I was so excited to visit Myanmar since that was my first time to visit that country. Especially, it was a very special trip because I went there for serving kids. So, let's call this as a mission trip.
I was chosen as one of volunteers for NTOU Bilingual church. Thank God for this chance. I could say that this trip might be a short escaping from a hectic and stressful study life. Hopefully, I could write some of my story for being a graduate student (*next time).
first time using our squad t-shirts on the day before our mission trip
(Above-left: Tonis - Fenny - EN - Tsai Sing - Yu Ting - Annie - CY)
(Below-left: Zhong Hui - Jing Yi- Boyu - Prof. TK - David - Nodali - Banana keke)
(other members- not in pictures: Suna - Sofania - Aunty Ping)
This could be a long long long story, so I decide to divide in many posts (still don't decide yet how many it will be hahaha ..)
In this post, I will tell you the story about how we, the mission team, could reach a small village called Manggaurong, Myanmar. Anyway, I am not that sure that I write the correct name of that village.
From Taoyuan airport, Taiwan, we took a direct flight to Yangon airport, Myanmar. It was early in the morning so I felt a bit sleepy. It took about 4 hours flying from Taoyuan to Yangon with the different time of Taiwan is 1 hour 30 minutes earlier than of Myanmar.
ready to go Yangon airport, Myanmar
My first impression about Myanmar was oh cool, many guys used Sarung for their daily working activities. It was in the airport that many men used sarung walking around. That was interesting because in my country, Indonesia, men will not use sarung for working, except they are going to Shalat (praying for Muslim people) or they are having their leisure time. And yeah, Indonesian men will not use sarung in the airport except ... hemm .. I do not have an idea, you can mention.
Myanmar men used Sarung for daily working
Myanmar ladies (and men) used special powder on their faces. Lately, I know that the powder is from special wood named Thanakha. They mix with water and spread on their face during the day to protect their face skin from sunburn. You can google for further information.
Myanmar and Indonesian Ladies (kak Suna)
From Yangon city to Manggaurong village, we used bus and spent about 18 hours. So, I took that chance to look around the situation of Yangon city that I can take as a representative of Myanmar's face.
The atmosphere was a bit similar to Indonesia (anw, I also compared to Taiwan which is totally different). The people, wide road, wide yard, traffic jam, crowded and busy, small stores, hot and wet in the same time reminded me about my home country.
Myanmar along the road (photo credit: Zhong Hui)
Myanmar money (Kyat burma)
Eighteen hour riding bus was a long time and Myanmar was raining all day. Finally, I know that some parts of Myanmar had a super heavy flood that had killed a number of people. My mom tried to phone me but she couldn't (I didn't have wifi or Myanmar SIM card). Ended with she texted some friends of mine and worried about me. When I got signal, many message in Messanger asked me to phone my mom when I got wifi (that was one day before my home coming, I got wifi in the hotel).
Part of Myanmar taken by Zhong Hui
Finally, we touched down the village named Manggaurong (if I am not wrong) the place that we spent our 6 days with many kiddos.
Place that we will serve kids
As soon as possible, I will continue to write the 6 day activities in the next post.
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