12 November 15 – Thursday – DAY SIX I wake with a deep cough. I feel okay, basically, a bit run down. The cough is a bad omen, though. These days if I get any upper respiratory infection it goes to a bronchitis pretty easily. It’s the result of being a poor young man who […]
11 November 15 – Wednesday – DAY FIVE Last night was the worst yet. Though I spent ten hours in bed, most of that was not sleeping but rolling around from side to side, punctuated by a few moments of actual refreshing sleep which inevitably descend into fever dreams. Since I’ve been spending so much […]
9 November 15 – Monday – DAY THREE Captain Ahab gets us up at 4 AM for a 5 AM breakfast and out to the set before six. The production’s very own cold virus has got me now, only three days in. I was struck down with a painful sore throat in the middle of […]
10 November 15 – Tuesday – DAY FOUR Every night has been a blackout for me. I sometimes get to sleep before 10 PM (that has been my latest bedtime after dailies and general discussions) and then it’s total unconsciousness until the cruel dawn arouses us. A quick breakfast of fried rice and we’re on […]
8 November 15 – Sunday – DAY TWO I woke to the sounds of hundreds of howling stray dogs in the neighborhood. Apparently, Myanmar has legions of stray dogs – all friendly – and roughly organized into small gangs. These packs are not very tight, and it seems that membership can be pretty fluid. I […]
7 November 15 – Saturday After Snore Bear’s ordeal, I was awake, no matter what time it was. The sun began to rise at about six or so, and I watched out the window as we started up the winding mountain road towards Pyin Oo Lwin. The bus creaked around a myriad network of hairpin turns […]
6 November 15 – Friday Somehow it became the next day, due to the International Dateline and everything. By the time I staggered off the plane at Taipei I’d lost a day. I felt like maybe I’d lost several. Though I’d spent maybe a total of three hours “awake” on the plane I’d probably not slept […]
4 November 15 – Wednesday So I sat in the airport, waiting to board the plane for Taipei, my stopover on the way to Yangon. It’s an 11 hour flight, after which it would be another 4 hours from Taipei to Yangon and a 12 hour ride from Yangon to Pyin Oo Lwin. That’s over […]
This is the Prelude to the MYANMAR DIARY being not only an account of my travels to Myanmar, but also a record of the production of Gavin Wynn’s ”Magyithee La,” an independent feature film. In between all that we shall have a few meditations on the state of micro-budget filmmaking, local customs and travels, and […]