- Some gay clubs in Poland. Which was the first one you frequented?
- And the most important one for me because it has a lot to do with you. But before I met you there I had been there with Andrzej, an American James who was a teacher at PROGRESS, and his boyfriend Tomek, to celebrate a New Year’s Day at the beginning of the 90s.
- To the Galery motel near Jelenia Góra.
- Our relationship with Andrzej was on the decline but I wouldn’t realize it yet. His alcoholism was growing. Bouts of depression alternating with euphoria would occur more and more frequently. The hardest to bear were his attacks on me.
- Attacks of jealousy?
- Not directly. I think, he was getting tired with my activness (overactivness?) at work, in social life, and anywhere else.
- Sexual activness???
- Maybe too. Let’s go back to the Galery. It was our first New Year’s Eve party in Poland exclusively for gay people. It was great fun.
- Well, well.
- Don’t let your imagination go too far. We behaved very well. There were mainly couples who came in bigger parties from all over Poland.
- What happened there?
- Nothing in particular, except great fun we had till dawn, spectacular fireworks and good food and drink. I’d take photos of the dancing couples or whole parties enjoying themselves. I also took many photos the following morning at the breakfast table of the ones who showed up.
- Not bad for a collection.
- Not too bad. With the addresses, as I promised everybody to send them the prints.
- What is it for a word „prints”?
- Ugly, isn’t it? Yes, we would then call them prints. No e-mails! Out of a dozen of people only one thanked me. By post. There was a Wrocław telephone number attached. Accidently…
- And the accident happened, didn’t it?
- Many months later…
