May Flower Hotel Mandalay

... from behind and some repulsive smell coming from someone close by that makes the task of sleeping a difficult one. It has been a real tough ride, and for the first time in four months I start to feel a bit tired of spending so much 'quality' time in the bus.<br><br>Luckily, all my complaints disappear as soon as we met Thura, the person who will be our guide for the next couple of days. With him we visit the main tourist sites of the city in a different way. To Amarapura we ride ...

... dusty road and a score of longyi-clad men walking home from the match (Barcelona 2 - 0 Man. U.) - both separately in the middle of nowhere. We stop for the toilet, again in the middle of nowhere and even the blissfully sleeping aisle woman wakes up to use the facilities. We grind to a halt and 2 of the boys jump out with a jerry can for drinking water and a torch and fill up in the less than clean looking canal beside the road. And then, when we ...

... China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), holds 50.9% stake in the project, with the rest owned by the Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE). The roughly 2,000 kilometers of pipeline will cut through the heart of Myanmar, beginning near Kyaukphyu on the Arakan coast and running through Mandalay, Lashio and Muse before crossing into China at the border town of Ruili. The pipelines will terminate at Kunming in Yunnan province. A gas collection terminal and a ...

... to take a picture. He did this to avoid jotting down some notes as to what we had already done that day! <br><br>The next town was the ancient city Inwa (Ava). It had been the Burmese capital for over 400 years (1364-1841). <br><br>Well, let me tell ya. That was a scene! Bill and I were MOBBED by little kids trying to sell jade necklaces. I did not expect that at all! Bill was surrounded by 4 and I was surrounded by 6. Honestly, they had me pinned between some ...

... walked by the Cultural Museum, but skipped it because we can get a $10 pass at the Palace which includes entry here too. We stopped at Shwekyimyint Paya which was founded in 1167 by the exiled Prince Minshinzaw. It contains the Buddha that the Prince originally dedicated there during the Bagan period. There are several other ...

... or motorbike magazine. It's pleasant and I stop at the other side for tea and food. I walk back across when the sun goes down and get some excellent photos. A pick up back to town and then onto the Moustache Brothers. A family run, traditional folk dance, music and comedy show, the Moustache Brothers appear to be very famous all over Myanmar and it is something that has to be done on any trip to ...

... asking for pens. Tremendously cute as the photo shows. They didn't solicit me for money, but they did ask Maya. No dice. The trishaw drivers here were more aggressive than Sonny remembered, and he noted that there weren't nearly as many tourists as there used to be. There was an unfortunate confluence of events. Fewer tourists, the more successful Burmese were purchasing motorbikes and no longer needed the trishaw ...

... clothes, festival hats, festival instruments to make silly noises with and plenty of toys and food - not that dissimilar to a festival in the UK. As the main Nat dancing had not started we visited the Taungbyon Nat shrine. The temple was quite large and inside it was quite crazy. At one half of the temple in the main shrine was where the two statues of the brothers reside. There was a constant crush of people wanting to get their flowers blessed by the brothers and/or offering fruit ...

... Mandalay and elsewhere. The only justification we heard for a new capital was "security reasons". I've since heard the safety threat relates to the government opposition being potentially strongest in the old capital. No one we spoke to thought it was a good application of scarce resources . The new airport at Yangon will only handle domestic flights in future, and the disruption for government worker families will be enormous ...

... boat was practically empty - fifteen to twenty passengers on a ship built for perhaps a hundred. Good thing, as the upriver leg takes thirteen hours (only ten downstream). We heard that most people opt for the opposite journey, but I'm glad we were contrary. It even costs less ($12 pp). River traffic was light, but included barges loaded with teak logs and all manner of smaller vessels. Much of the shoreline was broad ...