Cuba / October 1979
TEXT TO COME
Barcelona . July 2014
Test to come…
December 2005. Tulous near Yongding (well 2 hours away; Fujan Province)— Photos Only. December 26, 2005
Greetings… Just photos of the tulous which are really amazing. And many of you have asked more about them and wanted visuals. So here goes — also a little noodle-making in the tulou courtyard (where they do everything.)
12.23.2015. Farewell Cartegena; Ola Medellin
Saludos desde nuestro ultima horas en Cartagena y primeras horas de Medellin
Had dinner at Club de Pesca last night… It was about 1.75 miles from the hotel… We decided to walk, although it was bit complicated — dark streets interspersed with lots of lights for Christmas and plazas that were really decorated. People everywhere, especially once we left the chi chi old section (quite beautiful, but obviously gentrified and forcing those who used to live there into the outer rings — probably closer to the mercado and areas like that). Once we crossed Avenida de Venezuela streets were really packed, music everywhere, food vendors, people strolling, sort of a carnival feeling. Traffic was horrendous so we were glad we decided to walk; would have been sitting in a taxi forever… but we also suffered walking along all the fumes from the idling cars and buses.. Along the way we were walking parallel to two “party buses” — wide vehicles that groups appear to rent… and there’s music on these buses, people were dancing… not sure if they go to a destination or just party on the bus.. Eventually we reached a bridge that we walked across.. it got us over some kind of lagoon.. The restaurant was on the water. When you arrive (before you climb the stairs up to the restaurant which is literally sitting on the water) they “announce you with a bell.
It’s a pretty upscale place — located right on the water in a 17th century fort. Charming… and just as we sat down and ordered cocktails (Mike is now into Lychee Martinis; I’m sticking with Mojitos), a “party boat” docked… we think it was an engagement party .. or maybe wedding rehearsal dinner. Anyway the guest were dancing and singing on the boat.. and then it docked right in front of us.. and the whole group began their dinner at the restaurant.
For the foodies… Tuna Tataki (tartare with tamarind I think), and a specialty of the house called “jaiba”.. which had crab and corn and in the middle was a very tiny and thin empanada. … for main courses we had cazuela (fish stew) and something that translated to “almond crunchy shrimp”… Both were quite good… cazuela especially… No dessert.. We are eating way too much. But we didn’t walk back.. too tired; took taxi.. and then packed to leave in the morning.. for Medellin.
A few interesting observations… Apparently the hotel decided to paint various hallways (didn’t really need it, but guess they wanted it fresh for the holidays?).. so they have about 10 guys painting one wall… gets done pretty fast; each does a strip about 8’wide… so that’s about 80′ covered in literally minutes..
By morning, Mike had some stomach issues… either too much ceviche (it’s been great but we’ve had it at every meal!) or maybe too many of those lychee martinis. I’m OK… so he slept in and had a very light breakfast..I did some work.. and then we headed to the airport.
6:30 pm – Medellin
Arrived in Medellin at about 3:30, and given Mike’s condition decided to take a taxi to the hotel (the drive from the airport to the hotel which is in the city takes about 45 minutes or maybe more… and the taxi was zipping along at about 75 mph (or so it seemed) up and down unbelievably curvy roads.. sort of like driving to Mendocino on Hwy 1… and the total cost was less than $20…
Got to the Hotel (Park 10) which is quite nice, but definitely not in the neighborhoods we are accustomed to staying in (sort of like being in the Zona Rosa in Mexico City)… Finding hotels in the heart of the city, the old sections, where lower income people live and where there is a lot of history is apparently quite difficult. We have the same problem in Bogota — where we relied on two friends who live in Bogota to pick the hotel. Anyway, it’s just that it will be a long walk (or metro ride) to the areas we hope to explore (along the lines of the Mercado Bazurto)…
So, we arrived at the hotel after climbing and descending about 2,500 ft. The ride (in spite of the speed) was pretty wonderful with amazingly lush greens and flower markets all around and spectacular views into the valley where Medellin (population 3 million) sits. The actual city of 3 million has soaring towers in the center of this really deep valley. They call Medellin the City of Eternal Spring…
We checked in and the front desk said something in Spanish about “decorations” in the room… First I thought that maybe the prior guest wanted some Xmas decorations and they were still hanging… then I thought he said the decorations were for us because we were on a “plan”… I remembered vaguely that when I made the reservations, we couldn’t get all three nights in the same room unless we got a “package”.. I figured this meant “con desayuno”/ with breakfast.. Didn’t read the details..
