These are some of the favorite places my students and I visited in and around Taunggyi, Myanmar before they reluctantly went home in time for the 4th of July Holiday. Inle Lake got it's own post, but it makes this album as well because it is so beautiful. The large Pagoda between the town and law school was easily walkable from the Royal Star Hotel, so we visited it often. We hired a car to take us to many of the pagodas in the mountains ringing the city. 

When we first arrived at the Taunggy Law School, Myanmar we could tell there would be many differences. Motorbikes replace cars, chalk boards replace projectors and open air classrooms replace climate-controlled environments. Missouri Western State University students Britane Hubbard and Kaylee Sharp came to Myanmar to teach Clinical Legal Education English to peers for the NGO BABSEACLE. The classes were all voluntary, scheduled around required courses and were sometimes attended by students from other disciplines. As usual, the teachers learned as much or more than their students. Cultural exchanges and friendships were created. The time just went by too quickly.

On our first visit to Inle Lake it was not obvious to use that it is an ecosystem in trouble. It is one of the most beautiful places I have been. You feel like you have stepped back in time, but for the plastic containers and diesel boat engines. Agriculture and tourism are putting a strain on the ecosystem. Pesticides may make the water and fish unfit for consumption, but many of the people, like us on that first visit, may not be aware of the problems below the surface. 

I love to experience a culture through travel and food. Taking a 12 hour night bus for locals, not tourists, is a good introduction to another culture. If you can't make it to Myanmar to do this, check out Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown: Season 1: Episode 1 Myanmar, Apr. 14, 2013 on Cable News Network (CNN). It will give you an interesting look at Myanmar shortly after the military started to open up the country to outside visitors. https://www.cnn.com/videos/bestoftv/2013/04/15/ab-anthony-bourdain-episode-1-entire.cnn (last visited Jan. 19, 2019).

In the summer of 2018 I went to Myanmar to work as an International Clinician in Residence for BABSEACLE at Yangon University. I brought two students from Missouri Western to serve as peer teachers of clinical English to the students there, Britane Hubbard and Kaylee Sharp. Steve Rosenbaum, country director for BABSEACLE in Myanmar, met us at the airport and took us to lunch here, at General Aung San's former house and office. He and staff members like Y, Linn and Pwint helped put us at ease. Maybe we can do this project.
We were just beginning to learn about Myanmar and it's history. General Aung San's assassination turned then Burma's fate from democracy to years of military rule according to many. Over half a century later Myanmar still struggles toward democracy.