How long could this charming custom of hospitality last, I wondered, and what of the aspiring weik-za, and this custom of offering instant help to strangers? Would the entire social system of advising, inquiring, or plain meddling, all out of an eagerness to help, fall apart when people got more business-like and sophisticated? But probably not; it would take decades and drastic changes to affect the nature of the people.

The British, when they colonized the country in November of 1885, took away hundreds of gold utensils and built an army outpost within the palace walls. They also used the royal pavilions as garrisons and club. Not surprisingly, during World War II, when the country was still under British rule, the Japanese bombed the military site to bits and at the same time destroyed the priceless pavilions. Now a replica has been built on the site, but it is not the same, of course. Mandalay people still grind their teeth (as I do) in bitternes when we think about British soldiers stomping around in the old palaces with their boots on - for us Asians a grave insult. Also, to keep warm in the cold December nights of Mandalay, the soldiers had burned cartloads of priceless manuscripts. Grr.