A four hour flight Bali to Manilla. Six kilometer thirty five minutes taxi to my hotel across the road from the JAC Liner express bus station. This bus line takes the toll expressway direct to Batangas , a big port and ferry terminal in South Central Luzon. Unlike most every other bus line in SE Asia they just fill the seats on the bus then hit the road. Most other buses have little flip down benches or a stack of little plastic stools to fill the isle, or just let passengers stand in aisle, then pack more bodies into the cab & steps area up front. Also Jac liners have a video screen with some Marvel action movie or equivilent whose audio can almost be understood. The 3.5 hour (70 PH Pesos about $1.40) ride passes pretty comfortably, aisle seat lets me stretch my wounded leg out.

The ferry terminal is confused mass of differrent companys ticket windows for a multitude of destinations. But I’ve done this trip before & know which Co. & port to buy a ticket for,. Things have changed some though. Ticket is still under $10 but instead of a giant 50 passenger canoe with bundels of bamboo on matching either side outriggers, sometimes taking spray over the rails, the ferry is a 80 passenger with asigned tightly packed, seats in a slightly air Con cabin. Another action movie with completly inaudible audio.

Messages with my Air BB host, currently working in Dubai, have equiped me with a phone # for her brother Noel, so I can be shown how to find my studio digs. I’d bought my PH sim card in the airport, $16 for 16GB of data + voice & text. It had gone blank on me 15 minutes after purchase, I showed it to the SMART telecom desk girl, who rebooted my phone and it worked again. But now I try to call Noel from the ferry to give him an ETA and it’s dead again. Reboot is not doing it this time. but I barrow an Aussie’s cell amd make contact with Noel. That night I take the sim out and can actually see the smudge of dirt on the contact side. Some alcohol and a paper towel & it’s working fine now. Note, do my own sim card instalation next time.

Noel & I meet and climb into a trike. Trikes are a bit different than tuc Tuc’s . Tuc Tuc’s are factory built, mostly by Tada Motors in India, three wheeler with a small bench in the tiny cab behind driver. Trikes here in PH are more cottage industry built side car/cab motorcycles. This acutually allows for several extra passengers possible to climb on behind driver on the motorbike, besides the two westerners or four fillipinos in the sidecar cab.

I diffinetly needed Noel to guide me as the studio is up a winding very narrow serris of steps (168, I counted) with some branches and sidways jogs between houses, hotels & even a tiny store at one turn. This is most of the reason for the $20 / night price, but the just barley a view and the rudimentary furniture, crumby mattress add to the discount. But a sperate bedroom and spacious kitchen liviing room nice patio compensates some. Also a hotspot wifi connection and cable tv with HBO CNN Al Jaceera was nice since I have been mostly hanging out while the leg heals up. After ten days I’ve moved to a studio for a few more $ with a panaroma view only 72 steps up the hill. The wounds on my leg is almost completly closed up. I’m still going to wait a couple days before snorkeling in teeming tropical waters.

This post is filled with Trivia about buses and ferrys and lodgeings because I haven’t been doing much but healing, making my own breakfast, web surfing, and cable TV. In the evening I hobble, now it’s actually walking, down town. Fallowing brother Deans habit of drinking beer at the tables set outside a 7-eleven, I met another traveler with the same habit. Now lives in Honululu, from Wisconnsin but taught school in Bethel AK. So that has become my evenning diversion. A few beers with Jim, exchanging travel, life after work stories etc. Then have someone for dinner conversation as well. Nice, since without snorkeling, or diving there isn’t much I want to do here. I’m signed up for a waterfall tour down Island waiting to have a big enough group to partly fill a Jeepney.

Not many pics for this one.

