Today we headed across the river to a small village that has two major claims of fame, a huge bell and a half finished temple, and like so many times the journey was better than the destination. The port, if you can call it that, was nothing more than a bank on the river. Along the bank were dozens of boats being manually loaded, people bathing, kids playing, and women washing clothes. For me, it was absolutely one of the the best experiences so far. In order to get to our boat a small group of guys built a make-shift gang plank along with a handrail that they held for us.

Our ride across the river took us a little over an hour as the boat chugged along slow enough to give us time to take in the views and even time to rest. My toe started hurting about halfway through the morning which made it increasingly more difficult to walk up the stairs of the temples. Fortunately though today’s trip was only a morning go, so I was back in the hotel by about 1. That’s where I am right now. It’s been a good day, I just finished some laundry, and now I’m sitting in front of the open window of my hotel room. The sounds of cars and people below me is at the perfect din, not too loud and not quiet– just perfect :)

We spent the day wandering from one tourist spot to another and ended on an elevated walking bridge waiting for the sun to set. All went as planned except there wasn’t a sunset, no worries though, the day was fun.

We started about 8 in the morning and headed to a monastery about 30 minutes from our hotel. I have to say that I enjoyed this probably more than anything else that we did. At, I think 10, is when they eat breakfast, and the event has become somewhat of a tourist destination. All the monks are outside, grouped by age, and waiting to be fed. They have to stand in a line until it’s their time to get their food. It seems kind of strange taking pictures of them but it appears to be encouraged to develop donations.

Most of the rest of the day we headed from one temple to another with no one in particular standing out as I write this right now. About the only thing that I want to mention is the requirement to take your shoes and socks off to enter the temples. I know, sounds like a pretty stupid thing to mention until you factor in that the tiles heat up so hot that you literally have to run from one point to another. You can only survive the short hops if you plan your dash based on the color of the tiles, with the darker being warmer, and then hope that there will be somewhere to stop and let the heat dissipate.

There was one thing that happened to me. Towards the end of the day we were going through an archeological area by way of horse and carriage, and at one point we were forced off the road by a truck coming from the opposite direction. Unfortunately the horse didn’t have the strength to pull us back, so we started getting out of the carriage and when I did, the horse suddenly had enough strength to get back onto the road… the only thing was was that I was only partially out of the the carriage. With one leg on the ground and the other still inside the horse started to drag me. I lost my balance and scraped up my big toe pretty bad. When the horse finally stopped I had managed to get the foot that had been dragged up into the carriage but I didn’t have the strength to pull my self up. So there I was hanging out the back of this stupid carriage with everyone watching me. I finally looked over to one of the guys on the tour and say, “Please help me.” I’m still embarrassed now when I recount the story.

The internet is bad here. I get a connection and it’s fine for a short while, then it goes out. The problem is trying to figure out when it’s working and to use it the most productively during those times. This entry is the second that I won’t be able to post for a while

Yesterday we were supposed to be going up the Ira Waddy (I’m guessing on the actual river’s name, it’s something close to what I wrote though). The trip was supposed to take about 13 hours and it should have been a lot of fun, but according to the guide here, the river is too low in parts for the journey. Instead we ended up taking the plane and then seeing some of Mandalay’s sites.

For the most part it is what you’d expect for a big city in SE Asia. There are cars and people everywhere, it’s noisy and dirty and I couldn’t enjoy it any more. In a lot of ways it’s very similar to Hanoi. We started at a temple fairly far from our hotel, then headed to a palace, and after lunch we headed up the biggest hill in the city to watch the sun set on the city. For the most part I don’t think anything special happened and it was a good time, but we didn’t wait for the sunset.

We got back to the hotel at about 6 and got ready for dinner. Dinner was the best for me because our tour leader invited some “tour” trainees over to our table and I happened to be sitting next to them the whole meal. So for a couple of hours I got to talk to five Burmese girls. I think I was feeling a little bit isolated from the Burmese people while I’ve been on the tour and having the girls to talk to was a great experience. In fact when they were getting ready to go back to their hotel I was a little depressed, I think I could have spent the rest of the evening just hanging out with them (I’ve been trying to figure out the best way to write that without sounding like a dirty old man ). In the end they were just fun to be around, and there is a chance that we’ll see them again in a few days.

After dinner we headed out to do a little karaoke, and I’d like to mention to now that I’ve never karaoked before, and I spent most of the time before trying to figure out how I could get out of singing any songs. It was great fun, but I don’t think I’m set up for being a singer.

I’m tired right now. It’s 645 in the morning and I’m waiting to board the plane to Mandalay that leaves in about an hour. This part of the tour was supposed to be done by boat but a couple of days ago we were told that the river is too low to make the journey. So now I’m sitting here trying to keep my eyes open and hoping that the plane is going to be early.

