Mandalay

Day 1 - Mandalay

Hey All,

I went out exploring last night and found this area is big in Applicance stores. There are dozens of them around the hotel. I tend to find in Asia these types of stores all seem to group together in an area of town. You may walk a couple of blocks and there will be nothing by Cell Phone companies. Its really unique. The sidewalks are impossible for walking as they are very uneven and filled with things that will wrech my knee if I am not careful, and they are mainly used as motorbike parking anyway so they are pretty much impossible to use. You have to walk on the side of the raod and hope not to get sideswiped by a passing bike. It was getting dark as I ended up about 5 blocks away, and I started back to the hotel, it was raining just a bit also. I noticed that as the stores were closing about 6 ish, the sidewalks were turning into restaurants as tables were being put together and I could see the area was transforming. I waited out the rain which was not long lasting in the lobby and by the time I went back out you could not recognize the area. The sidewalks which were full of parked bikes all of a sudden were restaurants with tables and portable cooking stations. I am going to get a day pic and a night pic and hopefully be able to show you. I found a little spot close to the hotel and had the countries specialty dish Mohinga. Its a soup with noodles and veggies with little crunchy bits added as well as a little chicken I think. Its a fish based broth but does not taste fishy at all. You squeeze a little lime on top and its wonderful. For some reason the locals love to watch me eat, I guess they are either curious or seeing what I think of the food.

I failed to mention that yesterday during the bouncy part of the bus ride to Mandalay, I hit the half way point of my trip. It did not go without notice and some relection on my part. I can only hope the last half lives up to the first half.

I am discovering this country is going to the dogs .... literaly. I cannot even begin to tell you how many stray dogs I have seen, and after a day in Mandalay, this place beats them all.

My first day in Mandalay was great, with the decision to hire a driver the right one. Everything here is spread out and it made the day much more enjoyable. He does not speak english well, but we are able to communicate just enough. It bascially works out to $5 an hour to have the driver, not bad at all. I went ahead and booked him again tomorrow to take me to some places outside of town. He is very thankful for the business.

Our first stop of the day was the old Royal Palace. The entire complex is surrounded by a moat with walls after that. It runs 2 miles sq. in each direction and is huge to say the least. When I went to the booth to pay the entrance fee, there were soldiers with machine guns guarding the gate. At the ticket booth there is a huge sign showing restricted areas for tourist inside the walls. The only place you are allowed to go is the old Palace itself which sets square in the middle. Turns out the entire complex is a military base off limits to anyone. You are not even allowed to take photo until you are at the palace.

The old Palace is made from Teakwood and is beautiful. The last ruling king of Myanmar lived here before the British took control in the 1800's. The palace was then used by the British as a Command Center until WWII when the Japanese took control and also used the Palace as a Command Center. The palace was bombed after that and burned to the ground. After the British left the Govt rebuilt the palace exactly as it was. What a shame to loose such a treasure to war.

From there we went to an old original Teakwood Monestary. I am not sure how old it was but it was magnificent. The carvings were so beautiful. This old Monk invited me in and showed me around. It was really dark inside but I think I have some pictures that turned out. He posed for me as I was leaving, he was a really cool dude with his arms completely tattooed.

We then went to a couple of pagodas that were really cool. He woud try to explain things to me but I could not understand. I would just smile and pretend I was getting it.

He stopped by a travel office for me as I have decided to fly back to Yangon the day after tomorrow. I bought my air ticket and they checked availability at the same hotel in Yangon I used on arrival and it was good. I know there is a good wifi spot next door so wanted to take advantage of that. The other option was the overnight bus for 12 hours from Mandalay to Yangon, and I hate overnight buses as they are loud, and you cannot sleep, so whats the point. The last 5 days of my trip will be traveling Southeast and while I would love to have gone to Hsi Paw, I did not want to give up my time there. I guess I will have to come back - lol. I was also able to confirm my travel plans for that part of the trip.

By this time it was getting close to noon and it was getting hot so we took a break and returned to the hotel and he was picking me up again at 3. I found a tea shop close to the hotel and walked in and found a seat. Its a big open air place and was filled with men in small groups socializing. Like the bagget and crepe is the French legacy in Vietnam and Cambodia, Tea is to Myanmar. There are tea houses everywhe. I could not communicate with the guy but pointed to the tea at the table next to me and they seemed to have several trays of treats and pointed to that too. Soon he returned with several plates, one with these triangle pieces fried that had a meat filling of some kind. There were also these round bean patties that were spicey and delicious, and also some fried bananas. The tea is mixed with condensed milk and is very sweet but delicious. All of the snacks were very good and had 2 cups of tea, when the bill came it was $1.50.

While drinking my tea I noticed they were doing construction on a new building across the way. It was interesting to see they were mixing concrete in these big boxes on the roadside, and then a line of men with buckets would come to the box and get the bucket filled with concrete and they would march to a pour area and hand pour the concrete. Some of the buckets were taken to another spot where a guy on the 3rd floor would lower a rope with a hook and the guy would hook his bucket and it would be pulled up to the 3rd floor and poured. Its a wonder anything gets built around here - lol.

On my way back to the hotel I took a side road and I heard this rythmic pounding. The sign said it was a Gold Leaf Shop. I poked my head in the door and a man waved me in. In this room there were about 5 stations wth guys with sledgehammers pounding this small box. They would change agles every now and then and the tone of the noise would change a bit. Soon one stopped and took the little box and turned it around and started pounding that side. About that time a van pulled up with some tourist and a guide and I heard the guide saying it took 5 hours to pound one small piece of gold into gold leaf. Once finished it went into a room where these ladies were placing the gold leaf on parchment paper and putting them into like books for resale. It was amazing to watch this process being done. I heard more pounding in the back, so there were quite a few of these guys. I picked up one of the hammers and it was heavy. I dont think I would get into a fight with any of these guys. I would soon find out where this gold leaf was going,

Our first stop of the afternoon was the Shweinbin Mondastary which is the site of one of the most famous Buddha Statues in the country. Remember I told you I would be visiting 3 of the holiest Buddhist spots in the country with Shwedagon Pagoda as the first, well this is the 2nd one I will visit of the 3. It was packed with locals and you had to walk a long hallway with booths selling everything from souvenirs for tourist to flowers and offerings for the faithful. Its a golden Buddha that was moved here a long time ago from somewhere else in Mayanmar but has the distinction of supposedly being the Buddha Statue that most resembles the actual Buddha. I read this statue was done shortly by someone who actually met the Buddha. As you enter the area where the Statue is, there is live TV displaying the statue that is in a small room. There is a point where men only are allowed to pass and they can enter the chamber and put gold leaf on the buddha statue. Supposedly the bottom part of the buddha statue is so thick with gold leaf that its turning into a big blob. The face of the Buddha is gold, but nobody puts leaf on that and I read somewhere that the monks at the monestary wash the Buddhas face everynight. You can feel the importance of the place while you are there as people from all over Myanmar travel here to pray at this Buddha.

Our next stop was a Pagoda with hundreds of small white stupas all exactly the same. The sign out front said it was the home of the worlds largest book. There were 700 of the stupas each containing a slab of marble filled with the story and teachings of the Buddha. The sign said it took 8 years to fnish the project. The writing is small and each slab is loaded with text. Incredible place.

We visited another Pagoda and another old teak monestary. They were each amazing on their own. Out last stop was Mandalay Hill. There is a Pagoda at the top of this hill that overlooks Mandalay. The view was amazing. You took these 3 sets of escalators to the top after driving most of the way up the hill. The driver did tell me there are over 1800 steps to the top if you want to walk up. Ummmmm................. no Thanks!