Now a week after the above text, I gave up on the leg closing up completly too allow for diving. So I decided I might as well get another tattoo which also proscribes swimming. This is the place I got my Dragon tattoo 2 years ago. I really liked Jessies work on the Dragon, his shop is AC steril dispposeable needles and the tech to turn a jpg file into a stick on stencil to fallow a design. So what design? I wanted somethiing somehow tied to me in some way. and to sort of complement the Salmon Ying Yang Sein web on left forearm. So I settled on the Yggdarsil, Nores mythological Tree of life, enclosing the 9 relms of Norse cosmology and possibly the tree that shelters one man and woman to remake the world after the end apocolyspe of Ragnorock. Forrest and trees are important to salmon for habitat and cooling shade over natal streams.And you know Vikings!

And some shots of Puerto Galera

I book a “shuttle Bus” – shared passenger van transport to Amed. Google sys 2.25 hours but I’ve found Google is very optimistic , like maybe if your traveling at 02:00 am no body elese on the very narrow twisty road yeah.. daytime reality, I hope for a more patient, don’t pass on every curve not currently filled with on coming traffic. But some guys do that. I try to sit in the back, more survivealble and I can’t see what to stress about. Any how it’s more like 4 hours to Amed

Continue reading “Amed NE cornner of Bali & Central Paddy fields stop” →

Renting a Bike I explore pretty much every little pathway on the small Isle of Gili Air.

And glad to report my stomach / digestive tract finally comes to accomadation with whatever new biota aquired at the BarBQ 68 in Nyuang Shwe Myanmar. Nice.

A couple of the friendly Banana cottages staff in front of my bungalow.

Several shots from my last sunset looking past Bali’s volcano, it can be tough duty here in Indonesasia

I was happy to come accross an aray of solar panels. Obviously a utility instalation, Some of the hotels, bungalows have some panels but it could be so much more, considering how much sun is hear.

Back to Bali and straight up to Ubud, only some 300 meters of altitude but still a bit cooler. Ubud has become the Art / tourist center begining in the 1920’s In the last several decades tourism has exploded with hundreds of resturants, trinket shops, lodgings , and some really nice real art shops.

I start with two nights at a mid upscale place , Padma Retreat, pool, air con, wi fi included breakfast served on your balcony. ($30) they only had two nights free so I move to the Brata Inn, no pool, no breakfast. Ok since included breakfast is nearly always a limited selection of eggs & white toast, or rice & egg, with some fruit and tea, or maybe bad coffee. Turns out I’m the only guest for 8 rooms so I could select the room with the best (closest to router) wi fi. & Aircon that works. ($16/night) It is off season here now.

I strapped on my pack and walked 25 min. down hill to the Brata Inn. which is very close to the Sacraed Monkey Forrest. And those monkeys come out of the forrest every moning and evening to wander the power and cable lines and rooftops of this part of town. My hotel guy warned me DO NOT leave or even have food on my balcony. Monkeys will steal it. Shots fallow, when I went to wave the little family in shot off my porch I got bared teeth just waving my hands at them. After I got out my trekking stick they did quickly leave, one was already up on the table checking for food just while I stepped into room for the stick.

I went for a nice walk / hike up a ridge line somehow saved from having villas and houses built on it. Probbably because it;s a very narrow ridge where the path is.

Then to the original art museum in town. Built back in the 30’s with help from some Dutch and English ex pats plus established Balinese artist. some very nice pieces. wood carvings but mostly paintings. the 15,500 RP ($10) admission seemed steep for market but included a very good buffet of Balinese lunch. so Actually a great deal.

I then went to a show. A Balinese (semi) traditional play/ dance/preformance. around 50 guys provide the accopello accompanyment to very heavily costumed dancers protraying part of a Hindu epic. Very well worth the 75k rp. not a lot of pics for this, It was very much a no stage lights at night production.

Oh yea for a second act they litup a bunch of cconut husk , which after a bit a guy came out and kicked around then walked over. OUCh I’d say, but entertaining.

