I rode my first mountain bike ever - could well be the last time as I am not a natural cyclist. However I must say it is easier than the sit up and beg bikes that we had in Bagan. We started in the city and went down to the port, on to a ferry and 5 minutes later were on the other side of the River Yangon. After a visit to the market and a recycling shop we stopped for a coffee, cake and dumpling. All very nice - it was then I discovered Ben, who was in our grou...

Yesterday I cheated - Sheila continued to use the bike with no gears and the seat from hell, I had what I can only call a mobility scooter. It was great, like sitting on an arm chair and moving at the same time. It was another day of surprises and gratitude that we are lucky enough to see such sights. We did our homework and found 2 temples that had art work or carvings (or curving as one said!!). Off we went and stopped at several before and after the ones we h...

What can anyone say about Bagan other than it is amazing, fabulous, fascinating exhausting and many other words that don’t quite describe it. Getting here on the bus was fun - we broke down going down the gorge the train went over - just look at the picture and then image what was going through my head!! We were not on a VIP bus but a normal night bus. All you could see were the lights of the lorries etc weaving their way down one side and up the other side of...

The morning started with the monks waking us by ringing a bell - at 7am, how inconsiderate, don’t they know we are on holiday!! In this town there are more monestries than guest houses and almost as many nunneries (if that is the correct term for monestries for women). Here they still ask for food and we saw them being given rice by three different people. Later we visited “Little Bagan” which is the wrong thing to call it because you cannot compare what w...

Walking in this area is marvelous and today’s stroll was proof of that. Yesterday we were told yes flip flops would be fine as it was only an easy walk. However it rained last night in fact we had a thunder storm and this morning our guide said shoes may be a good idea. Thank goodness he did - easy yes - flip flops never. We visited several local industries in town first, including a body making factory. This was not a plastic surgeon but a car/lorry body maki...