It was getting dark and we went back to the hotel. I strolled around the hotel and found a little restaurant I had missed last night called Min Min. Let me tell you, it was Min Min's job to make sure you had a good dining experience. He had 3 menus, Chinese, Thai and Myanmar dishes. I tried to order a Prawn dish in earthen pot, but he stated they were done for the day with that dish, so I ordered a sweet and sour chicken dish. It came with a spicy soup again, It was delicious. I saw a sign on the wall that said free wifi, but it turned out to be a big dud and I could not get connected. Min Min was really nice and he made me promise to come back tomorrow and he would have the earthen pot dish.

Strolling back was fun as the night life on the street was going full blast. There were a couple of huge flames going from raodside eateries with ladies cooking away and tables laoded with locals enjoying the cooler night. Some areas were fairly dark, some of the open stores lit other parts up.

All in all it was a great day. I only hope the pictures do this place justice.

Happy Travels, Don

　



Day 2 - Mandalay

　
Hey All,

Another busy day and I am exhausted. Thanks for all the emails waiting on me when I got back, I love them, with the best suggesting I put some of the chinese balm on my burnt fingers from the light socket. If you do not get emails from me that will make no sense.

Another observation from my time here, the women when riding on the back of a bike all ride side saddle. It looks very proper, of course they are on back of a scooter, not straddled on a Harley. I also love to see how many they can pile on a bike. I see many times a family of 4, but today saw a guy with 3 monks.

First stop of the day was this white Pagoda, really cool. The we went to the U Bein Bridge. First the story I read is that a former King donated his teak wood palace to furnish the materials to build this bridge across this lake. Seems its the longest teakwood bridge in the world. This is a HUGE tourist attraction with the most popular time at sunset. You get a boat and take pictures of people crossing the bridge at sunset.  I chose to go early to avoid that meyley, but even early it was still busy. I walked halfway across the bridge, stopped and sat at a bench and came to the conclusion: I dont get it. Love the story of the king, but its a rickity, hard to walk on, crowded old bridge. The majority of the locals on the bridge are just trying to sell you crap. I just dont get the attraction and you know how I tell it like it is. I could have skipped this stop.

Next we went to this huge Monestary that houses around 1700 monks. He told me where to stand and watch the monks line up for their lone meal of the day. Once again, it was a tourist bonanza and I HATE that. You were elbow to elbow with everyone trying to nudge you out of the way since they got there late and you got a good spot. It was interesting, but again, had I been the only one there I would have liked it better. I just hate crowds. The monks march in and get their rice and bread and a banana, then go into the huge lunch hall. They have a system down and can serve them fast. I was ready to leave the buses behind.

We crossed a new Bridge, which was interesting as they have a look out spot built into the bridge at one end. You literally pull over blocking a lane of traffic and get out and take some photos. There were some motobikes and one other car. Its not the safest thing to do, but got a couple of good photos.

We visited another Pagoda on top of a hill with some great views and on the way down stopped at a couple more. I cannot remember their names and my drivers english is not the best. But loved them all. Someone asked if I get tired of seeing all of these Pagodas and the answer is NO. They each have their own personality and something that makes them unique. I have yet to see on that did not have something about it that I enjoyed. One from this evening had this really large reclining Buddha and about a 5 story tall sitting Buddha. They also had these large Owls, and having seen these owls for sale for the locals, I must look into the story behind this. The other Pagoda had these semi circle of Buddha images that looked out onto a beautiful view.

The last stop of the day was a ferry crossing on a small boat, once on the other shore you hire a horse cart to take you around. When I saw these horses I could only think of my friend Katie and would not hire one. I did not feel these are the best kept animals and did not like the whips these guys were holding. I did some walking on my own for a bit, but not sure where the horses took you. I took the Ferry back over and my driver was a bit surprised to see me so soon, I just laughed and told him long story, I dont think he understood. Katie, you have had an influence on me!

I went to Min Min's again tonight to see what he does not have available, lol. I had this prawns with glass noodles in this wonderful broth cooked in an earthen pot, it was delicious. Tomorrow I can sleep in a bit as I am going on a 1 hour trip on the river to Mingun. After visiting there I will take the boat back and arranged for the taxi guy to take me from there to the airport for a flight back to Yangon, with a quick stop to pick up my luggage from the hotel. The flight is at 1815 so I had time to make this little side trip. I have heard its worth the trouble.

I have enjoyed Mandalay and Bagan, but will be happy to get back off the beaten path the rest of the trip and leave the tour buses behind. After a couple of nights in Yangon, the rest of the trip will be special and besides Mrauk U, what I have been looking forward to the most.

Happy Travels, Don

 

Bagan and The Road to Mandalay

Day 1 - Bagan


Hey All,

Well, it took about 8 days, but I found them, you know............touts and tour buses. I was not missing them.

Todays shout out goes to all my peeps at the hospital. I have been there almost 12 years now and had the privaledge of working with some of the finest professionals anywhere, well except for Joan, but thats another story (JK). First to 2 of the best CM's anywhere whom I continue to learn so much from, Deann and Michele, and my boss Becky. To all the RN's, NT's and MT's on the Neuro and Oncology floor who day in and day out do a great job, without much fanfare, kudo's to you all. To all my other friends, Katie D, Dorothy, Katie B., Kathy, Ann, Joan, Kaylani, Karen, Iris, Delisa, I could go on and on, but alll of you make work "fun", and thanks for putting up with me for all these years!

I am lucky, the place I am staying is fairly small, but there is still a group of French here in a couple of vans. I decided to go for a walk about the place a bit after dark, which of course requires dousing yourself with OFF. I wanted to go see what this bad music was coming. The rooms here are in bungalow style buildings with 2 rooms per unit. I was walking down the path a few bungalows down from me and this French couple was having a heated debate, I mean LOUD. I expected someone to come flying out a window at any minute. Ah well, the French. Anyway, I meandered the property and I guess there is some kind of drinking / Karaoke / Dive Bar / right next door. I guess the one rule is you cannot sing unless you are blitzed to the max, cause what I was hearing was really bad, and I could not even understand it, but bad is bad in any language. I did not go in, even though there is no door, you just wander off the street and find a chair, but it was really loud and I was not up to it. The hotel is not really in a central part, but out a bit, and was surprised this was so close. It was a local thing.

When I got back to the room the French couple had made up I guess. As I was getting to my Bungalow a staff member was knocking at my door. He had a huge can of OFF in his hand and said he was there to spray my room. I let him in and he sprayed all around the window and the 2 doors as well as around the baseboards. I guess this is how they do turn down service here. I guess the OFF I brought has worked, cause even during my time in Mrauk U, I have not had a single mosquito bite.

I was up at 6 this morning and had a so-so breakfast and ready to start the day. First let me tell you a bit about Bagan. It sets in a relatively flat area, on the banks of the Irrawadde River, what its known for is the 2200 stupas/pagodas/temples that are everywhere, and I do mean everywhere. At one time there were over 4000 but earthquakes, invading armies, etc dwindled them down. They were built over hundreds of years by King after King during the 13th ish century. You have to see this place to believe it. I was highly curious why this spot was not a UNESCO World Heritage Site like Angkor in Cambodia. I read somewhere that the UNESCO people were here and helping to restore many of the stupas, being as historically accurate as possible. Most all them were damaged, in some way. I guess in the mid 70's the Govt decided they were taking way to long and decided to boot them out of the country. They then took over and started throwing them back together in any way they fashioned, using close, but not the same building materials.

There are several ways you can get about to see this area, bicycle, horse cart, pay a guide, but I decided to go with the electric bike. They hotel gave me a great map and I figured I could make this work and its only $8 for the whole day. So after breakfast, I lotioned up for the sun protection, then sprayed myself down with OFF, which had me glistening in the morning sun. I walked next door to the hotel and rented a bike. They gentleman assured me the charge would last all day and I headed in the first direction that caught my eye. I mean right by the hotel there are dozens of these stupas from small to big. I mean you could literally take hundreds of photos (umm, I did). There are 3-4 you can see out the window of my room. The hotel sits on a dirt road and I headed down to the main road stopping several times to take photos. Ah yes, the dirt road and oiled up with sun protection, not a good combination. I made it to the paved road and headed off. I was constantly stopping to take photos and there would be these dirt paths that would lead off to dozens more of these. It was overwhelming. The good part was the dirt paths were all to myself, the buses were trying to kill me on the road, I swear I had an ambulance following me about thinking I was going to be a customer real soon. The locals had a good laugh at the fat guy on the electric scooter. I must admit though, that thing could move it, especially down hill.

