Thiri Marlar Hotel Bagan

Today was the day we were looking forward to most in Bagan. We had booked an early morning flight with Balloons over Bagan and were wide awake at 0500 for a 0525 pickup.<br><br>The company have 3 beautifully restored WWII vintage buses that come and collect people to take them out to the launch site. After some Tea, Coffee and Shortbread the Balloons were inflated and ready to go.<br><br>The first thing that I noticed was how hot one get's in a Hot Air ...

... I presumed we were changing buses due to the broken window and after insisting on getting my haver out of the hold underneath I trudged sleepily down the road towards the lights ahead. It turned out it was just another check point and all I needed was my patience and my passport. Agata still laughs at her recollection of seeing two little legs wearily winding their way down the dirt road towards the ...

... was meditating and trying to achieve enlightenment) Note - I have written the name in brackets because this is the spelling in Lonely Planet. This book was hard to find, we had to buy in at the airport, but it was a HUGE asset for us while in Myanmar. Some of the pricing is out of date, but we would have had to rely on guides (extra expense) if it had not been for this book! Also, since there is not a lot of explanation, the book has ...

... to navigate. We were going to have to spend the night docked at a sand bar. Some ladies from the last stop stayed on board (they knew we were going to be stuck) and continued to sell their blankets. Sales were good! Bill and I resisted because we had our sleeping bag liners from Coop Mountain Equipment. What a great buy those things have been. I was opting to stay on board and sleep on the wood floor. Everyone else was heading to the sand bar. I ...

... was amazing how great the locals were in their willingness to give us directions and help us out when needed. We also noticed that many of the temples had red carpets down. We later found out that the general was making a tour of the temples and they were for him. Apparently it was a very important day for the Myanmar people. The presence of the military was quite strong, which was a little overwhelming.

... the first part *f the transacti*n t**k place. Again, against my bett** judgment, we decided t* just get it *v** with and exchange a wh*pping $300. We'd already walked this far in the swelt**ing Yang*n aft**n**n, I th*ught. The highest den*minati*n in kyat being a 1000 n*te (~$1.00), the tw* *f us and tw* shady Indian dudes st**d th**e, c*unting gin*rm*us wad aft** gin*rm*us wad *f dirty, *v**sized kyat. Jesse and I'd split the c*unting, and we'd each c*unted *ur respective ...

... to climb up, with an unobstructed view of a temple more to the west, was not easy. We had to settle for some fields that had little vegetation to interfere, but the sun didn't cooperate fully either - so there's a few pictures here, but not the ultimate one. However, much fun was had in the quest and George even let out a hardy whoop when we found the best angle - so mission accomplished. In between all the temple-ing we spent time luxuriating at our hotel, which was quite a bonus. The ...

... there was no such boat. Our options now were to hire the whole boat ($35US) or spend the night. Obviously being the cheap-o's that we are we opted to stay the night. Okay, all we need now is a guesthouse! We hopped in a horsecart from the "ferry pier" (which actually is a dirt path down the bank to the river) and off we went. We went to a couple of guesthouses but they can't take foreigners; then we went to a government hotel - which ...

... destination - Inle Lake, saving us a renowned bone-crunching bus journey - plus you've got to love being able to catch a horse and cart to the airport at sunrise, trotting past temple ruins - not many places in the world you can still do that, eh?

... stupas and monasteries, and a panoramic view of the surrounding plain. Getting there (ie. the half-hour climb to the top) is only a small fraction of the fun. You see, they have a lot of rude monkeys that are not temple trained. Remember the barefoot-in-the-temple rule? The hundreds of steps to the top are all considered too sacred for shod feet, but not for monkey poop. We went through a lot of handy-wipes on that excursion! If you get ...