The conference begins.......and so does the shopping.

After a decent nights sleep which helped to counter some of the jet lag we all emerged from the luxury of our rooms yesterday to commence the 'serious business' of the conference.

But not before our decision making skills were put to use at breakfast! For a group of people who probably usually have a bowl of cereal or some toast on the run each day the choices were many and varied! The breakfast noodles perhaps, in keeping with the location? For the health conscious, interested in making sure their good bacteria levels remained high, small pots of delicious yoghurt.
A beautiful young lady offering to cook eggs any way you wanted them: I ordered an omelette and, given the difficulty of choosing from so many ingredients took up her offer of an 'omelette with everything' - delicious. But if you think that's decadent speak to those colleagues, who shall remain nameless, who finished off their breakfast with creme caramel and coconut panacaotta!

And there's no gym, so we will be rolling on to the plane home I fear!

We assembled upstairs in the Mindon room, an open air white and dark wood pavilion with fans whirring. Introductions took some time as the the previous attendees updated us about their lives over the previous two years and the new attendees introduced themselves.

The sessions were fascinating, emotional, informative, and challenging. Kim, Lee and Liz gave us much food for thought about the virtues of courage and contentment, the role of Burmese buddhism in shaping Burma and real stories of two Aussie survivors of the Burma Thai railroad. Liz's final poem brought many to tears.

Many of the previous attendees commented on the phenomemon of  "Has it really been two years?" : it felt as if we had seen everyone only yesterday and the conversations were somehow continuous.

After another glorious lunch: salad, veal ravioli with hummus and truffle oil and -wait for it- superb lemongrass pannacotta, we piled into the bus and headed for Chaukhtatgyi, better known as the Reclining Buddha.

At this point your erstwhile correspondent realised that she had left her camera at the Hotel: I have failed you dear readers. Not to worry- will steal photos from everyone else who were snappping away!

This was a whopper of a Buddha in a huge shed: beautifully painted and in a  gold robe. The first buddha to have eyelashes apparently. Some of us were delighteded to hear that the gold lined double chins were a sign of great wealth.

Next it was on to the 1600 shops known as Scots Market where we wandered for an hour, slowly wilting in the heat, amidst tiny stalls selling everything from longyis - the elegant long skirts worn by men and women - to amazingly ornate shoes and 'modern' clothes to jade and gold to.......everything!

Tonic water was high on the list of much-needed items but a word of advice : do not send a woman without her reading glasses to buy it as she just might end up with Isotonic drink instead of tonic water. And Kerryn and I bought 6 cans of it!!

Next was cocktails at the Skytower so we could watch the sunset over Shwedagon and gaze out over the city of Yangon. Then to Monsoon for dinner, more drinks ( was that wise?) and terrific food to share.

After staggering 'home' some of us headed for a 'wallow' in the pool to discuss world peace and other vital issues. AND a new taste sensation was born: gin and isotonic!!The joy of this discovery was somewhat ruined when we realised that there was actually real tonic water in the minibars!

Your slightly hungover correspondent

Dianne