After several hours and many miles of this I was starting to see the pattern. There were many stupas that had little damage and you could tell they were authentic, but some, you could see where the work had been done. What a shame. I would rather they had been left like they were found, like many of the buildings in Angkor. They were every shape, size, design you could imagine. Despite the help, it was still very impressive.

At the larger temples, the touts were out in force, and there were huge buses pulled up to the temples. I would take a quick picture and scurry off. One advantage of the electric bike is its quiet, so even some of the nicer pagodas, they would be off the road and no buses went there, but there would still be touts lurking in the area ready to pounce with post cards, water, scarfs, paintings, trinkets of all kinds, but they would be all under a tree, sometimes sleeping, and I will stealthily slip in, get my pictures and glide out without ever being known. Sometimes they would spot me as I was almost done, but I made my escape before they got to me. It became like a game to me. Some had roads big enough for vans, but there would be a back trail that I could slide in on without being seen.

I found a lady selling the Cane Drink so I pulled in to rest and had a refreshing drink (I love those). She had a hand crank one and she would getting it spinning and load the cane stalk in. Its fun to watch. There was a little store next door and I went there to find a snack of some kind. They had about 20 different kinds of wafer cookies, but that's about it. This country is obsessed with the wafer cookie as they are everywhere. The one I found stated it was "Like in the USA", and it was.

I found an area that was loaded with Laquerware stores, some were factories, some were outlets. I mean dozens of them and they all had buses and vans out front with the mandatory shopping stop on the tour. I must be missing something with the laquerware. Who travels half way around the world and hauls a bunch of this home with them? I can just see them being led on the tour showing how each piece is hand made in their factory and meantime there is a truck out back unloading boxes from China. As you can tell, I am so jaded on this type of crap.

About noon my ride started getting sluggish and sure enough the charge was going down. They had given me a phone number if I had any issues and when it finally died I was stuck. The first bike that passed by stopped and the guy called them for me. He even stayed with me until they arrived which was no more than 10 minutes. We could not understand each other but he was very friendly and did not want to leave me stranded. I love the people of this country. They replaced the battery and he made mention, big guy, drain battery. I smiled and went on my way. I would find a road, then head off to see what I could find. You don't really know how far away you get until you start heading back, and I went a long way. By the time I was getting back around 3 it was already getting low again. The heat was getting to me so I decided to take a rest in the room and would head out again about 5 to get something to eat. I was able to locate a nice eating area close by during my travels.

I found a little place that caught my eye becuse they had tiki torches, oriental lanterns, these lights hanging from the trees, and purple blinking lights around a sign that said Black Rose Restaurant. I knew this was my kind of place. I had these noodles with veggies and chicken, and these thin slices of fish fried up with a chili dipping sauce, and a watermelon smoothie, It was so good and just under $7 for the whole thing. The family was so nice and I told them I would be back tomorrow. They wanted to make sure everything was perfect, even to the point of putting a citronella candle under my table to keep the mosquitos away. I did not tell them I had enough spray on to keep them out of the whole restaurant. I mounted the trusty steed and quietly rode off into the darkness. Once I got to the raod it was rather nerve racking, with buses coming at you with brights on and you could not see anything. I think I will avoid the night driving any more, I missed my turn off twice due to the darkness and being blinded. But I made it back and turned the bike in with 15 minutes to spare, I got my moneys worth.

My original plan was to stay here for 3 days, but after getting so much done today, I might cut it a day short as I was hoping to give myself another day on Yangon down the road. I am sure I can see more tomorrow and find a travel office to buy a bus ticket to Mandalay for Tuesday. The other option is taking a boat from Bagan to Mandalay which takes 12 hours. I have done the boat trip so will settle for the 5 hour bus trip. While in Mandalay I have the next big decision as to head north to Hsi Paw (See-Paw) or head back to Yangon and start my trip to the Southeast. I will see how it goes.

Happy Travels, Don

　



Day 2 - Bagan
 　

Hey All,

Question of the day: No, I dont know if they were anything under the Longyi's and I am not going to ask. And this question did not come from the person I thought it would (Christine!)

I woke up this morning with somewhat of a head cold. I think I fell asleep with the air to low since I was cooling the place off after returning from eating and never turned it back up for the night. I woke up in the middle of the night just shivering and it was blowing right on my bed. I have been sniffeling all day and have a small cough. I guess its back to the pharmacy.

There are some places I wanted to see today but I knew it would be too long a haul for the electric bike, so I had the desk get me a taxi I could hire for about 4 hours. The first stop was this tall look out tower that is in this fancy resort. You pay $4 and ride an elevator to the 11th floor, then get out of the elevator and take these narrow spiral stair the last 2 floors to the top. Which only begs the question, why didnt they just take the elevator another 2 floors? I guarantee you that not all people can negotiate that stair case, it was a bit daunting. The view from the top was worth the $4 and you had a 360 view of the Bagan Plain. I spent a while up here before working my way down the stairs. I checked out the 11th floor as I heard its a restaurant, but found nothing but a few chairs and a nice window view. While it was cool to see the view, this thing stands out like a sore thumb in the area. I think the locals hate it.

From there we stopped by the bank so I could cash more of my crispy, $100 bills. Got a really good rate so banks only from now on for me.

The we went to the local Golden Pagoda which was NOT under repair. I walked in to the sound of Monks chanting a prayer in one of the buildings and got a good video of this. The place was really cool and I spent about 45 minutes here wandering around checking all the nooks and crannies out. I went in one building and it had about 30 Buddha statues, all gold of different sizes behind a cage. Off to the side was this statue that was so out of place, I had to laugh out loud. It looked just exactly like the Bob's Big Boy Burger kid. I know my son Jeremy will get a kick out of that one. I still dont get that one.

We visited a few more temples and this one really old building that was a maze of halls that had the coolest art work on them that was original. The ceiling and walls had been reinforced for protection, but this place was so neat. You had to walk around with a flashlight to check out the art. There was about a 100 year old lady sitting on a mat at the entrance and she would give you a flashlight when you entered. She reminded me of the gatekeeper that I met while in Hell, Grand Caymen with my NY friends. They will know exactly what I am talking about. She did not ask for money but I gave her $1 anyway and she seemed grateful.

The last building I went into had 4 huge Buddha Statues that were really cool, and this building had some old wall paintings too. When I got back to the taxi the driver asked me if I ever paid the $15 entry fee to see all the temples. You get a receipt and show it whenever you enter. I old him nobody ever asked me for a ticket or offered to sell me one and he just laughed and said I was lucky.

The heat was really bad today so about 1 pm we headed back to the hotel for cool off period. I went back to the Black Rose for supper and they welcomed me like an old friend. I had this fish curry in a pot that was really good and fried banana with honey for desert. I tried a Lassie which is a yogurt drink of some kind, but did not really care for it. I had read they were really popular here. As this seems to be a fairly popular stop off area to eat as there are about 6 places to eat right next to each other, and my table was outside near the road, I had some good people watching time. For some reason the French has far outnumbered any other group I have seen here, maybe its some big holiday there. 4 Korean ladies strolled in wearing these huge, and I mean huge parachute pants, long sleeve shirts, a sleeveless coat and safari hats. I am sitting here in shorts and t-shirt, drenched in sweat and they are dressed like its 20 outside. If you threw a rifle over their shoulder you would think you were in Africa on a safari. I do love to people watch.

