Part 1

A few months ago, in order to celebrate Chinese New Year ( Christmas, New Year’s, 4th of July, Halloween, Arbor Day, Columbus Day, and Administrative Assistant’s Day all wrapped into one ginormous ball of fun ) the Stockdales went to Myanmar ( metric for Burma ).

Some of you will remember Burma ( metric for Myanmar ) as a former and until recently current military dictatorship that had suffered decades of civil disturbances that occasionally bordered on being referred to as civil wars.

Back in the late 1990’s, Myanmar ( metric for Burma ) was one of those place you didn’t go.  Kind of like North Korea, Cuba, Iran, or Decatur.  As this started to change, in 2005 the military rulers moved the capital from Yangon ( metric for Rangoon ) to Naypyidaw.  Imagine if Washington D.C. relocated to North Dakota — just because, yeah it seemed like a good idea at the time.

Everything in Myanmar (metric for Burma ) has two or three names.  One for when the British were in charge, one for after the British left, and one just to confuse everyone.

Today, Burma ( metric for Myanmar ) is hopefully on it’s way democracy and prosperity.  Of all the random destinations for Mrs. Stockdale’s work, this is arguably her favorite and the one with the most potential.

For the first afternoon of the trip, the Stockdales toured downtown Rangoon (metric for Yangon ) via foot and visited various important buildings.

For some reason, Mrs. Stockdale liked the name of this bank and insisted that a photo be taken.  I’m pretty sure this is the bank where squirrels deposit their nuts for the winter.

In addition to randomly moving the capital, Burma (metric for Myanmar) also has a unique method of driving.  Belonging to the British until 1948, the cars had the steering wheel on the right ( wrong ) side and cars drove down the left ( wrong ) side of the road.  ( Just remember that whether you are on the American system or the wrong system, the driver is closest to the center of the road and passengers exit at the curb.  This is how the wrong system works in places like Singapore and London.  )  However, in Burma, one night in 1970, the leader of the country ( General Ne Win ) decided all the cars should drive on the other side of the road.  So, from then on, all the cars drove down the right ( right ) side of the road with the steering wheel on the right ( wrong ) side.  You would have thought that over time, the right ( wrong ) sided steering cars would have been replaced.  However, that would be wrong.  They continued to import mostly right ( wrong ) driving cars and drive them on the right ( right ) side of the road.   The super-duper extra added bonus of driving with the steering wheel on the right ( wrong ) side of the car while driving in the right ( right ) lane is that when you get off the public buses or the passenger side of the car, you exit into traffic.  Good thinking General Ne Win!

The Stockdale’s second day in Burma began with a tour of a local market.  The market sold fruits

and vegetables

and fresh chicken

and seafood

and not fresh chicken.

After completing the tour of the market, the Stockdales were on our way to the Shwedagon Pagoda.  This is the most sacred Buddhist temple in Burma ( metric for Myanmar ) so we wore our fancy clothes ( covered our knees and shoulders )

and gave the monk children some food so that we would have a prosperous and healthy visit.  ( As a serious side note, the food was awesome in Burma.  It was also yummy in Myanmar. )

Before entering the Shwedagon it is important that you do not bring certain personal possessions into/onto/above this holy site.

While Mrs. Stockdale did get me a full military spec Predator drone for Christmas, I thankfully left it in the hotel safe with the passports.

The Shwedagon is huge and gold and you’re there for about two hours looking at all the statues and Buddha’s and people praying and socializing.

In the event you can’t see one of the many Buddha’s in the many temples, it’s OK because they have them on CCTV.

On the way out of the Shwedagon, I saw this sign.  Usually, I have some clever/dumb/tacky/extraordinarily hilarious way of describing what I see in these countries, or I can just make a joke about tote bags, however this one truly has me stumped.  Needles and snakes are good, but needles and electricity and broken spaceships are bad???

So ends Part 1 of the Stockdales in Burma ( metric for Myanmar ).

Go to some random event at the little Stockdale’s school, come home with

Yep.

What do you get if you and your Mrs. Stockdale run a race on the Singapore ‘Green Corridor’?

The ‘Green Corridor’ is a former railroad line that was converted to a running/biking trail years and years ago.

The best part of ‘being the first to race along Singapore’s most unique course’ is that a week after the race, the ‘Green Corridor’ is being closed so they use the path for a pipeline.

Singapore loves polar bears, and pipelines, and tote bags.

Spent the holidays with Mrs. Stockdale’s family.  Always better to let someone else host, cook, and clean, etc.

The little Stockdales had a great gift for the grandparents.

I’m sure these have become regular parts of their wardrobe and haven’t been thrown away.

I unfortunately missed out on quite possibly the best White Elephant gift ever.

Instead I got an awesome compact disc that I ‘forgot’ to take home.  I’m guessing I’ll get it again next year.

The crazy little Stockdale did get the safest ( metric for funnest ) present of the year.  Unfortunately the safety wimps at the airlines won’t let her bring it back to Singapore. Next year the little Stockdales will be receiving Jarts and a Bag-of-Glass.

Christmas dinner was odd because a group of strangers was invited.

However, they quickly left after seeing Mrs. Stockdale’s mother’s favorite Christmas decoration.  It’s eyes follow you around the room and it kills on the eve of the full moon.

After the holiday, we returned to Lake Lotsastockdale and received a welcome surprise.

All in all, another good holiday for the Stockdales.

I became a year older.

And the big little Stockdale became a teenager.

And the middle little Stockdale won a fruit basket.

And we got some more totebags.

The global warming created by all the candles was more than compensated by for by the expansion of the totebag collection.

The furry little Stockdale has been busy taking up more space in the house.

So, far she’s only destroyed two grill covers and Mrs. Stockdale’s favorite pair of shorts.

Against the better judgement, wishes, and wisdom of Mrs. Stockdale, please welcome the furry little Stockdale.

Once again, the first day of school visits the Stockdale family.

Watch for big news from the Stockdale family in the next few days.   Could be a new tote bag, could be something even less interesting.

Middle little Stockdale takes a school trip to a local community center.   Hey kids, grab a dead polar bear on the way out.

Seriously, who in the world started this stupid trend and when will it stop?   If only someone had a third rate blog they didn’t update enough . . .

Crazy little Stockdale goes to a birthday party at some art place.

The logical outcome.   The crazy little Stockdale and all her friends each kill a polar bear.