Monday 19 September - Siem Reap
This morning's temple, Ta Prohm, certainly has not been maintained and protected over its 800-year history.Huge trees grow on and through various parts of it and much of it has fallen. Some work is in progress to stabilize and restore parts of it, but the entwining roots add to its interest. It is huge and we wandered through it for about an hour. At the site of one of the most dramatic moments in "Tomb Raider" there was a long lineup for photos. We thought perhaps we should watch that movie some time, now that we'll recognize the setting. There's even a nearby carving of a women with puffy lips like Angelina Jolie.
We began the afternoon excursion with a visit to a lotus farm. Such beautiful plants! So much garbage floating between them! We sampled the seeds (reminiscent of fresh raw peas, quite good) and found out a bit about how they grow. There are small pavilions scattered around for people to picnic.
Then we boarded a small boat to visit a floating village on the Great Lake. This is really boats on which people live and work, moored along the edge of the lake. There are stores, schools, churches, karaoke bars, barbers -- everything a normal village would have. Apparently many of the residents are poverty-stricken immigrants from Viet Nam, who put together one of these boats or rafts, then live tax- and rent-free. They grow a few vegetables and fish a lot, but the lake is nearly fished out. We visited a store where they also farm catfish and have a few crocodiles. Back to the hotel for a bit of freshening up, then out for our last dinner in Cambodia. It included a show of 5 traditional dances. I don't think they'll ever catch on in the clubs, but it was very interesting to watch them and read the stories they represented. And what beautiful costumes! The meal was good too. Dy gave each of us a thank-you gift -- a nice scarf in a woven case, and we gave him maple syrup along with his gratuity. He and our driver have been great!
Tuesday, 20 September -- Siem Reap/Bangkok/Yangon
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Our last morning and first daytime rain in Cambodia. Good timing! After breakfast at the hotel, and farewells to the staff there, Dy saw us off at the Siem Reap airport. We were herded onto a bus that took us to the plane where staff with umbrellas (it was pouring rain) sheltered us on the way up the stairs. It was a small plane, but comfortable and they served a nice breakfast during the one-hour flight to Bangkok. Once there, we had to wait on the plane for about 15 minutes while they got some sort of shelter for us, since it was really pouring. It's a huge airport, but we still had to climb down stairs and get on a bus to go inside. After a bit of walking, we settled into the Bangkok Airways lounge to enjoy some (more) food and drink. A bus took us back out to the next plane from the departure gate, and once again we had to be sheltered from pouring rain. It was a larger plane and quite full. Another short flight, but in less than an hour they served a full dinner including wine. Not Air Canada for sure!
At Yangon the formalities were quick and easy. We met our guide, Larry found the booth to get SIM cards (so that we can have hot spots on the boat) and I exchanged some money. It's been unclear whether we really need local currency, but apparently we do need some. Three of our people still had not come out of customs & immigration -- turned out their luggage had been damaged someplace along the way and they were working on compensation. Cathy's will have to be repaired since it's unuseable as it is. Our guide will see if that can be done tomorrow. Otherwise she'll have to buy a new one. What a pain. It's a long ride from airport to hotel, but we learned quite a bit about the recent history of Myanmar and got to see the city a bit. The hotel is lovely and comfortable. Since the rain continued, we gathered in the lobby bar for drinks and a light dinner. What was that -- our 5th or 6th meal of the day?? Weight loss seems unlikely.
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Wednesday, 21 September -- Yangon
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Sally Jo & Lynn joined us at breakfast and our group is now complete. They had a long journey and were tired, but game for what the day would bring. Niy Niy got us off to an early start, taking us by bus to the main train station.
We boarded the circular train, which is a commuter train running in a rough circle through Yangon. No A/C but very effective fans. We stayed on for about an hour, 1/3 of the full circuit, seeing people living and working along the tracks and many different neighbourhoods of all kinds along the way. Niy Niy pointed out that there are no motor bikes in Yangon, a big difference from most other areas. We then visited the market, a sprawling area with hundreds of vendors. Some beautiful jewellery and fabric as well as a variety of other stuff.