Back at the hotel I lost any hope of getting my post done as I could not even check an email. I have my fingers crossed its going to get better in Mandalay.

I enjoyed Bagan. It was definately more touristy, but not so to the point I wanted to get out of town. Its big enough that everyone can spread out a bit, and it was not difficult to get on the dirt paths and get away from everyone. I ran into more touts on day 2, but even then they are easy to wave off. I got quite a few of the guys coming up to you "Where are you from", always a bad sign. I just give them a little Spanish and they dont quite know what to do and hed off for greener pastures. This worked in Thailand so I know it works here. I am sure Mandalay will be a bit touristy too, but not sure to what extent.

Happy Travels, Don

　



Day 3 - The Road to Mandalay
 
Hey All,

I was waiting on the lobby for my taxi to the bus station at 0815 and he was there waiting on me. He dropped me off and pointed to the bus that would be mine, it was more of a minibus. It looked clean at least and didnt have pieces duct taped all over the place like most buses. Just before 9 they started the engine and the bus guy pointed that I could load up. It was 3 across sitting with 2 - 1. I had Seat 9, which was the first single row seat by the door. The windows and all around the bus had these curtains that look like something my sister would decorate her kitchen with. It was very "frilly". The only other people to load on were a monk and 2 young Japanese back packers. Experience with Asian buses told me that taking a 2 seat row to myself would be a mistake and we were not done yet. As they drove through Bagan this guy in a green shirt would open the door while the driver slowed down and yelled out something and if he got no response they just kept going. Finally on the 4th time, the driver pulled over and about 5 people loaded on with all kinds of plastic tubs, bags all filled to the point of explosion. I am guess the bus had about 25 seats and within an hour we were full (not really), because he kept stopping and soon the plastic stools made an appearance bringing back bad memories for me. 2 girls also sat on the console between the driver and the door seat, so I guess there were at least 40 people of the bus.

The trip was really rough, and the road was constant turns and so you were tossed from side to side and bounced all over the place. Made me think the train was not such a bad idea. We made the usual toll stops but one caught my eye. They would not open the gate and I noticed cars, motorbikes, trucks etc all crossing this one lane bridge. What caught my eye was the train tack running down the middle of the bridge. Oh great, we are crossing this river on train tracks, I love places like this, you just cant make this stuff up. Soon the traffic cleared and the pole was lifted and we were on our way. It was really rough road, oh wait, its not a road, oh geez.

I noticed the guy in the green shirt passing out these little black bags and my curiosity was kicking in. Soon I realized there were for the beetlenut chewers to have something to spit into. Yuk!

About 1230 we stopped at a road side lean to for bathroom break. I was not going near that little shack for any amount of money. You were assaulted with ladies with these metal trays on their heads loaded with all kinds of interesting things for sale. I passed and found a shady spot with a plastic chair and had a seat. The guy close to me bought the fried little birds that looked hideous. They were head and all and then worst of all I could hear him crunching away on the thing, and when I glanced over he just smiled and offered me one. I declined as nicely as possible and pulled a granola bar out of my bag and did some crunching of my own. All the ladies on the bus were squatting in the shade of the bus. The driver went and dipped a pale into a well, and then poured water on the braes and they just hissed like crazy. Some guy with a rolling cart was selling something that was put into a bowl and people were eating that. It was interesting, and we picked up another passenger to boot.

Soon we were back on our way and we hit another toll booth and this time entered a new stretch of freeway. It was actually a 4 lane, divided highway, I could not believe it. This is the first time I have seen one outside of Thailand. They had 2 lanes each way for cars and a shoulder for the motorbikes, so they were not slowing you down, and it was straight to boot. I had to pinch myself. We had this for the next hour to Mandalay.

When we pulled into the bus station a bunch of guys started running next to the bus yelling out and when it stopped and the doors opened, it was a free for all. Those guys were fighting, pushing each other, yelling, a couple even through punches, and the best part is, I was by the door and got in all on video. Nobody could get off the bus and the guy in the green shirt was yelling to clear the way. They had to be taxi drivers vying for the fare and I was going to need one. I let most of the bus clear out and the crowd soon dwindled and I noticed this one gentleman off to the side, very quiet and decided he would be my guy. When they took my bag out of the back 3 guys tried to wrestle it from me and I stood my ground and headed for this guy. He had a big smile and asked me if I needed a taxi. Why yes!!! He even had a nice car again, I have been really lucky.

Out of Chaos.............calm! See, if I had flown I would have missed all this.

On the way to the hotel I asked if he drives around showing sites and he said he does. He showed me a card with the options. We negotiated a price and he is going to pick my up at 0830 tomorrow.

I gave him the first place on my list but when I checked it out, it was not very nice. The pictures had for sure been doctored. The room had a funny smell to it. They tried to bargain down but could not take that smell for 3 nights. So, off to number 2 choice. They were full, so I settled on number 3. Its in a busy section which is good as there should be places to eat nearby. The room is very small but evidently had just been renovated and its really nice. It just has a twin bed, but thats OK. The room has no internet, just in the lobby, so hope thats good.

I am going to get out and survey the area, then find some supper and try to get this post done. We will see I guess.

Happy Travels, Don

 

　

Pyay and the Road to Bagan

Day 1

Hey All,

I love the questions: As far as the mud on the faces of the women and children, well, its made from this tree bark and pounded down with just a dab of water until it makes a heavy cream consistency. They rub it on their cheeks and face to protect it from the sun. Its natures coppertone. You see it everywhere, even in the big city. Mostly women and children and teenagers, but hardly ever on men. They have been doing this for years, but never seen it outside of Myanmar.

Todays shout out goes to my "New York" and "LA" friends, Theresa, Steven, Laurie, James, Susan, John, Angela, John, Lisa and Ed. I love yoose guys! I was thinking bout you when this hotel in Mrauk U had a beacon shining in my face all night.

I was walking to eat last night and there was a jeep type of vehicle parked with the back end open and facing the street. The back was closed in like a Kennell for a dog. As I walked by there was an old gentleman sitting in there like a Buddha on a carpet. There was a plastic stool right there and I then noticed a bunch of signs around the car that made me think he was a fortune teller. I am still trying to figure out how he got in there.

Once again fate is shining down on me, and I did not need a fortune teller to tell me that. Before I left for dinner I had the front desk call "Win" the driver who is going to pick me up at the train station. Turns out he had driven someone to Yangon and arrived about 30 minutes earlier. I tried to talk to him but he was hard to understand so the lady at the desk talked to him in Burmese. He offered to pick me up as he was driving back anyway for just a bit more than the bus would have cost. WOOO HOOO. He said he would pick me up at 0830.

He arrived at 0830 sharp and he is a round jolly man with a mouth full of Bettlenut. He laughed and greeted me and I could tell we would hit it off. I think the reason I was not understanding him is he was talking while chewing the beetlenut. He has a nice car too. We left and the decision to stay out by the airport paid off as the traffic was really good. He told me the train is hot, uncomfortable, very rough and it derails all the time, in fact just happened last week. It was a novel idea, but common sense wins out sometimes, well that and an air conditioned car.

We stopped outside of Yangon at the WWII Allied Cemetary, and it was such a humbling place. There are thousands and thousands of grave sites there and many just marked as unknown. The people of Myanmar keep up the cemetary and they do a fantastic job as its pristine. I walked about reading the markers and it makes you realize what a sacrafice so many people gave so far from home. Most all are British and Australian, but there are several hundred Americans buried there, many were prisoners of war.

