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28th January
Today has been a very good food day!!! I have to say I'm not really fond of the Burmese cuisine so the three food establishments we have visited today have been amazing!
The day started with a trip to the Chinese tea shop that the hotel owner told us about. It wasn't that dissimilar to the Indian tea house we frequented in Dawei. That is to say it looks very scruffy with paint peeling off the walls, bare concrete floor, dimly lit and the cabinets that adorn the walls are in need of a decent clean. Back home the general cleanliness would warrant a call to Environmental Health, but here, it adds a certain charm! It was also full of men only, however, the two staff were friendly and inviting and many of the men smiled and said Mingalaba (hello).
The tea shops provide pots of weak black tea which are frequently changed so that they are always hot and these are provided free. You can also order coffee, black or served sweet with condensed milk. There is quite an art form to making the coffee and you sit and watch it being poured from height, from pot, to cup, to cup. When the man isn't making coffee he is washing and sterilising the cups with boiling water which he has on the go in huge cauldrons over little fires next to his rickety looking work bench/tea station.
Cigarettes and cigars are sold individually rather than in packets and newspapers are dotted around the tables. Then there are plates of cakes, fried doughnuts or other naughty fried treats placed on your table. You simply eat what you fancy and then let the staff know what you've eaten. This morning as it was a Chinese tea shop they also had a bamboo steamer outside- which contained bao's!!! Not just bao's, but the best pulled pork bao's we have ever eaten. They were stuffed full whereas generally, there is only a token filling.
On top of one of these each, we had super strength black coffee, four fried products and a sticky rice cake topped with toasted coconut. The grand total when we came to pay.... £1!! A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. We can't wait to go back tomorrow!
After wandering around town looking at the crumbling colonial architecture, the several beautiful mosques, Christian churches and many golden pagoda's interspersed between palm trees, we headed to a south Indian restaurant on the river front. We were given a few options to choose from and chose a chicken and a mutton biriyani and chappati. We were actually given two vegetable thali sets but never mind, this was the best meal we have eaten in Myanmar so far. We had fried cauliflower and tofu, a fried cabbage with black mustard seeds and two vegetable curries and enough rice to feed at least four people. A bottle of water and two sprites bumped the total cost to £1.70.
Feeling rather tired after our feast we headed back to the hotel to relax for a while until the intense heat of the day died down. At 3.30pm we headed to the ridge which overlooks the city and is dotted with dozens of pagodas. We spent the time until sunset wandering the mile or so down hill, exploring each pagoda we passed. Time easily spent given some are complexes with several pagodas within them. Some had incense burning which is a smell that always evokes fond memories of Nepal.
Sunset was spent at the largest complex of them all, Kyaikthanlan, which was visited by Rudyard Kipling when he visited Burma in 1889 for three days. It is the pagoda he eulogises when he says 'old Moulmein pagoda' in his Mandalay poem. He never actually visited Mandalay!
The pagoda offers great views of the Thanlyin River and Bilu Kyun Island. You also look down on the prison where George Orwell staffed the police head quarters. His mother was born and grew up here in Mawlamyine.
After sunset we headed for food. A couple we had spoken to when we were back at the hotel in the afternoon had told us they had had lasagne. Lasagne! I've been craving that for days now so I was super excited. It was good. A dinner of lasagne, chips and strawberry smoothie. Yes, today has definitely been a good food day.
The night was rounded off by watching Terminal Man on the English speaking TV channel. An absolute bonus as we thought they were all Burmese channels.
Tomorrow we are off on the boat to Hpa An.
29th January
Sat on a long tail boat fitted out with three car seats, heading to Hpa An. Two for me & Tony and the other for another guy from our guesthouse. It's the same size boat that we caught to Muong Ngoi and which had almost thirty people crammed on. It is definitely a bit more spacious this time.
We're cruising past pagoda dotted hills, islands filled with palm trees including Gaung Say Kyun Island which has several pagodas representing Nepalese, Chinese and Burmese Buddhism and which can only be reached by boat. The water is peppered with many little fishing boats with Burmese men and women dropping their nets hoping to get a good days catch. The river is currently about half a mile wide but it will get narrower so we will cruise past little villages of thatched huts. It's all very idyllic.
I'm listening to a classical album. The same one I had on when I wrote my letter to Tony that I gave him on our wedding day. I'd been struggling to write the letter until that point, but as soon as I put on the album it made me think of the moment we would say our vows to each other and as such, the words came freely. Now I write this, just over six months later having spent 24/7 with each other since we said 'I do'. Going back to work and every day life in seven weeks time, and not seeing each other all day, or for a few days at a time if he works away, will be strange. We are so lucky to have started our married life in this way.
This morning, just after 7am, ( getting up at 6:40 was a killer. Returning to work and the early morning starts will be HARD) we headed to the Chinese tea house for breakfast. As we were there early it was busier than yesterday but we managed to squeeze onto a table. Being early meant that there were still lots of spring rolls, fresh doughnuts and samosas left. These had been polished off by the time we arrived at 9am yesterday. The owner recognised us, not hard really given we were the only westerners in there yesterday and this morning, and asked if we wanted our turbo charged coffee again; my words, not his!
