While waiting on the wharf in Mandalay at 5:30AM to buy a boat ticket downriver to Bagan, in the mysterious country of Myanmar ,a big husky guy with a walrus moustache barreled into line. (please visit all my Myanmar photos on the internet at http://www.geocities.com/goldenivorylove )

In a loud voice, he demanded service. Typical American, I thought, as I checked him out. Reddish hair, and a very hairy chest bursting out of an unbuttoned photographers vest.. Within moments, hed introduced himself. Allen was his name. He actually was an ex-Canadian, now living in the States. He handed me his business card. From Success to significance. Motivational speaker. Firewalk seminars, it read. I flipped the card over. There was more. Out of adversity comes greatness. The goldmine in your goals. You are a genius. Lay your burden down. How to ditch the past and create your compelling future now.

   I had always hoped that my trip to Myanmar would be a life-changing experience. Now, I suspected it truly could be. Even holding the card in my hand gave me a strange feeling, a combination of a desire to laugh out loud and beg for guidance. I would have help along my journey.

   I had traveled around the world twelve years ago as a 21 year old thrill-seeking backpacker with my girlfriend Sima. Always wanted to. Life had not necessarily gone the way Id hoped since laying sick with a ten day Dysinteria in a Patna, India Hotel in May 1990. The temperatures were high and the electricity provision were very low. And through all this time from then to now it wasnt until the new Millenium, and only for 16 days, that I had a chance to visit Myanmar. I had thought that if anyone needed spiritual guidance, it was someone like me. For some time, Id been collecting unfiled government tax returns, tracking down people who didnt want to face tax filing or who hadnt registered for GST. Also had to teach the new words to a lot of wiser and more stupid employees who were scared to hit escape too much. Good employess mostly, There was other stuff too, everyone has issues. But at the time, I didnt really think at the time I had any other choice. I got to see Allen making magical moments happen at a outdoor restaurant at a Myanmese traditional dancing and puppet show feasting at a riverside restaurant in Bagan. The seated Taiwanese tourists on their life pilgrimages to Buddhist sites in Asia similar to how we get to the Vatican or the Rocky Mountains or Egypt even. Or go to the old countris in Europe or right straight to the Mecca. As Allen made his rounds playing with their positive life guidance systems already in place. Exchanging life sparks. He met other motivated people with abilities to laugh and remotivate each other with their cheering of the others common denominators, the common-sense rewards of good life and the perils being created if those who could heal do not realize their gifts. Doing motivation is tough work, you spend momments in bitterness after giving a seminar because you retreat back down to real life and issues that seem to take some enegy away. Refreshing that through his moments of silence until he carries on upward again and the bitterness is no longer carried as a burden but passed on down to the next one who holds onto it. Through his never give up Aura and Deepak motivated style he was proving to me his ability of being able to fill the position he has chosen. A motivator just as he speaks about just about anything with an energy and enthusiastic deliverance that almost delivers the ones entranced in the sense he emits through verbal and non verbal commiunication. Refreshing in Myanmar for 16 days turned out to be my best ever travel choice.

   Without any effort those layers of stress immediately disappeared upon my eyes first glimpse of the worlds largest active buddhist temple, the Shwedagon Paya, in the renamed city of Yangon (formerley Rangoon). The same structure that had impressed the writers and other millions of yesteryear had put its magical spell on me finally. When I first dreamed of visiting the country it was called Burma, Seeds were planted back in 1989/1990 when I overheard backpackers all over South-East Asia speaking of the rapid changes currently happening there and the possibility that they might open up Burma to the global backpacker set. . Hope afterall in seeing some of what had been described as the most amazing sites in all of Asia let alone the world. The writers Orwell and Kipling who had travelled there both wrote extensively about the beautiful sites to be seen. Although Myanmar with its 111 ethno-linguistic groups is still ruled by a Military Dictatorship and seems to have always had a quaralsome and rocky past, travel is easy now within the country and very much a pleasure. Some whole states are off-limits to tourism but they seem to be adding new areas at a rapid pace and ceasing human-rights violations under global pressure. There is major debate as to whether or not you should venture into The Golden Land as Myanmar is often reffered to and I believe it is up to the traveller to educate themselves, see both sides and then decide yourself. I would recommend travelling there only as a backpacker and not on a tour which is an area of the tourist economy the Government almost completely controls. You must pay the government $200 US upon entry to the country which is exchanged into FECs or Foreign exchange Certificates which can be quickly used for a flight to take you up to Mandalay or Bagan. As a backpacker you are a possitive influence and not contributing a whole lot to the Military stranglehold. Tourgroups typically have no contact with the local people at all.

   I arrived in Myanmar via Thai Airways from Bangkok to Rangoon (renamed to Yangon) and could tell from the Airport buildings with their temple look and feel that this was a spiritual country. As soon as possible the next morning as my flight had arrived at dusk I headed for the Shwedagon Paya. This is the place I had started dreaming of a year earlier from my reading and researching of the country. I got there by a blue taxi and could see the great golden spire rising 100m above its base all glittering in the sunshine. What a magnificent site. I became spiritually enlightened in an instant by the sheer lack of words to describe such a site and by the way it just seemed to really raise my consciousness as I looked at its brilliance. The Paya (similar word to Pagoda) and environs have grown much more lavish since the 6th Century when eight of the Buddhas hairs were enshrined into the dome. The Shwedagon now contains what could be more gold than fort knox as well as a reputed 1100 diamonds and over 1300 other stones plus at the top is a diamond orb containing 4351 diamonds weighing 1800 carots which is then topped with a single 76 carot diamond. Around the main stupa are numerous other temples, shrines, statues and buildings all on a raised platform of at least 5 hectares accessible by 4 walkways and an elevator since this is all atop a 58m hilltop which can be seen across the city from miles away. At night it is alit with spotlights that make for quite the landmark. I took a flight next in a modern French built ATR-72 (need to verify this Shel) with Danish pilots up to Mandalay, choosing to bypass the gruelling 24 hour trains or buses that ply the Road to Mandalay. I visited the Mahamuni which is the oldest cast image of the buddha from the first century AD then the nearby Hill station of Pwin Oo Lwin or as the British had renamed it Maymyo which was established in 1887 as a soldier retreat during their occupation of Burma. This is an excellent place from which to buy handicrafts made by any of the various hilltribes around the country who live in border regions in the rougher terrains of Myanmar. Many of the remaining Indian residents and many Nepalese live in this area.

