A long day ... but not too bad considering everything that has happened. An early morning, we left at 7am, with a 10 hour trip that could have been easily longer.
Sad to leave Bagan, but it was done ... back westward. A few stops along the way, we visited a farm-plantation where we saw locals making palm seed oil, palm seed booze, & peanut oil, not to mention some fancy face paint ( I think, it was too long ago). Then we visited a small village that our tour leader was determined to find again to drop off some photographs from his last stopover awhile back, then we made the slow trek up the mountains. Near a tiny village in the middle of nowhere, are the 700 steps to the top of Mount Popa, a majestic peak that has a .... wait for it ... a temple on top!! So, we must again take off our shoes to enter, but then the real fun begins. Dodging the million or so monkeys that inhabit the area, plus their feces and urine on the steps. Yahoo !! In spite of all that crap, you get to the top and it is an amazing view, more than worth it. The annoying part is, the steps are covered by an inverted "V" shape roof, and if the monkeys aren't physically sitting by the steps or the railings, they are chasing and bounding off the roofs like maniacs and creating a chaotic racket. But awwwwwww ... from the pictures they look so cute.
We survived the ups and downs of the mountain, and had a great simple lunch, greatly aided by the lovely lady trying to rip us off while selling her mangoes and pineapples. So, my warm up for lunch was an entire sweet, juicy pineapple and the tour guide had a machete for the soon to be devoured mango. Others were saying "Keep the mango for dessert!!" ... I was thinking, we could be killed in an earthquake in five minutes, the mangoes can't wait. Especially for less than a dollar for both !!! C'mon now, it so obvious, plus the noodles are old news at any rate. So the machete did the job, and it was soft and perfect ....
Up, up , and up some more we went until about 5pm. That's when reached Kalaw, a small dot on the map. A tropical rain forest high in the mountains, and it's too bad we couldn't see the full views from the road since the clouds were the HQs of the driving rains. But it was really nice from time to time, when we could see the occasional valley, or the odd rice field. But I must say, it's a very nice hideaway from the heat. The British once upon a time made a army station up here to escape from the heat of Mandalay and the other areas. Almost looks like Switzerland, just with Burmese ... and minus the cheese.
We leave early the next day. Another rumoured long day on the bus. We descend upon Inle Lake tomorrow. The last real stop before we fly back to Yangon .... gotta go ... sleep is asking to come out and play.
:o)
Sad to leave Bagan, but it was done ... back westward. A few stops along the way, we visited a farm-plantation where we saw locals making palm seed oil, palm seed booze, & peanut oil, not to mention some fancy face paint ( I think, it was too long ago). Then we visited a small village that our tour leader was determined to find again to drop off some photographs from his last stopover awhile back, then we made the slow trek up the mountains. Near a tiny village in the middle of nowhere, are the 700 steps to the top of Mount Popa, a majestic peak that has a .... wait for it ... a temple on top!! So, we must again take off our shoes to enter, but then the real fun begins. Dodging the million or so monkeys that inhabit the area, plus their feces and urine on the steps. Yahoo !! In spite of all that crap, you get to the top and it is an amazing view, more than worth it. The annoying part is, the steps are covered by an inverted "V" shape roof, and if the monkeys aren't physically sitting by the steps or the railings, they are chasing and bounding off the roofs like maniacs and creating a chaotic racket. But awwwwwww ... from the pictures they look so cute.
We survived the ups and downs of the mountain, and had a great simple lunch, greatly aided by the lovely lady trying to rip us off while selling her mangoes and pineapples. So, my warm up for lunch was an entire sweet, juicy pineapple and the tour guide had a machete for the soon to be devoured mango. Others were saying "Keep the mango for dessert!!" ... I was thinking, we could be killed in an earthquake in five minutes, the mangoes can't wait. Especially for less than a dollar for both !!! C'mon now, it so obvious, plus the noodles are old news at any rate. So the machete did the job, and it was soft and perfect ....
Up, up , and up some more we went until about 5pm. That's when reached Kalaw, a small dot on the map. A tropical rain forest high in the mountains, and it's too bad we couldn't see the full views from the road since the clouds were the HQs of the driving rains. But it was really nice from time to time, when we could see the occasional valley, or the odd rice field. But I must say, it's a very nice hideaway from the heat. The British once upon a time made a army station up here to escape from the heat of Mandalay and the other areas. Almost looks like Switzerland, just with Burmese ... and minus the cheese.
We leave early the next day. Another rumoured long day on the bus. We descend upon Inle Lake tomorrow. The last real stop before we fly back to Yangon .... gotta go ... sleep is asking to come out and play.
:o)
No comments:
Post a Comment