OK Im going to try uploading Pics first then see if I can add text after

I’m liking Myanmar even before getting out of the city of Yangoon

OK Maybe Ive got the formatting for the new keyboard interface.

First shot is, Nuang, Paula Arnold & I. Nuang is a registared guide guy, he basicaly was just so persistant and offered me adiscount on the standard $10 tour priceI said oK . Then 5 minutes into the tour I saw Paula sitting near us, so I ask her if she would like to join the tour and increase Nuang’s income. Which really only, after a bit of negotiation, only reduced my cost from the discounted $7.50 to $7.00 but I’d already decided he was one of the “worth it” kind of guides 5 minutes in. Paula is from Dresden, 2nd day in country traveling alone for two weeks until her boyfriend joins her. It was nicer to have just abit of tour company and at a ticket + tour price of $14 well worth it. I actually learnned several new things about Buddist theology, beside the specifics of the biggest tallest, most gold covered pagoda in the world, (according to Naung).

The actual main Shwedagon Pagoda is actually the third version, Rebuilt by various new dynasties from the first mearly 10 meter tall which was encapsalated by the next King wanting some religous creds, then the final ( I think the date was a favorite one of 1776) to now much higher version. A bit like Russian nesting dolls.

The main Pagoda is surrounded by a palithora ( right still no spell checker here) Not even sure thats the right word for the multitude of additional shrines added, clustered, around the Shwedagon. Wealthy donners seeking Nirvana fund these additonal devotion sites. Lots of bueatiful jeweul & gold encrusted shrines.

So wordpress isn’t loading all my images in this draft, so I’m just gonna comment on the 2nd to last one. Shwedagon is now under it’s bi-annual renovation. Every two years the gold plates (not Leaf, plates) is replaced, so donners can get their plates with their names inscribed, screwed onto the Pagoda’s skin. I didn’t ask Nuang where the two year old plates went, I just guessed!. Any how the scaffolding which is covering the outside of the structure is all bamboo, lashed togeather with cocconut fibre twine!

If you look close you see a small cable car heading, a bit over halfway up, to the top diamond ( large carrot stone) tip of Pagoda. The little white clouds surrounding the cable at the top represent Nirvana. this car carries the new gold plates.

So a well worth it day of temple cruising. The really best part was that besides Paula & myself I saw maybe 10 other westerners at the site. Many Many Myanmar devoute citizens, But not hardly any tourist. Not sure why that makes me feel good but it dose.

I’ve been doing at least some advance planning, A bus trip west to Pathein,two nights, a Myanmar state river town capital, not a tourist spot but a Travelfish.org recomended rest stop on the journey to Changtha beach on the Bay of Bengal. three nights at the beach. then a long 9 hour ( it’s only a few hundred Klicks) must be rather rough roads, buss all the way back to Yangoon. Another night at my current Chan Myaye 3rd floor walkup no window but otherwise nice guest house. Next day board the train which I hope I have managed to book an overnight sleeper berth, 17 hour trip to Bagan. Sometimes called Angkor Wat “lite”. three nights, with an electric bike to cruise the temple sites. My expectation is it could be better by 10 deg C and lower humidity than Angkor was. Maybe not as well restored though. Anyway the bike will be fun.

That’s all I have booked Pretty sure I’ll try the slow train to Ilyne Lake .

I FB Messengered with my Friend Walter, Who is kinda my Myanmar connection. Stuck in Homer this winter because he did Marry Char his Myanmar girl friend I met in Thailand two years ago. And stuck because US Imagration law won’t allow Char to leave the US untill the paper work goes through. (sound familar, Suzanne, Andres? ) Anyhow he kinda encourged me to pursue a trip/route I was looking at, just cause the map looked like it could be interesting. Travel (by bus- not my favorite mode) all the way down the west coast of the Malay Penninsula, cross over to Thailand at the end of Myanamar. Then check out southern Thailand, which I haven’t yet. Hopefully missing any tusamis that might accur.

