Bridge repair work was idea off the top of the head

       Proceeds from hair donated by Burma women worth 200 million kyat (6 million baht) have been used to repair bridges leading to one of the country's most sacred pagodas, media reports say.
       Some 100,000 women donated 2,400kg of hair to fund the rebuilding of 16 bridges along a 26-km stretch of road leading in to Alaungdaw Kathapa National Park, home to the Alaungdaw Kathapa Pagoda - one of the most revered Buddhist sites in Burma's Sagaing division, the Burma Times reported yesterday.
       The donated hair was sold to Chinese merchants in Mandalay for about 100,000 kyat (3,000 baht) a viss (1.6kg).
       Women's hair is a popular export item from Burma, one of the world's poorest countries that has been under military rule since 1962.
       So far, 11 out of 16 bridges to the pagoda have been repaired and the remaining five are expected to be completed by early 2010, the pagoda's abbot,Sayadaw Damadaya Ashin Waryamarnanda, told the weekly newspaper.
       In March, organisers of the bridge repair project called on women to donate their hair and quickly set up 13 hair donation centres in Sagaing division townships.
       "The idea of donating hair came earlier this year from the women who lived along the road," Sayadaw Damadaya Ashin Waryamarnanda said.
       "They wanted to contribute but they had no money, so they asked sayadaw to accept their hair instead."