For many years now, holidays for me have been memory snapshots of past events, vivid but distant.
The Himalayas: riding up and up a mountain path through lichen festooned forests on the back of a stately mule with seductively long lashes; sitting down on a grassy slope looking down at misty, shadowy lands, eating a lunch of hard boiled eggs and parched rice; wandering from Buddhist monasteries to Hindu temples in Kathmandu, then ending up in a small coffee shop famous for its American brownies; shooting the rapids on a raft; sighting a tiger from the back of an elephant while munching sour Indian gooseberries plucked from wild bushes; watching an enactment of the dance of death performed with mesmerizing slow steps by Tibetan monks in the North East Frontier Area of India. In a schloss overlooking a Swiss lake, enjoying delicious food of which the daily highlight was homemade rosehip jam for tea. On a canal boat meandering along the waterways of England, family dog perched on the roof, surveying the green views with absolute serenity. Camping on the empty sands of Tiree with the wide Scots gray ocean stretching away to where a few seals played.
The images are amazingly full of life and color but there is a quality of unreality about each and every one. It was therefore unsurprising that when my son Htein Lin (Kim) arrived on my birthday in June and said he was going to take me away on a holiday it seemed to me a somewhat unreal proposition.
After some discussion and thought however, I decided that a short holiday, the first in more than 20 years, was not unreasonable. So we set about planning. With the full force of the monsoons at play the choice of the central region of the country, the 'dry zone,' was a practical one. There was Mandalay from which the last king of Burma had been removed by British troops in the late 19th century.
Or there was Pagan, the ancient capital where some thousand pagodas remain as witness to long vanished glory and raise tantalizing questions as to the driving force behind such a manifestation of excess construction energy: was it piety or prosperity or pride or various combinations of the three?
Pagan was the choice we made without any difficulty. The many temples and stupas of the old city attract both tourists and pilgrims but during this time of year there would be few visitors and we could enjoy some days of peace and rest.
Since this would not be the first visit to Pagan for either of us, we did not intend to go around many of the religious monuments, we would only go to the places that had a special significance for me. The most important thing was to find a place where Kim and I and our dog Taichito (there was no question of leaving him behind if this was to be a family holiday) could be happy and comfortable.
The ideal place was found for us by U Khun Tha Myint. I shall have to make a small diversion here.
U Khun Tha Myint is the younger brother of U Han Tha Myint, a member of the Central Executive Committee of the National League for Democracy (NLD) party, who was elected as the representative of the town of Butalin in the general elections of 1990 with an overwhelming 80 percent of the votes cast. Ko Han Tha and Ko Khun Tha's father and my father became friends and associates when they started the politicization of the Rangoon University Students' Union in the 1930s. The politics of U Thein Pe Myint and my father were not always in harmony and it could be said that toward the last phase of the independence movement they were more adversaries than friends.
Yet they both left behind a legacy of respect for differing views and of freedom from prejudice and resentment that has enabled us, their progeny, to work together as colleagues and comrades bound together by shared values and, not to be underrated, a shared sense of humor.
Ko Khun Tha came forward to help me when I was in Insein Jail in 2009 and in need of an architect to undertake the proposed renovations to my house. After I was transferred from jail to house arrest the work on the house started and Ko Khun Tha, as architect, and two other friends, Ko Htin Kyaw and Ko Ni, as my appointed representative and my general supervisor, came daily over the months necessary to complete the renovations. Ko Htin Kyaw and Ko Ni too are connected to me through our respective fathers who had known one another at Rangoon University. I shall write more about the sons and fathers (and mothers) another time but suffice it to say here that as a result of these old ties I have been blessed with assistance, help and friendship. Ko Khun Tha who started out as my architect has been obliged, willy-nilly, to take on the responsibilities of security officer, dog trainer, emergency driver and, during the last fortnight, travel agent and holiday organizer.
Ko Khun Tha's choice of the Bagan Hotel for our group (there were 16 of us) could not have been happier. It is within easy reach of some of the most famous historical and religious monuments, it is a place of comfort and beauty and, most important of all, the staff are courteous and well-trained and possess a special talent for making guests feel truly welcome and cherished.
(By Aung San Suu Kyi)
(Mainichi Japan) July 19, 2011
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