mingalabar my dear friends

8/10/2019 Mingalabar my dear friends

1/11

Mingalabar my dear friends,

Mingalabaris a greeting in my language.

How are you all doing?

Some of you know very well that I am from Burma. Some of you still ask me where I am from.

Some of you ask me where is it?Some of you have visited Burma numerous times.

Some of you know Burma because of this man; the Third Secretary of General of the United

Nations, U Thant (from 1961 to 1971).


2/11

Some of you know Burma because of Aung San Suu Kyi, the Noble Price Winner 1991

(for her non-violent struggle for democracy and human rights) and Our Democracy Leader.

Yes my dear friends, I am from Burma (the name changed to Myanmar in 1989). It is a beautiful

country with full of friendly people.

We are very proud to have the oldest pagoda in the world, Shwedagon is the most sacred

pagoda, over 2600 years old. It is well known in the Buddhist world and enshrined with relics of four

Buddha.


3/11

Ancient Bagan

Inle Lake, the only lake where leg rowing is practiced in the world.

U Pein ( U Bein) Bridge, the longest wooden bridge in the world


4/11

There are many more historical pagodas and a lot more to discover all over Myanmar

For those who dont know where Myanmar is.

Myanmar has existed for centuries. It is the largest country in the South-east Asia Peninsula and

is bordered on the north and northeast by China; on the East and southeast by Laos and Thailand; on the

south by the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal; and on the West by Bangladesh and India. Total land

area is 676,577 sq.km. It is about the size of Texas and United Kingdom and France combined. Nay Pyi

Daw is our new capital city.

Myanmar is rich in natural resources such as petroleum, timber, tin, antimony, zinc, copper,

tungsten, lead, coal, some marble, limestone, precious stones, natural gas, and hydropower.

Myanmar is made up of 135 national races, of which the main national races are.


5/11

Kachin (12) Kayah (9) Kayin ( 11) Chin (53)

Mon (1) Bamar (9) Rakhine (7) Shan ( 33)

The population is estimated to be over 60 million. The nationality is Myanmar. There are more

than 100 ethnic groups in Myanmar. Some of the Ethnic groups are listed as Akha, Palaung, Padaung,

Naga, Taron, Eng and many more nearly extinct tribes.


6/11

By the way, I am Bamar and Buddhist. This photo was taken in 2012 during my 28 days of

Samatha and Vispassana meditations

.

Over 80 % of the population in Myanmar are Theravada Buddhists. Theravada Buddhism is the

"Doctrine of the Elders," and one of the three major sects of Buddhism. It emerged out of a series of

schisms that began in the 4th century B.C.E. in the Buddhist communities of India and became

prominent in Sri Lanka and South East Asia including Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos, which

has led some to call it Southern Buddhism. Pejoratively labeled the "Hinayana" (the "Lesser Vehicle") by

Mahayana Buddhism, Theravada schools claim to adhere most accurately to the original practices and

doctrines taught by Buddha. The Theravada claims to trace their lineage back to the original followers

of Buddha, to those who literally heard his sermons. The Theravada canonical writings, a collection of

Buddha's teachings written in the Pali language, are divided into Buddha's sermons (the sutta pitaka),

the monastic rules (the vinaya pitaka), and philosophical enumeration of Buddha's teachings (theabhidamma pitaka). Theravada doctrine is founded on the distinction between samsara (the cyclic

realm of suffering) and nirvana (or nibbana, release). The ultimate goal of the Theravada is to escape

samsara and enter nirvana. This is accomplished by achieving the status of an arhat, a perfect saint who

has been released from the cycle of samsaraand will never be reborn again. The Theravada is typically

understood to be a rigorous monastic tradition; however, laypeople actively participate in the religion

by providing material support to the monks (which produces positive karma, or merit), meditating, and

following the basic ethical principles of the Buddha's teachings.


7/11

Yes, there are also Christians, Muslims, Hindus and even some animists. However there is full

freedom of worship for followers of other religions. Christian missionaries have been active in

Myanmar for over 150 years. Among them, the American Baptists were first on the scene.

Myanmar has three distinct seasons: the hot season from March through May with average

temperatures in the 30*C and occasionally over 40C, the monsoon or rainy season from the end of May

to the beginning of October with frequent short rainstorms and high humidity, and the cool dry seasonfrom October to February which is dry and with temperatures ranging from 21*C to 28*C. Myanmar

proudly has a tourist friendly climate. People know Myanmar with other famous names too such as

Golden Landand Asian Rice Pot.