We then set about the drive to Pyay (pronounced "pea"). The raod was decent but narrow and very busy. I cannot even beging to tell you all the different forms of transportation I saw today on that road. If it had wheels I saw it: Oxcart, bicycle, Motorbike, Truck, Trishaw, Pushcart, Car, tractor, I could go on and on. Win was a master at weaving in and out and avoiding the slow traffice which was numerous. Each person feeled they owned the raod no matter how slow they were going. We passed through town and contryside, all fun to observe. When we hit our first toll booth, I had to laugh. OK, for some reason you drive on the right, but all the cars have stearing wheels on the right. When we pulled up to the booth, the person was on the left like it would be here in the US. The person sits in the booth and cannot reach the driver on the other side of the car. Why you ask? I have no clue for this one. I asked Win and he just laughed and said the Govt does not think sometimes.

I cannot even count how many Gold Pagodas we passed and I remember someone telling me that its known as "The Land of 10,000 Golden Pagodas", I really believe it. Quite often we would pass this booth on the side of the road playing really loud music and there would be girls on each side of the road with metal bowls shaking them. Win said that from now until the full moon which is around Nov. 10th, this is the time of year that everyone makes donaations to the monestaries and temples. I bet I counted 50 such booths on the 4 hour journey. There was even a large caravan with all the cars decorated and people piled in the back of trucks yelling and singing that lasted for 20 cars or more with the lead car having the giant speakers playing music. Some of the cars were decorated up like floats in a parade. It was awesome.

I must admit I had such fun taking it all in. About an hour outside of Pyay, we stopped at what I thought was the coolest looking Buddha statue I have ever seen. He is wearing giant glasses. He looks like a tribute to John Lennon. I could not believe it and Win said its the only one of its kind anywhere. They original Iron glasses are in a display case, cause now his glasses are made of gold. He looks like a rock star. Loved it. Now this is the reason for not taking the bus or train, you would fly past these places on your way to your final destination.

We stopped for a late lunch just in Pyay at this riverside place. It was on the banks of the Irrawadde River. This is a famous river that dissects the whole country. I will be following it from Pyay, to Bagan and then to Mandalay.

In Pyay he took me too some very old Pagodas that date back to the 3-6th Century. They were amazing. One was in town and the other was down this narrow dirt road that took a ways to get too. We ended the day at the main Pagoda in Pyay. Its very big like at Shwedagon in Yangon with all kinds of buildings holding different Buddha statues and such. Its a really cool place and if you head to the back you can see this huge, and I mean 10 stories tall huge Buddha statue. Its just amazing. I could not get over how big that thing was and it just looms over the city. Win told me this Pagoda also contains a hair from the Buddha. Thats the 3rd place I have been to that makes that claim. They must have parted that dude out pretty good. But Win told me that some men from the area that is now Myanmar went to see the Buddha when he was alive and the Buddha gave them 8 of his hairs. The man gave them to the King who build these places to store the hairs, at least thats the story I am getting. I will have to do some research on this later. I heard there is a tooth somehwere, will have to look into that also.

By this time the sun was going down and the knee was getting a little sore so we went to the hotel I had picked out. The lady at the front desk last night had called and they stated they would have a room. As I am typing this I hear the train whistle, so I guess it did not derail. I gave Win a little bonus for all the stopping and great driving today. He did not have to do all the extra but he made the trip amazing. He even stopped at the durg store (if you call it that) and got me some balm and a knee brace which he swears will work wonders. I am going to give it a try. Hey, I would rub sweat from Joans brow if I thought it would work. I was going to walk down the street to get supper, but with the late lunch and the knee acting up, I am going to Balm up and call it a night.

Tomorrow we head for Bagan with many stops on the way.

Happy Travels, Don


　
Day 2


Hey All,

Man, that was one lumpy bed. One thing about Asia, you never know what you are going to get mattress wise. The mattresses are usually hard as a rock, but found here the pillows are too and I really hate that. It takes a bit to get used too.

We hit the road at 8 am this morning as its a long drive to Bagan. This time the roads were really good and not even close to the traffic. The 2 things we most saw today were ox carts which way out in rural area are a plenty. Wow, I mean really a plenty. I thought they were just a novelty when I saw a few yesterday but thats not the case, they are in high demand. I guess the people out in this part of the country are really poor and they make do with what they have, and hey, its worked for hundreds of years, and some of these carts looked that old. It was fun to see.

The other item a plenty today was toll booths, must have gone through 10-12 at least. I think he was only paying about 10-15 cents each time, but there are a bunch. Some are the really nice, govt ones that have the pull up lanes with the sign over the road, but the majority are red and white polls that block the road and a lean too bamboo shed where a guys sits and collects the money. Not sure who gets this money, but I kid you not, we went through one of the nice govt booths and 100 feet later there was one of the red and white polls over the road. I looked at Win and said "you have to be kidding me", he just busted out laughing. Evidently this one belonged to the municipality, but I looked around at miles of farm land and wandered what municipality?

We made good time and around noon hit the town of Magwe where there was a temple I wanted to visit that sits on the shore of the Irriwade River. We get there and make our way in and dang it, it was covered in Bamboo for repairs. Thats twice that has happened, but the view of the river was worth the detour.

While in town we had lunch at this little place. There were some kids working there, guess it was a family, of about 10-15. The 2 youngest were just staring at me like they had never seen a westerner before. I doubt many get though to this place, but he would just smile so big when I waved at him. I took his picture and he had to run over and see it afterwards. I ordered Chicken Fried Rice wanting to play it safe here, lol, and they also brought a bowl of soup. I took a swig of the soup and my mouth almost burst into flames. That really made the kid laugh. It was really good though and I did have about 1/4 of it, but the chilis had me sweating even worse than I was. Thee CFR was really good too. I amy end up being a human flame thrower later.

Down the road a bit Win told me they just finished a new raod that cuts about 30 minutes off the trip. He had never taken it before as it just opened but got kinda lost and we were out in nowhere when we ran across a military checkpoint. The last thing you want your driver to say is "uh oh". They did not approach him, but wanted my passport. They had 3 guys inspecting it and looking around in the car. A 4th guy was talking to Win and after about 5 minutes we backtracked and found the right road. I think I will have no more of those checkpoints, they did not look happy and had weapons aplenty. Needless to say the camera stayed in my bag,

The rest of the drive was nice until about an hour out of Bagan, there was a motorbike accident of some kind and there was an old ambulance backed up to the scene. Just as we passed they were picking a lady up on something that was NOT a gurney. It was a piece of plywood with 4 legs nailed on and handles sticking out for the people to pick it up with. She was talking so that was good and they were about to load her into the ambulance. Would have loved to get a pic but I would say that would be inappropriate, even for me. I hate to think if that lady had been laying on the hot concrete.

Speaking of hot concrete, I have noticed that the monks here dont wear shoes of any kind ( or socks either ANN) and they bebop down the road like its no issue. I am so amazed by that, because I can attest to how hot that pavement is.

The road the last hour got crappy in a hurry. It was narrow, and there were lots of really big dried up washes you had to drive through, ala like back home. When it rains, I guess you cannot get to Bagan. They were also doing construction which brings me to my next observation. The road work here is labor intensive. As we passed several of these the past few days I have the system down. First they set a fire on the side of the road for melting the tar. They have men carry the tar in buckets and pour in the spot they want, then ladies with bamboo baskets they carry on their heads from the rock pile, pour the rock on top of the hot tar. Then after a small stretch is done, they actually do have a machine to drive over it and mash it down flat. There is a constant stream of tar pourers and ladies dumping rock, it just goes on and on. In this heat that is one miserable job. At one site, I actually saw men with sledge hammers taking big rocks and making the small rocks for the road work.

We arrived in Bagan around 5 Sat. evening. He took me to my hotel I had found and its OK. The minute you get into Bagan you are overwhelmed by the number of temples, and you know how much I like old things - lol. That would explain why Joan is still a good friend, but more about that tomorrow.

I wore the knee brace today and used the balm and I have to admit it feels pretty good. He said in about 2-3 days I should really notice a difference.

