Images of Myanmar - a personal travelogue

Myanmar is to most people uncharted and unknown territory even though many Mumbaites are descended from families who had lot of property in Burma / Myanmar before the war. We know it today as a land ruled by a military Junta, known mainly through media reports on its most famous family: Aung San Suu Kyi and her father, the famous General Bogyoke Aung San, the father of Myanmar’s independence movement. 

I think one should avoid preconceived ideas of any country. We are not competent to discuss its politics or its religions. We go there as tourists to see its religious and other famous sights. I believe we should respect the Burmese right to their own political system and their own beliefs rather than expounding forth on matters which are not our own, especially as we seem to have difficulty in sorting out our own systems back home in India. 

I RETURNED TO MYANMAR IN APRIL 2018. READ ABOUT IT IN BLOG 2.          "Re-visiting Myanmar - a trip to Tamu" 

Myanmar with its fascinating array of monasteries, temples and stupas, colourful handicrafts and warm beautiful people is a tourist’s delight. If anyone asked me which is my favourite country, I’d immediately say ‘Myanmar”, after England which was part of my youth. Having studied the Kachin and the other tribals of the Eastern region of that country as part of my Anthropology Tripos a few decades ago, I was more than keen to get there. In retrospect it’s the fact that when we went there there were hardly any European tourists on ‘business’– essentially the few tourists we saw were all real tourists. But now with its opening out to Western business, it’s a different world.

We had decided that the 13-day trip must cover Yangon / Mrauk U / Mandalay / Pindaya and Lake Inle. So Yangon to Sittwe, and by local boat to Mrauk U, where unlike Bagan, temple ruins are strewn across a vast plain. There are some 70-named temple, stupa or city wall sites around Mrauk U, back to Sittwe and Bagan for the second part of the trip. Bagan. The most amazing sight we were ever to see. Across 40 sq. kms of countryside are the remains of thousands of stupas, pagodas and temples. From there, I was determined to see Mandalay, having read so much about the city, the Long March from Burma to India undertaken by many during the war and its fabled history as the last capital of Myanmar before British rule. We planned seeing Pindaya caves en-route to Lake Inle which we were told we just must not miss. Then back to Yangon from Heho the smallest ATR airport in the world. We planned our travel by car / plane / canoe / boat. We were unfortunately wrongly advised on the train or we would have definitely done that too, as train is far cheaper and equally comfortable as air travel. 

An accompanied guide is not necessary though many a travel agent may insist on it. Imagine having someone whom you have not checked out in his knowledge of English, his history or his habits accompanying you everywhere including the dinner table and the same hotel. Highly avoidable as once you have a guide, there is no way to get rid of the person. Instead take a local guide everywhere.

YANGON, earlier known as Rangoon, is full of trees and shady avenues. Numerous beautiful stupas which in their shimmering beauty appear to float magically over the treetops! One gets to see plenty of anomalies in Myanmar – there are modern cars and there also exist old jam-packed buses, so reminiscent of Calcutta. In the name of modernity, cellular phones and satellite dishes dot the horizon. Roads on the whole in Myanmar are very good, driving is slightly adventurous like India, the driver is on the right side but the driving is on the left, like in Europe. So, overtaking is interesting, as the driver cannot see ahead unless he pokes his head out of the car! The solution to this is typically Burmese: a passenger in the front left seat guides the driver when to overtake.

Majority of Burmese restaurants are similar to the Irani restaurants in India – clean tables without tablecloths and waiters who shout their orders at the top of the voice. Pots containing the day’s curries are displayed centrally. Traditional Burmese cuisine is quite cheap. It typically consists of soup, various types of salad / side dishes on a plate gratis and lots of greens mixed with the meat. The vegetarians can choose from a wide range of dishes. Burmese are also very fond of teashops which abound in every city and typically full of groups of men. Very rarely one sees women. You drink Lipton’s Yellow label tea: a very potent brew as its boiled tea. After you have finished, you drink Chinese tea as a mouth refresher! Various types of snacks are available in teashops depending upon the time of day. We went to the downtown Theingyi Shwee Yee, near Mahabandoola Garden St. for their delicious sliced ‘bei moke’ or ‘opium cake’; slices of moist brown cake made with poppy seeds and topped with coconut slivers.

