It was dark as we travelled the rather quiet streets of Mandalay. Arriving at the ferry jetty, we were astounded to find that the route to the ferry was an obstacle race!!
Luckily, there were two young men willing to carry our cases for K1,000 each.
It was approaching dawn. We departed at 06:50 - 10 minutes ahead of schedule!
As we sailed down the river, we saw the sunrise (our first - we’ve seen two sunsets).
Sailing down river, we saw to the west the towns of yesterday dotting the hills mildly clothed in the morning mist.
Meantime ships and boats of all sizes were sailing up river.
We arrived at Yandem.
So much for health and safety! No wheel chair access here!!
Sitting by the open door on board !!
The reason for our disembarkation was to see this
pottery village.
Once one crossed the plank - more obstacles awaited before reaching the dirt track beyond.
Note the potter’s wheel is being spun by the foot of the lady in the foreground!!
The method of firing was unique - pots covered in hay and set alight!
We boarded as we had disembarked - across the plank once again !
As we sailed downstream we passed a ship laden with pottery heading for port
The ship is in reasonable order - what one could expect from a local company. Breakfast, lunch and afternoon tea were basic but acceptable. If one feels so inclined - there’s the Belmond in addition to other luxury cruises this river at a cost!!
The banks of the river are composed of clay and I saw parts of the cliff collapse into the river, even though vegetation had been planted to stabilize it.
On we travelled. There was a large German group on board but the ship was not full. We met a young girl from Paris, who works for Bookings .com and had taken s year’s sabbatical. She has travelled in South America, much of SE Asia and her next destination is India. She mentioned that she hoped to find travelling companion for India and I concurred!
Small settlements punctuated the river banks their economy based on fishing
We met two German ladies, who were also travelling independently. One was extremely friendly and chatty - she is the only German who ever mentioned Hitler to me!!
We passed under the longest bridge I’ve ever seen - even at considerable distance, I was unable to photograph the entire bridge and below is not the entirety of the bridge - such is its width
Time passed quickly and we arrived at the pier as the sun was setting.
The evening light in Bagsn is amazing - the entire sky lit up in hues of red and orange.
The jetty is 11 km from Old Bagan, where we were staying. The French girl suggested we share a taxi and negotiated a good fare.
A little up the road the taxi stopped. We had to pay an entrance fee of K30,000 pp to enter the town. The village authorities are only allowed retain 2% - the remainder goes to central government!!! As I waited in the taxi for CC to complete the transaction, two young girls went walking by. When the officials approached them, the girls, I assume, thinking they were touts, tried to ignore them. However, they were shown badges and they are taken by the elbow back to the office. I was quite surprised as the people of Myanmar appear so gentle.
We dropped the French girl off and then to our chagrin the.taxi man couldn’t find our hotel, tired and hungry, we circled the area and having asked a shopkeeper - at our suggestion - he found it!
This is high season but again the hotel My Bagan Residence by Amata wasn’t fully booked, thus having reserved a superior room, we were upgraded to a suite - the size of a one bed apartment.
The hotel is located in a beautiful woodland setting. Bagan is in the malarial zone. Our doctors advised that we commence taking malarial tablets prior to our arrival, cover up before dawn and at dusk as the mosquitos are at large and spray!!
As it was late and we were tired, we ate at the hotel. We ate our first Burmese meal - chicken curry (hin) . It consisted of a huge portion of T’amin (rice) and chunks of chicken. It was bland and oily. Oily due to the cooking method whereby food is cooked until the oil separates and comes to the top -( si pyan. )
The reason bring that the oil protects the food from contamination as curries often lie for hours in unheated containers in the hot sun.
There were few diners in the open air dining room - mainly German. Dinner was enhanced by a puppet show (which ended as we arrived) and a cabaret style show thereafter.
We retired - a very enjoyable day.
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