Day 23 - To Pyay

Early Breakfast and long (6 1/2 hrs) ride to Pyay...





in a minibus with lotsa Burmese folks, including several families. We became quite a local conveyance near the end, picking up and dropping off all takers.

I fully enjoyed it, since the passing scenes were diverse and interesting and the folks getting on and off the bus, and all those along the way, were ready with smiles.

But I was ready to get off when we reached our lodging for the next three days, the Lucky Dragon Hotel. It's the LP top pick for Pyay and with good reason. There's even a pool! Luckily, I had made a reservation through Agoda (don't do Asia without it), because the place is full.

We made arrangements for tuk-tuk tours of the two main sites tomorrow and the next day.

Occasional reflection: I've been wondering about why it feels so good to be with the Myanmar people. The smiles help, obviously, but I've come to believe that the smiles reflect something deeper, probably connected with Buddhism. There is a definite kindness, respect and warmth they show toward us and each other - and something else. Very early impressions, of course, but I believe there is an element of affirmation, a will to be positive, not in a forced sense, but one that seems to come naturally. It's the kind of thing the meditating brain scientists are talking about, I think, as well as the Dalai Lama. It is most pronounced in rural areas, certainly, but even though things get pretty hectic on the streets, in the cities, it can be felt there as well. There's more to the smile in the Buddha images than meets the eye. So how does Hell fit into that? or the repression of human rights? discrimination toward minorities?




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Day 22 - A Minbu Day Trip

We started the day with a breakfast that was apparently a bit of a performance for the forgivably preprofessional staff.



Our first destination was a Golden Deer sanctuary, which turned out to be pretty disappointing. When we got to the headquarters it was vacant, and so our driver rousted the director, who looked like he had just gotten out of bed and was having his first cigarette of the day. He didn't speak English, but San Win informed us that we could only see deer at the Shwe Set Taw pagoda festival (our second destination). That was a bit weird, but we went with the flow.

Turned out that they had set up a little corral near the pagoda, as sort of an advertisement for the sanctuary.



Dana gamely (accidental pun) fed one of the deer.




The festival was a major happening.



It goes for three weeks, and likely attracts thousands, although more so on the weekends (we were there on Friday).

The monks were doing their thing with the vendors...



We accompanied the pilgrims across the river...



and in a climb up several flights of stairs...




with stops at veneration sites along the way...






that had stands to purchase your offerings....not sure where the dirty plates came from, didn't see any offerings being eaten.




There was an unusual number of palm readers...



including this guy - had to admire his reclining Buddha approach.




When we reached the top, the most interesting thing for a non-Buddhist was the panorama of the festival.



After we returned from the trip, our friend Thander came by with a car and driver (and her cousin) to take us to a very interesting site we had not heard about - a bubbling mud pot that has become a veneration site. Thandar's giving Dana prayer instructions, which she follows (again covering bases?)



The belief is that the pot is inhabited by a dragon, and folks toss milk and flowers into it to appease the dragon. The dragon has a couple of human siblings who are nats and whose images are present on the premises to receive more negotiable gifts.

An oddity - the mud is cold.


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Day 21: On to Minbu, after Floral Gardens in Naypitaw

After a large, and quite good, buffet breakfast, we were driven to the Naypitaw Floral Gardens, where we took a stroll with Mr. Soe.






The gardens are well-maintained,and tho they may be particularly manicured right now for the ASEAN tourism conference going on during our visit, it seems likely that they are more generally well-maintained - they just had that look.

There was a children's play area, with a water slide...



and a suspension bridge....




and for a little bonus, Mr. Soe identified some white-throated babblers, one of the six Myanmar endemic species.



At 9:30 Mr. Soe put us aboard our minibus for the trip to Min Bu, which is just north of Magway on this map.



We went through some really rough country for about two hours...





(hard to see the canyons, but they were quite deep and there were a lot of them), and then we hit a flatter stretch where the farming was rather intense, and we saw oxcarts about every quarter mile...




sometimes greater density...



and in one town a tractor dealership, tho we saw none in the fields.

And we had one of those delightful serendipitous travel moments, discovering that the woman sitting next to us (Ms. Thandar), an engineer working in the Naypitaw government office dealing with telecommunications, was headed to a family reunion in Minbu. She spoke the best English we have heard so far in Myanmar, was a very nice person, and was eager to help us. This was great, because we had not been able to make any lodging or other arrangements for Min Bu (the LP pretty much ignores it).

Thandar not only got us lodging at a spiffy, brand new hotel (open one week), Man Thidar, for $25 (may not look like much, but it was a real surprise to us)...




but she also got her uncle, San Win, who lives across from the hotel, to meet us there and facilitate not only the hotel, but also a private car for the next day to see the two big attractions near here (he's going with us).

The hotel got us reservations for a bus to our next destination, Pyay, on the 31st, and got its new wifi system up and running for us, albeit a bit too slow for posting.

Our dinner in the hotel was quite good, benefitting from the fact that the hotel owner has owned a good restaurant for a long time, and in fact brought in roast duck from the restaurant for me.



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Day 20 - More Birding and on to Naypitaw

We got an early start and saw the sunrise from our faux boat...




and from the dining area.




We set out again for a circuit of the wetland. Our total number of species for the two days was only 20 (not counting ordinaries), but we did get some very pleasing views in the am light...
















and just enjoyed immensely the peaceful moments.