   After meeting my new friend and motivator Richard boarding that ferry I travelled to what is surely one of the seven wonders of Ancient Asia, Bagan. After a 9 hour relaxing and interesting boat ride down the Irrawaddy River we arrived at the site which houses a total of 3000-4000 buddhist temples and monuments dating from between the 9th to 11th centuries. If you ever thought it possible to imagine being a King or Queen then you can do so here quite easily. Sitting atop a majestic temple watching the sunset while surrounded by silence and 3500 other temple sites is a feast for the senses fit for anyone. I spent 5 days in the area and only left when I fully realized I had been templed out and seen one too many sunrises and couldnt take another photo. In some places the temples are so close together you could yell quietly across to another King next door without the need for a telephone or messenger. The accomodations were nice if affordable too. In the middle of the hot day I retreated to my $7 US a night hotel womb which had AC, Hot water and a Mini-bar with cold Myanmar or Mandalay beer for a cool $1 per large bottle. Bargains like this could be found since the number of accomodations in the area are many and the number of tourists were low even in the peak tourist month of February.

   A very worthwhile daytrip from the Bagan area is to the `Mount Olympusof Myanmar, Mt. Popa. This is a major Burmese pilgrimage site for Nat or Spirit worship across Myanmar. You climb 777 steps to reach the top of the mountain which was once the core of an ancient volcano. Atop the 737m Mountain are several shrines to some of the 37 famed nats which look like mannequins or spaced-out Opium fiends. The name Popa is strangeley similar to the word Poppy. Possibly some worship the Nats so they never have bad Opium experiences Im still not sure. All I know is that I saw no poppies growing, no guns or tanks or people appearing to be under the influence of anything more than a Mandalay beer, a Paan or a Cheroot. On the way to the hillstation from Mandalay I passed a walled Quary which I sadly felt might be a slave labor camp as a reported 8 million Myanmar citizens starting at a young age work at least one day a week for the government so the government officials can work at real jobs making real money since the government wage is so extremely low.

   The last big destinal treat of the trip was a visit to Ngapali Beach on the coast bordering the Bay of Bengal. Although it took the 7.5 hour bus a total of 22 hours to reach the beach due to too many reasons and breakdowns to describe here, I arrived with just a healthy lack of sleep and sense of survival and enjoyed the biggest Déjà vu I have ever felt in my life that lasted several minutes. Maybe I had lived as a Burmese fisherman in a past life or hovered there in spirit form between rebirths? Maybe I was a rock here 10,000 years ago? The long and beautiful deserted beach with only 5 resorts and the many beautiful children living in the local fishing villages offered the chance to unwind and reflect on the amazing sites I had seen during the previous two weeks. It was the almost perfect way to cap off my dream trip with. In the end though it was saying goodbye to the Shwedagon Paya one last time at sunset before returning to Vancouver, Canada. Myanmar Buddhists practice Theravada Buddhism which is almost completely unique to Burma and developed there over the centuries. I didnt do a lot of reading about it since they have the largest body of spiritual text of any spiritual sect in the world. Also the Largest book, the largest bell, the largest reclining Buddha, no. What now interests me are the lessons on Motivation I learned from my Master Motivator Allen who was himself inspired by Deepak Chopra who was himself trained by the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi who was inspired by the ancient indian sages and the lessons are passed on in many different forms. How could I better put my strategies and those taught to me to work for a better world and fullfilment of my dreams? Im learning and although I havent had a chance yet to see Allen speak and motivate in a public Auditorium in his San Diego home yet, just listening to his stories several times a day in the various places where we met other tourists and hung out amongst inspiring Eastern heritage sites and even at the breakfast table eating our Mohinga, the national breakfast of Burmese champions was enough, just the Spark!. Where do people travel when they get motivated? Probably to the most difficult to reach, most understood but in all ways rewarding destinations without the use of an interpretor or tourguide. Now only if we could figure out how to motivate people enough to ride bicycles the way they do in Myanmar. Do you know they also have the most advanced traffic lights I have ever seen? A large countdown timer beside the traffic light always lets you know the number of seconds remaining before the light will change to green or to Red. Dont wanna waste time holding back the traffic flow while changing to a different government propaganda radio station. And dont you hate it when the squeegie kid isnt finished but the light has changed to green!

   I bet our Western governments could motivate the public into accepting a mandatory weekly shift. Generating electricity for the nations by riding on specially designed electric generating bicycles. For say one hour a week at the local power-fitness-plant as a service to the world? The country? The Universe? Now who could start on that one? Im sure it would take some motivating tax breaks for participants in such a grand saving scheme. Or we could make it as mandatory as filing your tax return for a refund. Imagine a country of fit, slim n trim electricity producing cyclizens addicted to organic vegetables and clean air! That would be the ultimate motivation and contribution to get to our destination!