In late afternoon we visited the Shwedagon Pagoda, one of the most astonishing places I've ever seen. Its sheer immensity is overwhelming, to say nothing of the fact that it's covered in gold! Many small and large shrines contain a whole range of Buddha statues. Monks and nuns wander. Everyone must be barefoot. It took us well over an hour to walk around the terrace area encircling the pagoda. As the sun sank lower in the sky, the gold lit up just beautifully. Most of us stopped at the shrines for our day of birth, to pour water over the statue for luck.
We watched monks climb high on the sides of the pagoda gathering gems that had fallen or been knocked off the top of the spire (yes, real gems! There are thousands of them up there.) Visiting this place was worth the whole trip. After a delicious and lively dinner at Padonmar Restaurant we returned to the hotel to prepare for a travel day tomorrow. Cathy's suitcase has been repaired and I think Maria Angelica's has been replaced, so we're all equipped again.
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Thursday, 22 September -- Yangon - Pyay
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Moving through traffic in a city of 6 million people with only very basic public transit is a real challenge. Gave us lots of time to see interesting things like the "romantic benches" along the lake, where young couples hide behind umbrellas to smooch. "The Lady" lives on the other side of the lake. She was under house arrest there for many years, is not allowed to be president, but is speaking at the UN today and has received the Nobel Peace Prize. She holds the title of Councillor or something and is, in effect, the President or Prime Minister. The most popular cosmetic here is a sort of beige paste that is applied in circles or squares on the face.
It gives protection from the sun and makes the skin soft and wrinkle-free. To our eyes it looks strange. We stopped at a Commonwealth War Graves cemetery from World War II. It is huge and peaceful and lovely and sad. Several of us ran across the busy road to use the rather basic but Western toilets. We had one more very basic pit stop before lunch, then a 1/2 hour stop at a roadside restaurant, again basic facilities and people picked up some packaged food. The road is rough and narrow and full of traffic -- buses, trucks, cars, motorbikes and bikes, as well as herds of cattle and goats. At one point we were stopped for a crew cutting trees to make way for power lines. It was dramatic when the top 1/3 of a good sized tree crashed to the road right in front of us. A guy quickly attacked it with a chainsaw and a number of men and women dragged off the pieces. On both sides are vast rice paddies. It looks like industrial farming.
Finally, after a rough 7 hours, covering about 100 miles, we arrived at the boat. To get to it from the bus required a perilous descent on a slippery set of "steps". Staff from the boat provided support on each side, but there was still a lot of slipping and sliding. Really a bad start. The boat itself is lovely and our state rooms large and comfortable. We can lie in bed and watch the passing scenery through a large sliding glass door. So nice to finally unpack. Of course everything that's been in the suitcase for a week in this humdity is a crumpled mess, but we've all decided we don't really care. We enjoyed a light lunch, then later a welcome cocktail and appetizers, followed by a large dinner. Larry has a cold, so stayed in our room for dinner. I was immediately asked if he'd like to eat in the room and I arranged for him to have soup. This boat will accommodate 56 passengers, but there are only 18 of us, with a staff and crew of 30, so I think we'll be spoiled. We'll stay in Pyay overnight and move on tomorrow.
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Friday, 23 September -- Pyay
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Nice to be able to go to the lounge and get coffee to drink in our room at 6 am, then an abundant breakfast and onto the buses at 8:30. First stop: Shwe San Daw Pagoda, a beautiful place along the same lines as the Shwedagon in Yangon, but smaller and less-elaborate.
Lots of swallows and dragon flies flying around and above. Rice paddies and sugar cane fields everywhere are very green and there are a fair number of teak trees, though during the time of the junta most of the teak was harvested and sent to China. The second stop was Payagi Pagoda, an unadorned stupa about 1500 years old.
Then we visited the ancient Dragon Gate of the city of Sri Kestra, a site that has been excavated. Archaeological work was started at Sri Kestra in the 1920s by the British, but was halted under the junta. Now it has begun again and the whole large area has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The well-executed small museum contains a wide variety of the artifacts recovered here. After a brief stop at another part of the city wall, we rejoined the boat some distance up-river from where we left it. Lunch was waiting for us, then it was time to put our feet up and watch the shoreline go by.
The staff gave an informative and amusing presentation on the longyi (pron. LON-gee) -- the traditional dress of all Burmese. Both men and women wear them, but in different ways. And there are many other things to do with this simple tube of cloth.