I’ve tried but can’t figure out how to attach the whatsApp sound recordings I made at the show. so those of you on the Whats App chat group here are the visuals to go with the chanting recordings. All the shirtless guys in the dim pics are the accopello accompany ment

I’ve been pretty much holed up with my phone here with good wifi dealing with issues for my Homer property rentals. Some struggles with very distant absentiy landlordism. I think it’s getting worked out, Good because a few days ago, before this rental issue came up, I booked myself a return to the US ticket. For several reasons I decided to hang in Asia a bit longer. I’m actually getting burnned out on new languages, currencys, finding lodgings, basicly traveling.

Coming back to the NW in early March with my Benz / mobile home in cA seems like too much of a climate shock. Pending some long distance unsolveable property issues I’ll be landing in Seattle March 26th.

Before that I’m booked into a Air B&B ($20/day) for a few weeks in Puerto Galera PH. this will be my 3rd visit to the natural harbor where the spanish Galleon fleet would form up each year in the 15 & 16 hundreds before heading to Acopulco Mexico. It’s kind of a familar spot where I can snorkel in great spots and cook most of my own food. Great fresh fish off the beach every evening from the local fleet. And $35 dollar one tank dives from multiple shops. This starts 3/1. Also there I can get my 2019 travel tatto from the guy at white beach who did my dragon tatto, he was good

But first a few days on Bali’s north coast coming up. And probably a stop some where in central Bali on the way to the airport.

Ok that’s all the editing I can handel for now time to post

Layover in Kalua Lumpur, only 3.5 hours out of the 10 hour travel time. Avery snazy airport, Starbucks, plenty of eateries, lots of charging plugs although Malaysian AC plugs wouldn’t fit my adaptors, they also included south Asian style sockets I could use and free showers!

A decidedly not professional group of dancers, maybe the employees of some shop here in the my layover Kalu Lampur Airport that lost a bet or truth or dare or something, A nice distraction for a bit.

A recovery night plus one at a Bali, Denesper airport/mall hotel. All my guide sources said don’t buy your sim card at the airport, hence the mall visit, I couldn’t figure out the Ferry options online, there are sooo many to Lombok. Then discovered for $37 I could fly from the very close airport to Lombok in an hour and the decent ferry looked like $30 seven hours not counting time to terminals.

Next stop Sengiggi West coast Lombok. break up the journey to Gili Air and have a peek at more (not just tourist) Indonesia.

Where they have Boats! Lots of mostly sail powered (some had kikers) gill net boats. And some larger, without outriggers honest to goodness Pures Seine boats. I watched a couple make sets off the hotel beach. and talked with a vendor guy who sometimes fished them.

Next a cab then public boat ferry from Danersal harbor (25k IDR = about $1.75) for a twenty minute voyage to Gili Air. Motorized vehicles are banned on the Isl, which might take three hours to walk around, so lots of bicyles, some E-scooters, and for heavy transport poney carts!

Not so many pictures yet My Bananna Cottages digs are 50m down a lane off the beach so I haven’t been packing the phone to be left on the beach while snorkeling

Also afraid to report my cast iron stomach lost to a very bad dinner of fried noodles & other stuff back in Inle Lake. So in the past its a two maybe three day thing. After a week I’m considering Anti Biotics, the yougurt and Acidopholus just isn’t doing it . Local Pharmicist/(nurse practiconer?) I saw today ($7) says give it 3 more days. Then the Doc will be back on Island and it will be time for more serious drugs if not better. You all probably didn’t need to hear that. Just don’t eat at the BarBQ 68 in Nyuang Shwe

I promised some time back I would model my lightly enhanced (Velcro added) Longi, probably not the name in Balinese, cool and comfortable local kilt. Here it is, seen on the porch of my $20 / night, AirCon with breakfast, open to the sky bath where you can just hear the call to prayer from the mosque.