I just tried the wifi and its not really good. I may try to add a couple of pics, but not sure if I can. If not I will add later if I can get better down the road. I hate that, but it is what it is.

Happy Travels, Don

Mrauk U

Day 1

Temple by the airport

Hey All,

Todays shout out goes to my niece Beth and all the girls at the State of Montana Office in Bozeman. Beth said they follow the blogs, so if you are wondering why nothing is getting done in Bozeman, I appologize.

What a difference a night makes, last night I went to bed at 8pm as the lack of sleep finally caught up with me. I slept for 11 hours and did not move until 7 am this morning. I was up, had breakfast and on the lobby at 8:45 to grab a cab to the airport. I was nice at breakfast and when this group of Chinese tourist kept getting my toast out of the toaster, I did not cause an international incident. But on the 3rd attempt, fork was stregically in hand and I was not afraid to use it.

I heard the traffic going to the airport can be really bad and was not disapointed, as it took just under 1 hour. One of the issues is they have no left turn lanes, so traffic gets snarled with the people turning left blocking traffic, and I never even saw a left turn signal, so the traffic just cannot move.

We pulled up to the domestic departures and I went in to get the lay of the land. Immediately porters wanted to get your bag and take you to the window, but I just waved them off. It was easy, they have not learned to be annoying yet. There were about 4-5 different airline counters and I was looking for Air Bagan. They had these 2 counters with a sign on top, they looked like something a kid would set up in his front yard to sell lemonade. As per the usual, there were no agents frantically typing away on keyboards and printing out boarding passes, you handed your paperwork over and they checked your name off the clipboard. They placed a sticker on your shirt with the airline logo and the airport code you are going to, Sittwe bein AYK. The boarding passes were hand written and I was there and gone in a minute. This young man walked me to these large red scales, I swear these things were 7 feet tall and you could tell had been here since before electricity. I put my bag on the board and the dial swung around and I made weight so he attached with string the baggage ticket. I have never checked into American or Southwest this fast so maybe they could learn something.

He pointed to the departure area where you proceed through a unisex (lol) scanner, then get your carry on baggage scanned, finally waved into this big room. It was about half full of people milling about but mostly sitting and watching the big doors. There were no gates, just 4 signs that said gate 1, gate 2, etc but they all used the same doors. I took a seat and tried to figure out the boarding process. Soon a couple of buses pulled outside the doors and this lady made an announcement in Burmese that was about as inaudible as a bad McDonalds drive in window. Then a guy with the airline, flight number etc. walked around the hall holding this sign up and people started filing for the doors. After a few miinutes calm returned and the process was repeated. They never made the announcement in English so I was being ever vigilant. A couple of times they were missing people so they would raom about checking the tags on shirts. Soon I saw the Air Bagan sign walk around and made my way to the bus. I was getting a bit nervous as it was about 30 minutes late and I was almost afraid I had missed the sign.

Sittwe Airport

The flight was about half full and was stopping in Sittwe on its way somewhere else. It was a smallish turbo prob with 4 across seats 2-2. I had a row to myself and soon after take off they served drinks and a snack. It was a tray with a brownie and this unusal thing that was a weird hybrid hotdog thing. Instead of a bun it was a crust, like a pie would be, then filled with this cheez whiz looking stuff and a hotdog that had been cut down the middle was placed, then put in a broiler to turn the cheez whiz brown. It was most unappetizing looking but I tried it anyway, It was not horrible much to my surprise. Then they served hot tea with slice of lime which I enjoyed. Nothing spells class like hot tea and cheez whiz.

The flight was a little over an hour and enjoyed the view along the way, despite the window with scratches. After landing we pulled up to this small building and about 10 people got off the plane. You were led to this small arrivals area and you handed your passport over to the guy standing behind this desk. He opened this huge ledger and wrote your name and passport number. He mumbled something to me but I have no idea what. I guess this is the Govts way of keeping tabs on where you are. I saw a throng of what I presumed to be taxi drivers gathering at the door and since there were only a couple of foreigners on the plane they had me in their sites. I grabbed my bag off the floor and prepared for the onslought, but to my surprise there was a guy standing just inside the door holding a sign with my name on it. I was shocked and motioned to him it was me and he grabbed my bag and said follow him. I asked who he was and he showed me a badge from One Stop Travel. He said he was taking me to my boat at the jetty. I asked him to stop and told him I knew nothing about this. He assured me it was all taken care of by the Yangon office. Then it hit me, I was having trouble understanding the lady at the agency and when inquiring about the boat she kept saying "no problem", now I know why, she presumed I wanted help with the boat. He told me I owed no money so I went with him. I was thinking all the cost was the airfare and hotel, but now with this it turned out to be not so bad. He drove me through town on these really bad roads, it was quite interesting. He asked me if I wanted to buy lunch to take with me on the boat and I said sure. We stopped by this small place and the lady whipped me up a nice thing of pork fried rice with an egg on top for $1.50, which included a bottle of water. We headed down to the jetty and pulled up and this huge, ancient looking boat was at the doc with guys crossing the gangplank with bags of rice on their shoulders one after another. This boat was what I pictured the turn of the century steamer ferries from pictures I have seen. I could just picture this thing heading up river between Yangon and Mandalay with rich British sipping tea on the deck. Now its just a rusted out hull. We got to the board and they stopped to let us cross, but this thing was narrow and it took me a few minutes so I did not fall into the water. They were all laughing at the slow white guy and I smiled back at them when I made it across. This was a rust bucket to say the least, 2 stories tall and smelled of oil. I followed the driver through and we crossed into another boat which was just as bad, and then onto another smaller boat and then this little wooden boat was on the far side with 4 plastic chairs under this wooden cover. It was a relief I was not going on any of those other rust buckets. I was the only passenger except for another Burmese gentleman sitting in a chair. My bag was laying on the deck with this smiling young man standing next to it. He had grabbed the bag out of the car and was gone in an instant and the driver said he was the porter. I was glad cause there was no way I could have made that crossing with a bag too. I gave him $2 and he was smilling as wide as could be. As soon as I loaded the engine started and we started putt-putting down the river. I was scanning the small jetty area for other boats in case I had not had this set up and it was very sparse, and what was there was pretty scary looking. Some how I stumbled into the right thing to do. As we started out the best boat in the area was pulling in, it was a twin outboard fiberglass boat with all kinds of official looking stickers on it, so I presumed this to be a Coast Guard type vessel. The best part, it was being towed into dock by this old fishing boat that was leaing to one side. Maybe older is better.

I found out the Burmese gentlman was going to be my driver in Mrauk U to visit the temples and ruins. He had come down river to drop off 2 German couples and pick up some supplies from the big city. It was nice having him as he told me many things as we traveled up river. He confirmed that more than likely arrving when I did, an overnight stay in Sittwe would have been in order.

They had fruit layed out on this table with tea. It was an amazing trip, the countryside passing by, I would have paid double the price. I felt like Humphrey Bogart on the African Queen, minus the pretty lady. I am sure less than half my audience will know that movie. The river would get wide then narrow, and you would go miles and see nothing but rice patties, then hit a small fishing village with all the houses on wooden stilts. It was truly amazing. The time flew by and soon it was getting dark. The sunset and the star gazing was worth the price alone. After dark this young guy got in the front of the boat and had this big light that he would shine from shore to shore looking for logs and keeping the driver in the right spot. After a bit in the dark, he pointed to some lights in the distance and said Mrauk U. (Clarification its pronounced like a cat - meow - oo.) Once again at the dock you had to cross through 4 ships to get to the dock, and cross an even longer wooden plank. As I approached hush fell on the dock workers, I stood there a second contemplating the concequences, then I am sure I heard one of the dock workers yell, $5 the fat guy falls into the river. There was a bustle of money exchange, then hush fell as I apprached the board, fortunes about to me made and lost, when this young guy runs down the narrow board and stops, he grabs my hand and puts on his shoulder and walks me across. I raised my hands knowing I beat the abiss. In reality, I think they just wanted me off their plank so they could get back to work.

