…and another million temples and an ox driven cart

My very dirty rucksack is packed and we are ready to head off in the morning to Bagan, the epicentre of temple world. I have learned a few things about myself during this trip; one is that I always want to pee before a journey, no matter the distance, and the other is that I can’t sleep before a longer journey. I have also improved at being able to say ‘no’ when necessary and being able to say ‘goodbye’ without feeling sad. Tonight I said goodbye to John and Ada, and Jair and I will get the nine hour ‘speed boat’ tomorrow morning. We spent today on a spacious river boat getting to Mengun where there is a beautiful white monastery and an immense unfinished stupa which was damaged by an earth quake but is still climbable. Boy it was hot though and we were on the boat without any cover apart from our hats and factor 30+ sunscreen. When we got back we all felt a bit ill so an afternoon nap was forced upon us and we didn’t have time to see the Marionettes puppet show and the Comedy Moustache Brothers as I had hoped. Once we felt better, we went to change some money, black market style, and get some local curry food. We finished the evening off with an ice cream concoction of one sort or another, something that travellers are usually reluctant to have but here in Mandalay, it’s a highlight! Myanmar is very beautiful but its not for the feint hearted. There is a lot of poverty (and heat and mosquitos) and it is very difficult to pin down whether the people are really as happy as they seem. Some of the younger adult ‘guides’ that we have had know that there is a lady under house arrest but they have no idea what she stands for. There is the same pressure for business from beautiful and charming children as there was in Siem Riep and it is tragic that they can’t have the sort of childhood that I had. One of their ploys is to help the foreigners; no matter how fit they are, by minding shoes and pointing out steps and low ceilings etc and then requesting payment. Today, I gave one of them a piggy back around the temple and she had a great giggle.