OK Comments are solicited . If that I now have a keyboard to type on has allowed way too much text appended to these pictures please let me know. I can try to restrain myself

OK a PS WordPress has finished loading pics so I must ad text for two pics. A very large Bronze bell, commisioned by the Monarch preceding the British invasions. Slight side note one of the Buddist factoids. buddist ring bells to share and spread to the world good deeds, Karmic pluses that they have done. Back to the colonial plunderers, the British invaded Myanar 3 times only consolidating and staying on the third try. On (I think) the 2nd try they did take Yangoon for a bit, and liking the size of the bell were taking it back to the Queen as plunder. But, Devine intervention? they never managed to load the bell on their ship, it fell into the waters of the river, and the locals recovered it. Avoiding a lot of work for lawyers in the 20th & 21st Centurys forcing them to give it back, Unlike what the Greeks had to go through for their Accropolis Marbles!

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For my Columbo stay I ‘ve booked myself five nights at an air B&B. A good price and the chance to cook myself breakfast. some dinners. Like a most of Air B&Bs Ive had in Asia it’s really a small privatly owned hotel but the rudeimentary kitchen is available plus a nice roof top patio and the WiFi is nice and fast. Lots of Myanmar trip planning, accomplished, Check!

Shopping was succesful for the bluetooth keyboard, Hurray again! Next on the list was refills on my two BP meds. I was down to a week left on one and about two for the other. My guess was finding and buying those common but specific drugs would be easier here than Yangoon Myanmar. English was (maybe sort of still) the official language. Some more about that in a bit. Prscricption durg aquisition successful, Of course cheaper than in the good old USA.

So a certaing amount of wandering around the city, shopping. A thouogh immersion in the worst / smogiest / hot / humid / sweatiest, traffick choked, city streets since Bangkok.

While on the Air B&B site booking lodging I tapped the “what to do in Columbo” button. Not interested in most of the $75 & up sight seeing bus tours, but there was one “the taste of Columbo” only $23 promising small group, multiple stop eating tour. I like to eat. And some culinary background on what I’ve been eating sounded good so tap book it. This turns out to be the highlight of the Columbo visit. I make my way via tuk tuk to the pickup spot tem minutes early, in front of the Seyland bank in the swanky part of town. Cameile , a sweet young French girl just arrived in Columbo for an internship, shows up and that’s it we are the group. Jonathan arrives on time, a toyota sedan, and we’re off.

Jonathan speaks perfect english, I’m imagining Oxford, we cruise about to most of the more significant goverment, and cultural buildings in the city center. After 7:00 and downtown the traffic is more like LA, with a lot of tuk tuks, not bad. Or host keeps up a running expanlation of the sights, and includes back ground economics & politics. Not to give you his whole tour but about the English as official language there’s this.

If you listened to international news in the 90’s and early 2000’s there was repeated news about the Sri Lankan Tamil Tigres, and the bloody civil war. There is a complex ethnic mix here, not surprising being an Island smak on the Indian Ocean trade route. From Jonathan I learned, a majority are Buddist, Singhalese but within that religious group there are three cast. The Kandyans who as the bigest, badest and longest lasting (resisting colonialism) are tops. Then the people that work the land, farmers, they are next in rank. finally at the bottom are fisher folk. Of course I personally feel that’s wrong! Also there are the Portugese, the Burhgers (Dutch), even a few English stayed. In the North indiginous (or at least from centuries before Europeans, Hindu Tamils, roots in southern India. Geneticly nearly the same as the Singalese but different religion and language. Also the British brought a lot of Tamils to the highlands to work the tea plantations, also mostly Hindu. there’s also Malay, and Arabs.

OK back to official langauge. There was this Politician, the PM facing a tough election back early ’90’s Scince the British left post WW2 the official language, legale doc’s, School exams, goverment stuff was English. This PM facing election declares that Singhlese is gonna be the official langauge. So all the Tamil speakers, teachers, goverment workers, lawyers etc. etc. are suddenly out of a job! Which lights a pretty big spark in the Tamil comunity, they protest, resist, the Singhalese Gov retailiate. Back and forth & pretty soon there are truck bombs going off in front of the tempel of the tooth, and all over Columbo, Jonathan’s final coment on that was “The politicians are who screws things up!”