Then a couple short videos of the bungalow

two shots wandering the streets of Nyuang Shwe.
What a brick pagoda looks like showing it’s age
Lawn care Myanmar style

Having gotten my boating trip done I rented a bycicle to explore the area a bit further out of town. First stop the teak monestary. The building needs some work but still very much in use. You can see monks sitting in the wall opennings at morning prayers. Notice the dark reddish brown color of the robes. My guide at the Shweduang temple back in Yangoon told me the subdued earth color was to show humility, shunning the more flashy saffron robes in Thailand.

The inside of the monestary was polished to a high shine

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Here north of the lakes there are flat rice fields, the road doubles as a dike, holding back the smaller lake. There is quite a bit of road and infrastructure work, and water management.

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.These guys were lining the canal with stone concreted in using a 1/3 Yard gas mixer. Slow but steady

Moving on to the Cultural Museum, Last Shan Kings palace. There were some interesting ehibits, lots of old photos and interesting documents. Gathering by contesxt partly guessing, some historical politics seemed evident. The Shan state was a power in antiquty. Why Bagan could build so many temples. Today It’s one of if not the largest state makig up Myanmar. British consolidation of colonial rule was a gradual process. Starting in the south, Yangoon etc. where thier gunboats could get up the rivers. There are a lot of various ethnic tribes, mostly in the hills. The doc I found interesting was from the British signned with this Shan king in his palace and with leaders of these tribes. It seemed to lay out how the Shan would rule (under British Unbrella) these minoritys but also giving the tribes chiefs some representation. Date for this doc was I think 1847.
Also a couple shots of the cooler looking chiefs, can’t find the shot of the whole collection of all 14 of them.

There was a really nice large Budda constructed from Bamboo, the kings throne, in his throne room, Photo of the King & his queen in full regallia, and the actual robes. There was uniforms for a general, bodygaurds, regular soldiers and a few traditional dress of tribes folk.
And very nice seeing boats. These are pretty much what the standing rowing fishermen were in. No, in is not accurate. More like on. Like on a paddle board.

So moving on to the palace building it self. The place needs some serious maintenance & repair. Still a nice building. Travel fish.org had an interesting comment about the palace. Apparently the present day Shan & local monks were a big part of the “Monk uprising” in ,I think late ’90s,. So after the Junta got that put down they carted off a bunch of the nicer artifacts to some warehouse – & the Yangoon Museum as punishment. There was another, I assume older Shan Palace in a different Shan city which the Junta took all the stuff then bulldozed the building. A bit harsh if true!
Maybe explains the lack of Government maintenance budget

Here’s a pic which would better fit into the final Bagan post. But it’s from the absolutely delightful Nyuang She /Inle hotel “Aquaris”. First is the family girls Tharnaka spot. A couple more of some of the antiques & cultural things spread around the garden hotel out of room nooks.

I’m staying in Nyaung Shwe, the old Shan state capitol & site of the King’s palace. A few k. from the lake proper but connected with a wide canal, allowing boat traffic from the town to the rest of the lake. After a recovery day I joined up with Sebastian for a boat/one Cylinder desiel canoe tour of the lake. A very large shallow lake, with stilt and piling villages and manufacturies, small boat (very small canoes) fishing and floating gardens. Really quite amazing the amout of people living the aquatic lifestyle, not just subsitance from fishing and farming but towns with cottage industries, resturaunts, stores, schools all on piles above the lakes waters.

Boats lined up in Nyuang She cannal

The floating gardens are created by piling up the lake aquatic plants then adding some soil, you can see them undulate from the boats wake. I’m guessing given enough time and added material they might get to the lake bottom.

I do love boats. Most as you see are a pretty standard size. I ask our guy about construction, some are fibre glass but most are teak. He explained the teak was lighter and it floats, so better. From what I could see from the size of the boards used there are still some old growth size teak trees in Myanmar.

