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Thursday - Dec. 16  118
[[strikethrough]] April 27 [[/strikethrough]]

A.M. Spent all [[strikethrough]] day [[/strikethrough]] morning writing cards (Aft.) Drove to Barr St. Bought canvas, which I will have to stretch myself - The art shops neither own nor sell pliers for stretching canvas. The stretchers had to be ordered. Art supplies - all imported are considered luxury goods & have a duty up to 60%. I was pleasantly surprised however, to have an folding easel (copied simply from a photograph) made up - which works. They are good craftsmen here, but lack necessary tools & materials to work with. Their teakwood warps easily.

Drove afterwards thru the gardens along the Royal Lakes. Not quite as lovely as I had expected. We have more surprising and lovely nooks in our own parks at home. It is the people & their colorful costumes & customs that beautify the landscape.

119  Thursday. Dec. 16
[[strikethrough]] April 28 [[/strikethrough]]

Eve  - Squired by 'Joe' to see a program called 'Padeitha Pive', in honor of the delegates to the 3rd Conference of the World Fellowship of Buddhists sponsored by the Ministry of Union Culture & given in the Open Air Theatre of the Burma Translation Society.

The orchestra was the most interesting feature. (Two parts - one traditional, & the other modern - both playing at the same time in two different octaves (which creates the dissonance). One sets the pace, musically speaking, as a challenge, the other answers. U Han Pa, the grand old man of Burmese music, with his 'saingwaing' (drum circle) leads the State orchestra. Saung U Ba Thian & U Sein Maung lead the modern.

A little boy of eight, whose longi came loose twice while he performed & who nonchalantly left