Yesterday was a fun day. We started on bicycles at about 8 with the plan to go to a bunch of temples, and finally end the day watching the sun go down from the vantage point of a large temple. I mention this every year it seems and, I guess this is when I mention it this year, I really am not that interested in places of worship; churches, mosques, temples, and whatever. I generally love the history of the building and the architecture, but I don’t really feel anything to the spiritual side. I think it’s because of this that I generally get bored after seeing a couple of temples, they’re interesting, but there really isn’t anything unique after seeing the first one.

The day was spent bike riding around the area of Pagan, looking at temples, and bargaining with people selling. Some of the sellers were pretty tough, but most were pretty good when it came to me. One wasn’t getting anywhere with me and that was the way I wanted it, then she changed tactics, with nothing in her hands to sell she started following me around telling me that I’m handsome.  That in itself pretty much won me over, but then she started asking where I was from and other questions. I mean, she “cared” about “me” the real “me.” It was just funny how my attitude changed towards her after she changed tactics. I ended up buying a shirt from her, and I justified it more that I was paying to be complimented more than purchasing a shirt. Another temple we stopped at they had this kind of technique that was effective for me. After getting off the bikes we started to walk towards the temple, from nowhere one young girl (14 years old) went to each of us. It was like we were being “handled” like personal guests. No matter what you tried to do, these girls would not leave your side. Eventually I gave in, and she gave me a little tour of the site. Occasionally she would say, “You come to my store.” I think just to let me know that there wasn’t any choice in this, I had to go to her store. And I bought 2 lacquer tea cups, which will probably end up breaking in my backpack.

I’m in Pagan right now and it’s about 3 in the afternoon. I’ve had lunch and tried going for a bike ride with no success earlier. For some reason I kept breaking bikes. Now I’m sitting in the lobby trying to think of something fun to write about. I can say that the trip here was one of those train rides that I absolutely love; long, bumpy, no services, and hot. The trip from Yangon to Pagan is about 500 kilometers, and it took us 16 hours to make the trip. There were areas along the journey that we were barely moving at all, which was okay since I knew that unlike when we were going faster, that we would stay on the tracks. I’ve got one photo that I think shows the sway of our heads during the trip.

The rest of the time from the last entry to this one has been a mix of sightseeing and being on a train or bus.

I made it to the airport this morning on time. That is saying a lot considering what I have riding on this flight. After I did the math, I had to be up by at least 545 this morning, to get to the airport by 715.  I was a little nervous that I wouldn’t get up on time, but all is well and I’m sitting here waiting to board. Now I’m just waiting to see what else can go weird on me, maybe I fall and break my leg or something like that.

I’m now on the plane, and I want to make a note that the plane is about a quarter full, which means no one beside me, no one in front of me, and that is about perfect for me. There was about an hour delay leaving Bangkok due to engine problems, but we’re in the air right now and although not on schedule, we’re not really going to be that late landing in Yangon.

Okay, I’m in the hotel restaurant waiting for a cup of coffee and it’s kind of cool here, not the weather because it’s about as humid and warm as Dubai… well, maybe not as warm as Dubai, but close. My first impression of Myanmar is that I love it. It feels like a real country, not a consumer-rized version with some things specific to their region.  It feels exotic, and it’s exactly what I am hoping for. One of the fun things is that the taxi drivers have been trying to play me as a rookie, each time they back down and give me the price that I start with. It’s not that I’m doing anything unique, I just asked non-taxi people what I should pay, and then walk away if they want more. The drivers were even laughing how it worked, so that made it “fun” The first taxi agreed to 5000 and as we were walking to his taxi, he asked to see the address again, suddenly, like he just realized how far it actually was, said, “6000.” I stopped and started walking away and he then said, no 5000. The other drivers busted out laughing in the background. Almost the same exact thing happened a little bit later too, only the amount of money was different, and the other drivers were laughing in the background.

Speaking of taxis, the one that I was first in was straight out of some movie, it shook and swerved on it’s own, so bad in fact I made a point of seeing if one of the tires were square instead of a round one, but I forgot to check when I got out.  The seats were covered in a bedspread type of thing, and dirt was caked everywhere. All four windows were open and the driver seemed to honk his horn at nearly everything he saw. There were times that I think he was just honking to honk because we were the only ones around—definitely funny though, and lots of fun.

They don’t have ATMs here that work internationally, which may turn out to be a problem later. I’m pretty sure that I didn’t bring enough dollars to cover two weeks unless I really go light on the meals and no souvenirs. Wouldn’t that suck if I ran out of money?

I still haven’t been taking any pictures of my trip yet. It happens sometimes that I don’t get into the picture mood until a few days into the journey, so bear with me and I’ll have something to show soon, at least that’s the plan.