At times we were surrounded by lotus plants as far as we could see...




and there were still a few blossoms.








These little white flowers were blooming everywhere.




and there was even a pagoda in the water.




After a couple of hours of boating about, we returned to the base, packed up and headed out for Naypitaw, Myanmar's wonderful, undefinable capital.




Most of the route was "on the road to Mandalay," literally, but not your grandmother's version (assuming she was a Bob Hope/Bing Crosby fan).



It's now a very straight four-lane, that has 1/10th kilometer markers and median strip shrubs, and even some electronic speed indicators.

We checked into a hotel that was right out of Palm Springs (tho only a two-star, most are 4s and 5s by their appearance), and went to buy a bus ticket in the people's section, which happened to be across from the market for the locals where shuttle buses drop off the government staff for some down-home shopping before carting them off to staff "quarters." They're in the blue skirts and white blouses.




We also went to the Naypitaw pagoda, a replica of the Shwedagon, but 1 foot shorter.




To get there, we rode down this 16 (really) lane highway...




The guidebooks talk about the eeriness of the absence of people in the midst of all this extravagance (we were on the 16-lane at what is rush hour in Yangon - remember the traffic jams) but you have to experience it yourself to appreciate it, especially after being among the throngs we've encountered everywhere else in Myanmar. One of the oddest things for me was that it was not abandoned or rundown like so many such projects we've seen elsewhere. It seems to be a fully functioning, well-maintained place, just with very few people. Hopefully, that will change, for the better.

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Day 19 - A Birding Break

Time for a little change of pace. We organized a trip with SST (actually an Eco-tour company) to the Moeyingyi Wetland, about an hour and a half north-northeast of Yangon, not including the hour to clear Yangon traffic.



However, SST, at my request, included some cultural stuff in the archaeologically rich town of Bago (a former southern Myanmar capital).

First was the Kaik Pun Paya, which consists of four 100 ft tall Buddhas facing in four directions


Our guide, Mr. Soe Min Aye said the the first three existed a very long time ago, the fourth is the Gautama Buddha worshipped today, and the fifth and last, when he arrives, will end the world - and that global warming, wars, Ebola (and maybe anything else you don't like, I guess) are a sign of the imminence of that development.

Next was the Shwethalyuang reclining Buddha, 168 feet long and 48 feet high, built by a Mon King in the 5th century.




We were most impressed by his feet.




Then the Shwe MawDaw, the tallest stupa in Myanmar at 376 feet - 46 feet higher than the Shwedagon in Yangon.



The large brick thing at the base is a piece of the umbrella that fell in an earthquake - actually a replica, no idea why to build a replica of a piece that fell off, but there appears to be some veneration of it.

Finally, a visit to a replica of a 6th (or so) century palace, on the site of the original...




and with portions of many of the original columns displayed.




The palace happened to be graced by the presence of a huge contingent of novice nuns, several of whom chose to be photographed with Dana.




Then it was time to head for the wetland. We checked into our quarters, the one at the far right...




with the best view (we were the only ones there)...





and after a short break set out for some birding.

We were a little dubious when Mr. Soe, our guide, called a whispered tern a harrier, but soon got absorbed in some fun birding:

1. Blue-tailed bee-eater



2. Asia. Open-billed (stork)


3. Goliath heron



We stayed on the water through the sunset...









had a nice dinner and looked forward to another outing in the am.

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Day 18 - Nice little day trip

Our new best friend, a taxi driver who brought us to the hotel from the airport yesterday, picked us up for a trip to a Yangon suburb, Than Lyin township, for a visit to a pagoda, Kyaik-hkauk, which is having a festival. We went at 9:30 to avoid the rush hour, but the traffic still was heavy and we were in jams several times.

There was a little misunderstanding, since the driver actually took us to a pagoda farther away, Kyaik Hmaw, which, happily, turned out to be more interesting than the one we had intended to visit, tho we got to that one as well, since it was on the way. It was on a little island...




and was being visited by more Myanmar pilgrims (some carrying flowers) than tourists.







Some were accompanied by monks...



they're laughing because I had just asked our driver to step out of the way for the photo, the monk thought I meant him, and he's just responding to my request to step back into the photo - never stopped talking on his cell the whole time...

and some were just covering their bases.



The stupa and other buildings on the island were impressive...







but I was most intrigued by a series of paintings in one hall depicting scenes from Buddhist hell, together with the sins that send people there.










Who knew that Buddhism is a fire and brimstone religion?

We did stop at the festival pagoda, which was set on a hill (with the required elevator), and overlooked the staging area for its "festival" which appeared to be a carnival type thing, like that at the Ananda Pagoda in Bagan, where the action takes place at night.




The description of the festival I read said that part of the tradition is for the temple to offer water to pilgrims, and that appeared to be this set of pots, each inscribed with blessings.


We also stopped at a National Cultural Identity park, with houses from various Myanmar ethnic groups, but it was not well interpreted and was a poor substitute for visiting the actually areas, which we are doing.

In Yangon we encountered a really bad early rush hour traffic jam, but met it with mindful equanimity - easy when you're in an air-conditioned car with a good driver.

On Day 19 we will head to a wetland for some wildlife viewing, quite a change from what we've been doing.
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