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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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
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