Myanmar - yes you can visit, see the Gems Museum

I met this gentleman at Vinexpo in Singapore. He is from Myanmar. I thought the country was at war and tourists could not visit it. He tells a different and hopeful story, especially for potential tourists to the country.

Yes, you can still visit it. The capital and country are 70 per cent is safe, and anyway you won't be allowed to visit the army areas. So says Nya.n, That is his first name, they don't have family names. 

He is the sommelier, wine expert, at Seeds, in the capital, Yangon. You  might recall that, once upon a time, Yangon was called Rangoon.

What does this sommelier advise on ordering drinks in his restaurant? When there, you can order a sparkling cocktail.  Local drinks to go with your meal are made from international grapes, planted locally. 

The food will contain local ingredients are lemon grass, p a n d a n  (my spell checker wants to change this to pendant) and Burmese coriander which is different. In your dessert an ingredient might be palm sugar, jaggery. 

Coffee is grown locally, in Shan, state, that is a mountain dry area.  

The national dish is the soup eaten for breakfast.

The dessert 

The dessert contains coconut milk. Pandan and jaggery.

Seeds restaurants based on the idea of the seed pattern, on jewellery which they sell. The atmosphere is tranquil and with Michelin star chef and extra tastes (French word amuse gueles) thrown in for free this is a luxury restaurant with European and international dishes, top service and prices which make it suitable for special occasions such as anniversaries, birthdays, date nights.

After eating breakfast, before eating lunch and dinner, you could visit a pagoda, a Buddha, a gem museum, a synagogue museum a green WW1 and WW2 cemetery..

 

Useful Websites

https://www.seedsyangon.com/gallery/branded-items

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractions-g294191-Activities-Yangon_Rangoon_Yangon_Region.html

A look at Myanmar (Burma) Buddhist and Other National Days

You probably know of one person from Burma or Myanmar. Aung San Suu Kyi.

Myanmar is often still called Burma. The national religion is Buddhism. When will your friends from Burma be busy or thinking about home? When should you be sending them greetings? When can you ask them to give a speech about their national days, which have just passed or are upcoming?

National Days

(This was compiled in Nov 2022. Please check for updates.)

2021

Dec 25 Xmas Saturday

Dec 31 New Year Friday

JANUARY - 

Jan 1 New Year's Day (Saturday)

4 Independence Day (Tuesday)

FEB 

Feb 12 National Day (Saturday) and FEB 14 Monday  in lieu

MAR

Peasants' Day

Mar 27 Sunday Armed Forces Day (called Tatmadaw day, and Mar 28 Monday in lieu) 

APR

13-16 Water Festival

17 Burmese New Year

MAY 1 and 2 (Sunday, and Monday in lieu)

May 16 Buddha's Birthday (Full Moon day of Kasong)

JUN - None

JUL

Jul 13 Beginning of Buddhist Lent

July 19 Martyr's Day

AUG - None

SEPT

OCT

Oct 24 Deepavali (or called Diwali) subject to change

NOV

Nov 18 National Day

DEC

25 Xmas Sunday

31 New Year Saturday

 Useful Websites

https://publicholidays.asia/myanmar/2022-dates/

https://www.officeholidays.com/countries/myanmar/2022

About the Author of this blog, Author Angela Lansbury

BIOGRAPHY

Angela Lansbury B A Hons ACG ALB PM5 EH5 DL5 VC5 
The Author of several books, including  Etiquette For Every Occasion. Wedding Speeches & Toasts. How to be the Best Man. Quick Quotations. Who Said What When.

Blogs travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com

translateforfun.blogspot.com

Braddell Heights Advanced Toastmasters Speakers Club Vice President Public Relations (VPPR), Previous President

Join BHA 1st Wednesday 7pm and 3rd Saturday 2 pm Singapore time 

Vice President Public Relations (VP PR) of Tampines Changkat Advanced;

Secretary of weekly online Singapore International Dynamic Toastmasters Speakers’ Club;

Member and past president of Harrovians toastmasters club, UK; Past member of HOD Toastmasters, London. Past member in Singapore of: Toastmasters Club of Singapore (TCS); Tiarel; and Senja Cashew.

More details from Toastmasters International find a club.

Regular attendee at annual Swanwick Writers’ School, England.

Regular attendee at annual Writers’ Holiday, Wales.

Contributor to poetry readings, and after tea courses on: Speaking On Radio To Promote Books; and Plots And Character.