Our room is bedecked with rose petals making hearts.. and a dozen roses on the bed.. rose petals in the tub… champagne and truffles. I suppose we got the honeymoon package. Too bad I’m with a guy who is sick and already sound asleep.. I think they must think we are a bit crazy… We ordered some bland soup… and then asked a lot of questions about how to get to the Candelaria… the old section and also to the barrios high above the city.. which they warned against going to… Naturally we will go tomorrow…. Hopefully Mike will be better..
We also have a tradition on these many visits to developing nations to go to Xmas Eve Mass… very interesting insight into the culture of the country. So we asked what time the Mass would be at the cathedral/basilica (which is in the old downtown), but they told us the hours for a church close to the hotel in this upscale neighborhood… We stressed we wanted to go to the Basilica… so they finally got the information.. Now, we are on a hunt to find a decent restaurant to eat at after the mass. Naturally the reception desk at the hotel says there aren’t any restaurants there and we need to come back up to this area.
In any case, our first look at Medellin — seen from the taxi — reveals it to be a pretty exquisite city… combination of old and new… dense urban structures and that valley wall that climbs up and up to a spectacular national park..
OK.. need to take advantage of the fact that Mike is sleeping.. I can get a lot of work done.. and then won’t feel guilty tomorrow..
All the best –
Fern
12/22/2015. Following Up on Electronics Crises
Obviously Mike could not really go very long without a phone… and since he no longer can charge his camera, his iPhone was to be his back up… So, at about 5:30 (after some research), we headed to the “other part of Cartagena” — across Avenida de Venezuela.. where real people live (as opposed to the idyllic well-preserved colonial old town.. to find either a camera store or an electronic store.. or both.. We thought we had it figured out and that it was about a mile or so on foot… so off we went.. Along the way hearing incredible choir singers voices wafting through plazas.. It was quite wonderful (although I thought about Oakland’s newcomers who have been complaining that Oakland church-goers sing too loud and they can hear the singing in their new condos)…
Anyway, we walked and kept asking.. and finally someone directed us to a sort of a mall — three stories, with lots of different shops all independently owned. We went to the camera store, but no real luck there… They had fairly cheap amateur cameras so Mike decided to wait.. Then we asked for an electronic store and Mike bought two iPhone cables for charging (about 1/4 the price of these things in the US — I almost bought some for everyone we knew. Then Mike showed the guy his iphone whose plastic (thin glass?) top started to separate from the phone and the phone was clearly disintegrating.. The guy looked at it and then told Mike to follow him and off they went for about 30 minutes while I dawdled in the shop and charged my phone which was now dead.
So they fixed Mike’s phone… Here’s the story.
The guy in the electronic store took Mike down to a basement level … then they crossed an alley… and entered a shop that was lined with stalls that were about 3′ x 6′.. on both sides… Behind the counter in one of the stalls were two guys -=- one on a laptop reading instructions… The other had a phone wedged between his ear and his shoulder talking to his girlfriend (the whole time)… He picked up Mike’s phone.. looked at it.. and immediately told the guy who brought Mike there (obviously his friend) that Mike’s battery over charged and expanded pushing out the glass front. In between talking to his girlfriend he told Mike’s guy that he could replace the battery and fix the phone for 60,000 COP (less than $20)… Mike said “Go for it..
He then (never stopping the conversation with the girlfriend) proceeded using a tiny screw driver, a double edged razor blade, a toothbrush, and a tube of some miracle clear glue. He removed the battery, replaced it with a new battery (which had to be purchased by the other guy at a stall somewhere across the street). Once the battery was in, he had to delicately fuse the glass? with its backing using the superglue applied with the double edge razor blade…
He then snapped it shut — handed it back to Mike… Voila! Mike is back connected to the world.
Dublin. September 6, 2016
Greetings from Dublin –
Thanks for all the notes about our food poisoning… on the mend; eating normally now and looking forward to dinner.
Following breakfast (actually was able to eat it), we headed for a walk through town – but naturally made the opposite turn on the quay from where we were headed…. And decided rather than turning around to just head in that direction, stopping often for Mike and Richard to “test out various benches” along the way. The tree-lined quays are also lined with benches, making walking very easy and pleasant. Eventually, Elizabeth and I left Mike and Richard in the lovely Merrion Square near the lake. It’s the Georgian section of town, surrounded by stately Georgian homes (once residential, now many used as offices.
