Hotel Sedona Mandalay

... out to the monastery. <br><br>Last but not least we came upon U Beins bridge, the longest teak bridge in the world. The thing looked brilliant! The surrounding looked even better once you were out on it as well! Photo's will Come<br><br>After that we had a long ride home in the Blue Taxi and had a nap before grabbing dinner.<br>

... also dusty, sweaty and generally grimey after a day spent sightseeing Mandalay in the back of a teeny blue Mazda taxi - and I feel like a new person. A clean one. At 8.30pm, Edgar wanders over to our bus to make sure they're not thinking of leaving without us. Men have been loading goods on the 9pm bus since 8, and now that we're clean and watered, our attention wanders to how we're going to fit too. At 9pm, as instructed, we return to ...

... internet cafes in the area charge $0.40--and a full day bicycle rental is $10--talk about overcharge!!) May 4 we did Mingun. The Boss Lady had a taxi driver take us there, roundtrip 7,000 kyatt, and the boat was 4,500 kyatt roundtrip IF they have 4 people. Since no one else came, and it was just us too, it was 9,000 each roundtrip. I enjoyed the trip though, there were two little boys who were so cute! they even steered the boat!

... rest stops (for us too, not just the bus), and the other times were check points and tolls. The checkpoints were similar to the Bulgaria-Turkey border, where they make you get out and walk, but the distance wasn't so big. The guards were also a lot friendlier. At the one check point we went through about midnight, one looked at my passport, then at me, smiled very biggly, gave a thumbs up, and said "USA! OBAMA!! GOOD!" I replied "YEAH OBAMA!" with ...

... of Sagaing. We climbed up the Paya to get a better look. <br><br>When we returned to the taxi, I asked if there would be anywhere to use a toilet in the near future. He hopped out and went to ask someone. The nearby nursery (daycare) was kind enough to allow me. She even cleaned it up a bit for me. When I was exiting, she motioned me into the building. She had lined the 15 - 20 children up to sing 3 songs for me. One was "hello, how are you?" to the tune of a French song we ...

... Par Par Lay, has been in jail three times, once spent there five years. They are not permitted to perform in public thus do so at home, in a shabby looking dwelling. Although their government criticism has become far much milder, it is great they have not given up and keep going. Mandalay is worth a visit, especially to see the surrounding ancient cities, out of which three used to be capitals, but there are much nicer corners Myanmar can offer.

... touched my hair. Near the end of the ride, they were beginning to grow a little agitated. At first I was worried that there was going to be an incident, as they were obviously sobering up, and not happy about it. Then I just sort of put on the whole thinking cap and analyzed the situation. No one there was taller that 5'2" and they were still a little drunk. I could probably have taken the whole lot given the ...

... or devastate the lives of their worshipers. To appease Nat's ceremonies (Pwe's) are held. These occur virtually daily right across Burma. They can range from small private affairs at home right up to Taungbyon which is the biggest Nat Pwe in the country. Although Buddhism is now the primary religion in Burma Nat's were incorporated in Buddhism around the 11th century to help people transit easier to Buddhism allowing them to retain the relationship to their original religion - sound ...

... Such a heart break! You want to free them all but in no way want to support the practice. We were told that this was a Hindu, not a Buddhist venture. I considered engaging the vendor in a moral debate - something like if freeing the bird brings blessings, what is the effect of capturing and confining them? A futile expression of frustration, I suppose. We moved on to Inwa, an even older capital city spanning the fourteenth to ...