So, I come all the way to Burma and the highlight so far? It naturally involves guitar.
I had heard a rumour that there was a bar in Kalaw where the owner is prone to impromptu guitar playing, so it seemed like the natural place to grab a Myanmar Beer. After he’d played a couple of songs I asked if I could play – his face lit up and for an hour or two we took it in turns – one from England, one from Burma. It was fantastic fun.
The following night (last night) I went back and took my own guitar (it can be difficult playing someone else’s guitar as it just feels different. For instance, his strings were raised more from the fret board than mine, so I had to press down firmer as I was playing. Workman and his tools, and all that.
We played for the whole night – who needs food when you have music? There was a really nice group of French people in, too, who joined in with the singing and dancing and some Brits and an American woman I had met the previous night dropped by after dinner and I sang Fields of Gold for Sasha as a special request. I also had to dig deep to revive my French skills, but one of their group spoke Spanish so I got by with a mix of both. And a number of the local guys spoke reasonable English. It was one of those nights that I will remember forever.
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