Winner of many club and area speaking contests in the UK and Singapore.

Language advisor to Empire Toastmasters club in Indonesia.

Language and speech workshops in Singapore.

Speaker on radio and TV in England, Scotland, the USA, and Australia.

Compiler of a school course on public speaking for teachers to prepare pupils for school open days with attending ceremonies before government ministers, Singapore.

Former member of Harrow Writers’ Circle, London, and two writing groups in Singapore.

Angela is on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Twitter. She would be delighted to link up with new friends.

I  also have a blog on comic poems.

 Please share links to your favourite posts. 

More Myanmar (Burma) Photos

 

Giant reclining Buddha. Myanmar (Burma). From Wikipedia.

The major religion is Buddhism.

One legged rowing on the Lake Inle. This reminds me of when I was a child on a scooter. I used to push along with my right foot on the ground. 

To get your head around the layout of the land, think of it as a dog's head looking to the sea on the left. The long thisn neck is in the south. Going north, the first city you come to used to be known as Rangoon.

Useful Websites

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burmese_language

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burmese_respelling_of_the_English_alphabet

The numbers one to ten are easier to recognize and learn, in this website:

https://wikitravel.org/en/Burmese_phrasebook

https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Myanmar

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Myanmar

About the author

(About the Author of this blog, Author Angela Lansbury)

BIOGRAPHY

Angela Lansbury B A Hons ACG ALB PM5 EH5 DL5 VC5 
The Author of several books, including  Etiquette For Every Occasion. Wedding Speeches & Toasts. How to be the Best Man. Quick Quotations. Who Said What When.

Blogs travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com

translateforfun.blogspot.com

Braddell Heights Advanced Toastmasters Speakers Club Vice President Public Relations (VPPR), Previous President

Join BHA 1st Wednesday 7pm and 3rd Saturday 2 pm Singapore time 

Vice President Public Relations (VP PR) of Tampines Changkat Advanced;

Secretary of weekly online Singapore International Dynamic Toastmasters Speakers’ Club;

Member and past president of Harrovians toastmasters club, UK; Past member of HOD Toastmasters, London. Past member in Singapore of: Toastmasters Club of Singapore (TCS); Tiarel; and Senja Cashew.

More details from Toastmasters International find a club.

Regular attendee at annual Swanwick Writers’ School, England.

Regular attendee at annual Writers’ Holiday, Wales.

Contributor to poetry readings, and after tea courses on: Speaking On Radio To Promote Books; and Plots And Character.

Winner of many club and area speaking contests in the UK and Singapore.

Language advisor to Empire Toastmasters club in Indonesia.

Language and speech workshops in Singapore.

Speaker on radio and TV in England, Scotland, the USA, and Australia.

Compiler of a school course on public speaking for teachers to prepare pupils for school open days with attending ceremonies before government ministers, Singapore.

Former member of Harrow Writers’ Circle, London, and two writing groups in Singapore.

Angela is on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Twitter. She would be delighted to link up with new friends.

I  also have a blog on comic poems.

 Please share links to your favourite posts.

Burma or Myanmar - What Armchair Travellers Need to Know and See

 I have a Burmese or Myanmar national in a Toastmasters club. I began wondering which national holidays she might be celebrating, so that I could include them in a calendar of events for 2022 and meeting themes.

Burma is the old name for the country, now called Myanmar, but Burma is still used. Here is the flag.

It has yellow, green and red horizontal stripes, very colourful and  jolly. The colours are made more pronounced by the contrasting five-pointed white star in the centre.

The yellow symbolizes solidarity. Green means peace and lush greenery. Red represents determination. The white star stands for unity.

I had to rename the flag with both of the country's names, Burma and Myanmar, because I could not find it saved on my computer.

The country is large, huge. 

Cities, Sights and Landmarks

Golden Rock, Burma/Myanmar

Myanmar/Burma, Mount Popa

The language looks very pretty, all curves, but very difficult.

Numbers[edit]

Burmese numbers follow the Arabic system of numerals.