At the shore there was a jeep waiting for me to take me to my hotel. Thank you Once Stop! As we drove through the town, it was a really bad dirt road with all these small places to eat and stores, He said this was downtown and I just laughed. We got to the hotel just outside of town and they took me to my room. I cant describe this room with words, its like you are in some kind of Castle. Only pictures will do.

Well, off to unpack and get to bed, I have a full day of gauking to do tomorrow.

Happy Travels, Humphrey, er I mean Don

　

　
Day 2:

Hey All,

I dont even know where to start, this place is amazing, so far beyond what I even expected, I really cant even put the words together to tell you about this place. I wish I could have had all of you with me to get the true feel, because words are not going to be enough...................

I was up and waiting on my ride at 0800 with a belly full of breakfast. It was the same story here, eggs, toast, jam, fruit and fried rice. Dont get me wrong it was good, but I did miss my lime juice. We left and rode just out of town through a couple of small villages. People were bustling about, daily life at hand, kids riding their bikes to school, women at the big concrete water tank pulling up loads of water and hauling them back. It was fun to watch. There were these funky looking trucks loaded down with men and women off to who knows where. They make a distinct sound and you can hear them aways off.

Around each bend you could see these amazing old stupas on top of hills and just dotted about everywhere, but not the gold stupas you see everywhere else, these are really old. They date back to the 12th century. They are literally everywhere, you can stop in one spot and count 5-6 in each direction. Most all of the places we visited today were unearthed about 30 years ago. Similar to Angkor, they were just big mounds of overgrown dirt and shrubs and nobody even knew they were there. There are still hundreds and hundreds of these mounds everywhere that nobody has touched yet. My driver told me they could run into the thousands sorta like Bagan which you will see later. I know now what it must have been like to visit Angkor before anyone knew what it was, when you could walk about and nobody else there.

The first site we went to see was a small temple on top of a hill. It had 4 Buddha statues each face N-S-E-W with another Buddha statue on top, It is stil overgrown with weeds and you have to crawl through them to see. From there went went a short distance to another temple that was really big. It is called the 19000 Buddha temple becuase there are 19000 Buddha images at the site. Not only the sitting Buddha statues, but the walls are carved with rows and rows of Buddha images. It was amazing. You walked through this open tunnel and it took you on this big loop around the main Stuppa. Then you went up stairs to the top where the main Stuppa was and it was huge. There was a truck that pulled up while we were there and about 30 people piled out all dressed in their best. Than said they came from a village not too far off to pray to the Buddha and see the temple. Its made of this black stone that he said came upriver from the Sittwe area. Amazing.

We visited several more sites and on the way I would make him stop to takes pictures of the others I could see. He said it would take weeks to visit every site and some of them have no roads to them you would have to hike.

Did I say it was HOT. After about 3 1/2 hours I was drenched. I had wore long pants to help prevent bites from the mosquito, but forget that. I brought 2 cans of OFF and put them to good use. For my face I used a lotion my friend Lisa sent me, its herbal and I like it better on my face. We went back to the hotel to avoid the midday heat and I took a nap and made a wardrobe change. I did not want to eat at the hotel so he picked me up at 3 and took me to the town area for lunch.

Back at the room, I took a cold shower. Besides no wifi they have no hot water. I HATE cold showers, but you do what you have to do. It felt good to wash up though and change clothes. I was picked up at 3 and we went just a few blocks from the hotel to a small place called Moe Cherry's. I swear I read that name somewhere in a blog before, but could not remember. I had barbeque chicken with this leafy green veggie which I had no clue what it was and some kind of potato type thing. It was all very delicious, espcially the greens. I will have to go back there. I squeezed lime on the chicken and it was soooo goood.

We then heded out for some more temple climbing. When you go inside they have there corridors all lined with Buddha's and there are inside rings and outside rings, you cauld easily get lost. One Temple had 90000 Buddha images to outdo the one that had 19000, as the kings juse had to outdo the last. They were all just incredible. Shortly before sunset with my knee pounding we clinbed up a hill to see the sunset with the temples in the background. It was stunning. Than showed me a piece of rock next to where I was sitting and he stated there is another temple under us. It made you wonder what it is like, and what is yet to be unearthed here.

On the way back we stopped and watched the village boys playing "cane ball" and that was fun. They are very very good at it. Its like volleyball but you can only use your head and feet and the ball is about the size of a softball. Its hollow and made of cane and makes a distinct sound when the kick it. I took a video of them playing and will post when I get home.

Today was amazing and had such a good time. Tomorrow we go to the local market, which you know I LOVE. Then off on another river ride for a couple of hours to visit some local people. I am excited.

Happy Travels, Don

　
Day 3
Hey All,

Yesterday during the day, I ran across no other travelers until we went on that hill to take pictures of the sunset. There was an older couple, I think from France and a family with a teenage son, but not sure where they were from, but that was it. I have not seen any travelers in my hotel, but there is a group with an NGO. There are 3 official looking Land Rovers parked out front and they have the Red Cross logo on them. I asked Thon what they were doing here and he stated that due to the unrest here the past year, that there is a big refugee camp north of here where those that were displaced are located and they are helping there.

Today started out with a visit to another Pagoda, this one was fairly new, being built in the 16th Century. We stopped at the daily market area and that was FUN. You know how I love the markets. They have everything there, building supplies, fruits and vegetables, toiletry supplies, clothes, its like a giant outdoor Walmart. I was really enjoying it until we hit the meat area. People were butchering chickens and there was meat laid out on tables and the flies were everywhere. I heard this chopping sound and saw this guy with a giant machette cutting up what Thon told me was a buffalo. He was cutting the head in half and each swing of the knife you heard this bone crunching sound. There were large pices of the meat laying on dirty cardboard waiting to be cut down to smaller pieces. Now, I have been to many open air meat markets in Laos, Cambodiia, Vietnam, but this was the very worst I had ever seen. It was literally about to make me sick with the smell and sights. I would not be able to eat meat while in this town. I was so taken aback by what I was seeing I forgot to shoot video. You can thank me later.

We were gong on another boat trip today so I bought some fruit for the trip. The selection was amazing. As we would be visiting a village I asked Thon if there was anything to take with us, he suggested some little candies for the children. I bought 2 big bags and out of the corner of my eye down the way I spotted some of the Cane Balls. Thon said that would be good so I bought 2 of those. From there we drove about an hour out of town. The road was really bad, it made the back roads of Cambodia look good. I am gathering we only went about 10 miles because thats about as fast as you could go. You were constatnly dodging potholes that would swallow a Smart Car. On the way we passed a Muslim Village as you could tell by the way the ladies were covered up. We then went to the edge of a river where another boat waited for us to take us about 2 hours north to a Chin Village. I do love the boat trips, you really get a sense of daiy life. We passed many villages and the children were on the banks swimming but would stop to wave. Ladies were doing laundry in the muddy water and men were fishing. We then got to an area where the banks of the river slopped up slightly and women were squatting in rows of about 10 picking peanuts from the sandy ground. Wow, it was so hot and a miserable thing to have to do out in the sun like that. They all had their round straw hats on, I could never do that. Soon the area became more jungle looking and Than pointed in the area ahead and said that is the village.