OK enough socio political thought for the night. Today I went to the old town “fort” (although unlike Galle there is no fort left there) but the National museum is there, and the teaming petah market. So some pics, of Columbo. The market looked just like the Redmond farmers market, if a bit more crowded 4 and went on for a long ways. the Museum ad a seperate Natural history building, mostly pretty sad dioramas but there must have been a good bone guy there because they did have some nice skelatal exihbits. Elephants crocodials birds etc and this impressivvvvvvve Blue whale hung from the cieling just like the Homer Prat Museum but bigger! That’s Jonathan in the food shot at one the three different spots for food.

Kay that’s it for Columbo, tomorrow I have a redeye to Mayanmar via Bangkok’s smaller airport, looking forward to SE Asia, more different food!

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Not as high (or cool) as Ella & Nuwara Eliya but still cooler than the lowlands, Kandy was the hold out kingdom, resisting the Dutch and the English until quite late in the colonial period. One account I read was the Dutch actually captured the town several times, but not before the locals burnned everthing useful, then continued attacking the dutch from the hills untill they gave up and left.

By far the main tourist, SriLankan & foreign is the huge and ornate “Temple of the Tooth” . By which they mean the Budda’s incisor’s recovered from his funeral piyer way back when. Long storey how it ends up in Sri Lanka, involving lots of Indian kingdoms political machinachions. The local Kandy kings make good use of it’s revered existance in Kandy. Repeatedly building bigger and better temples to house the relic. It is really something now, reminded me of the church of the Holy sepluchure, in Jeruselum, only bigger and more ornate but in the buddist way.

the British built a large building just behind the temple for their court house and administration, no doubt adding some religous whieght to their rule. This has been turnned into a Museun of Buddism, galleries for each major country practicing Buddism. I actually gave out before seeing them all. Well worth the relatively high entrance fee of $7.50

And outside the Temple . Food, the 7 curries sampler tray, and a very large Budda on top of a hill 1/2 hour hike from my hotel

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OK so untill I get the new keyboard figured out looks like pics will come first in post

there are some shots of the “Grand Hotel” A very upscale and bueatiful colonial period place very well maintained. I didn’t even ask what the room rate was.

Also you can see there is a lot of new construction going on here, which will probably continue as long as tourism keep increasing.

This town simalar elavation to Ella was the British “hill fort” A place where the colonial masters could escape the heat, sweat and humidity of most of Sri Lanka.they built a golf course, horse race track, some really fine holtels, and of course a bueatiful miticulous garden park. Now it’s a nice Sri Lankan town but retains all those features. I liked it . It was cool. I wlked the garden , got my e-visa for Myanmar printed, and went to a free tea museum. A fallow up from my Ella ea factory tour this was a very posh office / sales room for Mackwoods tea. but I got a one on one tour guide for the “museum” room. who spoke excelent english and explained all the intricacies of tea cultivation and grades. More understanding of how to process the raw tea leaves into what goes into your teacup. Then given a nice rather formal tea service of (green tea is really the only type I like) . Green means they skip the short fermentation stage which is only a few hours of leaving the crushed/rolled leaves on tables befor the dryer which stops the fermentation. Green goes right to the dryer after the rolling / crushing / cell breaking process. Fermenting is what turns tea black.

OK pics of Nurawa Eliya maybe I can get them attached after this text. OK kay aparently not but there you are Nuwara Eliya

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OK my new key board as the pics first before text ! this is my safari seat vehicle

my new key board is of course doing some funny things with the interface maybe I need to get some interface app installed Still it’s nice to type with all fingers!

First a big Hurray!! In the upscaale shopping zone of big city Columbo I have found a bluetooth keyboard. actually had five to chose from, cost 1500 rupies (about $12.50) hurray again!