Sightseeing in Myanmar is more satisfying if one has done some reading in advance, as there are so many historical and religious sites worth seeing. The country is full of pagodas, stupas and temples. Everywhere there are Lord Buddha’s images. On a conservative estimate, we must have seen over 50,000 Buddha images in 13 days and frankly we did not get bored as they are all uniquely placed or located / designed.

Yangon is not that large a capital city. There are markets to see and lots of interesting places to visit depending upon your interests. Our first day in Yangon was spent seeing the various Pagodas. It was the forerunner of our ritual in each city - finish visiting the Pagodas, then see the city sights. Yangon has two excellent Pagodas: the massive Schwedagon and the Sule Pagoda. There is also the largest reclining Buddha at the Chaukhtatgyi Paya. It is as large as the image at Shwethalyaung at Bago, near Yangon, so if you miss that see, the Yangon version. It’s pretty impressive.

The Schwedagon is the highlight of anyone’s visit to Yangon. Kipling called it ‘a golden mystery: a winking wonder’. In the daytime, the stupa radiates bright gold. In the late evening, there is a different feel to it - a feeling of great serenity. The dome turns a soft orange colour when the sun sets in the west. A huge swarm of bats, about 20 feet in depth, rushes out of the Pagoda; an unending band weaving through the air. The sight continues for at least 15 minutes. It’s awesome, as beautiful as the Pagoda in the setting sun.

Schwedagon is not just one huge zedi or stupa. Surrounding it is a mix of smaller zedis, shrines, temples, images and pavilions. The solidity and grandeur of the main stupa reflects on the surroundings. Halfway up the bell design of Schwedagon are 16 decorative ‘flowers’. The banana bud is the final element of the stupa before the umbrella like decorate top of the stupa known as the ‘hti’ emerges. There is gold everywhere! Like the flowers below, the banana bud has 13,153 plates of gold, each being 30 sq. cms. The lower elements are merely covered with gold leaf. The seven-tiered hti weighs over a tonne and from its uppermost tier projects a shaft on which hang gold bells, silver bells and jewellery. The topmost vane with its flag is gold and silver plated, studded with 1100 diamonds totaling 278 carats, plus 1383 other stones. At the top of the vane is the diamonds orb: a hollow golden sphere with 4351 diamonds weighing 1800 carats. The tip of the orb is a single 76 carat diamond. The central stupa is regilded each year. By 1997, our guide said it had 76 mt. of gold leaf on it – they don’t have the latest figure. Unlike the Taj Mahal where the jewels have all disappeared, here the originals are there for all to appreciate.

It was at the Schwedagon, that we saw the second largest bell in the country (we dutifully struck it three times so as to wish a return back to Myanmar), and our first sight of a temple with small glass mosaic designs. Imagine a whole building’s exterior, the columns and the inside made up of finely cut different coloured glass mirror pieces in beautiful designs. We were to experience this sight many times and each time, we were struck by seeing such exquisite craftsmanship.

National Museum exhibits are kept in well-displayed cabinets or are well laid out: each floor has separate galleries for different aspects: tribal culture and lifestyle; Burmese history, archaeological artifacts, and an art gallery. The most majestic piece is the 8-m high Lion Throne of the last Burmese king, which was brought to Calcutta after Burma’s annexation, and hence it survived WW2. It was returned back by Lord Mountbatten. Other exquisite exhibits include the Mandalay gem studded arms, jewellery, bowls etc. The Royal Couch of the Queen, other Royal furniture, Court garments and lacquer ware pieces are really worth seeing as the work is beautifully executed. The only negative was that the lighting was poor: there were neon lights in rows and most of them were off to conserve energy. 

Of Yangon has many markets, the most famous is Scott's Market covering a few blocks. We went around all the shops selling wood carving, lace, and lacquer ware. Gold ornaments, clothes, shoes, intricate traditional embroidered tapestries or smaller pieces. The other markets in Yangon are more for everyday use. The Theingyi Zei market, the biggest covers four blocks. We went around it looking for the traditional Burmese herbs and medicines section. The majority of Burmese women have beautiful long silky hair, very often below hip level, and invariably left loose. It is a very sensual sight. The secret is their use of a traditional herbal shampoo which my wife was very keen on purchasing: “gaun shawye”: the traditional shampoo made from boiling the bark of the tayaw shrub with big black acacia pods. Whilst it appears that it is easily available, the reality is that we walked  Block A and B of Theingyi Zei market three times and the rest of the other blocks twice, before getting the help of our ever resourceful U Mat Zoe, the taxi driver. We found it eventually in a small shop off the main market area.        