Then we headed through the town – through the walking streets, stopping at several shops (Elizabeth bought a really beautiful woolen blanket throw), through Trinity College campus (quite lovely – and clearly the start of school, with students touring the campus and settling in), meandering through the Temple Bar neighborhood on the other side of the Liffy, over pedestrian bridges that literally line the canals, and stopping briefly at the Liebeskind-designed theater (overdone and very self-conscious). Elizabeth’s comment:” I’d much rather be looking at the canal with my back to the building.” After that we strolled past the famine statues, and over the Calatrava bridge heading full circle back to the hotel – a 7.5 mile walk in all… and met up with the guys who were having Irish whiskeys in the outdoor bar area of the hotel.
Tonight we went for dinner to the Temple Bar neighborhood – clearly a hangout for college students with Trinity College close by… But there’s a full range of restaurants in the area. We had reservations at Boxty.. good thing because the wait for a table was more than an hour. We were joined by a friend from Tacoma and her son who is starting graduate school at University College Dublin next week. The Temple Bar neighborhood was the location of the first performance of Handel’s Messiah in 1742 and apparently an annual performance is held on the street.
In the 18th century this area was the major prostitution center. Later, the area declined in popularity and then suffered from urban decay with many buildings falling into disrepair. About 40 years ago there was a proposal to construct a bus terminal, but while that project was in the planning stages, many buildings were leased out at low rents and then small shops, artists, and galleries popped up. The protests led to the cancelation of the bus terminal project and an NGO was set up to oversee renovation of the area as a cultural quarter.
According to Richard and Elizabeth, who visited Dublin in the 1980s, Dublin is a totally changed place – in the 80s there were virtually no restaurants, very few ways to cross the canals, and poverty evident everywhere. Indeed. it’s a very different city today.
More tomorrow-
Fern
Spent a really fun morning and part of the afternoon continuing to explore Dingle, which is clearly a very special place – even for the Irish who seem to consider it Nirvana. Mike and I went our separate ways and met up after about two hours or so at the finish line for the Dingle Marathon – cheering the runners past the finish line. Mike got there early enough to see the first place runner cross (at 2 hours 39 minutes) and I got there in time to see the woman who placed second and also a group of Americans cross the line. There were about 2,800 official runners. Everyone seemed to really enjoy it with runners saying it was one of the most gorgeous courses. Unfortunately the late place runners who were still chugging away after five hours were doing it in the rain, but they seemed happy to finish. Lots of kids joined parents as they ran across the finish line. And in true Irish sprit, all those who completed the race were invited to an after-party at a local pub with the first beer on the house. Note, photo above of Mike with his new hat (hasn’t lost it yet), by popular demand.
As I described yesterday, Dingle is one of those wonderfully interesting small towns with a reputation that outsizes its tiny population. It is a major tourist destination because of the beauty of the Dingle Peninsula and also because of the preponderance of artists who have settled here. It has the feeling of the nautical town that it is, with a port, lots of sailing and all sorts of water sports. And in typical Irish tradition, you can go into some sports shops to get tackle and equipment, and also have a beer as they seem to merge diverse operations – always with a pub. Dingle also has a distillery and they make Dingle Whiskey. Dingle also has a street (Green Street) which has a mini-Grauman Chinese Restaurant Walk of Stars… where they have the names of famous people who have some tie to Dingle inscribed on pavers… They seem to be very cozy with Julia Roberts because they have inscribed her name as “Julie”…. The only other comment about Dingle is that it is afloat with color… colorful buildings, colorful signs, colorful flowers adorning every house.
We had a quick lunch at a pub in Dingle called Ashe (owner’s name is John Ashe, and there are pictures of the owner on the wall with several movie stars like Gregory Peck). Mussels and salad. And then headed on the road to Limerick…which turned out to be complicated because so many roads were closed due to the marathon. Took some very circuitous route out of town and drove the two-plus hours to Limerick. The drive went through several small villages and farming areas and a few towns that were definitely not at the economic strata of Cork or Dingle. Stopped in a little shop to get us some snacks for the road and the cost was about ¼ of what it would have cost in Dingle.
Our approach to Limerick took us through an old working class area with interesting row houses. Getting to the hotel proved challenging as apparently the Internet address had a street name that was changed recently, so we went around in circles for a bit, but eventually got where we needed to go – to the Absolute Hotel (interesting name?) – a strange very modern building at the outer edge of what is the downtown. But totally adequate, despite its effort to be chic. We opted to head for dinner to a restaurant we saw on the web, called Sash. It was about a mile+ walk from the hotel… had it not been raining (sort of drizzle that increased as we walked), it would have been very pleasant. The city is divided by a river but given the quays and the frequent pedestrian bridges the city does not appear to have the typical divide like what happens with major roadways or rail road tracks, etc.
