I just finished book number eleven, "Hark and Harold Angel Sing". And, I think it has some of my best illustrations out of any of my books so far. Since I don't have any murals lined up, after all, the world is only barely starting to open up, I decided that it might be time to write another folk tale book. I wanted to do one from a corner of the world that I have not yet done. I first thought of Paraguay. I have a tale, The Legend of the Waterfall, that I absolutely love. It's kind of a Romeo and Juliet tale with poisoned arrows, people hacked to death with axes, and pretty much everyone dies in the end. Yes, it's a gruesome tale, but I had a kind of "Princess Bride" mojo in mind as I wrote the story. It's laugh out loud funny and simply not acceptable for a children's book. So, I opted for a tale from Burma.
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I love Burma.
a vase worth trading forI first went to Burma in the early 90's just after it opened up to the West. The Burmese people were so very friendly and so hungry for anything from the outside world. I traded every stitch of clothing not on my back for lacquerware and other treasures. I've never had that kind of experience anywhere else. One of my best treasures was a huge vase, about as wide as my outstretched arms. The shopkeeper said it was made by his father, who had recently died. I said that he couldn't sell it; he had to save this heirloom! But, the man wanted to sell it to me. If I remember correctly, I bought the vase for $5 and a backpack. He knew I would treasure it. And, he knew I would send him photographs of the vase when I arrived home. (Of course, I did.)
My favorite place in Burma is Bagan, a UNESCO Heritage Site just stuffed full of historic pagodas of enormous size. And, it's where you get your lacquerware while in Burma. There were not many tourists in the area when I visited. So, while I climbed around the pagodas (taking limited photos in the days of film photography), I was easily discovered by a charming local kid, about eight years old, who wanted to hone his English skills. Aung Aung was delightful. I know he had to meet many, many people in Bagan. I was just one among the crowds. But, for my travel experience, he was one of my highlights in Bagan.
One of so many Bagan pagodasI returned to Bagan about five years later, and there were a lot more tourists and a lot less bartering. Of course, I wanted to see if I could locate Aung Aung. And, my search was successful. A very polite teenager invited me into his home. His parents welcomed me with a traditional Burmese meal and a wonderful experience was shared by all. One of my sweetest memories was the day I left Bagan. Aung Aung and his mother met me at the hotel to send me off. And, they presented me with a golden lacqureware vase that I have treasured ever since.
I've never heard from him since. I really had no way to contact him. And, I've always wondered what happened to this kid.
So, these were all the thoughts going through my mind as I selected "The Frog Princess - A Cinderella Tale from Burma" as my next project. I dug out my old travel journal to see if I had a mailing address for Aung Aung. I didn't. But, I did have an address for the Golden Cuckoo Lacquerware Shop in New Bagan. Well, the world has changed since the early 90s. The store now has a Facebook page and I decided to write to them. New Bagan couldn't be that big. There was a very good chance that they had to know Aung Aung. I even threw in the name of his parents. With the message sent, I went to bed.
Well, there was a pleasant surprise in the morning. I had very positive communication with a guy from the lacquerware shop. He was the son of the man I traded with for my vase so long ago. I sent the merchant photos of his father with my vase. He couldn't believe how young his father was. Truth be told, this all happened before the son was born. I assured him I knew all about time marching on.
On top of that, the people at the store were well acquainted with my friend Aung Aung. It appears that their store had expanded since my days there. They also gave tours in and around Bagan. And, Aung Aung sometimes worked for them as a tour guide. It would be a perfect job for him. He continued to hone his English in the years since I met him.
Aung Aung in red with Anderson CooperThe lacquerware man passed my information on to Aung Aung, but as I expected, he didn't recognize my name. How could he? But, it didn't stop him from communicating with me on Facebook. And, he explored all over my blog. I sent him a few of my Burmese photos and told him about my two visits, meeting his family, a Burmese meal and his parting gift. He remembered all that right away. So, we exchanged telephone numbers for a face-to-face WhatsApp conversation after oh, so many years. How many years? I'm not sure, but he is now thirty-eight.
In catching up a bit, Aung Aung worked as a travel guide among other things. I told him I am one of the most non-famous guests he ever met in Bagan. But, after looking at his Facebook page, I saw that he had hosted one of the most famous tourists ever to come to the area, Anderson Cooper. However, all of this was before Covid hit the planet. People in Burma are suffering just like everywhere else. None, zero, zip tourists come to Burma these days. He has no job, no income, and not a lot of hope for the near future. Currently he is residing in a monastery as a Buddhist monk. His English is completely self-taught by his interactions with tourists. And, while at the monastery, he has taught an English course to local children. The kids worked at the family farm by day, and thirty-five of them came to his class from six to eight in the evening. I had to ask. When you teach classes at a monastery, there are no behavior problems.
I learned something new about Buddhist monks in my conversation. They eat twice a day. The first meal is breakfast and the second one is lunch at noon. They eat nothing else the rest of the day. I would lose some needed pounds if I were a monk.
Anyway, needless to say, my next book is going to be a tale from Burma. I'm now going to have much more frequent communication with Aung Aung. Once every thirty years or so is not satisfactory. And, when I finish my folk tale book, he will be one of the first people to see it.
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