          

Yangon’s people cover a vast colour range. They range from totally fair skinned and grade right down to the South Indian immigrant workers who today have merged into Burmese society totally. There are a lot of Indian origin people. Whatever the colour, throughout Myanmar, all the women apply on their cheeks a light yellowish colour paste called ‘Tanaka’ made from sandalwood. It has excellent qualities as a sun protector as well as reducing pimples / skin ailments. The women create square, circle or stripe designs on their cheeks. They say that it’s cooling, keeps the skin clear of blemishes and it’s an anti sun skin saver. Whatever, it’s a sight worth seeing. The small children look really cute with these designs on them. We tried it out and in fact brought back a whole box full. It cleared my mosquito bites and kept my skin cool after a day in the sun. The women, in their traditional robe, usually with long beautiful jet black hair, flowing loose. The men are mostly still in their traditional clothes which resemble a shirt and lungi. Invariably, Burmese are most helpful, incredibly polite and due to their Buddhist religion, very gracious and warm to strangers.

Yangon is like any city. Walk around it. It has broad streets. Very few hawkers in the central areas but the markets are full of them all over the place. Feel the city’s pulse. Experience the markets. The Pagodas beckon you. There are gold foil sellers in each pagoda who sell strips of gold foil. Applying it brings good luck and benevolence of the Buddha on the family. Hence, for a small sum per strip of gold foil, you can build up ‘benefit points‘up there !!  

Yangon to Sittwe was an early morning flight on Air Mandalay: one of the three internal carriers.  Sittwe is the port city of the Rakhine State, at the mouth of the Kaladan River, It has over 2,000 years of habitation. Today there is a bit of political unrest there but still worth a visit. Hector Monroe, the famous Scottish short story writer known as “Saki” was born here. It is a British influenced town from its “Strand”, the ‘Point’ and Main Street to its churches and other Govt. buildings. There is an excellent Buddhist museum which has the best Rakhine style Buddha images. Rare in a country which has seen a lot of its antiques sold illegally.

Sittwe town like other Rakhine cities has many houses built on stilts. It is a majestic sight when you see Burma teak stilt houses, row upon row. The Strand promenade leads from one end of town to the other where there is a small fishing village. The local market on the Main Road is worth a visit if you want to buy the Rakhine style woven lungyis which are in bright red / pink or orange, colours usually associated with Buddhist monastic robes elsewhere in the country. There is an excellent privately run Buddhist museum which has a collection of Buddhist artifacts, coins, relics and small statues. The Govt. museum is not as comprehensive though better maintained. There are a few shops selling antiques but one has to be careful or you’ll land up with junk. 

Mrauk U - Unlike Bagan, the Mrauk U ruins are set against bluffs in hilly terrain. They can only be reached by a boat trip. The Govt. ferry was a decrepit two tiered flat bottomed steamer which has seen many a year’s service, jam packed with humans, produce and small livestock and stops frequently. Though there are two new boats, one never knows which one you will travel on. That’s why, we went on a private boat. 

The journey is on a 60 ft long x 15 ft wide motor launch similar to the single deck motor launches around Mumbai harbour. Half the fun lies in getting the arrangements done as there are many jetties and you hope that you will find someone going there. The cost depends upon your bargaining skills. If you go on your own it can be expensive but we were lucky and got a ride with some other tourists. Very few of the Burmese speak English, it’s a matter of sign language and telling them that its payment after the trip. They are very co-operative, friendly and helpful especially as you have to cross at least three boats before you get to yours and a wee bit of acrobatics and deft footwork is involved to ensure that you walk the plank straight and don’t slip. We used a bamboo pole held by two young navvies to help us with our handhold.

The non-stop journey of nearly six to seven hours is uneventful. The first two hours you are in the wide-open expanse of the Bay going upriver and then you enter the many networks of canals. Mrauk U was once the centre of one of Myanmar’s most powerful kingdoms. It straddles the tributary of the Kaladan River 72 kms from the coast. En route the surrounding rice fields are well watered as there is heavy rainfall. Coconuts, bananas, lychees, jackfruits, mango, areca nuts and many vegetables grow here. It was described as one of the richest cities in Asia in the 16^th C and it was compared to Amsterdam and London in size and prosperity. The dynasty was much feared by the peoples of the Indian subcontinent and Myanmar. At its peak, the king had a fleet of 10,000 war boats which dominated the seas.

