Amara Resort Mandalay

... The climate was still pleasant and the nights actually even a bit cold, but this fits me much better than the heat in Yangon or Mandalay. <br><br>The places we stayed overnight were by the way among the most interesting during my trip so far. The first night we stayed in a monastery, waking up at 5AM when the monks started their prayer chants. The second night we stayed in a village, on a bamboo floor of some locals&#8217; home without any mattresses. The bamboo is of course not ...

... acabat engreixant els comptes dels membres de la junta militar).<br><br> **********************<br><br>Getting to Mandalay on a night bus is not made for those with sensible spirit. The 14-hours long ride is completely unbearable: first the temperature is kept just above freezing point and I am wearing a swimming suit and secondly, even if one manages to sleep, the bus stops every couple of hours and they kick out everyone. On top of that, we should add the snoring of the ...

... and sighing like the teashop lady, we board the bus again. <br><br>We jealously eye up the bags of something the woman behind us has made into her bed in the middle of the aisle. She's asleep again almost before the conductor boys run in front of the moving bus and jump onboard through the open door, as seems to be their habit. Sleep doesn't come easy to us but the journey is so awful it's brilliant. We encounter a man fast asleep on ...

... Marie Min and Ko's Kitchen. We were able to have some eggs, bananas, juice, toast, jam and tea at the hotel for breakfast for $1.50 (USD). After a short nap we decided to do the 2.3K walking tour. We turned it into a 4 or 5K walk though! I am not sure how we managed, but both Bill and I got us turned around a couple of times ...

... where I am from. I learned that he was about to start practicing law, but he noted that it isn't very good to be a lawyer there because the practice of law has no reference to skill. It was very corrupt, which is why he was learning English. He was hoping to get a chance to learn English, use his position to get a passport and leave the country. On the way down, a pair of girls followed us down, posing for pictures ...

... avoid that annoyance with our "custom tailored" trip. After these two brief stops and the requisite look around the gift shop we were off to a restaurant on stilts for lunch. The place was very open with great expansive views around the lake. The restaurant was empty, much like the rest of Burma. Our waiter had to quickly put on his uniform in order to serve us, I'm sure we were the day's only customers and perhaps the ...

... cats. Unfortunately, almost all the cats died two weeks before we arrived so the only cats we saw were a couple of stragglers milling about. We did manage to have a long and interesting discussion with a monk their who had taught himself an amazing amount of English (and apparently Italian, Spanish, French, and German apparently as well). The topper was that SIG managed to get one of the cats to jump through his arms made into a hoop so we ended up seeing at least one ...

We stayed at this lovely place for 3 days. We were lucky enough to be here at the last full moon of their lunar year (or something) which is also Pagoda day and we went at a big festival in a temple which have renovated and they were placing the gold thing on top of the stupas. It was amazing, got some good photos. On our third day we went for a boat tour around the lake which was a great way to spend the day. Inle Lake is really beautiful. Highly recommended.

... hats for the sunny days ahead, and a dish I believe. I, however, was appalled at the price of bottled water. We got a second surprise talking to an elderly German couple heading for Bagan with a tour party. They were travelling throughout Myanmar playing golf! I hadn't really twigged to the plentiful supply of courses at the places we'd been. Our new acquaintances assured us they were quite acceptable and they were enjoying their vacation immensely.

... meal was miraculously prepared with little real cooking equipment. After two nights we found better space for less money at the Royal Guest House. We learned that a new capital is being built from scratch between Mandalay and Yangon. Since returning home, I've learned it is to be called Naypyitaw meaning "abode of the ancient rulers". As an incentive for relocating civil servants, it receives 24 hour services, resulting in shortages ...