We pulled ashore and I managed another gangplank without falling and we headed up to the village. Of course it was a climb up the bank to the village, you have to climb everwhere here. I was greeted by some older ladies and small children. we started passing out a candy to the children and they were so excited. Soon there were several ladies and they pulled out a plasitc stool in the shade and had us sit down. I think they could tell the fat white boy was struggling with the heat. They brought out some bananas and we sat and ate some while Thon was talking to them. OK, so the unique thing about these ladies is that their faces are covered with tattoos. Its a cobwebb design and covers their entire face. So the story goes, many years ago the Chin women were known to be very pretty and the kings would come through and take the best ones with him, so at age 9 they stated tattoing their faces so the king would not find them attractive. This went on for centuries. The older ladies in the villages are the last to do this and the young are no longer do this. When these ladies go there will only be the pictures to see, and I will have some. I always feel uncomfortable visiting places like this as I feel they are trying to put on a show for the tourist, but it was not that way here at all. We sat around having bananas and they showed me their village. They did not try to sell me stuff or anything. It seemed very genuine. As you would meet them they would take your hand and shake it. They took me to a primary school in the village and when you went in the hut it was divided into several areas of different ages. They had some really old chalk boards. I noticed they were teaching english to one group as they had the english words written on the board, and as the teacher pointed they would say the word. We gave all the students a piece of candy and the teacher had me tell them where I was from. It was so much fun. We then went to another building close by and the older students were there. They all waved and asked me a few questions practicing their english. I gave them one of the 2 cane balls and they were so excited to get it. As we walked back to the boat, I heard a radio and asked if they had power and Thon said no, but showed me a small Solar Panel leaning in the sun. I had to laugh as it looked so out of place in this really old village. I am sure you could have walked through here 100 years ago and it would look the same. Thon showed me all the banana plants, and trees with mango, pamelo, cocconut and also grow peanuts.

We left there and stopped at another village close by. It was much of the same, the people were so friendly. This time a game of cane ball was going on with boys out for recess from school. The ball they were using was old, lopsided and made from some old bamboo reeds. I pulled the new ball out and they got so excited. It was $1 well spent. More candy was passed out and we stopped to sit with the ladies again and the offered me some bettlenut. Now, I have read about this. All the ladies and men have red teeth stained with this stuff. They showed me how they do it, they take 2 bettlenut leaves, then she pulled out this white jar and rubbed lard on the inside leaf. In anothr white jar she took a small bit of tobacco and put on the leaf and then added a red bettlenut. Thon told me its a fruit but about the size of a cashew nut. They roll it up and put it between their cheek and gum and chew on it. They offered me one, but I declined, guessing it would make me sick - lol. I took a video of her making one and will post it later.

Thon told me that their are other Chin villages scattered all about this part of Myanmar, and that each group has it own distinctive face tattoos that they do.

It was an enjoyable trip and glad I went there. As I was leaving I noticed a lady weaving something and Thon took me over. She was making these wraps and they take them to the market to sell. They did not take me there to buy, I just happen to see it. The lady was 80. so I told her about my mom's upcoming 80th Birthday and bought one. She took the money and squeezed it and you could tell she was so thankfull. She walked over to a Pamelo tree and picked 2 and gave them to me for my journey.

By the time we returned up the river and fought the bad roads it was about 4 when I returned to the hotel. I was hot, sweaty and tired. The heat just saps the energy right out of you. I had bought these tablets before I left that you can add to a bottle of water that turns it into almost like a gatoraide, with the things that can zap you back to life. They really work well and have used them a couple of times. I was feeling a bit woosy when I got back and drank a bottle with a tab disolved in it and laid down with a fan. They plan was rest a bit then go to Moe Cherry's for some friend rice (no meat of course). When I woke up it was midnight. So I packed, turned on the TV for the first time this trip. The TV had 3 channels, one was a movie channel from India but the show was in english, the 2nd was BBC world news and the 3rd was a Myanmar channel playing these videos. I started watching the movie and it was Thor, but about 45 mintues into it, it went off and something else came on, some Billy Chrystal movie that was also in the middle of. Geez. I gave up on the movie and started watching the Myanmar music video's. Like a lot of Asia vidoes I have seem before they are full of drama, sorta like a soap opera with music. There would be a group of people and this man and woman would be fighting, soon the woman would slap the man in the face, tempers would flare and in a instant, they both look at the camera and start singing. The others would break into this asian line dance while the couple would sing and smile at each other, all the while he has this red hand print on his face. Really bizarre. Got bored of that quick and went back to bed.

Tomorrow is travel day again and I do the trip in reverse.

Happy Travels, Don

　
Day 4

Hey All,

Up and ready to hit the road early as they picked me up at 6 to start the journey back. It was fun traveling early to the jetty as daily life was happening all around me and I loved every minute of it. I finally got to see what the jetty looked like in daylight, and again had to cross through 3 boats to get to mine. The first was a ferry that runs between Sittwe and Mrauk U. It had left before I had arrived so it was not an option. After walking though it though, I am glad I was not taking it. It was smelly, the roof was low and it was playing some Indian music too loud and people were crowding on. It was fast though as it came by us later as we putted along. The trip back was as relaxing as before and I again enjoyed just observing daily life. We broke down about an hour into the trip but some other boats stopped and tools were exchanged and about 8 people were all squatting around the engine. They all seemed to have their own opinion about what the issue was as it got loud and they would all point to a different spot. After about 15 minutes of tinkering, a good wrap or 2 with a big wrench, the engine restarted and all went on their way.

The Ferry I am glad I missed

Once again we pulled into the dock, but as we did we passed a Myanmar Navy Ship which I took a picture for Jeremy. Guys were laying all around the deck and it looked like it could sink at any time. We pulled up to the same old ferries again and I made my way back to shore with a young man carrying my bag who went flying past me. There was a jeep waiting to take me to the airport, no sign needed as I was the only person on the dock.

We went to the airport and I checked in at the Air KBZ lemanade booth. I then went to an immigration counter with 4 guys in green uniforms all looking way to bored in the afternoon heat. The first guy checked the official ledger and found my name from 4 days ago and wrote something after it. They next guy checked my passport against my boarding pass. He then passed the boarding to the 3rd guy who stamped it. The 4th guy checked everything, stamped it again and it was handed back to me. Then I went to the scanner to have by backpack scanned and they placed a sticker on it. Then you went to the unisex metal detector that went off when anyone walked through (why you ask?), then to another desk where they checked your name against the clipboard list of names made out by the airline. The boarding pass was then put in front of another guy who was in a conversation with someone who without even looking at it, reached down and picked up a stamp and stamped it, without breaking his conversation. He must be the nephew of some important person to have a gravy job like that. I swear, my boarding pass got stampled no less than 3 times and went through the hands of 6 people. It took longer to get through this domestic flight than it took to get through immigration when I arrived in this country. You then went into another small room with uncomfortable chairs from the 50's and waited on your flight. The bonus was this room had airconditioning. The flight was on time and except for some turbulance, uneventful.

During the flight I decided to stay close to the airport for 2 reasons, its closer and dont have to face an hour of traffic and I have decided against taking the train to Pyay tomorrow. The train is novel, but its rough, hot and I dont feel like getting tossed about with my knee hurting. I think I will go with the bus, but thats not perfect either. My knee, while very sore, has been holding up but if I dont stretch it out every hour it tends to lock up and it takes me a bit to make it better. By the end of the day I really have a gimp. With my Lonely Planet Guide I found a couple of places very close to the airport and the first one I went to had a room. One thing to understand is that rooms here are expensive as compared to the rest of Asia. Its due to a lack of good rooms and the fact that the govt puts a huge tax on foreigners, this combines to make a $16 room in Cambodia, $50 - $60 here. Its crappy, but thats the way it is. I could find a $25 room, but its would be a real dump. Now I just have to figure out where the Bus Station is - lol. From Pyay I have a driver that I have found on the internet that people said is really good and has a nice car. I want a driver because there are many places I want to see around Pyay and even more on the way to Bagan that you cannot do on a bus. I emailed him a week ago and all was good, but I need the hotel staff to call him and make sure he is going to be able to pick me up from the bus station as apposed to the train station.

I am so glad I made the trip to Mrauk U, it was worth the days travel. I told my driver that this place will get discovered some day and THEY will come. I am just honored to be one of the few who have seen this place.

Happy Travels, Don