When we reached Mrauk U, it was a small jetty. The town is quite small but well maintained: like other villages / towns, we saw no garbage in sight, clean streets and well maintained houses. The roads are dirt tracks at times and dense clouds of dust rise up after you pass. The bridges over the canals are made of teak logs placed carefully without a side barrier.

Today, it’s vastly different. The original city is in ruins. There is a small town with thatched houses mostly on stilts, lots of small canals, a very interesting and colourful market laid out in clean lines based on various commodities. An unusual sight is the thatched vertical 6-ft sheet put up alongside a stall as a sunshade. The women wear vermilion and pink lungyis and most of them smoke cheroots or small pipes. 

Go and see a few of the 70 named sites like the Palace walls, the very well kept but small museum with its collection from Vaishali, Mrauk U and Konbaung period. Buddha’s and Bodhisatvas, votive tablets, small bronze stupas, Buddha heads, Krishna statuettes, Portuguese 16thC headstone slabs and an interesting set of 8^th to 16^th C stelae inscribed with various scripts, even Arabic. Some of the Mrauk U's Buddhas are exquisite in design. Shittaung: the most preserved of the temples takes you through five separate passages.  The Royal Palace walls and gateway ruins of this fabulous structure date from the 1500’s. The Andaw Paya and all the other stupas are worth seeing. There are two other unique temples: one had 80,000 images of the Buddha and the other, built by the king’s son, had 90,000 images. History says the son fell sick and the record states that

the 90,000 images were never completed. Today, one can still see the numerous images facing all directions: beautifully sculpted but desolate in the open air.

Just 10 kms north of Mrauk U is Vaishali (Wethali) kingdom: founded in 327 AD, and which is well known from Indian history. Only parts of the moat and city walls are still visible from the rice fields. There are many grass-covered mounds which are in fact overgrown stupas.  We saw the Mound No 2 Excavation Moat, which was still being excavated: it was the great image of Su Taung Prai in a large shrine. The 17 ft high, 43 ft circumference Rakhine style sitting Buddha and its pedestal are made from one single piece of solid stone and date from 327 AD. The head is 5 ft high. The highly revered image is swathed in holy red cloth. Pilgrims gild the image with gold leaf.

BAGAN or Pagan is a spread out city full of ruins, like Fatehpur Sikri, a tourist’s delight. By the end of the 13^th century it had 4,446 Buddhist sites / monuments. By 1901 only 2,157 monuments survived. In 1979 the Burmese  identified by name / number 2,230 sites. If you include the many brick mounds, it’s over 4,000. The temples, stupas, monasteries are constructed of fired red brick covered with plaster, decorated with stucco relief, polychromatic murals and glazed tiles. The use of bronze, teak, bricks and sandstone for sculpture adds to the variety. The mural paintings in some are very fragile and covered with mesh to avoid the damage from harsh camera lights and bats. The development of temple design over 240 years is easy to see: buildings are either solid zedis / stupas or hollowed pathos / temple shrines. A zedi houses a Buddha relic usually whilst the panto / temple have a number of Buddha images. 
At sunset, the view from Schwesandaw Paya encompasses silhouettes of the monuments within Old Bagan to the northwest. Standing on the second of its many levels, from East to West, we counted numerous spires, in the setting sun - a really awesome sight. The higher you go, the more spires you will see, leaving you spellbound. You feel in communion with the Man above.

There is old Bagan, New Bagan and Myinkaba and Nyanung U. One can spend a week and still not see all the sites. Ideally two days suffice to see the main sites. Plan the tour of the sites so as to avoid backtracking. Old Bagan sits on the eastern bank of a deep bend in the River Irrawaddy. The main town and airport are at Nyaung U. In Old Bagan, we saw Ananda Pahto; Shwegugyi; Thatbyinnyu Pahto; Pahtothamya. Ananda Pahto is the finest, best preserved and most revered of the temples. Built in 1105 AD, it has four standing images of the Buddha. Shwegugyi has fine stucco carvings. Thatbyinnyu Pahto is one of the highest at 61 metres.

