I'm not going to plagiarize, but the title comes from a book written by a local Burmese. He is one of the lucky ones that had a good education and great exposure.
The story of Burma or as it is called today Myanmar, is a fascinating one. It started with a few merchants who went to India and met with Siddhartha Gautama or universally known as the Buddha. During their visit they were given three strands of hair to carry home to their homeland.
Today, there are three Pagoda's that stands from that three strands of hair. That is Shwe Dagon Pagoda, Kyauk Ka Lat, and Golden Rock.
My journey in Myanmar since the early 2011 prior to the lifting of sanctions and it has been the greatest joy to help them with their sanctions and promote investments, change of policies, and to watch Myanmar turn democratic.
Many do not know why it was changed from Burma to Myanmar. It actually is simple. Burma, as it was called by the British, only signifies the Burman people/race. It was later changed to Myanmar to signify the unity of the various races in Myanmar like the Burman, Chin, Kachin, Karen(Kayin), Kayah, Mon, Arakanese(a story for another day), and Shan. These are the primary Races in Myanmar. Please forgive me if I have missed out any, it is without intention and I'm writing straight from my memories. As for the Rohingya, I will leave the story for my last chapter.
Before I continue, I would like to pay tribute to one of my mentors, this person in my opinion significantly contributed to Myanmar's development. He is a rural development expert from Malaysia, a Chinese Muslim, Mr. Hishamuddin Koh. Once was working for our Past prime minister, helped developed Sabah, then he went on to develop Gold Coast, Australia, and after that he stepped into Myanmar and fell in love with the country. He decided to stay on even though sanctions were placed on them during the 80's and this picture was taken in 2018 which was one of the last time I saw him. Although he was 92 at that time, but his mind was as sharp as a young fellow. He passed Aug 2021 may his soul rest in peace.
I will break this journey down into a few chapters as I have been there for quite some time but unfortunately I lost one of my laptops and a ton of pictures were missing.
It is unfortunate that I couldn't take a better picture as it was almost dark and this was the best my camera could do.
Last but not least, the magical Golden Rock.
Next chapter, we will explore various cities and states in the country. It is with my deepest desires to see them attain normalcy again.
To be Continued...
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