0 

၀ (thoun-nya)သုည

1 

၁ (tit)တစ်

2 

၂ (hni)နှစ်

3 

၃ (thoun)သုံး

4 

၄ (lei)လေး

5 

၅ (nga)ငါး

6 

၆ (chao)ခြောက်

7 

၇ (kun hni)ခုနှစ်

8 

၈ (shit)ရှစ်

9 

၉ (koe)ကိုး

10 

၁၀ (se)ဆယ်

11 

၁၁ (seh-tit)ဆယ့်တစ်

Useful Websites

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burmese_language

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burmese_respelling_of_the_English_alphabet

The numbers one to ten are easier to recognize and learn, in this website:

https://wikitravel.org/en/Burmese_phrasebook

https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Myanmar

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Myanmar

About the author

(About the Author of this blog, Author Angela Lansbury)

BIOGRAPHY

Angela Lansbury B A Hons ACG ALB PM5 EH5 DL5 VC5 
The Author of several books, including  Etiquette For Every Occasion. Wedding Speeches & Toasts. How to be the Best Man. Quick Quotations. Who Said What When.

Blogs travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com

translateforfun.blogspot.com

Braddell Heights Advanced Toastmasters Speakers Club Vice President Public Relations (VPPR), Previous President

Join BHA 1st Wednesday 7pm and 3rd Saturday 2 pm Singapore time 

Vice President Public Relations (VP PR) of Tampines Changkat Advanced;

Secretary of weekly online Singapore International Dynamic Toastmasters Speakers’ Club;

Member and past president of Harrovians toastmasters club, UK; Past member of HOD Toastmasters, London. Past member in Singapore of: Toastmasters Club of Singapore (TCS); Tiarel; and Senja Cashew.

More details from Toastmasters International find a club.

Regular attendee at annual Swanwick Writers’ School, England.

Regular attendee at annual Writers’ Holiday, Wales.

Contributor to poetry readings, and after tea courses on: Speaking On Radio To Promote Books; and Plots And Character.

Winner of many club and area speaking contests in the UK and Singapore.

Language advisor to Empire Toastmasters club in Indonesia.

Language and speech workshops in Singapore.

Speaker on radio and TV in England, Scotland, the USA, and Australia.

Compiler of a school course on public speaking for teachers to prepare pupils for school open days with attending ceremonies before government ministers, Singapore.

Former member of Harrow Writers’ Circle, London, and two writing groups in Singapore.

Angela is on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Twitter. She would be delighted to link up with new friends.

I  also have a blog on comic poems.

 Please share links to your favourite posts.

Bhutan, Burma (Myanmar), Laos , which is which and what to wear, see, buy, eat and drink

 

Bhutan

Flag of Bhutan

The religion is Buddhism. The royal family introduced the idea of measuring happiness instead of income, an idea which has spread worldwide.

What to see?

Hillside forts.

Festivals with masked dancers.

(Burma) Myanmar)

MYANMAR (Burma)

Like Bombay becoming Mumbai, Burma becoming Myanmar is confusing to tourists. In this country's case the naming system is futher complicated by the fact that not everybody recognizes the new names.

Wiki explains:

The person you are most likely to know of is Aung San Sui Kyi. The coup in 2021 has put this place off limits for tourists, and left people from that country now overseas worried and unable to go home to their families.

On the other hand, most countries are inaccessible, and the coup has brought the country to the attention of the media, so why not look at the tourist attractions we might one day be allowed to visit.

Aung San Suu Kyi, like other Burmese names, includes no surname, but is only a personal name, in her case derived from three relatives: "Aung San" from her father, "Suu" from her paternal grandmother, and "Kyi" from her mother Khin Kyi.^[18]

The Burmese refer to her as Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. Daw, literally meaning "aunt", is not part of her name but is an honorific for any older and revered woman, akin to "Madam".^[19] Burmese sometimes address her as Daw Suu or Amay Suu ("Mother Suu").^{[20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27]}

Tourist Sites

Capital city.

Mandalay

Temple of the largest book - inscribed on the stupas, white buildings. What is a stupa? The stupa ( from Sanskrit for heap) is an important form of Buddhist architecture, though it predates Buddhism. It is generally a sepulchral monument—a place of burial or a receptacle for religious objects. At its simplest, a stupa is a dirt burial mound faced with stone.

Mandalay - city, former capital, made famous in a poem. Square thin tall tower built for Queen Victoria occasion, Gold bejewelled Buddha off limits to women.

The Rudyard Kipling poem recalls the statue and reminisces about the Burmese girl he met there, and the palm trees and the bells and bay and the dawn from China across the bay.

Description	English: Ku Tho Taw Pagoda & Sandar Muni Pagoda, Mandalay
Date	9 September 2018 (according to Exif data)
Source	Own work
Author	Heinz_Htetz

Jade market

Teak monastery.