In New Bagan, we saw the lacquer ware factory, Lawkananda Kyaung, and the Abeydana temple. Then we went down the steps and took the boat trip from Bupaya  on the riverbank. For an hour in a motorized canoe we went down river to the Shwezigon Paya and then crossed the wide expanse of the river and landed at a small fishing village. Sailing on the massively wide River Irrawaddy was yet another of my wishes fulfilled. From the village, I could count over 35 stupas from East to West.

We then went to see Bupaya Paya famous for its graceful bell shape stupa which became the prototype for future stupas. It was supposedly built to enshrine one of the four replicas of the Buddha’s tooth from Kandy, Sri Lanka. We saw the Hitlominlo Pahto and by sunset we had reached Mingalazedi but finally decided on Shwesandaw Paya for the view as it encompasses silhouettes of the monuments within Old Bagan to the northwest.

The curator of the Lacquer Museum explained the intricacies of process of lacquer ware. Bamboo / wood or reed is processed, polished, lacquered: scraped and polished, designed and coloured. Again re-polished at least twice whilst colours are added and then glazed. So hardy and perfect that one can stub out a cigarette without a mark. I tried it. Amazing. The Shan style lacquer ware has flowers and is brown in colour. Bagan ware has red as the primary colour, many designs including frescoes. Mandalay lacquer ware is embossed and has gloss design flowers. The final style is Chaukha: black and with no design: it is the type used by the Buddhist monks on their bowls.

Bagan to Mandalay is a longish route which took nearly seven hours, via Kyaukpadaung, Meiktila, Wun-dwin, Kyaukse and then to Mandalay. It’s a twisting route, south and then eastwards and later northwards rather than going straight up - nearly 320 kms from Bagan. Hence to reach Heho on the return stretch we had to repeat the same road right up to Meiktila, a distance of 161 kms. The road upto Meiktila is a single lane metalled road. Lots of Japanese built modern buses and jeepneys. We saw quite a few sections of forests, which have been chopped down. En route, we stopped at a small tumbled down hut to taste ’neera’ and buy the locally made jaggery, made from the palm tree is very sweet. At Meiktila we stopped for lunch at Shwe Ohn Piu which had excellent Burmese food laid out in pots and one chose whatever you needed.

MANDALAY is a sprawling city full of cycles and rickshaws rather than cars. Dark streets, dimly lit and unwelcoming. The Fort walls and amazingly long moat dominate the city center.

The Mahamuni Paya has a unique highly venerated Buddha statue brought from Mrauk U in 1784. Cast in bronze in the 1^st Century, the four metre high statue is completely covered with a 17 cms thick layer of 22-carat gold leaf and wears a crown made of rubies / diamonds / sapphires / other precious stones the size of chick peas! Around the courtyard of the Paya, one finds a Nat shrine and many interesting stalls selling artifacts and Burmese handicrafts of all types.

Around the central stupa of Kutodaw Paya is the World’s largest book. 729 marble slabs / tablets placed in rows inscribed with the entire Buddhist canon. Reading them for eight hours per day would take an individual 450 days to complete the book. Nearby Maha Atumashi Monastery in traditional Burmese masonry with teak finish has graduated rectangular terraces. One of the most magnificent temples in South East Asia.

Mandalay is famous for its tapestries. Mann Swe Gon has a particularly good selection of kalaga, tapestry fabrics in silk or cotton, where young girls embroider traditional designs featuring dancers, gods and Nats’s and geometric patterns. These tapestries are heavy and woven in multiple layers. Many shops sell kalaga, parabaiks {folding manuscripts very much like our old chaya shatra wooden bark manuscripts}, kamawas {lacquered scriptures}, gems and other antiques. 

One of my most exciting sights was to a gold leaf factory where thin sheets of gold, each between two sheets of thin glass paper, packed together are beaten 700 times over a five-hour period. The gossamer thin sheets are cut into squares and sold in packets of ten sheets to devotees. It is used for gilding Buddha images. Each is around one inch square, 0.000127 cms thick, thinner than the ink on a printed page. Gilding the Buddha image brings great credit to a devotee.

