consumed. She had not married her family in law. He said with an ironic tone " At least, we have a good lunch". And she was upset, even if it was true that their dinner were bread and tarama or cheese, or chinese fried rice taken at the close shop.
Because of the lack of fresh air, she was sweating now, but reluctant to go out of the bed to turn it on, as not sure that the floor was without insects during the night.
She decided to have a discussion with him about the baby, her gynecologist said to her " the clock goes fast, tic tac, tic tac, you have only a few years before it becomes more difficult, so if you're married don't think a baby will come when you expect it."
Definitely it was the moment to discuss with him, but before she should sleep to be ready to argue and keep calm. They should even spend a few days in Myanmar in order to have him in a good moon. She was convinced this trip was meaningful and with plenty of hope for their future. Future is bright. She fall asleep when it was five am in the morning.
In the morning, when she woke up at nine, Fabrice was already in the bathroom brushing his teeth, and she felt old even if she was only thirty, and took one of the cushion between her two legs. Air was hot, wet and heavy.
He entered in the room naked, and danced in an awkward way that made her laugh. "Shall we go biking my darling ? I apologized for the weather as it's raining."
The begining of their ballade was nice, in the middle of the green. One could guess water was pouring for weeks. They met nuns, waiting in a perfect line for the donators to give them food in the jar they carried on their shaved heads. They were in a light pink outfit, and she was wondering how they did manage to be clean in all the mud, looking at their little feet in flip flops.
They arrived to the first temple, surrounded by little boutiques of laquered boxes and Burman marionnettes, with children trying to sell their drawings (that looked the same as done in a printer ) or post cards. One of the girl asked her her name. As it was three times she had answered, she said : "I'm tired." The girl answered ; "Hello Thayered, my name is Pulla." Fabrice laughed.
They had to take of their shoes and their shocks. They were the only tourists and happy to be alone with Pagan people. They saw a giant buddha covered by gold. One man said to them to be careful of where they would put their feet, as bats were pooing in the place. She felt disgusted and carefully cleaned her feet in the rain water outside.
In the following one, it was a pagoda, there were plenty of old paintings from the eleventh century, with only four colors : red, yellow and black or white. One couldn't take pictures, but Fabrice was enthousiastic about the fact that the buddhas in Burma were far more feminine than the Chinese one. Since she had met him, he had always been a supporter of the Indian culture, taking position for the Dalai Lama, now based in India, and a reluctant watcher of China's success.
When she put her shoes back,, they were wet as the shocks. She didn't like that, but didn't say anything as convinced that traveling is not to live in comfort and daily routines.
When they took their bicycles, the map showed to them they had to take the road for a few miles. Their goal was to see a wooden monastery. Monks were now forbidden to live in it, to make sure their cooking would not create a fire, but they lived close to the noble building, and prayed in it.
She was crossing the middle of the road when a car splashed her with the brown water. Fabrice laughed at the begining, but he saw on her face she was upset, wet and covered by mud. So he tried to help her to clean the disaster.
They came back to the hotel. As she didn't want to see other temples for the day, saturated of image of bouddhas and ancient paintings and texts, he proposed to her to find a resort with a swimming pool and to go a swim and then a drink. And tomorrow they could go to the market. They had already seen the one in Yangoon. Women with dust on their face to protect from the sun, cat fish, chicken sold with their legs, eggs in pyramids, rice mountains, leaves of tea in round shapes, children running, astonished by their occidental faces.
She liked the idea but answered : " Will we be in the mud again ?"
He came downstairs to see their hostess while she laid on the bed exhausted, and a little nauseous.
At five they arrive at the resort. It was deserted except a buyoant Chinese family.
She swam, and for the first time in the travel, she felt good. It was a huge swimming pool and the view was amazing, even under the rain : a pound with lotus flowers, behind the Pagodas, plenty of orange Pagodas… The rain was doing dots on the water. The scenery was amazing.
