Thande Bagan

... who earned 350 Kyat per day working as a waiter in a restaurant., supporting his 3 younger siblings and his poor farmer parents, and trying to save money to go to University for a year, which costs about US$100. Star Cola (the local coke) costs 300Kyat, as does bottled water. A can of Coca Cola - a recent enough addition to the market imported from Thailand - costs the same as a beer. Humbling indeed.

... liked the lady here, she was not following us around and did not give us the hard sell. Sein Nyet Ama and Nyima (Seinnyet Nyima Paya & Seinnyet Ama Pahto) is a stupa and shrine that were believed to be built by Queen Seinnyet in the 11th century, but the architecture indicates that it would have been built 2 centuries later. I did not go in (did I mention that you have to take off your socks and shoes at each Temple and the ground is ...

... ones got out and joined them. OUCH, the ball is hard and hurts your foot if you hit the wrong spot, which I did a lot! A group of "watchers" materialized out of the mist and when it got dark just as mysteriously drifted off. Where did they come from?? Finally we were encouraged to get back on the boat, since it has no lights and it was already dark. Then to dinner (too full to eat) and a puppet show.

... the backpack** *pti*ns, seemed cav**n*us, and al*ng the dusty r*ads *f Nyaung U, we enc*unt**ed *ne *th** f*reign face. All the bett** f*r us, but it was *bvi*us that this t*wn, dependent wh*lly *n t*urism, was suff**ing. Alm*st all the temples we happened up*n that day, was empty. Granted, m*st *f these, al*ng the r*ad t* Old Bagan, w**e the m*re *ff the beaten path, small**, less visited temples. The emptiness *f the r*ads, the silence *f the c*untry air, the bright sun set ...

... pay ($20 US) for public transportation, so for the ticket seller it was a no-brainer. We had one real seat and one folding middle seat that would be extremely uncomfortable on a perfectly smooth road. So it was close to torture on a Burmese road. The older model South Korean and Japanese buses, like all buses in the country, was a mobile temple with all likes of Buddhas, amulets, posters, charms, and lighted sculptures. These alters were on the inside ...

... a bunch of feathers left. You could buy and free one of the songbirds for 2000 Kyatt and preserve it from a grisly fate at the hands of the owls, or you could do the same for one of the owls for 6000 Kyatt. Either way the guy got his money and won. Next I asked my taxi to take me to the Ava Bridge. This giant Steel Bridge was the first bridge across the Irrawaddy when it was built by the British in 1936 and was one of the longest if not the longest in the British Empire when it ...

... it's not just because that their name these days only applies to 33% of the three brothers (and they're not brohers either), but also because I think the performance doesn't live up to the guys' reputation and that the requested donation of 8000 kyat is fairly steep. Shouting that one of the blokes is a jailbird for half the evening, and filling the remainder with 'Don't tell the wife ...

... it's easy to imagine the pleasure the first rain brings to the people. After dinner, and after the rain, we went up on deck again and finished our bottle of white wine from Burma, quite OK but a bit overpriced with 20$, a monthly pay for a cleaner in a hotel. The night became quite cool, I even needed a T-shirt!! On the 2nd day, we visited Myinmu town, with a 19th century monastery ...

... 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,