July 2015

by Hla Min

Updated : June 2025

Vacation

• Trip to the East Coast of US and parts of Canada
• Took United Airlines from San Francisco International airport
• Flight was delayed for more than two hours because the computer system was down
• Our plane was diverted to Syracuse airport in New York to refuel and to wait there until Newark (New Jersey) airport — which had experienced traffic congestion — could handle the incoming flights
• Ivan Lee (M69) was aware of the flight delay. He picked us up at the airport.
• He would be our host & trip coordinator.
• Selected events from the trip are described below.

July 10

• Ivan took us — Sayagyi Dr. Aung Gyi, Daw Emma, my spouse & me— on a New York tour.
• We felt like “honored guests” because New York City was lined up with fans — young and old — of the US women’s soccer team which won the World Championship for the third time.

July 11

• Ivan hosted a gathering in honor of Sayagyi Dr. Aung Gyi and Saya U Soe Paing (EE, UCC).
• Ivan had hosted the RIT-UCC gathering for several years.
• Attendees include Richard Than Se (ChE62, classmate of U Soe Paing), Fred Thegyi (M69), U Tun Aung Gyaw (EC69), Daw Saw Yu Tint (Alice, T69), U Toung (Tom, EC69), U Sein Myint (EC76, UCC), Daw Sao Mon Sint (Cindy, UCC), U Mya Aung (UCC), U Soe Myint (UCC) and Ivan’s relatives (who displayed their culinary skills).
• There were six 69ers at the gathering.

July 13 (Windsor)

• Sayagyi U Aung Khin was delighted to see his former students — Ivan Lee & Fred Thetgyi — drive a long way to pay respect to him.
• Ivan provided his Mercedes & gas for the trip.
• Fred drove most of the way to let Ivan have a light load. Fred also took photos of the trip.
• Sayagyi allowed my spouse & I to spend the night at his guest room.
• Sayagyi prepared “pe kyaw ပဲကြော်” and “mohinga မုန့်ဟင်းခါး” for breakfast the next morning for the four of us. He also gave mementos.

July 14 & 15 (Napean)

• Sayagyi Dr. Aung Gyi hosted his former students for two days.
• Showed us around Toronto
• Took us to the Thousand Islands

July 16 & 17 (Massachusetts)

• Despite being busy working on two projects, U Tun Aung Gyaw took two days off to host his former classmates.
• Took us to MIT and Harvard.
• It has become a tradition to touch the “shining” shoe of Harvard’s statue (and make a wish).
• Fred touched with one hand and made a wish on behalf of his grand kid.

• Ivan touched with both hands saying he needed to make a wish on behalf of his six grand children.

July 18 & 19 (Connecticut)

• U Toung (Tom) and Daw Khin Myint (Kim) were our hosts for the Connecticut leg of our trip.
• A photo was taken by Fred in front of one of the 30+ libraries at Yale University.
• Another photo was taken by a waitress (who has a “FRED” tattoo on her arm in honor of her father) at Table (10) of Frank Pepe’s pizza. Photos of the then young Bill Clinton, who frequented the pizza place, can be seen on the wall. She checked Fred’s ID & agreed to have a picture together.

Miscellaneous

• On the way to Windsor, we stopped to see Niagara Falls from the Canadian side. On a previous trip, I had seen Niagara Falls from the US side. Many say that the view from the Canadian side is better.

• The speed limit in Canada was lower than that of US. Ivan’s GPS had some hiccup inside Canada. We ended up late arriving at Sayagyi’s U Aung Khin house.
• We just drove around Toronto on our way to Sayagyi Dr. Aung Gyi’s house. We prefer to be early than late.
• U TAG lives in Shrewbury about 50 miles from Boston. He was working on multiple projects.
• Tom lives in Trumbull, Connecticut. He is retired. He spends time in Hong Kong with his son & grandchild.
• As a side trip, Fred took us to Pennsylvania & Maryland.
  He lives in Philadelphia. We visited Liberty Bell & selected places. U Thein Han is my sole remaining uncle. He lives in Maryland.
• Ivan had two PEs (from New Jersey and New York). He owns some real estate. He loves to cook. He plays accordion and harmonica. He is a Life time Gold member of US Bridge Association. He is a Golden Sponsor of SPZP-2000 and SPZP-2007. He is a major donor to the 69er Health Care Fund.

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