I mentioned the one lung diesel power for these vessels, also seem to be very standard at least for this size boat. One big piston, a big flywheel, compression relief valve and a hand crank to get it started. Reminded me of the 1cylinder diesel out on Nikolski circa 1920 that powered the sheep shearing clippers. The muffler is mostly for show, when ideled down it goes Ka–Thunk, K–Thunk, K–Thunk. Loudly about the speed you read it. A straight shaft back to the transom where a U-Joint connects the prop shaft braced with the tiller struts. There is no gearbox, = no reverse. Our guy was very good at docking with the slow coast approach. Given limited tiller swing and length of boat, turnning is decidedly not on a dime.

OK no doubt more boat discription than most of you care about but I thought a nice diversion from temples and Budda’s

The fisherman stand and paddle with thier leg musscel, more power than an arm, better to see into the water for fish to cast thier throw nets over.. Balance balance!

We stopped in to a number of workshops, the hand spinning, loom weaving was most impressive. Using all silk or silk worf or woof not sure which is on the shuttle, which on the loom and a plant fibre spun on site. Video of wood frame loom in action. They had carpenters on site and building more looms from teak.

Also a hand rolled cheroot shop, tobacco rolled in some local (not tobacco) greenleaf. A small, husband & wife parasol contruction shop. A resturant for lunch, lake side pagoda with many “Bagan like temples surrounding. Another temple which had small (1 1/2′) Buddas, so covered in worshiper applied gold leaf that it looked like big gold lumpy peanuts, Budda’s in there somewhere.

This lady is making the thread to spin into the plant worf/woof (It goes on the loom) . She is holding the stems that get scored with the knife then broken, spread apart, pulling/stretching out a thin thread that she sticks down to the bench. Then winds on the spool to be spun on the , bicycle wheel rim spinning wheel.

I’m going to post and upload this, do another post for the Shan Kings palace, history museum & the teak monestaery I rode my rented bicyle to yesterday.

Enjoy

This post somehow was saved as a draft so it is out of order, should have gone out before the Inle Lake Post

Seeing a Thanakar musuem on Google maps I decided to learn abit more about this “make up” applied to so many Burmese faces. I had seen many shops selling pieces/brances of some kind of wood, but didn’t make the connection. This is Thanakar, a tree that grows in central & northern Myanmar. It has along history and of course was given to the people by some god. (see the long text pic). The piece of branch is ground on these mortors. An interesting look at a folk remedy, I’ve got to think it works as so many people are using it.

Having gone through the one room Thanarka displays I hop back on the E-bike to the huge grandiose archeology museum. This latest version (the 3rd) of Bagan/Myanmar museum was finished in 1995 under the auspices of the Junta general in charge of culture. He didn’t skimp on the building. Exhibits are big on architechual models, some nice bronze pieces, the typical multitude of Buddas, textiles, and stellas with explanation of the evolution of Burmese script. Only one boat which I thought kind of left out the whole importance the river must and does have on the civilazation. The relief statuary of the two ladies was interesting. look close at the hip of one and see what is captioned as Budda being born, from her right hip ! Even though Budda never wanted to be thought of as a god or God, it seems there is still some miraculous thing about his birth. Besides that imediatly after birth could he speak and walk accross lotus peddals in a pond. Well people will exagerate.

While cruising to the Archeology musuem I saw a sign for the Laquare ware museum. Lots of which is on sale at the souvinure stalls. So of course it’s next stop. No pictures allowed inside but the displayed pieces were way beyound most of the trinket shop versions. Laquare comes, of course, from tapping a certain tree sap. I learnned of the four different tecniques to inscribe, etch, paint, gold plate, and three colors, red yellow green. Most laquare ware is done on bamboo that is split and “coiled” into the bowls, offering vessels, cups etc. Also on wood boxes. I’ll try attaching a short video of an artist using a hand lathe to shape the bamboo base vessel. This was really just the museum part of a laquare ware training school established in 1924. At the school gate on a large trailer with this huge piece

Moving on with my E-bike I continue cruiesing the bike trails winding betwee

Contiueing to cruise the trails winding between temples a few more

temple shots, and brick ruins.