Anyway, to get to Sash we walked through downtown and past several art galleries and museums, but all in all, Limerick still (on this quick first night glance) seems to be more of a blue collar town. Sash was clearly upscale – catering, I’m guessing, to the professional class in town. Dinner was quite good: started with mussels in a spicy Thai sauce, followed by steak tartare, followed by a chicken dish (with “garlic mash” as they refer to mashed potatoes and kale). Mike is becoming quite an aficionado of Irish whiskey, so he tried two different ones. I stuck with wine.
Given the weather and the fact that it was dark, we were stuffed (which would have been a good reason to walk), and we were tired from another long day – and I had work to do back at the hotel, and had to write this note to you – we opted for a taxi.
That’s it for tonight and today… Tomorrow, we’ll check out Limerick briefly (it was always just a stop on the road from Dingle to Dublin); we drive to Dublin tomorrow.
Best – and have a great Labor Day weekend.
Fern
Greetings on the day before the end of the year.
Got a bit of a late start today as we asked for a taxi at our hotel (deciding against bicycles and scooters and horse drawn carriages). But the “taxi” that appeared was a huge van and we said we didn’t want to have such a large vehicle. Everyone, with lots of smiles at front desk, explained that all the “cars” were taken by other people and this was the only vehicle possible. We said we wouldn’t take that vehicle and would wait. I think they finally understood and a small (very small) car/taxi appeared. We visited several smaller temples and pagodas (all brick ones) and bypassed the big ones with tourist buses.
Stopped for lunch at a little place called Star Beam… on a dirt road lined with several other restaurants with mostly English names. Thai and Chines food although they also had some sandwiches on baguettes and pizzas (that actually looked and smelled pretty good). We had the local fish dishes accompanied by great fruit smoothies.
Strolled this little restaurant row for a bit and then headed to more temples, stupas, and pagodas. The brick ones were mostly built during the 12th century.. We climbed to the top of one of them through some very narrow stairway passage where we had to use our iPhone flashlights to see the steps which were incredibly steep and uneven and strewn with little pieces of cement that had dropped from the bricks… all in bare feet (in respect to the presence of Buddha downstairs). Made it up and down – probably not in record time.
It’s totally unimaginable how these worker bees were able to lug the supplies and build these structures in those times. Took several generations to complete the work.
At one temple, I sat for a minute or two on a ledge and was joined by a Burmese (middle-upper class) family who were on vacation from a town about 100 KM from Bagan. They spoke the best English we’ve heard so far. Father is retired and was a government employee; two grown daughters –one is a finance department head in Mandalay, the other is a pediatrician. There were two grandsons – about 4 and 8. The grandfather introduced everyone and also proclaimed that the older grandson was “fat!”
They were curious about our trip and I had a lot of questions for them. I think the US is pretty much one blob for them. If we say California, everyone says “US” and they don’t distinguish parts of the country.
Another little interesting tidbit — At lunch some kids were circulating among the tables trying to get money from different countries. The “spokesperson” was about 9 years old. He had some English – not much. When he asked where we were from, we responded “USA”.. and he responded with a thumbs up “Obama”.. and we said “Yes, Obama”.. and then he said “No more Obama… Trump bad” and gave thumbs down. We smiled and agreed and he then said “Obama” twice more. The coming years will be complicated in more ways than any of us can imagine.
Headed for dinner at a place called “Thripyitsaya” – will report on it tomorrow.
Happy December 30th.. it’s the dawning of your day and the end of ours.
Fern
12/29/2016. Cruising the Irrawaddy; arriving in Bagan
Greetings from Bagan . December 29, 2016
Somewhat simple day… Left hotel at 6 am to reach the jetty to board the boat to Bagan.
Once we traversed the gangplank-like 12” planks of wood set up along the shore and low waters, we were on a bit more stable entry to the boat. .Obviously there are lots of guys around who quickly grab your bags (our rollies) and hoist them on their shoulders and walk the same narrow gangplank.