OK so backing up to the journey off the southern coast enroute to Ella in the high lands, keeping my bus trips to under five hours I stop for two nights at the Udawalawa park view hotel. The whole area tourist industry is based around vehicle “safari” through the National Park. I’d booked the hotel on Agoda at all of $11/night. The owner made it clear that the expectation was I would also book a safari trip. At $30 it made the whole two night stay still under what I’ve been averageing for aircon room & private bath so I agreed. Not too excited about a Disney like ride through the park. but OK. first he said we’d go the next afternoon, I must have looked disapointed (both guide books and experience say early morning is better to see animals) but then he came back and said If I would ride in the cab, not in the turck bed mounted seats I could go in the morning. At 5am ! OOOKay I’ve been hitting the streets around 09:00 after looking at email, doing my yoga, etc. We roll out at 5 to get in a vehicle line seeming to stretch a very long way. apparently we are buying the ticket for entrance, the other six safari goers will join us in an hour & 1/2. It’s all good though one of the group of english midlans tourist, elderly lady wanted the cab seat, so I get the rear highest bucket in the truckbed, much better view. The park is a maze of dirt tracks where ever the 4x safari truck drivers want to go. Lucky for us it hadn’t rained for two days. Still the ride was reminicient of Alaska at breakup driving on uninproved roads.

so it turnned out to be great fun, my guide turnned was a 20 year expeienced guy who really knew how to go where critters might be And they were. 37 elephants in many groups, lots of birds monitor lizards, spotted deer, black faced Macques monkeys, aligators, golden hyenas, many many wild peacocks, buffalo, plus the excitment of maybe we would get stuck in some deep mud hole ( didn’t but close acouple times)

OK good WiFi hear at my B&B in the middle of Columbo so lets upload some pics

A short current post from Ella, highland of Sri Lanka.

I’ll fill in my stop over in the last beach town of Mirrisa. And the “Safari” 5am in Undawalawe elephant park later.

3 hr bus (1/2 standing in center isle) from Undawalawe to Wayalawa to change buss for Ella. But let a Tuctuck driver talk me into $10 ride to my hotel in Ella. About $8.25 more than the bus but not waiting for two hours for bus, then standing in isle on a twisting mountain road seemed like $ well spent.

Anyhow here’s a few pics of the day & short video of Ella’s city centre on New year’s Eve

Hum below attempted post seems to have failed. Try again

How they work the Rotti dough

Lots of construction going on here in Ella. Tourist hot spot.

Very heavy % of tourist here in Ella

Hiked up to “Adams little peak” Good exercise & views

I brought one of my trekking poles along. Used it a few times in Greece. Today it did it’s duty descending many hundreds of steps. I hope! We’ll see tonight how the knee does.

Near the Southern end of the island with a sheltered bay & large ramparts enclosed old town this city, at least inside the Fort, has lots of character. The increased tourist trade is inspiring lots of old Dutch building restoration. My hotel “mom” was telling me she’s not allowed to, because of world heritage status, knock out walls to add on to her small guest house. But restoration is fine I deployed the bed mosquito net curtin last night when I heard that buzzing approaching my ear. “Mom” told me that mosquitoes breed in the Dutch built drainage/ sewage system. Like from the 18th century so some pretty good engineering that’s still functional today. Albiet without a lot of treatment before ocean discharge. Just from the “fort” I hope

Ok enough fat thumbs on the phone keyboard for now

I really liked this rather honest depiction of how the Dutch got this big fort (& sewage system) built.

And a shot of lunch. The big sign on this busy eatery was ” Indian restaurant” which 95% of the clients were. F

Finnaly I got some spicy enough food. By requesting the hottest stuff they had.

Last this update on Blog production

Recall my whining about the Bluetooth keyboard failing in the last two blog post. So I’m now in Galle, the old Dutch Port/Capital & 2nd largest city on this Island. I worked my way through the day after Xmas shoppers all over the market district, to every suggested (by Google & locals) computer & phone accessory store. A real Asia market immerssion day. But no luck. Found a few wireless Wifi ones but, their little USB dongle just isn’t gonna fit my phone plug. Rats. Maybe up in Kandy, high up in tea country. 3rd biggest town and more tourist/expat focused economy I think,
Crossing my fingers

Taking advantage of “mom’s” best yet connection speed short traffic video. Informational on what a Tuc Tuck is for those who don’t know.