I was offered the chance to climb up to the top of a temple for the elavated view. From my travelfish guide I knew that in the past you could do this at most of the non “operational” in use temples, but in the interest of presevation, maybe tourist safety, not allowed now. Except if you pay a local to show the way to a site apparently overlooked by the police (in my case I had to purchase a $10 small laquare ware box). I was glad I’d left my bike helmet on some very low clearances Anyhow not really that much of an improved view but interesting to see the bricks from the inside.

Included in the shots the best “sand painter” guy I came accross, lots of these artist selling thier wares. He is holding up a Myanmar astrological signs calendar. As most asian cultures astrology is a big thing. Burmese use your births the day of the week to chart your future. Unlike the chinese/vietnamese year sign. My chinese year is of the dragon. I googled my birthdays week day and it was Sat. Burmes sign for Sat is, how about that the dragon. so I guess I’m a double dragon.

Finally my VIP overnight bus for Inle Lake. A lot more comfortable than the train trip. With just three seats, 2 & 1, accross and a movie screen to catch up on the latest action movies.

Next up the aquatic towns of Inle Lake

Leaving Yangon at 016:00 on a sleeper coach berth ticket. Individgeual 4 berth compartment with toilet & it’s own door. This train was not sold out, I had a nice young couple (Aussies) Manageing to world travel 6 months of each year. For company John is a succesful micro-economist, & Georgia a school teacher able to replenish their bank account with 6 months in Austrialia. I got some good notes for some future travel stratigies.

The ride on the train was reminiscient of bucking into a gale on the Berring Sea with a bad cross swell. An 18 hour journey, getting up to rather high speeds. Pretty sure that we avoided derailing only because the track was very straight. We slowed only for stations and turns. Like the old sailor adage, one hand for you, one hand on a handhold. Not the restfull night of sleep while traveling I’d hoped for. But hey only 21,500 MMK ($13).

Of course every daylight stop had plenty of snack vendors, posture & balance. Why include the square structure with lots of smoke? Because it was one of several brick kilms we passed, pertinate to upcoming shots

One village seemed to be the focus of Duck ranching, there were a lot more than what shows here.

Bagan is recognized as the place with more temple/shrines sites than any where. It’s easy to belive. Located on a bend of the Yewaddy wide river, on a wide flood plain. Not a lot of available stone. Hence the brick kilm. Many temples are still in current use. All still considered holy, and so it’s shoes off to enter any compound to be respectful. There is restoration work going on for many sites. Many others still left to slowly crumble. With the semi arid climate this is a relatively slow process. I think all the temples were plastered inside and out, hiding the bricks and alowing for fresco decoration inside. Not much is surviveing, probably not the best recipie of plaster.

The Budda with a small head in the naval chakar Is the only one I’ve ever seen. Also a number of others seemed to have more of a smile, or happy contentment expression than what I’ve seen in other places.

Bagan’s climate, semi arid scrub vegatation, is much kinder to the structures than Cambodias Ankor Wat. In Ankor the jungle trees roots have tumbled the stone into piles. Although a lot of restoration has been done there. Both places were built in roughly the same time period.

Some temples above with the plaster still in place. A better grade of plaster, or more likely replastered in more recent time.

There are spires of large and small temples stretching off into the distance. Without someone doing serious weed wacking mostly inaccessable, I did brave a couple narrow paths to a couple of these, but aside from the brush growing on the walls not different from the easy to get to.

Speaking of easy to get to. You can hire a tuk tuk, even a real cab or a horse cart to get around the sprawling area of temples. But the transport de jour for tourist is by e-scooter. The Goverment, smartly I think, outlawed renting gasoline motorbikes for tourist. I went for the new more powerful & range 8,000 MMK bike. Silent, way more ecological, pretty sure programed to stay under 35mph(I’ll test that tomorrow) Super easy to use, lots of tourque for fast acceleration to join the traffic stream, 8 hours of cruiesing around barley showed on the charge gage. I ask what the range was, on flat ground 70k.