It’s “open seating”.. about 50 rattan chairs set up in rows of two like an airplane. Baggage gets sort of placed, more like tossed, into a pile in an area in the room below the deck (which has some couch-type seating and is used, I suppose, in the rainy season. We set up on two chairs. It was freezing and got even colder as the boat sailed. Dug out whatever sweaters we had from the days in Tokyo, and also availed ourselves of several thin blankets that the boat supplied. The temperature was probably about 55 degrees, maybe 60. It lasted for about two hours and then the sun came out and it warmed up, but kept vacillating between about 85 and 65 depending on speed of boat, cloud cover, etc. We survived, shedding layers and adding layers.
The nine-hour boat ride was simultaneously relaxing, interesting, boring, ….. Actually, lots of activity on the water and along the narrow Irawaddy River. You sail by hundreds of stupas and pagodas; cannot even imagine how they got the supplies to these locations. And you get a glimpse of rural life.. washing clothes along the river, washing oneself at the river, growing things. I also managed to get work done. Just imagine – me sitting on this boat with computer in my lap. Actually, in some ways it was the perfect work set up. And, believe it or not, Burma is very WIFI savvy, so we even had connectivity the whole time. (For better or worse).
They serve a rather basic box-breakfast at about 7:30 am. And a lunch is delivered to your seat at about noon. By the way, most passengers appeared to be German, British, Thai, and a very small sprinkling of Americans (although maybe Canadians.. hard to say).
We arrived in Bagan at exactly 4:00 (they have this thing down pat), walked off the gangplank system again.. with lots of young guys hovering on the sandy shore to hold your hand if they think you might topple into the river.. I stood my own! Then the scrambling began, with guys (yes this is clearly a boy-job!) acting as intermediaries for taxi drivers (because these guys can say about 10 words in English and the driver doesn’t have any English). We “picked” a driver (closest one to where we were standing with the guys holding our bags), and set off for the Bagan Thande Hotel. Not sure how we picked any of the hotels we’ve stayed at, but for the most part we lucked out. As you know it was a pretty hectic fall and an over-the-top hectic December. We didn’t put in a lot of time; only knew we didn’t want large hotels; didn’t want high rises in a country like this; hoped for locally-owned, but hard to be sure. Tried not to spend too much money in government-owned and affiliated places.
The boat arrives in “New” Bagan and we are staying in “Old Bagan/Nyang U”.. The drive is about 20 minutes. On the way, the taxi stops at a little shop and all foreigners are required to pay 25,000 Kyat ($18) to get a card (that you keep with you) to be able to be in the national archaeological area (All of Bagan is in the area). Hopefully this money goes to preservation work in Bagan, but not so sure.
The 20 minute drive is incredible because you are passing stupa after stupa after pagoda after pagoda – most built between 1100 and 1300. They are everywhere. Most are not considered “special” and they are just on the roadside. They are very different from the pagodas in Mandalay and Yangon which are all gold and marble and have giant buddhas. Most of these are unadorned brick, but the plan and design of the structure is totally impressive – and for my tastes, these are far more exquisite than the very very very ornate ones we’ve seen until now. Tomorrow is brick pagoda and stupa day for us… The only challenge is getting around. You can rent bicycles and that would probably be a good system, but I’m a little nervous about riding on the dirt and gravel roads. You can rent a horse drawn carriage (interesting tourist solution) but that’s really slow and somehow seems just too touristy for us. So we will probably hire a “city taxi” (as opposed to a hotel private car) and have him meander and we will just keep stopping, occasionally walking.. and after lunch start the routine again. We shall see.
Bagan Thande is the oldest hotel in Bagan; probably built in the 50s. It’s sweet, on the river, and we have our own little cabin with porch that faces the river. The grounds are filled with aged acacia trees whose branches spread umbrella-like for about 100’. In some places they’ve constructed posts to prop up branches.
Quickly unpacked and headed to watch the sunset at the Panorama Bar at the hotel, before settling in and heading to town for dinner.
Decided on a little Thai place we selected following a little “research.” Food was good; place was very simple… mostly outside, about 18 tables. Only three or four families eating there – all Burmese. Tried to order the crab, but no crab (very interesting sign language conversation. The menu had English as well as Burmese so we could point to what we were ordering. But couldn’t really get any description of anything and then when we thought we finally had it all figured out, he made the “no” sign on several of our options. Guess it’s really small with a very big menu, so they can’t possibly have all those varieties all the time. No problem, we substituted. We had some kind of sweet and sour chicken with pineapples and cucumbers cooked in the dish; a very spicy (even for us) minced chicken salad with lots of hot chilies; and a pork with mangos.. And of course the requisite beer (Myanmar Beer).
