Travel Diary 0.2, 28th Feb 2017
I said I was going to research what things to do and eat in Edinburgh and London. I have done enough during these days. Sometimes I got overwhelmed by those things that I found out. I do not want to mention details about those. Lately I realised that I am planning a lot details which I am not sure those will pan out on the actual trip or not. I decided to stop planning and researching. I have done enough of it.
I got oyster cards that I ordered to be shipped to Singapore. My poly friend has already decided which place to go from 1st of March until 4th. We will go to Pha An, the capital of Karen state in Myanmar. He has bought the express tickets for three, me, him and another poly friend and booked a hotel for two nights. We are leaving Yangon at 8:30pm on 1st of March and we will be reaching Pha An next day early morning. The journey from Yangon to Pha An usually takes about 7 to 8 hours. I do not want to plan for this trip and I will follow my friend's plan. He used to travel quite often, so there won't be any problem with his plan.
One of my friends also offered to borrow his camera which is quite good and expensive one. At first, I like to accept and said yes. But when I think about taking his camera, I feel a bit of burden and the trip is quite a long one and anything can happen. I said to him that I rather take my two cameras which is not high end but just normal point and shoot ones. One I got from Carrousel which is something like eBay in Singapore with 50 dollars. Another one is someone's who lived in our house. Yes, our house is a home for many students from Myanmar. When a friend moves from the house, a few of his belongings are always abandoned or be forgotten inside the house. I cannot recall whose camera is it. Those two cameras will serve their purpose.
I also applied leave for 28th Feb since I haven't packed and I do not like to start my long break with a hurry. Me and my friends have a date on that evening. It has been so long that I am not going out for drinks at a bar. I want to say that my long break starts officially on that night. Some of my friends do not know that I am going to become a monk a year after this trip. I think I will tell them when we are going out for drinks tonight. I do not worry that they will be surprised because this is not the first time that I told them about how I am going to become a monk.
Yeah, it's true when I started to realise that I changed, I resigned from a very good company and went back to Myanmar. That time also, I let all my friends know about it. We did all gathered at my house and drank alcohol and tried to talk about it. They asked so many questions why,why,why? I tried to answer and give reasons to myself and their questions as I can. They cannot understand me and I am not trying to make them understand. At that time, my reason was simple. I was 23 years old and when they ask about whether I am sure about my decision. I told them that how can you be sure that you have not actually tried being a monk. So I simply wanted to become a monk for a year or two and decide whether I can stay as a monk for my whole life or not. If I do not enjoy the monkhood after a year or two, I can always request back to being a normal person. But if I did not do it at that time, I may always wonder what if, for my whole life. The plan did not go well because I did not let my family know about it. I did became a monk for 3 days because my mom planned dad, me and my elder brother to become monks for a few days according to Myanmar traditions. One of the common goals of all Myanmar mothers is to make their sons a monk for a few days at least once in her life. Monkhood is very rare and it's a special opportunity to become a mother of a monk even just for a short period in religious point of view. I went back to Myanmar and followed as she planned. My family thought that I just took leave to come back and become a monk for a few days. To become a monk, you need the parents permission and wife's permission if you are married. Otherwise, you cannot attain the monkhood.
My plan is to stay as a monk for a year but I do not want to manipulate them into saying yes for the permission to become a monk. That three day of monkhood was quite terrible experience for me because I was keeping a big secret. So I decided to end it and let them know about my plan to become a monk for a year or two or may be permanent. The reaction from them was also as terrible as I expected. They are not religious people and they totally disagreed with my plan and they did not let me do do it. We fought each other by shooting sharp and loud words into each other's ears. We mean me against three of my family members. There is nobody on my side. I said very hurtful words to them and I really meant it at that time. I said they are not fair to me that they were very proud of me when I was doing according to what they wanted and they should be the same when I was about to do what I want. Somemore my wish is not a bad wish and it is a very good and very simple wish. Now while I am writing this diary, I am not even sure about how I had written of having a normal childhood in the first page. I the main character in the outsider,a famous noble is perfectly normal to me and that makes me realise being normal is not that simple. Am I not normal or am I being an outsider too in this society? I do not care to answer those questions.
