Wrap up of the Myanmar trip

Myanmar - the second post

Yes we know, its been a long time coming, but hey, we have 7 months of this, so we have to pace ourselves.

Firstly, did you go back and relook at the last blog post yet, as we have added some photos of Maynmar now we have a better internet connection here in Bali.  We have now also added  few more photos of this earlier part of the trip below. 

All teak and originally golden, the last bit of the Mandalay Royal Palace. Very "King and I".

Above is a picture of the last remaining part of the Royal Palace in Mandalay. All teak and originally gilded, the majority of it burnt down in the Japanese and Allied fighting there at the end of the 2nd WW.

They make lots of beautiful lacquerware in Bagan, mostly using strips of bamboo. We did succumb to a few bowls, but it was really too early in the trip to be buying too much stuff.

At Mingon.  Worlds 2nd biggest ringing bell! 90 tons.

In charge of the drinks trolley in a lacquerware shop in Bagan 

There were so many things to see and do that we really did not have time to do them all justice in the few days we were there.  And everywhere you go there were inevitably the tourist souvenir stall and sellers, with everything from sapphires rubies to "antique" bronze statues and "temple pants"for the ladies to wear when visiting the temples.

The tour girls bargaining over the temple pants.  Jane bought the ones she's holding!

The previous post was uploaded as we were arriving at Lake Inle in eastern Myanmar, getting up into the mountains at about 1,100m altitude.  The weather there was much cooler and less humid, say 30C during the day. Our hotel was on the shore of the lake and our actual room was in stilts over the lake itself.

Our room, 3rd from right

Not unsurprisingly, most of the trips we made from this place were in a long tail boat.We visited various markets around the lake and workshops for making cigars, boats, silk and lotus silk fabrics, and a blacksmiths.

There were whole villages and event temples precariously perched on stilts all around the place.  And they have even perfected a way to grow fantastic vegetables on literally floating gardens made from a waterlily weed and lake bed silt.

House and floating garden. This one was a bit scruffy. There were acres of floating tomatoes!

A few of hundreds of ruins of pagodas at Indein.

One day we went by long tail boat bus again up a stream to Indein now a village, one a kingdom capital city in the 15C.  Again we found hundreds of smaller shrines and pagodas, each with their Buddha's in place, most in ruins, dotted around the main functioning temple in reasonable nick.  

Long tail boat bus.

More ruins! Count 'em.

There was also thriving new winery Red Mountain Winery, but that was not on the lake it was in the surrounding hills.  Made a very drinkable sauvignon blanc. The shiraz / tempranillo needed a bit more work however.

Mayanmar Red Mountain winery.

On the last day there we had a Shan style banquet in the hotels massive dining room, just the 10 of us in the group.

Hotel dining room, built for hundreds, catering to 10.

The hotel was nearly empty.  Half of the guest rooms had burnt to the lake in a fire the previous January and they were still rebuilding.

The last day of the tour we flew from Heho back to Yangon, where the monsoon had started in earnest.  We whizzed to the grand old Strand Hotel for tea and scones, visited the museum house of the national hero father of Aung San Su Chee and then stood in awe in front of the massive reclining Buddha.

Reclining Buddha. Difficult to photograph something 65m long close-up.

The next morning the 1 hour drive to the Yangon airport took two and a half hours in monsoon rain (300mm had fallen overnight) and we thought we would miss our flight.  But no - were were back in a Malaysian Air (!!!!!) plane headed for KL.

For what happened next see the next Post..............