Pottery city.

Laos

Flag of Laos

Laos is landlocked. Surrounding countries are Cambodia, China, Burma (now called Myanmar), Vietnam.

The capital of Laos is Vientiane, which, as you can see is on the border with Thailand.

A major site is the huge golden temple with many bulbous golden roof sections.

Vientiane is actually pronounced "Wieng Chan", and the letter x is always read as an "s".

The three main attractions are:

1 the gilded temple in the capital which is the national symbol, 

2 the plain of jars, and 

3 another temple.

Otherwise lots of outdoor activities, waterfalls and caves.

Like Cambodia, you will see tuk-tuks.

Wikivoyage says

Lao food is very similar to that eaten in the northeastern Isaan region of Thailand: very spicy, more often bitter than sweet, and using lots of fresh herbs and vegetables served raw. Some of the raw vegetables can be used to cool your mouth when the chilis are overwhelming.

Rice is the staple carbohydrate. The standard kind is sticky rice (ເຂົ້າໜຽວkhao niaow), eaten by hand from small baskets called tip khao. Using your right hand, never your left, pinch off a bit, roll into a ball, dip and munch away.

The national dish is laap (ລາບ, also larb), a "salad" of minced meat mixed with herbs, spices, lime juice and, more often than not, blistering amounts of chili. Unlike Thai larb, the Lao version can use raw meat (dip) instead of cooked meat (suk), and if prepared with seafood makes a tasty, if spicy, carpaccio.

Another Lao invention is tam maak hung (ຕໍາຫມາກຫຸ່ງ), the spicy green papaya salad known as som tam in Thailand, but which the Lao like to dress with fermented crab (ປູດອງ pudem) and a chunky, intense fish sauce called pa daek (ປາແດກ), resulting in a stronger flavour than the milder, sweeter Thai style. Other popular dishes include ping kai, spicy grilled chicken, and mok pa, fish steamed in a banana leaf.

Laos also boasts a range of local desserts. Kanom kok is a small, spherical pudding made from coconut milk, tapioca and ground rice. Sang kaya mayru is a pumpkin filled with a sweet custard and then steamed. The pumpkin itself is also sweet, and the resulting mixture can be quite delicious. Sticky rice with mango or durian is also a popular snack.

In addition to purely Lao food, culinary imports from other countries are common. Khao jii pat-te, French baguettes stuffed with pâté, and foe (pho) noodles from China are both ubiquitous snacks particularly popular at breakfast. Foe can refer to thin rice noodles (Vietnamese pho), and to the wide flat noodles that would be called guay tiow in Thailand.

Drink[edit]

Sunset and Beerlao by the Mekong, Vientiane

The national drink of Laos is the ubiquitous and tasty Beerlao, made with Laotian jasmine rice and one of the few Lao exports. It maintains an almost mythical status among travellers and beer aficionados. The yellow logo with its tiger-head silhouette can be seen everywhere, and a large 640 ml bottle shouldn't cost more than 10,000 to 15,000 kip in restaurants. It's available in three versions: original (5%), dark (6.5%) and light (2.9%). The brewery claims they have 99% market share.

Rice spirit, known as lao-lao, is everywhere,

Beerlau is rice beer. The Beerlau website's history page describes Laos as a luscious landlocked land, forgotten jewel of Far East Asia..

WARY WARNINGS - STAY SAFE

The warnings on Wikivoyage include dengue fever, drinking only bottled water, avoiding drugs - which can incur the death penalty as in other neighbouring countries including Malaysia and Singapore, and more.

Interstingly women must not touch monks (and vice versa), some of them won't talk to tohers, although they speak the language, and they don't accept money, only food which women place on the ground in front of them, so monks demanding money are imposters. Enough to dent my desire to go there immediately and be happy that I am forced by Covid-19 to postpone my next trip indefinitely and stay safe at home and to simply enjoy the pleasure of reading all about the attraction and admiring the photos and dreaming of the food, which I shall hunt out online.

Sounds very similar to the temples of Cambodia, and the communism of Vietnam, and the cuisine of Thailand, not surprisingly when the history of the countries is intermingled.

Laos Dress

To end on a happy note, from a woman's point of view, in addition to the calm yet exhilarating colours of the gold temples and orange robed monks, the national dress for women of sarongs and conical hats is most appealing.