At the end, Larry and Gabriela were "volunteered" to dress up in them. They looked pretty spiffy. As well, we learned about Thanakha, the makeup worn by women and children. Besides the qualities I mentioned earlier, it is thought to act as an insect repellant. All of us who'd cruised with AMA in the past were treated to drinks and appies and conversation with the cruise director, we had a briefing on tomorrow's program, enjoyed another great dinner, and watched a movie about a small, isolated community where traditional ways are still followed. Then bed. We found that most of our lights are not working, but decided not to worry about it until morning.
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Saturday, 24 September -- Minhla/Magwe
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Our morning visit to Minhla almost overwhelmed me. There was another of those precarious transits up and along a muddy slippery bank to the more solid road, then a hot walk through very interesting residential areas to the 1860 colonial fort. There was a lot of motorbike traffic on the streets and quite a range of homes. The fort is an open square, so quite hot. Continuing into the main part of town we arrived at the hot, crowded local market.
Our assignment was to buy longyis to wear tonight. For the men it was simple -- see a fabric you like, hand over 3000 kyat ($3) and on your way. For ladies, it was necessary to send the fabric to a seamstress for finishing, and pay an extra 500 kyat. That meant hanging around in a crowd, dodging motorbikes and smelling fish for about 20 minutes longer. By the time we got back to the boat, I needed to decompress, so didn't go to the talk on Burmese recent history. It sounds like it was terrific, though. I did get some laundry done and had a long shower. Nice after the heat. Another really nice lunch, then some more down time. By mid-afternoon we were at Magwe, where we first visited a park with a statue of the hero of Myanmar independence,
Gen. Aung San "Bogyoke", father of "The Lady" (Ang San Suu Kyi), and an obelisk commemorating it. This area is rich in oil & gas, and so will likely change greatly in the next few years as it is developed to exploit those resources. At Minbu we climbed a long series of steps in our bare feet to visit the
Mud Volcano, home of the dragon. You can see his breath in the form of large bubbles surfacing and bursting in the mud. There were many beggars at this site, something we haven't seen much of, but also lots of exuberant children and teenagers.
At the Myathalon Pagoda we enjoyed another of the beautiful golden places of worship. Everyone there seemed to be in best clothes and enjoying the time. It is apparently considered a blessing to have photos taken with tourists, so our images are now in many local cellphones. As we crossed the bridge we could see large sandbars with lots of vegetation; these appear every year at the end of monsoon, in different places, shapes and sizes. They're very fertile, so there's great competition for space on them. Local officials have to mediate the distribution of the space to farmers.
It was "Longyi Night", so we all did our best to put on our new longyis properly. While we were enjoying cocktails the staff helped nearly every one of us to re-do it properly. Once they did, they were amazingly comfortable and we had no further wardrobe malfunctions. (If you want an explanation of that "further", you'll have to ask Cathy). At dinner we were serenaded with a birthday song and cake. Four members of the group have 75th birthdays this year and I think 5 of us 70ths. So we all celebrated together.
After dinner the staff & crew entertained us with wonderful lively Burmese singing and dancing and got all of us up on the floor dancing too.
We even got to try out their musical instruments.
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Sunday, 25 September -- Salay
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Swan outlined for us the story of the various kings who ruled from Bagan so we'd understand what we'll be seeing there in a few days. In Salay, we had a lovely walking tour through the pretty town and around the monastery area.
There's a small museum (Yokesonkyaung) featuring wood carvings and other artefacts from the area and the Man Pagoda, housing a huge Buddha figure made of bamboo strips covered with laquer and gold leaf. I particularly liked the serene expression on this Buddha's face. Salay seems to be a favourite for many of the guides, and we spoke to a lady who has left her guiding career to open a restaurant and souvenir shop here, called Salay House.
From our balcony we watched families washing, doing laundry, brushing their teeth and playing in the river. They waved happily to us when they noticed us watching them. In the evening we saw a movie, "The Last King of Burma".
