Feb 11, 2019 - Last day of our holiday

Another big day on the lake. Set off in our long boats again at 8.30 and cruised to the far side of the lake to the village of Indeon and enjoyed their local market. We then jumped in the boats again and travelled up one of the rivers that run into the lake. It was narrow, fast flowing and winding and our boats had to almost jump over the rapids. We stopped off at a point with many ancient stupa's along side a magnificent temple. There was well over a thousand stupa's that had been donated in the name of Buddha. Tonight we will have our...

Feb 10, 2019 - Inle Lake

Fabulous day today. Spent the whole day on and about the lake. The lake is 22 Klm long by 15 Klm wide and supports many thousands who live on the lake in houses on stilts. They grow their crops on floating gardens which have built up over the years on floating weeds. The fishermen here are unique in that they use a foot to control a single paddle. We cruised around the lake in long boats with 4 people to a boat stopping at many sights and different workshops. Cruising in and around the floating villages was fascinating seeing all the locals...

Feb 9, 2019 - Inle Lake

Saturday, 9th. Hurrah! We are now at Inle Lake and have a decent wi-if again. Will do a quick upload of the last few days blog to catch up. Today was a little more relaxing. Got up early for transport by bus to Mandalay airport. Our flight to Heho was only 25 minutes on a small plane. It was free seating on the plane so everyone rushed to the left hand side for the best views of the mountains and the lake. Arrived mid morning so found another interesting temple to visit before lunch and before heading to our accommodation for next 3 nights....

Feb 8, 2019 - Mandalay - Amarapura

Friday Feb 8th Today's highlight was being on a small boat watching the spectacular sunset behind the U Bein Bridge. This bridge is the longest teak wood bridge in the world being 1.5 Klm long and was built in about 1850. There were four passengers to each boat and there were dozens of boats in the water and hundreds of people (tourists) walking on the bridge. Earlier in the day our bus took us to Soon U Ponya Shin pagoda high on a hill with great views back to Mandalay. We were late back on the boat for a farewell dinner and then pack the...

Feb 7, 2019 - Mandalay - Myinmu and Inwa

Thursday Feb 7th. Today we visited the towns of Myinmu and Inwa. Inwa would have been one of the stops on the cruise had we not gotten stuck here in Myinmu. Instead we travelled there by bus. Myinmu was a lovely walking tour of the town in the cool of the morning with our guide stopping to talk to many of the locals who told us about there life in the town. Again, everyone is happy and keen to talk to us. We were left to explore the local market which was buzzing with activity. After lunch we went by bus to Inwa, crossed a small river by...

Feb 6, 2019 - Mandalay

Wednesday Feb 6th. Although Mandalay is only 39 miles away it takes 2 hours by bus so we had to get up early, have breakfast and then leave early to make sure we could still fit in all the activities as per the original itinerary. The drive into the city itself was a bit disappointing as we were expecting something exotic. Instead, we initially found another very busy and bustling market type town crammed with traders operating on the roadside. It improved however when we reached the other side of town and found wide landscaped roads all...

Feb 5, 2019 - Yandabo

Tuesday Feb 5th. Captain had quite a challenge this morning trying to find his way through a very congested part of the river. About 30 other vessels were trying to do the same, many of them stuck in the sandy bottom. Our ship only needs about 5.5 meters of water but was continually hitting the bottom and having to back out and change direction. The river is extremely wide but has too many sand bars at this time of year. It will be a different story when the monsoon rains start in a couple of months. It took about 1.5 hours to travel half a...

Feb 4, 2019 - Still in Bagan

Monday Feb 4th. Another day in Bagan started with a cultural show in a nearby village. The star of the show was a large decorated and colorful elephant (with 2 performers inside), with a group of dancers. Afterwards a visit to Gubyaukgyi Temple, a 13th century 'cave temple' with several features similar to a Hindu Temple. Burma is famous for its top quality lacquerware so this afternoon we visited a local workshop to see how it's all done. Each item takes about 5 months to complete as each of its 16 coats of lacquer has to dry in a stable...

Feb 3, 2019 - Bagan

Sunday Feb 3rd. We have now arrived in Bagan, a very large city and thankfully the wi-fi is now working more efficiently. We have been able to upload a few days entries all in one hit. Bagan is a major centre for tourism and we have actually seen a lot more tourists. We started the day with a visit to Nyaung-U market to see the traditional ways of living. Bagan has over 4,000 temples or Pagodas over its area of only 16 Klm. We visited one of the largest and best preserved - Ananda Temple. We also stood in the midst of dozens of stupa's and...

Feb 2, 2019 - Traveling North on the Irrawaddy - Salay

Saturday Feb 2nd. We continued cruising up river towards Salay. Before getting there though our tour guide gave an excellent presentation on the Dynasties in Myanmar as well as what to expect in Bagan (we get there tomorrow - it's a large tourist destination dominated by over 4,000 pagodas and temples). Our walking tour of Salay included a visit to the regions oldest surviving wooden monastery - Yoke Sone Kyaung, built in 1882. It has now been turned into a museum. We then went to Man Paya Pagoda, the countries largest lacquer Buddha image...

Feb 1, 2019 - Heading North on the Irrawaddy - Minhla and Magwe

Friday. We have two stops today. The first was at Minhla for a walking tour which took us to Minhla Fort, built by Italian engineers in 1860 to keep British forces out of Burma. We then walked into town and the main market area. The people continue to be very friendly and amused by our presence - they obviously do not see many tourists. Later we cruised a little further up River to Magwe to visit Myathalon Pagoda which is another magnificent shrine overlooking the river bank. It's the biggest in the area with lots of gilded buildings. Our...

Jan 31, 2019 - Heading North on the Irrawaddy - Thayetmyo

Thursday. Thayetmyo, a port town with more colonial influences including Burma's oldest golf course established by the British in 1887. The club is affiliated with St Andrews in Scotland. Four-seater tuk tuks were waiting for us on shore to take us to the golf club. Our tour guide organized a putting tournament on the first green for a bit of fun. A walk around the market was interesting before we returned to the ship.