The shawl is called a sbai.

SINGAPORE

Singapore has several restaurants which serve Lao food or a mixed menu of food from Laos and another country. When the dining restrictions are lifted I shall eat at a Lao restaurant or get a member of my family to collect a take away to try it out.

Useful Websites

BHUTAN

https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Bhutan

BURMA / MYANMAR

MYANMAR (Burma)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myanmar

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aung_San_Suu_Kyi

LAOS

https://www.yelp.com/search?find_desc=Laotian+Food&find_loc=Kampong+Bukit+Panjang+67%2C+Singapore

https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Laos

Light and dark Beerlao

http://www.authentic-beerlao.co.uk/

Other beerlao websites for other countries.

Australia delivery

https://www.danmurphys.com.au/product/DM_ER_1000004677_BEERLAO/beerlao-lager-330ml

Other beers and beer places in Singapore.

https://www.ramblingfeet.net/singapore-craft-beer-bars-map-review/

About the Author

Angela Lansbury, is a semi-retired travel writer still researching bucket list countries and seeking out the special, unusual, people, places,  landmarks, hotels, museums and trails, fabulous foods, recipes, clothes and online souvenir shopping.

Angela Lansbury is a member of Toastmasters International.

About the Author Angela Lansbury

The Author - Quick Quotations

Angela Lansbury B A Hons  is the author of ten books by regular publishers plus another ten self-published books. 

About Angela The Speaker & Trainer

Angela Lansbury is a teacher of English and other languages to Toastmasters clubs and businesses.

Braddell Heights Advanced Toastmasters Speakers Vice President  Public Relations, Immediate Past President. VPPR

Former Area Director S3. Club Coach for Nee Soon South Toastmasters Club.

Also Member of: TCA Toastmasters Club; Singapore Online Dynamic; Harrovians UK

Past meetings have included Garen Tee on using story telling in business, on 

bha.learncool.sg/meet/bha . 

Recent meetings of BHA included an educational session on using Powerpoint for posters.

Next BHA meetings, always first Wednesday evening, 7 pm Singapore time. Next meeting is  the third Saturday afternoon, June 19th 2pm Singapore time.  Inauguration of the new committee by the incoming Director of S, plus a lively speech on teamwork.

 

Angela The Blogger 

Angela has several blogs speeches, comedy and song writing and organizing, writing intermittently, but writes almost daily on these three:

travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com

translateforfun.blogspot.com

See many varied posts such as the post on sculptor Tom Harvey.

Please share links to your favourite posts. 

How To Talk About Countries You Don't Know : Practise At Travel Table Topics On The Hand Bridge in Vietnam And Tongue-tied Speakers

Photo of hand bridge in Vietnam.

By Trung Le [CC BY 2.0  (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Table Topics
Traditionally picked from a table
For practising impromptu speeches.

I imagine many Singaporeans of all ages have crossed the bridge into Malaysia.  However, when shown pictures of Myanmar, Brunei, Vietnam, the speakers who had not visited these countries found little to say.

The speakers were picked by a senior member, volunteered, I presume to give newcomers a chance to speak and encourage them to join. Usually you start with an experienced speaker to demonstrate to newcomers how to deal with a question.

The question is

WOULD YOU LIKE TO VISIT THIS COUNTRY AND WHY?

The speaker is totally non-plussed. Racks brain. Stands with their back to the audience, looking at the picture.

What can be done?
The topics master can explain ways of answering. 

What was done at the time?

Somebody said, "Say what you like to visit on a holiday".

Other ways of dealing with it:

Engage the questioner:

Discuss why you think the questioner chose this topic. He wants to go there? He is looking for a companion for travels? 

Speaker is too busy studying - but might have more time later.

Student can't afford it. Yes, I'd go there if you paid my fare. 

Holidays are normally spent with family.

Discuss how you normally spend holidays.

Discuss dream destinations. Look at the elements of the picture. Discuss what you guess or know. 

How did they build the bridge? How did they photograph it? 

The bridge picture. Have you visited other bridges? Do you like taking photos. Are you scared of heights?

These include:

Geographically - 'it's near such and such a country, therefore I suggest you combine the two. I have been to neighbouring Thailand where I saw ... end with the country in the question.

Table topics reveals gaps in your knowledge.
Maybe you should learn the names of nearby countries.
Maybe the topics master who has gone to such trouble to take photos, should start with a map of the region.