Untill the keyboard gets replaced the text is going to be brief. & Why I’m getting a strike through now on the phone keyboard??

Anyway 50 hours of travel starting with the hike to metro station in Athens to staggering off the TucTuk in Negombo N of Columbo-airport

Shots of balcony’s view, a sail fishing / charter cruise boat on Negombo beach, video out the window of my bus Negombo to Columbo main station.

Think this is my first attempt to post video. Hope it goes.

Next up the fishing fleet just down the beach from my first hotel on Hikaduwa beach.

And finnaly last two shots, from balcony of my new digs. Accross the busy two lane road/HWY. From beach side hotels. Perhaps why it’s $20/night nice big new room & bath with furniture instead of $37/night for small dark bed only. 1st place did include the Booking.com $5 commission New place was walk in.

And breakfast omelet toast & tea on the fully hotel restaurant lined beach. On the left my container of tasty Crete small black olives Mania & Patrick sent me off with. So far coffee is thought to be instant Nescafe. Not actually coffee But the tea is mostly good

It was 86deg & humid yesterday. Then light rain in the evening which I enjoyed walking in. Nicer today at 82 & now clear sky’s.

I’ve three more days booked here, then I think south to Galle not too far. And maybe big enough town to find a Bluetooth keyboard.

Last morning in Argos, The rain let up for a quick walk around the theater carved from the hillside stone slope of ancient Argos.

During the Roman period a large buildings for public baths was built. Interesting brick walls with rubble fill coonstructiion still partly standing.

An aquaduct side channel from the main water supply channel fired clay duct linned & covered with more tiles.

Notice the front row seats of the theater actually has back rest! The accustics are good from the stage area, still proformers must have had good lungs if the top row was to hear dialog.

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Think about how many whacks of ahammer against an iron chisel it took to carve those rows of bleacher seats, from a rock slope, and no VIP boxes to help pay for it

And finally a coule last shots from my final sto in Athens
before flying out

The “Athens Center Hotel” was just that, with a big market right out the door. Plenty of fruits & vegies, but also these sort of music Junk shops.

Out my 8th floor was window was this view light coming through the columns from that distance gave another impression of the huge size.

Ok posting (or maybe it’s an update to a post)

Bad news for blog production. My blue tooth keyboard is whigging out. It’s a whole lot less productive tapping two fat thumbs than ten fingers. I’ll be looking to replace it. But doubt there’s one to be had anywhere around me hear in Hikaduwa beach tourist town Sri Lanka

Some shots from the surprisingly good Archeologica museum of Nafiplio. Argos/Nafiplion valley is the center of the Myceane Bronze age culture, the museum had many good exhibits from that era. Not all these pics are pre Iron age. I’m trying to post fewer pretty pottery shots, I and I suspect you all are saturated with Ceramics.

But… these are particualary nice and show some of the really unnique forms. Amphora with two loop handels attached to the neck, or to a closed top post with a seperate spout, are called stirrup jars. Pitchers with a tall neck which is pulled into a spout on one side, cut & folded back to form the handle oppisite spout. A few are two or even three vessels joined togeather with the handel.

OOps looks like I cut away (in the shot) the actual cut away spout.

And below the Myceane suit of Brass Armor. This looks like it would be rather impossible to fight on foot incased in this barely articulated sheets of bronze, so I’m guessing this is chariot armor. The general/chief crusing around the battle less bothered by pesky showers of arrows.

Oh yea to highlight the specialness of this guy his helmet amor is is made of Boars tusk!

I see text in the post above about cult clay figures. So I best add some shots of those little guys. ….

No doubt if I was composeing this on a laptop my media selection could better coordinate with the text post. Basicaly I can’t read text when selecting, just trust my shooting sequence aligns with pics to text. Need to work on the sequence consistency.

Heavy rain today and when it let up I went out for a snack, really felt like it was maybe gonna snow, Google says 42′ F but wind & chill factor! Time for lower latitudes, Saturday 10:20 flight to Sri Lanka. Fewer posts & marble sculpture more exotic culture,