Side note this reinforces my desire/plan to get an e-bike mounted on the back of the Benz this spring 🙂

Notice the temples exist in the midst of the present town of Bagan, and Naungwe U, with vegeatable and hay fields urban housing and shops mixed in

First shot above from my Innwa motel balcony of main street Nuangwe U

I got a peek at the parasol construction missed in Pathien

Getting toward high noon I struck west to find the river and a pleasent bar and boat rental place on the bluff above the river. with a avacodo/bananna smothie under big shade trees I waited out the hot miday sun.

No jettys or docks just pull up to wherever the bank is at the season. Maybe a single plank bamboo frame walkway It would be interesting to see the river at the end of Monsoon, a lot more water no doubt.

I could post about 50 more temple shots, but it’s not so much the individgeual temples but the sheer multitude of them that is so impressive. Maybe if I sprang for the $150 hot air ballon ride I could show the extentant of the site. but budget dose not allow. I bet you could google it

Time to post this one. But I have a request,. Part way thru the day with the phone battery rapidly depleting and thinking of upload time plus the WordPress free version data cap, I turned down the resolution on the camera. Viewing on a phone you probably can’t tell. If your on a desktop/laptop. Maybe. ? Is it glaringly less viewable?

Thanks

I catch the 06:30 bus out of Chaungtha beach, for the 6 1/2 hour ride to Dagon Ayra west bus terminal 8,000 MMK ($5.50) then a shared cab to Chan Myaey guest house through Yangoon traffic maybe 7 miles, two hours 10,000MMK.

Some nice vistas in the early morning as we wynd, and I do mean serious twist & turn over the coastal hills.

Mist hang in the low spots, sun coming up through the jungle trees. We stop & pick up 1/2 a dozen school kids for a couple miles /this little guy’s sunblock make up, shows up well as it was just applied. Most all women lots of the men put this stuff on. it’s called Ha na khar.

Here in the foothills its a lot of just jungle, but I notice in places the trees are all of a size, with less undergrowth and in rows. trunks about 6″ dia, maybe 10 meters high, I see no fruit. Then I notice on some a small collection bucket near the base. It’s a rubber plantation.! The botanist out there might guess the age from size? I saw some text on the British rubber industry when I went to the Ag musuem, With all the synthetics I didn’t know tapping rubber trees was still a thing but I guess yes, somebody was keeping the brush cleared.

Crossing East over the Aweawaddy (I’ve surmised the waddy part means river, since all rivers end with it). My 4th crossing after the emergency bus stop incident. Bit hard to see but someone is getting a crop off this river sand bank before monsoon and river rise. this is really a wide long delta tucked between ranges of hils. like the Mekong delta very fertile. It’s harvest season, the road has funky looking tractors hauling wagons stacked 3 or 4 meters high with big sacks of rice. Headed for multitues of warehouses, shops and stores, which we see along the road. Pallets & forklifts not a thing, it’s all stacked & restacked over the shoulder. As part of the process blue tarps are spread on the ground, sometimes on the higway shoulder, and the threshed rice is spread out on it to sun dry.

Sorry for lack of rice harvest Pics, out of maybe 20 shot in the morning Hills crossing these post are all that were acceptable. shooting through a bouncing dirty bus window. And the phone camera eats the batterey. which on a 8 hour journey must be conserved.

Lots of these little palm thatch stores hug the road, 1/2 have palm thatch roof, 1/2 rusty tin.

You can get a glismp of the traffic on the balcony from my 3rd floor walkup guest house.

that’s In Tone (sounds like etoe) or Nancy, Like Taiwanese many Burmese working with westerners adopt easy to recall names for us. Anyway she is very nice and helpful booking Train bus and plane tickets. most doable online but not very or at all on english language sites. She did go get my, needs to be in person, at the station, and not before 3 days prior to departure sleeper train to Bagan. at which time I was at the beach. It’s a 17 hour ride and the berths reportedly sell out ($12.50), so thanks In tone.