Topics to be prepared to discuss, with a table topics group or to anybody you meet:
Where was your last trip and what did you enjoy most?
Where is your next trip?
Do you know (adjoining countries). Would you like to go there and why?

(NB - you might meet people on the train or plane or bus from the adjoining countries. It helps to have something to say or ask.)

What is your favourite book?
Have you heard of a book about the country. Seen a film about it?
Seen a photo on Facebook?

What is your favourite movie, movie star, singer, type of music?
Have you been to a restaurant serving their food?
Tried it in a hawker centre (food court).

Try translating a menu.
Do you like spicy food/ Fruit? Meat? Fish? Vegetables/ Healthy food? trying new food?

Do you like the outdoors/ Cities. Shopping.

Funny Negatives
I'd rather sit at home eating chocolate.
Why don't you go and come back and tell me about it.
My idea of travel is taking a bus to my nearest shopping centre?
Do they serve good coffee?

Finally - ask the audience.

As the topics master faced with a silent 'speaker':

Give them a typed piece of information about the country to read out.
Interview them.
Get the person who has not travelled to interview the one who has been there.
Do a demo with two experience toastmasters.
One asks :
"Do you know the capital?
It's called ...:
Etc.

Sample openers:
Flatter the other person or the bystanders: 'You have found some stunning pictures. When I am on the internet I get photos of pet dogs. I wonder what it would cost to visit? I imagine it would be more affordable out of season.'

Instead of worrying about what you don't know, such as the location, deal with your reaction to what you can see, speculate, and engage the person who picked the picture: 
'I bet they charge you to walk across the bridge. I'm not great with heights but I would force myself to cross to get a photo. Does it go anywhere - or do you just cross to get back?'

Make comments on life in general:
'The hand is supposed to symbolise safety. It reminds me of the song, he's go the whole world in his hands.

Be positive:
'You learn something new every day. Thank you for adding a place to my list of must-sees. I was thinking of going to Vietnam one day. I love those elegant white dresses. I've been planning a trip for twenty years. Maybe now I'll actually make it - next year. You have inspired me to start planning. I must set a deadline and start saving. I shall print that picture and put it up on my wall and save for the trip of a lifetime.'

Author
Angela Lansbury

What's that plant which smells so delicious at night?

Rangoon vine? Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Problem
Every evening I passed a wonderful plant, pink flowers, aromatic stop-and-sniff aroma.
What is it?

Answer

I passed a lady clipping away at the edge. I passed her and stopped to look. She must have heard my footsteps and seen my shadow.

I smiled and she smiled. "Lovely plant!" I exclaimed. "Beautiful colours. What is it?"

She replied, "A 'Rangoon vine'. From Burma, now called Myanmar - next to Thailand. I am snipping away the dead parts."

I asked, "How do you know which parts are dead?"

"The dead parts have turned black."

Photo by Angela Lansbury.

She also showed me boughainvillea. "The government plants it over the bridges because it needs so little maintenance. No need to water it. It thrives on sunshine and lack of water."

She showed me more plants. "This is calamansi, as we call it. You call it lime. "

Sh moved on, "Do you like lemon grass. I'll cut you a spike of lemon grass. Smell it where it's been cut."

She kept pointing out more plants, "Over there's aloe vera. It's supposed to be good for you, if you know how to apply it. But if you do the wrong thing, it can be bad for you."

Such is life.

Useful Websites:

http://www.gardenersworld.com/plants/plant-inspiration/plants-for-evening-scent/

Author

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Gravestone, Monuments, Mausoleums, Memorials and Cemetery tours

Typically hillside location of Chinese cemetery, giving the souls of the dead a good view. Hong, Kong. Photo from train to airport by Angela Lansbury.

An increasing number of people are researching their own ancestors as well as looking for famous graves.

Problem
How do you visit graveyards, find a grave and explore the background stories?

Answers
Take a cemetery walking tour. Find graves of famous people on Find-a-grave website.

Stories
America - see USA at end

Gravestones, Graveyards and memorials by Country

Australia
WWII see Museum at Canberra. I was struck by the story of the donkey/horse in WWI.
Memorial behind museum. Paintings of graveyards and processions haunted by ghostly skeletons of the write dead.
Main processions on Anzac day.

Austria
Mozart and musicians in Vienna.

Belgium
Battlefield tours. Menin gate with names of the dead and annual ceremony and last post played.