Headed back to the hotel at about 10:30 pm…
Big Stupa Day for us tomorrow. More then.
Best — Fern
12/28/2016. Final Day in Mandalay: U Bein Bridge, Royal Palace, Exchanging $, Thai Food, Misc.
Short Day – started out early to get to U Bein Bridge – the oldest, longest (3/4 mile) teak wood bridge in the world. It connects two villages; it’s a pedestrian bridge made of reclaimed wood from a former palace; built between 1849 and 1851. It has 1,086 pillars that are situated in the water below; the pillars come up above the bridge walkway planks by about two feet. The pillars are spaced about every 12 feet. There is no railing. In general the walkway is about 20’ above the water…. Over the years some pillars have rotted and some have disconnected from the bridge, but no one seems to notice (except we two Americans).
Along the bridge and under the bridge are makeshift “shops” and vendors walking the 1.5 mile round trip with good on their heads and on their arms. On the shores below, fishermen (and it is “men”) are using nets and interesting wooden “traps” to catch fish, and rice is being farmed. It’s a busy place. About one third of the way there is a little pavilion on the bridge where you can sit – and of course several people are selling food. After we walked the bridge, we checked out some of the wares sold by vendors – including the purses and jewelry made from watermelon seeds that have been dried and varnished and have a very deep ebony color. Pretty amazing just how entrepreneurial and how clever everyone is.
From there, we stopped to see some wood working shops and marvel at the craft and the process, as well as the tools being used. Then headed to the Royal Palace (figured we had to see it, although we weren’t overly excited about it… So here’s the download on it… It’s the last royal palace of the last Burmese monarchy.. constructed in the mid-1800s when the king at the time determined that Mandalay would be the new royal capitol city.. I guess they changed these capitols often in those days. There’s a huge walled fort surrounded by a moat… All the buildings are one story.. There are probably about 40 different buildings on the site and they each have a spire on the top… the taller the spire the more important the building. Strolled the grounds.. often ahead of or behind monks.
Then realized we were running out of “kyat” (Burmese money) and decided to head directly to an ATM. OK.. worked for both of us; sometimes it’s been hit and miss, with regard to banks accepting our cards. Anyway, all good except that the wad of bills that emerged from the ATM machine was about an inch and a half thick! A dollar is equal to 1,350 Kyat… so if you withdraw $225 you get 300,000 Kyat.. but it all came out of the machine in 5,000 and 1,000 denominations… so I had about 90 bills! We walked into the bank to see if they would change this – at least to 10,000 bills. Frankly, we’ve only seen 500, 1,000, 5,000 and 10,000 bills. So I don’t know if there is anything larger. As soon as we walked in the bank, the guard – a very friendly guy – ushered us to the front of the line (they treat foreigners well although it’s a little embarrassing).. We went to the counter to “explain” using sign language our problem and they seemed to understand. Behind the counter were about 8 workers who were counting money, by hand and also using a money counting machine. .. and wrapping the money in some kind of groups. All along the floor behind the counter were bills, some waiting to be counted, some already wrapped. No bars, no armed guards standing by the money – just the friendly guy who was taking care of us. Amazing. It does seem incredibly safe everywhere.
Headed for lunch at a little Thai place; not bad. They made a wide variety of smoothies and fruit juices. We both had a carrot, apple, ginger juice. Very fresh and very good. Tonight we will eat earlier than usual (for us) at the hotel restaurant which serves Indian food; we need to pack to be checked out tomorrow morning by 6 am. We decided to leave Mandalay one day earlier than planned so that we could have time for the all-day boat from Mandalay to Bagan. The boat leaves at 7 am and it’s about 30 minutes to get to the jetty. The boat (this is the “fast boat”) arrives in Bagan at 4 pm. So it’s a 9-hour trip. It’s possible to get a driver but that’s about five hours (and didn’t seem very comfortable). There’s a slow boat that takes about 12 hours (lots of people with chickens and stuff.. sounded OK but didn’t want to spend the extra time; those are also the boats that are known to be overweight and oversubscribed. There’s also a bus that takes about 10 hours… mmmmmmm… The “fast boat’ sounded like a good plan. Anyway, I’m signing off now so that I can do some work and then pack . and have dinner.. and also to take advantage of the complimentary 45-minute massage that guests are told about on arrival. Didn’t think we could fit it in, but trying to do that tonight.
Next missive from Bagan.
Cheers.
Fern
