I’ve lost count of the days! But today appears to be Thursday 31 January. Tomorrow we are going to win on the Premium Bonds. I say that every month, but I’ve never written it down before! A new approach!
So, anyway, yesterday must have been Wednesday. Another busy day. Well, busy for the crew maybe! In the morning we moored at Minhla and walked ten minutes to the local fort. Then it was on to the local market. We were given a shopping list with suggested prices and pronunciation guidance. It sounded a bit of a naff idea, but, in fact, was a very good exercise. It got us really engaged with the stall holders. True to say, nobody had a clue what we were asking for – not even after it had been found and purchased. In the afternoon we had a talk about all the vegetables that we had bought.
On to Magway where we visited the Myathalon pagoda. This may sound bad, but it gets to a point when these pagodas seem to merge into one gold- plated image. Lots of slightly dubious tiled floor areas for walking barefoot. Lots of chances to water the Buddha’s at one’s personal corner. Lots of opportunities to upgrade one’s foot-ware!
At the Buddhist nunnery we met with a dozen or so nuns. They answered all our questions about conditions in the nunneey and their daily routine. Apparently the nuns in residence there range in age from 8 to 84. Eight years old seemed to us a little young – but she was there with her aunt. What can we say?
Thursday – day 8. Now firmly on the second phone so photos now resume!
Lots of cruising today. Lots of very shallow sections. Most boats we saw had sounding poles out looking for safe passages.
When we arrived in Salay, we came into the bank near a lady doing her laundry. We have no idea how washing clothes in the river water can actually make them cleaner! But I suppose they had been washed in the river last time – so at least they won’t get any dirtier!
We spent the afternoon wandering into Salay. We passed some grand old buildings…
and put our head into the local primary school where we interrupted a geography lesson…
Then on to, you guessed, another pagoda! The Man pagoda. Well guarded by gold painted statues.
Then to the Yoke Sone Monastery (or Yokesonekyaung). This is a wooden structure built in teak wood in the 1880s and now run as a museum for historical artefacts found in the region.
Even though this is an ex-monastery, we still had to go bare-foot. The village of Salay itself is a very poor village. We saw a game of wicker-ball in progress. A cross between volleyball and soccer. A small hollow ball made of woven bamboo strips is kicked or headed over the net more or less to the rules of volleyball. There were some very athletic overhead kicks being played!
It was the end of the school day as we walked back to the ship. There were lots of children about keen to have their photos taken. Glenda amassed a small group of friends…
…and there was even one young lady in full party gear.
Before returning to the ship we had a brief stop at the the only decent house we had seen in town. It was a rather nice boutique hotel with a lovely river-side garden. It was owned by the local doctor who had a useful supply of Korean-made copy-antibiotics with expired dates – but the appointment to see him took about two minutes to set up. The waiting time was less than one minute and his advice and drugs were free! Just like the UK!
Tomorrow is the famous and much talked about Bagan! But this is so frustrating with intermittent Wi-Fi that I’m going to finish here and accept that I’m getting further and further behind!
COUGH MEDICINE
The pharmacist walks into the store to find a guy leaning heavily against a wall.
He asks the blonde clerk:
“What’s with that guy over there by the wall?”
The blonde clerk responds: “Well, he came in here this morning to get something for his cough.
I couldn’t find the cough syrup, so I gave him an entire bottle of laxative.”
The pharmacist yells:
“You idiot! You can’t treat a cough with a laxative!”
The blonde clerk responds,
“Of course you can! Look at him, he’s afraid to cough”.
Yes, the WiFi is very frustrating, or lack of it anyway! And it doesn’t matter if you’re in a remote area or more populated town, where it can be worse. In Mandalay we were without it for over 24 hours, and that’s the second biggest city after Yangon. Anyway, enjoying very much what is getting through, and bringing back memories of sights and stories from our trip as well.