Kaytumadi Dynasty Hotel Bagan

... at Pyi Wa again, on the way we saw our 'Oscar' driver and made a deal for him to come and pick us up at 1630 so we could check out another sunset at the temples, this time choosing Buledi.<br><br>The Oscar arrived on time and it was only a 30 minute ride out to Buledi, unlike any of the others we had visited at sunset this one was near empty with only 6 other travellers and 2-3 vendors hanging around. The vendors here didn't even try the hard sell and ...

... always smooth or clean?), it looked run down. Bill wandered in and told me that there was a lot of graffiti here and the floor was broken up. Soe Mingyi Monestary (Somingyi Kyaung) is named after the lady who sponsored the construction around 1204. This monastery is unique because it has monastic cells clustered around a courtyard. We climbed the flimsy wooden staircase to walk around. There was not much to see here. Nagayon Temple has a ...

This was the BEST breakfast ever!!!! They had brown bread - I have not seen that since we left Canada. They have white bread that is slightly sweet and tastes a bit odd with eggs. They also had peanut butter! Already it is perfect! They also had honey (another thing that we have not seen so far), strawberry jam, kaya marmalade, fresh fruit, grilled bananas, eggs, lime, pastries like croissant and danish (new too), bacon and pancakes (more firsts), chicken sausage, black ...

Bagan Bagan is located in the middle of Burma. It was home to an empire about 1000 years ago that prided itself on building numerous temples and stupas. Some say there were over 10,000 temples there, now only about 2000 remain. The place is stunning, I preferred it to Angkor Wat. Bagan is a place where the sum of the parts is greater than the individual. Even the most impressive temples don't compare to others ...

... to anyone. This keeps them from expecting something all the time. The company helps the village by constructing schools and clinics. On the second day we visited a pottery village. This is all they do here and they seem to have done fairly well at it.Although they don't expect anything from us, the children had made little birds of clay and pressed them into our hands. What a treat!

... we g*t back t* *ur h*tel, the large stack was left, un-rec*unted and largely f*rg*tten ab*ut. Imagine *ur sh*ck the next m*rning, th**ef*re, when we aw*ke t* rec*unt the m*ney, and disc*v**ed that we w**e missing an entire stack *f 90,000 kyat. We had abs*lutely n* idea h*w s*mething like this c*uld have happened. We c*unted the m*ney again and again, but th**e was n* mistaking the absence *f s* large a part *f what sh*uld've been the t*tal stack. We sat th**e stunned, g*ing *v ...

... of compressed brown sugar. It was quite charming. The next stop was supposed to be a bathroom break but turned into a photofest as the entire town was quite mesmerized by our presence. Part of this might have been due to Jen wearing the local tanaka makeup which was a big hit. The cameras were also a big hit - so bit it was as if they had never seen them or white people before. Anyways after being mobbed by friendly children and adults for twenty minutes we took our leave - but what a ...

... a bit on temples, taking a full day horse cart trip around the north of the temple site for 6 dollars from 8:30 AM in the morning until sunset. The good thing is that you're travelling in the shade past the various temples, and it's the best way to see as many temples as possible in one day. The problem is just that: you get to see so many temples that you suffer a bit of temple-fatigue (and it's going to ...

... only an afternoon to see the sights I had to hurry things along and prioritise. The main tourist sights in Mandalay are the Hill and the Kings Palace. The Kings Palace dominates central Mandalay and from the exterior it resembles a huge fortress with walls which must be over a kilometer long on each of its four sides which are surrounded by a moat. I had been told that the old Kings Palace inside the walls had been gutted and that there was very little to see, and so with only ...

... outlets. As we entered the workshops, the managers thoughtfully turned on the electric lights so we could see the intricate hand work being performed. Men and women of all ages were engaged in the many stages of producing this lovely product. How they managed such detailed processes without this illumination was a mystery! That afternoon, our friends were taken to the airport and we prepared ourselves for an early start in the morning,