I left Myanmar in 1999 for about three months to see what was happening outside of my

country. When I came back home I decided to leave again to discover more and left for the United

States. I spent two years in Phoenix, Arizona. I met some of you there. Then I left the United States for

Switzerland. So I met most of you here in Europe through Voyageurs International every summer inParis.

When something was happening in my country these past years, your thoughts, calls and

messages were always numerous. When you heard someone talking about my country and when

someone was planning to go to Myanmar for vacations, you contacted me. We even arranged a vacation

trip to my country for some of you.

Those of you who went to Myanmar, had a great time and told us how beautiful my country is,

how friendly my people are, about the genuinely heartfelt smiles of people and how safe you felttraveling in my country. Thanks a lot for all those beautiful messages.

Since 2008 I have retured home once a year, right after the Cyclone Nargishit my country, to

see my family and friends. I talked with friends about doing a little business whenever I went back to

Myanmar. But nothing developped till 2013.

My dear friends, I went back to my country in February and began something I have often

wished for. All those positive messages we received from you, contacting us about organizing a trip to

my beautiful country made my wish stronger.


8/11

My dear friends, Im very very proud to introduceyou to.

Please go and visit our website www.authenticpagodaland.com and share it with your families andfriends. I also created a page on facebook.https://www.facebook.com/authenticpagodaland I frankly would like

to tell you that the website is running now but not yet the way we want it; and some pages are still under

construction. You will see our website in English, German, French, Spanish and Thai.

At the same time I would like to introduce you to my special friends and our partners, who organized the

trip for those who had been to Myanmar before Authentic Pagoda Land and who put so much extra time into

reaching this point with Authentic Pagoda Land.

Ma Wint and Ko Swe , we thank you so much for accepting to work with us, being very patient and

doing everything you possible could with all the paper work in Myanmar.

AUTHENTIC PAGODA LAND TRAVELS & TOURS CO., LTD.
http://www.authenticpagodaland.com/http://www.authenticpagodaland.com/https://www.facebook.com/authenticpagodalandhttps://www.facebook.com/authenticpagodalandhttps://www.facebook.com/authenticpagodalandhttps://www.facebook.com/authenticpagodalandhttp://www.authenticpagodaland.com/


9/11

Nang Wint Sandar Win, Wint. She started as a

manager at Nay La Education center. Then she

changed her profession to hotel business and

worked as a receptionist at the Aye Thar Yar golf

resort and became front office supervisor. Next she

tried something different this time acting as a

guide. She worked as an English and Spanish guide

for about eight years. After that she worked as a

General Manager for Gold Kangaroo, Bright Dawn

International and Eastern Sky travels and Tours

Companies. Now she is very happy and proud to

use her experiences for Authentic Pagoda land to

give better service to our customers.

Ko Swe and myself met in a job interview

in 1995. We both got that job and worked together

four years on Road to Mandalay River Cruise under

www.Orient-Express.com (Its now running under

www.belmond.com). He worked in the hotel

business for about 10 years as a barman, senior

bartender on Road To Mandalay, F&B Executive forShine Cafe and Assistant Manager for French and

Italian Cuisine in Singapore. Then he changed his

professional life as an English and German guide.

As a guide, he worked for several Tours Companies

for about eight years. Since 2012, he has been

working for Road to Mandalay and Orcaella Cruise

ship as a full time English and German guide.

Ma Wint, Ko Swe and ourselves will try our best to give the best service to your families, friends and

our future customers who are planning to visit Myanmar through Authentic Pagoda Land Travels and Tours

Co., Ltd.
http://www.orient-express.com/http://www.orient-express.com/http://www.belmond.com/http://www.belmond.com/http://www.belmond.com/http://www.orient-express.com/


10/11

I would like to thank Olivier Kunz ( Ko Lu Chaw) who traveled with me in February to check out

some places in Myanmar. Hey my dear, it was such a pleasure to travel with you and thank you so much for

your generosity, patience, kindness and flexibility before and during the trip.

My dear friends, we thank you so much in advance for reading and sharing this with your families

and friends.

We are looking forward to seeing you in the near future. We wish you a wonderful day .


11/11

mingalabar my dear friends

Documents