First youcantoo update since China - From Kathmandu, Nepal

That's a shame. Myanmar really showed us a wealth of the unknown and unexperienced, the unimaginable and the unstomachable. Too much time has passed (and online time in Nepal is too expensive) to do decent entires on our time there. The highs (beautiful buddhist culture and ancient sites of treasure) and lows (the gov't and their schemes of fear, bullying and conscription) flowed together, sadly in a near seamless manner. What we saw, however, was (whether a high or low) nothing one ever seas or learns in the West. Even the everyday has to be experienced in person. The extreme buddhism and gentle people, the eons of waxing and waning Asian cultures, the HEAT, the enigma that is the 'modern' city of Yangon, the old Mazda vehicles that exist no where else ont he planet, the Orwellian propoganda and scare-tactics ... can never be summed up in a New York Times or Economist article - certainly not a CNN 15 second blip on Aung Sun Soo Kyii.

My sadest news to report is that for all the hype Aung Sun Soo Kyii gets, and all the flack that is reported about the government, I didn't get the feeling that anyone could dare topple the current regime without getting quickly shut away for life. With universities closed and people fearful, the only other force would be the monks (a high percentage of pop), but they are all fed, housed and their temples are lavishly gifted upon by the corrupt rulers, so they have a hard time seeing the problem. Individuals are so isolated (out of a sense of fear) commaderie seems little and weak. As long as the governemnt can keep the people with more than enough food and stuff to not starve, they will not risk their lives when they've seen so many before them die in the streets.

And then there is Bangladesh. After being in police states for two months, I was looking forward to getting back into the free world. Bangladesh - how could I have forgotten - was worse. It was very rewarding and personally confirming to return to Dhaka to see many of my old co-workers. Most are continuing with excellent development work and raising happy, healthy families, but Dhaka has gone from awful to hellish. Julie considered it the worst place she had ever been and called it hell by the first day. I felt awful, why had I brought her here? How could I have forgotten about the feral people and the city of 10 million living in near anarchy. I had only asked Julie for 3 days there, but we changed our tixs here and there and it turned into 5 days. Besides the valuable time we spent in the evenings with friends or other pleasant moments, it was hellish, by even my own "I-lived-here-for-nine-months-and-know-how-it-is" perspective.

Nepal could not have come soon enough.

tedinasia@hotmail.com
jalondon@hotmail.com