I got oyster cards that I ordered to be shipped to Singapore. My poly friend has already decided which place to go from 1st of March until 4th. We will go to Pha An, the capital of Karen state in Myanmar. He has bought the express tickets for three, me, him and another poly friend and booked a hotel for two nights. We are leaving Yangon at 8:30pm on 1st of March and we will be reaching Pha An next day early morning. The journey from Yangon to Pha An usually takes about 7 to 8 hours. I do not want to plan for this trip and I will follow my friend's plan. He used to travel quite often, so there won't be any problem with his plan.
One of my friends also offered to borrow his camera which is quite good and expensive one. At first, I like to accept and said yes. But when I think about taking his camera, I feel a bit of burden and the trip is quite a long one and anything can happen. I said to him that I rather take my two cameras which is not high end but just normal point and shoot ones. One I got from Carrousel which is something like eBay in Singapore with 50 dollars. Another one is someone's who lived in our house. Yes, our house is a home for many students from Myanmar. When a friend moves from the house, a few of his belongings are always abandoned or be forgotten inside the house. I cannot recall whose camera is it. Those two cameras will serve their purpose.
I also applied leave for 28th Feb since I haven't packed and I do not like to start my long break with a hurry. Me and my friends have a date on that evening. It has been so long that I am not going out for drinks at a bar. I want to say that my long break starts officially on that night. Some of my friends do not know that I am going to become a monk a year after this trip. I think I will tell them when we are going out for drinks tonight. I do not worry that they will be surprised because this is not the first time that I told them about how I am going to become a monk.
Yeah, it's true when I started to realise that I changed, I resigned from a very good company and went back to Myanmar. That time also, I let all my friends know about it. We did all gathered at my house and drank alcohol and tried to talk about it. They asked so many questions why,why,why? I tried to answer and give reasons to myself and their questions as I can. They cannot understand me and I am not trying to make them understand. At that time, my reason was simple. I was 23 years old and when they ask about whether I am sure about my decision. I told them that how can you be sure that you have not actually tried being a monk. So I simply wanted to become a monk for a year or two and decide whether I can stay as a monk for my whole life or not. If I do not enjoy the monkhood after a year or two, I can always request back to being a normal person. But if I did not do it at that time, I may always wonder what if, for my whole life. The plan did not go well because I did not let my family know about it. I did became a monk for 3 days because my mom planned dad, me and my elder brother to become monks for a few days according to Myanmar traditions. One of the common goals of all Myanmar mothers is to make their sons a monk for a few days at least once in her life. Monkhood is very rare and it's a special opportunity to become a mother of a monk even just for a short period in religious point of view. I went back to Myanmar and followed as she planned. My family thought that I just took leave to come back and become a monk for a few days. To become a monk, you need the parents permission and wife's permission if you are married. Otherwise, you cannot attain the monkhood.
My plan is to stay as a monk for a year but I do not want to manipulate them into saying yes for the permission to become a monk. That three day of monkhood was quite terrible experience for me because I was keeping a big secret. So I decided to end it and let them know about my plan to become a monk for a year or two or may be permanent. The reaction from them was also as terrible as I expected. They are not religious people and they totally disagreed with my plan and they did not let me do do it. We fought each other by shooting sharp and loud words into each other's ears. We mean me against three of my family members. There is nobody on my side. I said very hurtful words to them and I really meant it at that time. I said they are not fair to me that they were very proud of me when I was doing according to what they wanted and they should be the same when I was about to do what I want. Somemore my wish is not a bad wish and it is a very good and very simple wish. Now while I am writing this diary, I am not even sure about how I had written of having a normal childhood in the first page. I the main character in the outsider,a famous noble is perfectly normal to me and that makes me realise being normal is not that simple. Am I not normal or am I being an outsider too in this society? I do not care to answer those questions.
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