Directly accros the street from the balcony is this, and typical of lots of the buildings in this old part of colonial Yangon, aparment, with shops at street level. It’s really kind of a nice facade with wrot Iron railings. A boom truck and some serious pressure washing, a coat of paint restored to Raj splendor. Of course it would blast off the Orchids growing out of the cracks

And not many food shots lately so last nights Eric Clapton & eagals playing down the street bar, Crispy Fish burger. Not exocotic but less than 1/4 $ of a fillet of fish MC gaunies and 10 times better I was happy. That’s the National beer brand, obviously, and runs between 1 or 2 $ depending on where you are here with Clapton it’s $2. But 500ml

Left my Yangoon hotel at 05:15 to catch a 07:00 bus west from the big terminal, accros the river in the western suburbs. Must have been many hundreds of buses with a multitude of bus companys, in the huge station compound. Arranged with, En tohn, my hotel desk lady, who made sure my cab knew what bus company to drop me at, good thing! Seven tourist besides me on this bus whose final destination is Chaungtha Beach. I however decided to take my favorite website SE Asia guide tip, to break up the journey stopping 6 hours in and 1.5 hours short of the beach in Pathien, the provincial capital town on the East bank of the next big river. I had told the conductor guy I was going to Pathien, but as we start accross a big bridge over a big river I ask my seat mate “Pathien?!” pointing behind us, yes. Stop the bus, let me off. Lucky there is a motorcycle taxi stand on the road side, with some help from g Maps and my mass on the bikes back, plus luggage hanging off my back away we go. I used motorcycle taxis in Vietnam, but never without some apprehension, and never with luggage.

T

Travelfish.org only had one sort of tourist thing to do besides just checking out a non tourist town, to go see some of the local cottage industry pasasol production. A whole lot of people hear use parasols/umbrella’s. This time of year for shade, Come the monsoon for downpours. I started out my free full day to do that. but get distracted.

The Fuel dock spot on the river side is maybe a bit lacking in enviromental regulations

The sound of drums and crowds lining the street I wait to see what’s up. And it’s Nigyawda a festival of all (and there are a whole lot) of pagodas. Think the Homer 4th of July Parade, except it goes on for hours. I’ll post just a few pics now, wait for Wi Fi for more. sometimes a bit monotomous, but also some quite charming,& excoctic. Especially liked the dancing girls of course, and the bullock carts.

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I’ve some video which waits for Wi Fi. From all the looks (friendly) and offers of seats, a better place to view, waves and smiles, westerners are pretty rare in Pathien. A great parade which went on for hours.

Waiting for Wi Fi although my hotel is equiped, is because apparently web connection besides cellular is shut off on the weekends. I ask why but just got a shrug for reply. But the cell is real LTE I can watch netflicks. I couldn’t tell how much data I had left on this sim, so I bought a recharge for $3.33 of 4 GB. Then a helpful Burmese guy in the resturaunt showed me the “Myetel” app where even not reading burmese scrip I could see I had 12 GB now. Still I’m going to husband it in case this situation of no Hotel connection is typical outside Yangoon.

Tomorrow I’m off to the beach for three nights. Back to Yangoon one night then with a sleeper train (17 hours) to Bagan the next day.

You’ll notice most guys are wearing a kind of skirt. Called a Longi, it’s about a 1.5 meter long, two meter wide. sween into a big tube. They secure it by pulling 1/2 the width accross the front then sort of fold the other 1/2 over and tuck into itself. Looked really cool and comfortable So I bought one, $6, & tried putting it on. However after testing the securety of my tuck I have seween in two pieces of velcro on the waist band, when folded in I had enough confidence to wear it to dinner. It is indeed comfortable, lacking only in pockets. I’ll try to get a fashion selfy soon.