Suddenly, she felt something that could be a black bird, close to her hair, and became nervous. Fabrice couldn't hear her if she would shouted as he was swimming with his glasses under the water. She was pretty sure of it, it was a bat. She was suddenly scared to have it in her hair. There were ten of them, drinking water in the swimming pool and therefore doing circles around her.
When Fabrice came out the water, she was already with her kimono and her towel in the hair, and taking back her clothes and sneakers.
They had a bad dinner, he ordered a Sauvignon Blanc from Australia, a wine she didn't like except with oysters, the lights in the dining room were strong, and the noise of tourists around fifty or sixty years, some in groups discussing loudly with their guides, others just having heavy laughters.
He said in the middle of their silence : " You learn only to be contended. Japanese Proverb."
She knocked her head and smiled, but told him that there could be better begining of vacations. "In China, but it could be also the case here, you don't have vacations, you do tourism, you visit."
One German woman with braids, which was unusual, was explaining to her table that they woke up three times at four am in the morning, to experience Bagan from a balloon. But each time, it was the disappointment. And never they had the message on time. First time, they came to the reception, second time, the guy gave to her at the reception the card of the company expressing their apologies, and last time, nobody said anything to them, but as it was pouring, they came back to bed. People were trying to show compassion, but were eating with pleasure the dishes in front of them.
"Do you know actually what make people want to discover other countries during their vacations, instead of being at home with their beloved." She asked to him.
He answered with a soft voice: " As for you and me, to find themselves, or try. And to pay respect to our planet and human beings and their different cultures, that could disappear one day or another."
They slowly drank their bottle of beer, listening to a woman guide describing her trek in the forest with two English teachers from Yangon that came to see the tribes in the mountains with their seven months baby. "He was crying so much on the back of his father, surrounded by the blue fabric, it was so hot, and all the bugs and mosquitoes… I felt he was suffering, so I took him under my arm, as we know how to transport babies as Burmese female. You should have seen his smile… Looking at the flowers, trying to catch butterflies…" Then she talked about the ghost city, where the crasy generals, supported by their experts in astrology, had build a huge pagoda to try to compete with Swedagon. But no tourist came here, as every building was new. The guide underlines Burmese people felt so bad about their taxes and money going nowhere. Then she stopped listening, she felt exhausted, too many information, not her daily routine.
In a kind way, Fabrice offered to her to have a massage, as he saw there was one shop in front of the hotel.
She answered she was scared of bats, as upset he didn't notice there were plenty of them around the swimming pool when they were swimming, but seeing his face with raised eyebrows, she accepted.
The little shop was smelling vanilla and sandal wood. She did like the two smells. She didn't have to precise which massage she wanted, the young and thin women said to her "Relax, one hour and a half of pleasure. No tense back, no pressure. Deep work."
The thin woman began by washing her feet with hot water, pink flowers floating at the surface. Then she asked
her to lay on her stomach and put her hands on her shoulders, massing a knock she had under the left one again and again, untill it softened. Then she forgot what happened as not used to massage, she slept, listening the music with gongs, water falls and pretty voices.
When she woke up, she felt relax, connected to her body as an extension of her mind, very eager to find Fabrice and share a moment with him.
When she left paying for the amount, the woman said to her to come back and showed to her a little sign near the shop, for a woman reading cards and hands.
She showed by a negative sign she wasn't interested.
When she arrived at the hotel, he wasn't in the room.
She took a book as not ready to go out alone, even if the risk was low even for a female tourist. She waited for him. It was already dark when he arrived.
He smelt beer, fried food, and cigaret, and she could even believe he had smoken. She was about to say something, when he opened his mouth and laughed.
She shouted of fear.Blood. His teeth were red, the color of betel.
At first sight, she had believed it was blood.
She felt this week could be a long one, as they should go to Lac Inle, in an area where rains should be heavier at this period of the year.
Finally, she didn't know if this trip