Thazin Garden Bagan

... a blistery rash that formed a line from my spine to my belly button. So I went back in and was told that I have Shingles. The rash is pretty freakin' nasty and intense but at least I didn't get it on my face. However I got it in a spot that is extremely painful because the virus attacks your nerves and surrounding skin cells and the nerves from your spine to your stomach are quite ...

Another mad long overnight bus journey. This time someone threw something at the bus and it smashed the window. For the first time, we travelled with other tourists, and the German jumped up, took out his camera and started snapping photos without even asking the woman beside the window if she was ok. VERY embarrassing, as a fellow Westerner, to see him treating it like a photo op / show. Never a dull ...

Pahto means shrine or other religious structure with a hallow interior in Burmese. Paya means holy one for Buddhist figures, zedi (stupa - solid hemispherical or gently tapering cylindrical cone, topped with jewel and/or metal finials; often contain relics of Buddha) and other religious monuments. Kyaung - Myanmar Buddhist monastery; pronounced chown Naga - multiheaded dragon-serpent from often seen sheltering or protecting the Buddha (when ...

... on shore with all kinds of food! We tried to get off the boat, but they were all coming on board to walk around and offer/sell us food. They had lots of fruit, corn, samosas, coconut puffs,... I tried the coconut puffs and samosas. They were great! We stopped for food one other time and they had some really good looking ground meat satays, but I did not have any. While we were at this stop Bill threw a bottle of bubbles to a little girl on shore. The ...

... paths as well so we had to ride in and then back out again. Pavla decided to ride through some thorn bushes so she ended up with a flat tire. There were plenty of people who were willing to help us out. Later in the day, Jessica's chain broke. About six people stopped what they were doing to help us out. They tried to fix it and then when they couldn't, they took us to the bike shop down the road ...

... thr*ugh s*me black market Indian *p**at*rs in the backstreets *f Yang*n. We w**e appr*ached, n*t s* c*v**tly, by a deal** as I was buying s*me street wat**mel*n, which incidentally, was t*tally ******, *ff**ing us an exchange rate *f 1,300 kyat t* the d*llar. C*mpared t* the 1,200 we w**e getting fr*m *ur h*tel, this was a great deal, and we decided t* change a bulk *f m*ney bef*re leaving Yang*n and the guarantee that we'd get as g**d an exchange rate *utside the ...

... postcards who greet you as you step out of your car and accompany you up the long and steep stairs, and then prance around on the walls oblivious to the height. Jeff could have done without the tourists, but the postcard girls were actually a highlight of the visit as these were the cutest and most charming touts he'd ever encountered. The best was when they had to invent some sort of lottery method to see who would make the sale. Either that or their very sweet goodbye. Anyway, the ...

... our trip to Bagan, but honestly, it was interesting.....for a few minutes. Its just been a few too many temples I think on this trip to muster up the enthusiasm needed for 40C heat and horsey/dust conditions! We did however, persevere just for you and have at taken some photos. The best part of the day I think was meeting all the other travelers. Bagan is a favorite tourist destination of Burmese tourists (ie. Locals) and there were great big groups of people that thought we were ...

... photogenic. We spent 3 days cycling around, across dusty little trails with temples stretching as far as you could see. The people were so generous and interested in tourists. We met this one lady who had a shack/ restaurant and although she ...

... the circle and showed that Mr. Hamilton wasn't the only Canuck with talent for the game. On our second day we headed out of Bagan to two nearby sites, Mt. Popa to the east, and the town of Salay to the south. Mount Popa is geographically impressive. Said to be the core of an extinct volcano, it rises dramatically from the surrounding plain like Devils Tower in Wyoming (remember Close Encounters ...). Crowning the peak is a complex ...