In Mandalay!

We made it into Mandalay last night and I was greeted at the Mandalay airport my good friend, Leo Mercado, who I had not seen in the past 8 years. Leo was one of the best scrub tech I ever worked with while I was in Saudi Arabia. We did thousands of cases together. It was so great to see him again. We reminisced about all the great memories we have of KKESH. The other neat thing about the airport was that we could see the Orbis DC 10 on the tarmac--magnificent site!

We drove back to the Mandalay Hill Resort, where we were greeted with green lemonade with cayenne drinks in the lobby and by Hunter--medical director for Orbis. It was great to see him--a veritable waterfall of energy and enthusiasm. He and and many of the Orbis crew waited for our delayed plane and missed climbing up the hill behind the hotel to see the sunset. Very kind indeed. Even kinder, he brought down half his clothes to share with me and my 3 boys as our luggage had been lost. (Ryan, my 14 year old, was proudly sporting Hunter's "Tiger Beer" Tshirt today!)

We had a sumptuous breakfast at the hotel, a 7am meeting, and then at 8 am we started our day at the clinic. I saw about 40 patients--many patients with advanced diabetic retinopathy. The trainees are quite motivated and bright--it was a pleasure working with them. It was also nice meeting the other members of the Orbis crew and the other volunteer faculty. This is a much bigger crew than when we were in Enugu on my last orbis trip, due to the presence of the airplane. The crew comes from all over the world. Both the crew and the Burmese are striking in their kindness. It has been a great first day!

Tonight we have dinner with our hosts and tomorrow it is off to the plane to do some surgery!