One cannot go to Pindaya Caves from Mandalay at one stretch due to mountainous roads. When we were travelling, we had difficulty getting petrol, as official petrol purchase was restricted. Each car has a petrol booklet. Each fill-up is three gallons. Locals get petrol as per their requirements but outstation cars can only buy twice a month in the city where petrol is available.

KALAW at 1,320 m is a pucca British hill station. Gnarled pines, bamboo groves, flowering poinsettias and other hill flowers, and rugged mountain scenery. Dinner was an experience at a Palaung restaurant: the women wear colourful blue and red costumes whereas the men wear special black embroidery outfits which are very smart. Both sexes wear colourful short rim caps. Palaung live in long houses and cultivate ’tanapet’ the large tobacco leaf used to wrap Burmese cigars. Their food cooked in the Palaung style with local herbs and being spicy was superb.

Pindaya Caves - The Shwe U Min Paya Pindaya caves, situated at 1,164 m above sea level and 40 km from Kalaw, are in a limestone ridge overlooking the Pindaya lake. There are 8,094 Buddha images made from alabaster, teak, marble, brick, lacquer and cement which have been put there over centuries and arranged in such a way as to form a labyrinth throughout the various cave chambers. In these caves, you may come across lay people meditating. You’ll find a set of stalagmites which when struck make a sound as well as a set of ‘perspiring’ Buddha images which stay wet due to a condensing reaction between the air and the lacquer of the images. Buddhists believe that rubbing the drops of ‘sweat’ will give good fortune. 
Pindaya is a centre for the Myanmar speaking Taung-yo people and is also famous for its handmade totally waterproof Shan parasols, made from mulberry bark paper.

The town's symbol is a spider. According to legend, seven princesses bathing in the lake took refuge in the cave during a storm where they were imprisoned by a giant spider. It is a good place to begin short treks to surrounding Danu, Pa-O, Palaung and Taung-yo villages.

Lake Inle was one of the highlights of the whole tour. It is a beautiful 22 kms long 11 kms wide lake at an altitude of 1,328 meters. High hills rim the lake. 17 villages survive on stilts along the lakeside / shores. A unique point are the mileposts sunk into the lakebed: in the early morning mist you pass the mileposts in the lake’s center with the extraordinary sight of seeing leg-rowing Intha fishermen, propelling their flat-bottomed boats, so similar to Cambridge punts. These guys stand on one leg, wrapping the other leg around the oar. This technique permits the rower to see fish and hyacinth. The hands are kept free. Long cone shaped nets on bamboo frames catch the fish. The local women weave very colourful Shan style shoulder bags. They sell silver, brassware, pottery and lacquer ware handicrafts.

They live in long houses, accommodating a full-motorized canoe at least 30-ft in length, with living accommodation above. The Padaung or ‘giraffe’ women live at Inle. As each girl grows to womanhood, brass rings are fixed round the neck extending their necks, like giraffes; a sign of beauty and wealth. Many have 22 rings. As they age, more rings are attached. This makes their faces appear small compared to the rest of the body. Being hill tribals, the Govt. has kept three families for tourist viewing at US$ 3 pp. Padaung wear very colourful clothes with a lot of jewellery and finery. Whilst it’s quite a sight, it’s also very pitiful being exhibited for money.

Lake Inle, Intha, Shan, Pa-O, Burma and other tribal people cultivate a wide variety of vegetables, fruit, rice etc. on floating islands where hyacinth, marsh and soil have collected together to form very fertile land, staked into the lakebed with long bamboo poles: a truly amazing sight. Between the floating islands and peninsulas are the canals used for transportation by the Intha. Ywama is a floating village with canals instead of streets, all with names. It was here that we saw the jumping Cats in a temple – cats trained by Buddhist monks to jump thru hoops and listen to various commands.

I don’t know much about Myanmar politics except that we in India have our own issues of violence & corruption in many states. i believe that by visiting Myanmar you are helping the local economy as Myanmar does not have that many tourists. Amongst all my travels, having been to many countries, I found the Burmese people as being the most genuine. It comes from their isolation as there is hardly any commercialism and they have a strong Buddhist culture. We found them to be very sincere, honest and helpful people. Therefore, a destination not to be missed.  It is totally unspoiled, full of historic sites and genuinely sincere warm hearted people. Go before it becomes a tourist's nightmare. I plan on going back to see the rest of this beautiful country.

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