Here I am, after an epic journey 24 hours I returned to the fold. 25 days in Myanmar, 8 days in Cambodia. I took a disproportionate number of photos taken with the ballpoint pen and a notebook full of messy notes, I hope to raccapezzarmici. I could not write directly on the road, the Internet does not work in Burma and in any case almost never limit you can only access mail, everything else is inaccessible, "access denied", clear, dramatic political choice of the incumbent government and then Frankly I was destroyed in the evening, just the energy to load and save photos on my laptop of the day, but in Cambodia there is no problem with virtual communication, but now I had organized differently and with 38 degrees in the shade rate Humidity 90%, the meninges were steamed. When the stomach is full, because it is made indigestion experiences, encounters, landscapes, emotions, it takes a known time to digest and settle, the reworking of the experience is not a quick process and I will take as long as necessary, in the meantime I'm just very first budget to blow hot. Before leaving the words of a friend have been: - you'll love this trip to death-and he was right, the experience was extraordinary. Worlds that I totally ignored if not through magazines and reading, my first encounter with a Buddhist majority country, great wealth and variety of landscapes, ethnicities, lifestyles, traditions, mentality, food, a constant surprise, I felt like Alice in Wonderland, a wonder that has never failed. And while we are warning you now Henry, not reading my notes Burmese, will be too honeyed to his liking. I know that I love to read, we've known for a lifetime, but he hardened cynic like my writing too sentimental, would like more concise, essential, caustic, but I can not please him, I liked this trip too , trasuderà adjectives and enthusiasm from every pore.
What is the absolute first thing that comes to mind? That What I brought home and heart? I reply without hesitating a moment SMILE , and write it in capital letters and bold. Particularly in Myanmar, more complex and troubled history of Cambodia, I will write later, I was struck by his smile. In Burma it is all smile. First the smiling Buddha in every nook and cranny of the country, thousands and thousands of sculptures, paintings and performances in pagodas, monasteries, small altars in front of the door of every house, building, hut or Canadian to be. Master Gautama Buddha omnipresent smiles and reminds every man the way to be free of pain and suffering.
invite a smile on his monks and the nuns respond at once, young and beautiful all dressed in pink once or twice a week to go around, from house to house, door humbly to door collecting food in the cheapest of the faithful, can not own anything from the next and depend for their livelihood.
smiles nature in a great country where nothing is missing, very high peaks, hills, plateaus, lakes, rivers, plains, rainforests, ocean. Humans and animals live rhythms from a clock that seems to have no hands, but only the day and night, the dry season and the rainy season, time of sowing and the crop. Smiling women, often do not understand why, as though there would always. They seem to smile so simply for nothing, because look, because they look at you, because life is hard and perhaps better addressed with a smile.
Smile children their childhood so different from that of our parts. Always share the home life, hard work, and everyone must contribute, too. The school is not compulsory nor free, in a predominantly agricultural country for many still a luxury that we can not afford it, the more care even if very small children, with nothing to play, a piece of wood, petal of a flower, in streets, fields, water, in the dust.
Delicious, sweet, attentive to our every need and of course become a friend, smiled throughout the Travel Alex, our guide. At our first meeting I thought it was Peruvian, are ethnic Kayah, one of the eight major "ethnic families" that make the people of Burma. Just to give a remote idea of \u200b\u200bhuman wealth, we think that there are 135 ethnic subgroups, each of which has its own customs, traditions, religious beliefs and heritage town. Look for a minimum guideline for us to understand was a colossal mess. From two generations Alex and his family are Catholic, 80% of the population of the tiny Kayah state where he lives is. Christians account for 5% of the 50 million inhabitants. His great-grandmother was still Padaung, this tribe of the mountains known for its women wear rings around their necks. Missionaries, Carthusians I seem to remember, arrived in Burma in the nineteenth century have done their usual work of the apostolate and conversion (which I have always deprecated), but they also represented an extraordinary opportunity for education and acculturation. Alex went to school in their missions, has been able to attend university, also came to study in Italy and speaks excellent Italian, this path impossible without their contribution in the isolated context in which he lived.
Finally, caught and brainwashed by the General smile, even the My traveling companion Gaston has exhibited throughout the trip a stainless colgate smile. Thank you, as it has always been a terrific travel companion.
I have long questioned the rationale behind this smile, beautiful free gift, attitude, approach to the world. I think the Buddhist training it is the hub ... Provided it remains, to them, to me, to all of us!
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