Other sights of the day
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Monday, 26 September -- Tant Kyi/Bagan
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What fun we had today! The first event was an elephant dance in Tant Kyi. Two men in an elaborate elephant costume danced and did acrobatic feats. It was astounding. Then we drove up a winding narrow rutted road in minivans to a hilltop stupa for a panoramic view of Bagan across the river. In late afternoon we set out for Bagan and had our first encounter with the persistent vendors. They met us as we left the boat and turned up at every stop along the way. "Remember me?" "Think about it." "Maybe tomorrow" "4 for $8 today, 4 for $10 tomorrow -- ha ha". And so on. Several of us bought tee-shirts, blouses, lacquer boxes etc. but it did get a bit annoying. One kid just wanted "new Canadian dollar for souvenir" very enterprising. The first stop was a 1000 year old temple, with 4 10-metre Buddha figures,
each carved from a single piece of wood, and gold-covered. In niches along the walls, reaching up to perhaps 10 metres, were smaller Buddha figures. Mojo was guiding us and said that there are well over 1000 of them. We enjoyed a lovely cocktail hour at the Watch Tower, with a breath-stopping 360 degree view out over the plain of Bagan.
We could see hundreds of temples, stupas, pagodas. A few had tarps covering earthquake damage from a few weeks ago, but most are as they were. Just when we thought we'd see the sunset, we were disappointed by the arrival of heavy clouds in the west. Can't complain though, we've had good weather, with rain only during the night. We were blessed by a monk at a candlelight ceremony, then made our way to the buses to return to the boat. After dinner we enjoyed a traditional marionette show -- very funny, and demonstrating amazing skill. Some of the marionettes even have waggly eyebrows! We were all very tired and have an early morning tomorrow, so turned in right away.
Internet "Lurkers" outside our room. Larry hosts a tethered internet link for the group on his cell phone.
Typical river-side landing!
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Tuesday, 27 September -- Bagan
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This is an amazing place, with temples, stupas, pagodas, wherever you look, most of them around a thousand years old. The recent earthquake damaged some, but there is already scaffolding and workers are repairing them. They are in all sizes, shapes and states of repair (the stupas, that is, not the workers). In some there is intricate wall and ceiling art, but in others it has been covered over or (horrors!) removed by a German archaeologist with a sharp chisel, in 1899. He even left a "receipt" in one stupa. It's doubtful if he got many of them off the walls intact, so they were simply destroyed. Over the two days we got very adept at removing our shoes and socks, then wiping off our feet with wet wipes & putting shoes and socks back on.
"Our" hawkers stuck with us at every stop for the 2 days and some of us got to know some of them quite well. They really wanted to trade for lipstick, but most of us had none. I think they did OK off us, but I'm not sure whether everyone's luggage will be within the weight limits going back. And there's still Mandalay!
This afternoon we visited a lacquer factory and saw how lacquerware is made. Some of it is spectacular.
Afterward we drove to a remote area of the archaeological zone and watched the sunset from among untouched stupas, while goats and cattle were herded past and young guys played with a wicker ball.
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Wednesday, 28 September -- Yandabo
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Karaoke Video
We had much of the day at leisure, with a presentation on the Irawaddy & its history, economic and social life. I had a lovely massage, then there was an ice cream social on the upper deck. That's where we realized it was hotter than ever out there. Our visit to the village of Yandabo was very interesting.
The 1000 residents have a monopoly on making clay pots, an industry dating back at least 400 years. It's all done by hand and they use an open-air type of firing, rather than a kiln. The kids were really friendly, freely giving people tiny clay animals they had made. As at most stops, the boat simply ran up a bit on the bank of the river and we clambered to the shore. We were very sweat-soaked by the time we got back.
We entertained ourselves with karaoke in the evening. Lots of fun. Voices were heard that we had never heard before...and just as well.
Video of Some of the fine voices heard
We had a lovely demonstration of Buddhist practice when it comes to wishes. We each wrote a wish on a piece of paper, then after dark we stood on the deck and watched as they were set afire and drifted on the current. They were beautiful, as were the stars -- the Milky Way was clear to see, something we rarely experience at home.
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Karaoke Video
We began the afternoon excursion with a visit to a lotus farm. Such beautiful plants! So much garbage floating between them! We sampled the seeds (reminiscent of fresh raw peas, quite good) and found out a bit about how they grow. There are small pavilions scattered around for people to picnic.
