Childhood Memories

1991

A small car was climbing round and round over the huge mountain. Even though it was in the afternoon, the weather was cool by the shades of trees. "Mommy! How long shall we have to drive on the mountain? I don't see any beach yet." I complained. The canyon was at the one side of the road and the other side was the mountain wall covered by trees. My younger cousin, who was 5 years old at the time, cried: "My head is funny. My head feels weird." He didn't know that he was feeling dizzy because of the mountain road. My mom told me that, across the "Ann" range of the mountains, we would reach " Nga-pa-li ", one of the most beautiful beaches in Myanmar. I had been river side. But I had never been to the beach and sea. "Nga-pa-li" was totally transfixing a 6 year old child. Although I was amused to see many colorful flowers waving me along the road, I could not wait to step on the sand of Nga-pa-li.

After awhile, I saw white cotton-like things floating at the sides of the road. "Mommy, what are they?" I asked. She said they were clouds. "Wow! So we're in the sky now!!" I was atsonished. My parents smiled. I wanted to touch the clouds so much. They were my fantasy whenever I gazed at the sky in my childhood. They entertained me with different interesting paitings on the sky. And that is the first time, I met the clouds. My cousin and I tried to hold the clouds. However, they disappeared when our car passed by them. I was puzzled by the magic of clouds. "How come, mommy?" I urged. My mom explained me that they acually were this cluster of vapour and mist. Although I did not want to accept answer, I could not think of other answer by myself. I still wanted to believe

that they were the sky's decorators whose cry is the rain. At that age, I was too stubborn and there were many things I could not accept. Main thing I could not accept was a fact that the earth was round. If the earth was round, we all would fall down. We would be like standing on the ball. Anyway, for the time being, I gave up to hold the clouds.

There were more and more down slopes along the way as we had crossed the mountain. At one point on the road, we saw the "View Point" sign at the side of the road. There was a shelter with amenities on a side of the road. My father stopped the car and signaled to alight and rest. As I stood up on the bench, "Wow" I saw the sparkling light blue sea far away. It was more beautiful than I thought. I urged my father to resume our trip. Along the way, my cousin and I talked about Nga-pa-li as far as we know. I did not remember how long we had drived. By the time we reached to the beach, the orange sun was sinking in the sea. The golden light was spilled everywhere; on the sea, on the sand, on the coconut trees and on us. Suddenly I felt like I was in another world where I never wanted to leave. Since there were not so many tourism business established, we were the only group of guests at that time. Even today, I really miss that naturally beautiful beach free from crowed tourists.

Before, our parents warned us anything, we two gallopped to the sea. The soft white sand touching my feets, salty wet