He then sent over two pork bao's. We left absolutely stuffed, and paid slightly less than yesterday. Not quite sure how it was cheaper.
Mawlamyine was a city ( more like a small town) that grew on us. There is such a mix of cultures there, with a heavy Indian influence, as well as Chinese, Bangladeshi and Burmese. The streets, like Dawei, are splattered with bright red betel juice from the men chewing the betel nut parcels. I don't think we'll bother given its a carcinogenic and can rot your liver, not to mention staining your mouth bright red, but the Myanmar people it seems are very fond of it.
We didn't seem as much as a novelty to the locals as we did in Dawei, although several young girls stopped me as I did my exercises in the green gym and asked for photos. There were also quite a few more westerners than Dawei. Probably because people can't be bothered with another eight hours on a bumpy bus to get there after doing seven to get to Mawlamyine from Yangon or thirteen from Inle Lake. Dawei to Yangon is a straight fourteen hour journey on pretty poor roads with the constant music or TV blaring at full blast. I can't say I'm looking forward to the longer journeys as we head north.
Just over two hours into the four hour journey and we are starting to see karst formations in the distance, bringing back memories of Yangshuo. Albeit this is slightly more exotic scenery with azure blue skies, palm trees and miniature golden pagodas sat atop the hills. I recall that part of China with fondness. It was a nice few days cycling around gorgeous scenery. Plus, Sudder Street was fab.
When we had drinks with Kat & Tom in Dawei, they asked for our views in travelling China. Before I started I exhaled a deep breath. They laughed. Before I had even begun they knew how we felt. They were exhausted and challenged by it too, and they did less time than us.
For all of its negatives though, there were positive and enjoyable moments, and I find myself missing the food, especially Sichuanese.
31st January
Wow-almost February!
We're en route to the golden rock, the holiest site in the country, on the bus from Hpa-An. We caught the 8am bus to get there early. It's now 9.15am and we're only just out of the centre of Hpa-An, stopping every five minutes to pick up more passengers or huge sacks of rice from the side of the road. The same Buddhist chanting that was played on the Dawei to Mawlamyine bus is playing loudly. The air con is going at full pelt so it's freezing.
Hpa-An didn't really offer much. We hired a motorbike again to get out in the countryside to visit Kyauk Kalat Pagoda, which is balanced on a narrow rock and Lumbini Gardens which unfortunately sound better than they were. Over 1000 Buddha statues litter several fields but these are overgrown with trees and weeds but it's still quite spectacular. The gardens are at the base of the tallest mountain in the area but we didn't fancy the two hour climb in the heat. We laughed when we saw the proposals for a cable car to take you to the top!!
We had been told about a lake in the area which had only just opened. It wasn't quite what we expected. It was basically two concrete pools for playing in, with a stall renting out inner tubes to further add to the fun. A big sign saying 'lady no swim' would have prevented me from going in one of the pools so we decided not to bother. Feeling peckish we bought some noodles for about 27p. They would have been nice if fermented fish paste and gram flour which dries them out weren't added. Much to the ladies amusement I added mint and coriander to them to try and balance the flavours.
The highlight of the day was probably heading through fields to a little village. Whilst taking a break a little old lady starting talking to us. Absolutely no idea what she was saying but we kept smiling as she was laughing away and tried to engage with her and understand her mimes. We think she was telling us she had been by the water doing the washing and was now heading home. She finally went on her way only to hurry back to us miming a bit more. Finally we understood she wanted a photo. She hugged me and that's when I decided she was probably drunk, hence the constant laughing! She reeked of alcohol. After examining the photo and indicating she wanted more, she went on her way, waving away to us.
1st Feb
After getting dropped off quite some way out of town , we caught a pick up truck into the centre of Kinpun. It was the same size as the one we caught from Nong Khiaw back to Luang Prabang and which seated 12 comfortably but we squeezed in 14. This pick up truck had 30+ squeezed inside, on the roof and hanging off the back.
Accommodation in ..... was expensive and we weren't expecting great things. We managed to negotiate a bit of a discount on a room but it was still $23 for a room that Tony feels was one of the worst ones of the trip.
We quickly had some food and then caught another pick up truck to the top of the mountain. We could have walked the steep 11km uphill but as temperatures hover around 35degrees, we took the easy option. It was like a roller coaster hitting sharp bends at some speed and that was going up hill. We were rather apprehensive about the journey back down and were keen to get back to the bottom before it was dark.
There wasn't much to do up at the rock and so took a few photos, wandered around and people watched whilst lots of Burmese people set up their camps for the night so they could spend a sunset and sunrise at the holiest site in the country. As I'm a woman I wasn't allowed to enter the best viewing platform!!! I wasn't too pleased.
We then headed back down for the return roller coaster journey. The brakes on those trucks must require regular servicing!
We weren't sad to leave and at 7.30am the next morning we were waiting for our bus to Yangon.
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