Cambodia's Buddhas
Lots of Buddhas. I agreed to meet the driver of our tuk-tuk (motorcycle-drawn taxi) beside a Buddha. Unfortunately the temple had two or more exits and each had a Buddha. I did a frantic 20 minute run anti-clockwise around the temple enclosure wall perimeter before finding our buddha and our tuk-tuk driver.

I'm lost. That's not my Buddha! Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Another Buddha. Not my Buddha, and not my tok-tuk driver, either! Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Cambodia's Killing Fields Museum
Memorials with photos in museum, contains bones, skulls and photos, in the Capital city, Pnonh Penn, and the second city and main tourist area, Siem Reap, which is near Ankor Wat (w a t means temple).

Canada
I was looking for the gravestones of famous writers, L M Montgomery of the House of Green Gables in Newfoundland, WWI poet McCrae, and Titanic memorials. Not a lot to see. Look online.

China
Burials take place on hillsides. Monuments and museums to famous leaders such as Sun Yat Sen.
The terracotta warriors in Xian.
Sun nat sen mausoleum, Nanjing.

Czech Republic
Prague: Wall of names of Holocaust victims which you see on the Jewish tour circuit covering synagogues, organised tours or multiple tickets. Ancient graveyard with gravestone piled up or tilted including creator of the Golem. Guide will tell you about symbols, Cohens (priests), Levis, praying hands,lamps, animals such as deer/harts for the twelve tribes. (Also see Kafka Museum and learn about his life and death.)

Egypt
El Alamein.
I researched this, looking for the monument with for the name of my late mother's first husband who died in WWII. (I found the death notice in the deed box after she died. She needed to keep it to prove she was w widow in order to get remarried.) She remarried and I am the child of her second husband.

You can see pictures of the large cemetery and memorials on line.

France
Tomb of unknown soldier.
Paris Pere Lachaise Cemetery. Pere is French for father, in this case not a blood relative but a priest.
See graves of: Edith Piaf; Jim Morrison; Oscar Wilde; Proust, legendary lovers Heloise and Abelard; and others.
Normandy WWI and WWII graveyards to different nations such as the Australians.
Proust's grave.

Germany
Bergen-Belsen, memorial to Anne Frank and her sister.
Mendelssohn.

Greece
T h e s s a l o n i k a.
A short trip from the second city, Thessaloniki, brings you to the grave of Alexander the Great's son Philip, who killed (or had killed) his father in the nearby theatre, at the marriage of his father. Alexander took a second young wife and announced in front of that his already pregnant wife's son would be his successor (not Philip).
Tomb of political leader (who wrote the Greek national anthem), on island of Cephalonia also spelled Kefalonia. I went there on a press tour.

Hong Kong
Cemetery on a hillside seen on train to the airport. Right hand window if you are facing forward. Graves in China are places on hilltops and hillsides near the top to give the soul a good view.

India
Taj Mahal, Agra. Moslem memorial to beloved wife who had numerous children and died during or after childbirth.

Driving south from Delhi towards Agra we passed a Jewish synagogue. We stopped and after much negotiating persuaded the curator to open the door and show us around the small synagogue.
Behind it was a cemetery where a group of presumably non Jewish Indians were camping in a permanent shack. Apparently they are allowed to stay there because they presence guards against vandals.

Cremation is the rule so not so many graveyards of famous Indians.
Memorials and museums for the Gandhis.
British Wartime cemeteries?
I saw cremations on the riverbank and bodies floating in the river at Benares, now called Varanasi.

Israel
Tombs of Jesus and patriarchs. Numerous battlefield from biblical times (Christians search for Old Testament). Holy land tours will feature Christian sites. Jewish tours will concentrate on the Bible and modern Israel such as Kibbutzim.

Italy
Rome, Pantheon: burial place of Italian kings and others.
Catacombs under the city from Roman times.

Assisi and Umbria
Saint Francis of Assisi's birthplace and burial place in Assissi, huge place of pilgrimage in Assisi, plus numerous places he visited around Umbria.

L u c c a
Monument to opera composer Puccini, outside his house which is a museum. I visited this on a press trip. His statue shows him with a cigar in his mouth. Cancer is what killed him.
Puccini's House, Lucca, Italy.
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUserReviews-g187898-d195713-r130187871-Puccini_Museum_Casa_natale-Lucca_Province_of_Lucca_Tuscany.html

Myanmar (Previously called Burma)
Martyrs' Mausoleum in Yangon, honours Aung San father of the nation, and father of Aung San Suu Kyi, plus other martyrs.

