and then a shuttle ride to the airport and a flight to Sittwe, northwest of Yangon and the capital of Rakine (the "kine" pronounced as in "kind") State, located at the mouth of the Kaladan River on the Bay of Bengal. (Ignore the blue dot)
where we were met by Mr. Maung Gree, our guide for the next few days who is a self-described "very experienced free-lancer" hired by SST. He lives up to his description by getting our luggage (we had to check it, 7 kilo limit for carry-ons) and getting us through immigration before anyone else - a startling change from Yan.
We jumped in a van and were driven to "the jetty" (every river town has at least one), where we boarded, once again, our very own river boat...
for a 5 and 1/2 hour trip northeast to Mrauk U ( silent "m", "U" pronounced "oo"), site of a remarkable 14th and 15th century kingdom.
The boat was quite comfortable - we had 4 chairs to choose from - and the time passed more quickly than I had expected. Other than the racket from the engine and my not realizing that there was no food for us for the 5 1/2 hour trip other than some bananas, I enjoyed it. Mr. Maung Gree, it turned out, was a musician, and he played a flute several times during the trip.
Although we were in a shared delta of two rivers, there were some visible mountain ranges, with the usual pagoda toppings.
Mrauk U was originally chosen as a capital site because of its natural defenses, including some mountains...more on that later.
There were also many pastoral scenes, especially as we got farther upstream and the channels narrowed - most involving water buffalo.
We saw several folks doing a unique style of shrimping, pushing a scoop net in front of them as they waded in shallow water.
And we enjoyed a nice sunset...
before arriving in Mrauk U, where we were driven straight to the hotel (wifi not working 😰), and then, with great relief, to dinner at about 8 pm, followed by an early crash.
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