War Cemeteries in Burma

I’m not a big fan of travelling. I do not even like going just outside Rangoon where I was born, raised up, have been educated, and have been living for my whole life. (That doesn’t mean I’m head over heels in love with the city but that means I have no enough cash to tour Burma. Well, my family do not.)

I also hardly hang with my friends just because I’m always short of cash that I would rather be home and sleep. I’m not the outdoor type. (Yeah I love to talk about money because it’s in big need of paying for my education and my interests.)

Despite everything, there are two places that I believe they are the places to be in Burma; one is in Rangoon and the other is just outside Rangoon. They are the spots especially for those, to my knowledge, who are visitors to Burma that have relatives or family members served in the armed forces in Burma during the second World War or that they firmly think they should definitely go just because the two places are mentioned on their itinerary and are afraid that if they wouldn’t go they miss out on something worth seeing or those who go there to take photos and selfies to post on facebook or to check-in on facebook. Please do not ask me which one I am. I kind of fall into a different category. Anyway the two places that I’ve introduced you to a wee bit and you might have guessed are the War Cemeteries; one is situated between Myienegone and Manthawaddy roundabout (close to the circle) and at the back of Burma Translation Society (Sarbaybeikmann) and the other is in Taukkyan town in the township of Mingaladon (from the centre of the city of Rangoon, it is 21 miles north). Everytime I am there I feel like I’m hearing all the explosions around me and soldiers yelling such as ‘medic’, ‘fall back’, ‘move out’, ‘get down’, ‘incoming’, ‘suppressing fire’, ‘covering fire’, ‘spread out’, ‘get the hell out of there’, stuffs like that. (I think I have watched war films just too much.) But seriously there’s no exaggeration and as I believe in reincarnation, I might even have died out here with them as a soldier or as a citizen in the chaos of the war. (hey it’s a cool idea, I just added that thing.)

Here are the photos taken in those places that you might care to see. Curahee! Semper fidelis! (What else? Let me know?)

The Entrance to the Taukkyan War Cemetery

When you just entered that's what you'd be seeing. The entrance is right behind you.

You are getting close to the heart of the place.

Now you are at the heart of the Cemetery. That's one thing I would love to recite every morning. Salute to the brave!

One of the Burials (Same age as me.)

One of the Burials

One of the Burials

One of the Burials (Volunteer!?)

One of the Burials ("They died that we might live.")

One of the Burials (Amen )

One of the Burials (You are always remembered!)

One of the Burials (another volunteer?)

One of the Burials

One of the Burials (The one that matters)

One of the Burials (Glad somebody found theirs.)

One of the Burials (the one that fully respected his youth.)

One of the Burials (R.I.P in Burma)

The Back View of the Taukkyan War Cemetery

 Yeah I know. I forgot to take photos of the other Cemetery but the graves from the other are included here even though I fail to identify which ones they are.
 So I hope you enjoy touring the place! I have the intention to write about the most wonderful beach in Burma (it's even compared to the Hawaii). (In fact, I have only been to two beaches.)
If you stay tuned, hubba-hubba.

တာ့တာ  (ta-ta)
helen :)
Life is unsure, so drink your coffee first.

Burmese Pronunciation

In this book, Burmese pronunciation is the same as that used in the textbooks by Okell. The tones and some of the consonants may seem difficult at first. The best way to overcome this problem is to listen tothe way the speakers differentiate between the tones.

Tones

Burmese tones are largely a matter of relative stress between adjoining syllables. They exist in English too – think about the different stresses, and hence meaning, between ‘He’s thought less’ and ‘He’s thoughtless’.

There are three tones, plus two other possibilities, for any syllable. Every syllable has one of these five alternatives.

Three Tones

1) Creaky High Tone

This is made with the voice tense, producing a high-pitched and relatively short creaky sound, such as occurs with the English words ‘heart’ and ‘squeak’. It is indicated by an acute accent above the vowel, for example, ká, က ‘dance’.

For example: dance             က             ká

2) Plain High Tone

The pitch of the voice starts quite high, then falls for a fairly long time, similar to the pronunciation words like ‘squeal’, ‘car’ and ‘way’. It is indicated by a grave accent above the vowel, for example kà which, conveniently, is also the Burmese word for ‘car’.

For example: car                  ကား           kà

3) Low Tone

The voice is relaxed, stays at a low pitch for a fairly long time, and does not rise or fall in pitch. It is indicated by no accent above the vowels, for example ka, ‘shield’.

For example: shield             ကာ            ka

Two other possibilities

1. Stopped Syllable

This is a very short syllable, on a high pitch, cut off at the end by a sharp catch in the voice (a glottal stop); this is like the sound in the middle of the exclamation used in a dangerous situation, ‘uh-oh’, or the Cockney pronunciation of ‘t’ in a word like ‘bottle’. If you have trouble with this sound, try replacing it with a ‘t’; but keep the syllable short. It is indicated in this book by a ‘q’ after vowel, for example kaq, ‘join’. However the ‘q’ is not pronounced.

For example: join                 ကပ်           kaq

2. Reduced (Weak) Syllable

This is a shortened syllable, usually the first syllable of a two-syllable word, which is said without stress, like the first syllable of ‘again’ in English. Only the vowel ‘a’, sometimes preceded by a consonant, occurs in a reduced syllable; this is indicated by ă above the vowel. For example ălouq, ‘work’. Any syllable but the last in a word can be reduced.

For example: work               အလုပ်          ălouq

Extracted from Burmese Phrasebook published by Lonely Planet Publications in January 1997