lier, and
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on some events.| How to bookmark " Calendar 2006/2007" |
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| REFERENCE! Comprehensive Calendar of Myanmar Nat and Pagoda Festivals for the Year 2006. |
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lier, and
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| Unlocked: Secrets of the Sazigyo Tapes by Ralph Isaacs 
There are many secret keys to worlds of Myanmar culture, and who better than Ralph Isaacs to discover them? Ralph's story began innocently enough in 1991, with a bag of dirty cotton tapes mixed with termite earth, for sale on the Shwedagon Pagoda steps. Ralph was intrigued enough to investigate - and found these were sazigyo - manuscript-binding tapes, whose fascinating message remained long after the palm leaf manuscripts they were supposed to serve had crumbled away.Sazigyos have a whole language and mystique and tradition of their own, on which Ralph has made himself an expert - the audience could be sure of a consummate exposition from this born showman. | 'The Lizard Cage' by Karen Connelly 
The Canadian author read from her new book - and showed photographs, many of them accompanied by poems of her own composition.
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| Getting into Myanmar Paintings
by John Glass  This was a real feast for the eyes as John Glass took his audience through the story of Myanmar contemporary painting, artist by artist, with all their most famous works in full detail on the big screen. |
The Wa Dilemma by Tom Kramer  The Wa are a people on the edge - known as head hunters, then Burma Communist Party troops, then narco-traffickers. They have now renounced opium coltivation completely - and their biggest challenge is how to earn their living without it. |
Myanmar Maps and Cartography by Philip Plumb 
Anyone who has travelled in Myanmar is likely to have developed an interest in the maps that are available - simply because places and routes can be so hard to locate. Actually, it is said that the Japanese forces that invaded Myanmar in 1942, and so bewildered the British army by popping up hundreds of miles from where they were supposed to be, were simply finding country roads on orthodox British maps - so they were better than the British at map reading.Which roads and villages do you put on the map? With many names in a state of flux, how do you decide which to use? Cartographers always have these challenges to face - and Philip Plumb took his audience through the solutions they came up with in the case of Myanmar. |
Chin State and Pyinmana by Dr Robert H Taylor 
Dr Robert Taylor visits Myanmar often, and is currently working on several books about it. Recently his travels have included two out-of-the-way areas - Chin State in the west, and Pyinmana, where the new administrative capital is sited. He showed slides of both places, and described many of the high and low points of his journeys.
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| Tourism in Myanmar by Paul Strachan 
The Britain-Myanmar Society does not promote or organize tourism to Myanmar, and we're not about to start now. Since the Myanmar opposition led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has requested foreign tourists not to visit Myanmar, this has become a political issue. We are non-political by constitution, and it would not be appropriate for us to meddle.However, tourism is certainly a reality, and Myanmar is one of the world's most attractive potential destinations for the tourist, so it would be wrong for us not to turn the eye of analysis onto the Myanmar tourist scene from time to time. Much has changed and evolved as the years have gone by - and those who have been until recently working with tourists in Myanmar know more than anybody the great attractions of it as well as the considerable dangers for the unwary. |
Archaeology in Myanmar by Dr Elizabeth Moore Elizabeth Moore is one of the leading experts on Myanmar archaeology, and her talk is to mark the release of her new book - Early Landscapes of Myanmar - some of whose 400 colour illustrations she will be showing to us. The book will cost £19.90. |
| The October Reception 
The Society's year started in a merry spirit, with wine and samosas and a welcome to new students and members from the Society's President Sir Nicholas Fenn, and its Chairman John Okell.A young Myanmar dancer, Nyo Nyo, gave an elegant dance to a vocal accompaniment led by U Nay Win and U Htein Lin. |
The October Reception |
| A Different Shade of Green by Vicky Bowman 
Our speaker was Vicky Bowman, who until the summer of 2006 was British Ambassador in Myanmar.
During her three and a half year posting, she observed a growing number of local and international NGOs working in the environmental and nature conservation field. Her talk provided an update on Myanmar's nascent 'green' movement.
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NB - please note change of date. Sally Thompson of the Thai Burma Border Consortium will talk of the refugee situation on the Thai-Myanmar border, and how her own organization has done its best to cope with it for more than 20 years. |
Shan Culture, Arts and Crafts by Dr Susan Conway
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(Subject and Speaker to be announced later)
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