Deep into Cambodia, Elephants, and the dissaperance
of Mela
Photos by Mela and
Staff and Article
by Tory
and Mela
Don't forget to move
your mouse over pictures
for a description
The next morning, Mela and I got up and
hurried down to the
small mans office and
headed to the 10th
floor. The office had been cleaned out and was totally
empty except for some writing in red paint
(?) on the wall. Mela called the Moove Embassy
and was informed that the Driver had been
gagged, tied up and dumped at the front gate
early this morning. We were told to leave
Yangon immediately for our own safety. Mela
and I took a pic of the empty office and
left faster than a moonshiner down Copperhead
Road. We flew out of Yangon in the morning for
Mandalay where we were to catch the Orient
Express boat for Cambodia. The "Road to Mandalay" was a quite
luxurious and graceful river cruiser with
cabins that are air-conditioned and furnished
with beautiful fabrics, fine linens and soft
towels. It felt good to be back aboard the type of
surroundings Mela and I were accustomed to,
but I could not erase all I had seen in Yangon. Mela and I had planned to work on the layout
for the Livid Fashion Shoot on the three
day trip up the Ayeyarwady River. The Livid
Fashion Shoot was scheduled to take place
at Angkor Wat the day after our arrival. It was difficult to focus on the luxury and
the upcoming Livid photo op with all that
had happened on this trip, so we called in
Ninja Angie, Del, Stacia and MysteryMan for
a conference on what the Shadow Walker had
told us the night before in Yangon. We laid out our options and wrote down what
we knew" A Russian Firm wanted to buy the Crystal
Angel
We beat out a Russian Fabric Merchant at
the Silk Auction who knew alot about us and
Avatars
We had been bugged and watched by the fake
Thai Catwalk group. How much did they know?
We still had the
Tibetan note with
the writing
from the Monk, which
none of us could
read.
My odd dream which
was so real, I had
gotten
a sunburn.
The small man and
the connection to
the Orphanage
The writing on the
wall of the empty
office.
The abduction of
Dark Embrace.
We really had nothing to go on. MysteryMan
suggested we stay in our Cabin until we were
to meet the one-eyed Monk, but both of us
refused. "This is a trip of a lifetime",
Mela told him, "I am not going to sit in here for the next five days
like a bump on a log". "Yeah",
I said, stamping my foot. But I really did
not want to go anywhere. I was MAJOR scared. I went to the deck of the boat and watched
the jungle float by as a light rain fell.
From the deck I could see small teak and
bamboo dwellings,
home to the excited children
who run along the
riverbank and the women
going about their
daily chores. I saw the
ox carts cultivating
fields, and elegant
monasteries rising
above canopied trees. The Ayeyarwady River still remains Myanmar's
lifeline, the people and economy are dependent
on its for almost everything. Ferries, bamboo rafts, barges and fishing
boats, all ply their trade along these waters,
at a slow relaxed pace - there is no need
to hurry in Myanmar. Over the centuries Myanmar
has developed around the banks of this mighty
river making it the ideal place to experience
this once isolated nation.
We spent three days onboard the boat, stopping
from time to time
to play with elephants,
visit a temple or
explore some ruins. One
of my favorite places
was Lake Inlč in the
Shan state. Lake Inlč is 100km long and just 5km wide,
with more than 200 villages on or around
it. Most of the inhabitants are Intha people,
Intha meaning "sons of the lake".
The villages have been constructed on stilts
over the water while floating gardens have
been cultivated out of water hyacinth and
silt from the lake that floats on the surface.
The water is crystal clear and the people
were so very friendly.
Inles most unusual
feature is its extraordinary
'leg-rowers' who
have developed the
original,
eccentric method
of rowing with one
leg.
With the other they
balance precariously
on the back of their
sampans leaving their
hands free to drop
their tall conical
nets
over passing fish
which they can spot
in
the shallow lake
Although we also made stops at Bhamo (a trading
post close to the Chinese border), Bagan
(a former center of Buddhist spirituality
and learning), and Mount Popa (home to Myanmar's
most powerful 'nats' , which are spirits)
- both Mela and I could not think of anything
else but our mystery and the danger that
probably lay ahead. When we reached Mandalay our small group
of those "in the know" decided
to visit the Golden Palace Monastery with
its exquisite wood carvings and try to tap
into the spiritual heart which is enshrined
at Mahamuni pagoda. It is here that the most
venerated Buddha statue in Mandalay is housed.
The large seated image is so greatly revered
that layer upon layer of gold leaf, placed
as a mark of homage by a ceaseless flow of
worshippers, have distorted the true shape
of the statue. Only the highly polished face,
gazing serenely is untouched. It was here that we met with several wise
Monks who seemed to be able to see into our
souls and sense our fears. After mediatating
with them, we all received individual blessings
and ventured out into the streets of Mandalay. With its wood-carving, stone sculpting, gold-leaf-making
and cheroot rolling, Mandalay comes across
as a kind of huge oriental bazaar. Mandalay
is the the shopping hub of upper Myanmar
and this is where the colorful hill tribes
come together and mingle with the townspeople.
The nearby Sagaing Hill provides stunning
panoramic views. The pagoda-studded hill
at Sagaing ranks as one of the most imposing
sights in the whole of Myanmar, with the
view also taking in the Ayeyarwady River
itself - a reminder of how the river serves
as the very lifeline connecting all the major
sights Myanmar has to offer.
We left Myanmar and arrived at Angkor Wat,
nervous and to be really honest...pretty
darn scared. We toured the historic site,
acting like regular tourists - all the while
keeping our eyes open for a one-eyed monk.
