Nyaung Oo Market

Mingalaba! We are going shopping this morning, but before we go the ship is going to provide morning meal for the monks. There are over 5,000 monks in Bagan and they are not allowed to cook for themselves, so each morning they must go to the villagers and ask for rice from the cook pot in each house. It is considered an honor to feed the monks who give up all worldly possessions to follow their religion. The kitchen staff has a huge table set up on shore and the monks of all ages file through the line.

We go first to a lacquer work shop and see the procedure of this fine precise art and then to Nyaung-Oo market. We arrive at the market and Mr Thet says we have 40 minutes before we must return to the bus and then the ship. I feel like I am reliving that TV show where people were in a grocery store and had only a few minutes to throw everything into their shopping cart before the bell rang. Bartering is out of the question, I don’t have time. Ready set go! A lacquer tube for paintings, a mother of pearl soap dish, lacquer bracelet, 2 mandarin blouses with matching lonjyis, two silk scarves, two pillowcases, and a puppet.

The puppet vendor is where I find my two friends from San Francisco bartering with the guy for two very large puppets. My watch says it is pumpkin time and as we all run for the bus I see stalls for a million things I would like to pick up, but time is not on my side. We all scramble back on the boat and set sail for Mandalay.

Mount Popa

Mingalaba! Today, we take a bus to Mout Popa, a national park and believed to be the sacred home of powerful “Nats.”(spirit gods) Superstition is rampant in Myanmar, as is the spirit world and astrology readings. We stop at Mount Popa Resort for lunch and the view is spectacular of Mount Popa set a top of a rocky crag with a complex of temples and pagodas for the Nats. The rocky pinnacle is so high the clouds float below it giving it a Shangri-la image.

After lunch we go down to the town at the base of the Mount. There are 777 steps that wind precariously up the side of the mountain to reach the Nat home. In the town below there are monkeys every where and a museum that houses the replicas of the Nat spirits.

On the way back to the boat, we stop at a palm plantation, where they climb up the tree to seek palm oil that is made into candy and a strong alcohol.

Bagan

Mingalaba! This morning the ship arrives in Bagan where 2,000 pagodas and stupas are spread out across a plain beside the river.

We depart the boat and get on Bagan horse carts to visit Ananda Temple, Sulamani Temple and Shwezigon Pagoda. The horse carts allow the driver and one passenger in the front and another person in the back. One of my fellow travelers is allergic to horses and the other to dust, so when we arrive at the holy sites there is much sneezing with runny eyes and noses.

We attract people selling rubies and sapphires for $10, sanskrit pictures, and cherots.

We return to the boat for lunch. In the afternoon, we visit the lacquer centers for which Bagan is famous.

Sailing on the Irawaddy River

Mingalaba! Walking tour of a Shanlay village in the morning and when we return the ship sets sail and we spend the rest of the day observing the local river life from the top deck. On the shore are ox carts with wooden wheels; the boats on the river are dugout canoes. The people wash their clothes on the rocks and life looks hard to me, but the people are lovely with they’re wonderful smiles and joy of life as it is.

The Road to Mandalay always had experts giving lectures on the history of this lovely country, puppet shows, musicians and plays of Myanmar. On this afternoon, a youg woman demonstrated how to apply thanaka to our faces. Thanaka, a gray paste made from tree bark is a fabulous sun screen and a natural face mask. All women and children we saw had this on their faces. She also gave a demonstration on how to wear and tie a lonjyi, which is worn by men, women and children.

Yangon to Mandalay

Mingalaba! Early this morning we transfer to the airport for our flight to Mandalay. Thank God our luggage is checked as a group, because I am already over the 20kg weight limit. Our guide, Mr. Thet leads us all to a bus and we depart for the tour of the city of Mandalay, the center of Burmese culture.

First we visit Mahamuni Pagoda considered to be the holiest of pagodas in Myanmar, and where thousands of people come on pilgrimages. Each presses gold leaf on the Buddha in homage.

Kuthodaw Pagoda, has the entire text of Buddha's scriptures enscribed on marble tablets. Shwenandaw Monastery is made of intricately carved teak with gold .
We then visit the marble carving area where for centuries these families have carved large marble figures. The people are all covered in the fine white marble powder and look like walking ghosts.

The next stop brings us to a place where they make gold leaf paper, which is used by everyone to press on to the Buddha statues. Four men stand with rubber mallets and pound the gold until it is paper thin. As we walk back to the bus we pass shops selling huge snake and tiger skins. Every where you look, you see monks with shaven heads in their robes.

We arrive at our ship, the Road to Mandaly that was caught in Cyclone Nargis which hit Myanmar in 2008. The crew tried to ride out the storm, but when the moorings snapped under the pressure of 200 kilometer winds the fate of the ship was sealed and many thought she would never sail again. After 16 months of extensive restoration she was back on the river by August 26, 2009. The ship has 42 cabins and our three groups total 15 people.

Yangon, Myanmar

Mingalaba! Good morning in Myanmar. The currency in Myanmar is the Ryat, but they really like U.S. dollars. Not just any dollars though. They want new, crisp dollars and will accept nothing less. I am up early and into a taxi to the 70 year old Bogyoke Aung San Market. At this market are 2000 shops with the largest selection of Myanmar Handicraft.

The market is buzzing with activity and I find many great items: lonjyi’s made from a silk and cotton blend with mandarin blouses, Akha hill tribe bags, which are gorgeous with their embroidered cross stitch, shells, silver coins and beads, Akha scarf, and two Chien blankets. This was a great place to see locals, hear their interactions and practice my bartering skills. Other items for sale here were jade, rubies and sapphires, which I did not feel knowledgeable enough to purchase. I have no more hands to carry anything and decide to taxi back to the hotel.

I dump my things in my room and get another taxi to Art & Deco. This is a joint venture between the Ministry of Social Welfare and the Setraco group, which at one time was a dilapidated center for orphaned girls, and now produces the Lord Jim Collection. They all smile and giggle as they create world famous figurines, costume jewelery and lacquer wares. Here I purchased a necklace and earrings, a bracelet.

It is so hot, but I think I have the strength to visit one more shop on my list. I taxi to J’s Irrawaddy Dream in the Strand Hotel. The store is quite famous in Yangon and is known for it’s high quality Myanmar textiles and lacquer. Three lacquer purses round out my shopping day and I return to the hotel and settle my overheated body into the pool with a sizzle.

Bangkok and Red Shirts

Sawat Dee Kah!! Again in the taxi on the way to the airport, and there are red shirts everywhere causing the traffic to be halted. Much honking, hand waving and yelling fills the street around me and I wonder if I will get to the airport in time for my flight.

The driver is persistent and creative in circumventing the blocked roads and soon we are moving again and I get to my flight on time.

The flight from Bangkok to Yangon is an hour and thirty minutes. I already have my Visa for Myanmar and pass through customs with no problems. A driver transfers me to my hotel Governor’s Residence. Yangon reminds me of Cuba, with the ancient cars, buildings that needed paint 20 years earlier and an overall feeling of neglect.

While I am checking in, Mr. Winn informs me he will pick me up at the hotel in the morning to go to visit Schwedagon Pagoda. I politely explain to him that tomorrow, I must shop and think to myself that I have had enough pagodas to last a life time.

I have a little time before shops close, so taxi to Yu’s Lotus Shop in the Summit Parkview Hotel which came as a recommendation from a friend as a great little shop. I found three pairs of black pants lonjyi style.