Mexico
Trotsky
(How can you remember the English spelling of his name? Trotsky is TROTting through the SKY.)
Monument behind his former home where he was killed by an assassin. The home is now a museum.

New Zealand
Anzac Day.

Portugal
Pet cemetery, Lisbon Zoo.
Catacombs, Porto.

Romania
The Merry Cemetery.

Russia
Moscow, Lenin's tomb in Red Square.
The Shirokorechenskoe Cemetery, on the southwestern outskirts of Yekaterinburg, in Russia, has graves of scientists, and heroes of World War II. Graves are decorated with sculptures, including reliefs, gem-embedded headstones and laser engravings of the departed on granite. Yekaterinburg is also spelled Ekaterinburg.

Scotland
Edinburgh
Statue of the dog which supposedly sat on it's master's grave. (But maybe just came to the cemetery because the curator fed it.)
Lockerbie cemetery has a large memorial with names of the lost as well as many individual graves and stories. Worth a visit.

Singapore
Cemeteries have been moved to make way for housing developments.
Walking tour of Bukit Brown cemetery. (Bukit means hill, in Malay language.)

South Africa
Paul Kruger's grave.

Spain
Madrid
Monument to the dead.

Turkey
Ataturk Mausoleum, Ankara.
Gallipoli.
Mausoleum of Mausolus, which gives us the word Mausoleum.

UK
London:
Westminster Abbey, poets' corner.

St Paul's: Famous plaque in St Paul's cathedral was put up to honour the architect Sir Christopher Wren, words chosen by his son said: if you want to see my monument, look around you. (Just in case English is not your first language and the meaning is not clear, the son meant the entire building is a monument to the genius of his father.)

Highgate Cemetery:
Graves of:
Karl Marx, Highgate Cemetery. Tours.

Kensal Green cemetery. You see it from the train window. I tried walking around it but the graves are pretty spaced out. Look on line first.

Yorkshire
Brontes.

Jane Austen.

USA
Washington DC.
Arlington Cemetery. Major presidents have their own memorials, such as Lincoln and Jefferson.

Virginia
Mausoleum of leader of the south, Robert E Lee, and his horse, Traveller.
Lee Chapel, Campus of Lee, Virginia.

New Orleans
Cemetery. I went on a tour and heard how the procession to the cemetery would be accompanies by jazz musicians. I was sad to see that the cemetery tours stopped, I think after Katrina flooding. Maybe tours have started again. Check for up to date information.

Los Angeles
Al Jolson statue of him kneeling.
Hillside Memorial Park, Culver City, Los Angeles County, California, USA.

Marilyn Monroe: disappointing, nothing to see.

Wild West
Tours around the areas take you to graves of legends. Various amusing graves. Look online.

Vietnam
Ho Chi Minh mausoleum in Hanoi, Vietnam. Incidentally, the name Minh in very popular. Two members of a Vietnam Toastmasters club which I visit in Singapore are called Minh. Hanoi is the capital.
Confusingly, the largest city is called Ho Chi Minh city. But the Ho Chi Minh memorial is in the other city, the capital.

Wales
Numerous sites connected with homes of Dylan Thomas.

Websites
BBC
Find a Grave
"A brothel is the best place for a writer to live. Quiet in the daytime and noisy at night." (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)

Also see country and city tourist board websites.

Some unusual gravestones:
A sundial on a gravestone in Kilbirnie, North Ayrshire, Scotland.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kilbirnie_Auld_Kirk#/media/File:Sundial_on_Gravestone_at_Kilbirnie.JPG
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traveller_(horse)
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUserReviews-g187898-d195713-r130187871-Puccini_Museum_Casa_natale-Lucca_Province_of_Lucca_Tuscany.html Puccini's House, Lucca, Italy.

See Wikipedia article on Mausoleums.
BBC article entitled Find The Plot:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-39480595

Museums in some cities are free on:
18 April (International Monument Day)
- 18 May (International Museum Day)
- 5 June (International Environment Day)
- the last weekend of September (European Heritage Days)
- 27 September (World Tourism Day)

Read more: http://www.inthessaloniki.com/en/archaelogical-museum-of-thessaloniki#ixzz4gPRPAkxR
See my previous post on the Merry Cemetery of Romania.
Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share my posts.