Angkor Wat is the largest religious monument
in the world and the one-eyed monk could
be hiding anywhere. The temples of Angkor, built by the Khmer
civilization between
802 and 1220 AD,
represent
one of humankind's
most astonishing
and enduring
architectural achievements.
From Angkor the
Khmer kings ruled
over a vast domain
that
reached from Vietnam
to China to the Bay
of Bengal. The structures
one sees at Angkor
today, more than
100 stone temples
in all,
are the surviving
remains of a grand
religious,
social and administrative
metropolis whose
other buildings -
palaces, public buildings,
and houses - were
built of wood and
are long
since decayed and
gone.
Our guide began to tell us about this mystical
and spiritual place: "At the temple of Phnom Bakheng there
are 108 surrounding towers. The number 108,
considered sacred in both Hindu and Buddhist
cosmologies, is the sum of 72 plus 36 (36
being ˝ of 72). The number 72 is a primary
number in the sequence of numbers linked
to the earth’s axial precession, which causes
the apparent alteration in the position of
the constellations over the period of 25,920
years, or one degree every 72 years". HUH? I wish I had brought a calculator. Another mysterious fact about the Angkor
complex is its location
72 degrees of longitude
east of the Pyramids
of Giza. The temples
of Bakong, Prah Ko
and Prei Monli at
Roluos,
south of the main
Angkor complex, are
situated
in relation to each
other in such a way
that
they mirror the three
stars in the Corona
Borealis as they
appeared at dawn
on the
spring equinox in
10,500 BC. It is
interesting
to note that the
Corona Borealis would
not
have been visible
from these temples
during
the 10th and 11th
centuries when they
were
constructed.
Mela and I left the group and wandered off
to find the one-eyed
monk. We entered
the
Ta Prohm temple which
has been left as
it
was found, preserved
as an example of
what
a tropical forest
will do to an architectural
monument when the
protective hands
of humans
are withdrawn. The temple has been left in the stranglehold
of trees. Having planted themselves centuries
ago, the tree's serpentine roots pry apart
the ancient stones and their immense trunks
straddle the once bustling Buddhist temple.
Built in the later part of the 12th century
by Jayavarman VII, Ta Prohm is the terrestrial
counterpart of the star Eta Draconis the
Draco constellation. The Temple was damp,
dark and cold. Once our eyes adjusted to the dark, we saw
a small creature, a boy perhaps...WITH ONE
EYE IN THE MIDDLE OF HIS FOREHEAD sitting in the darkness of
a corner. "Welcome to the place beyond",
he softly said in purrfect English. "I
have been waiting for your visit. Do you
have what I demand?" "What is it you demand", Mela asked
harshly. The boy
Monk hissed. "All you have and more", he hissed
at us, "GIVE
IT TO ME". F**K OFF YOU CYCLOPES FREAK, Mela shouted
at him while she tried to poke his one eye
out with a pointed stick. The boys eye glowed
red with anger as he hissed and spoke a language
I have never heard. Those are the last words
I ever heard Mela speak. As the boys eye
burned red then green and back to red, a
foul stench filled the temple and a red mist
swirled in the air. I lost focus and passed
out. When I awoke I was in a hospital in Bangkok.
I had been unconscience
for six days and
had the most awful
headache. "Mela"?
"Is she okay"?
The silence told
me she was not. Auntie
Nymph, Craftie Lady,
MysteryMan, SmartestBlond
and others had
the most worried
eyes I have ever
seen. "She is gone little one", MysteryMan
told me. GONE? "What
do mean gone?",
I cried. Auntie Nymph held up the tattered and bloody
clothes that Mela had been wearing. I was
told that they never found a body, but that
the authorities told them that wild animals
often attack tourists and Mela was probably
eaten by a group of flesh eating Monkeys.
I did not believe it and I swore I would
find Mela. I knew the Shadow Walker, the
One-Eyed Monk Boy, the fake Thai Catwalk
was a plan to gain control of something...something
our new company currently controlled. They
would not simply get rid of Mela. They wanted
it too much. I arrived back in Moove and began to work
on the clues that would bring Mela and Dark
Embrace back home safe and sound. I decided
to offer a reward of $10,000.00 CC's. I must
apologize to both Livid for missing her Fashion
Show and to Munich Doll whose ad was to be
on the next page. I just need to work on
finding Mela. .......TO BE CONTINUED Can you help find the location where Mela
and Dark Embrace are being held? Clues are
hidden in this issue and the Crystal Angel
if offering a $10,000.00 cc reward for information
leading to the rescue of both Embrace and
Mela. I will add clues and information as
it comes in on the next page.Please help me find her and dark Embrace.
This is the only video we have of the Shadow
Walker. The red eyes appear in the center
of the boat in the windows and then as the
green mist comes in, you can see the eyes
move from window to window. They flash red
once and then green and back to red. If you
turn you speakers up you can hear the One
Eyed Monk softly hissing. Is it a clue?
Information
was contributed
by SacredSites.com,
Wikipedia and
Orient Express
The next morning, Mela and I got up and
hurried down to the
small mans office and
headed to the 10th
floor.
could not erase all I had seen in Yangon.
going to sit in here for the next five days
like a bump on a log". "Yeah",
I said, stamping my foot. But I really did
not want to go anywhere. I was MAJOR scared.
HIS FOREHEAD sitting in the darkness of
a corner. "Welcome to the place beyond",
he softly said in purrfect English. "I
have been waiting for your visit. Do you
have what I demand?"
