Arrived early along side this village with some locals washing laundry in the river which looks dirtier than the clothes. We were given 1000kyat each and sent into the local market to buy different vegetables which proved interesting but we managed to get what we had been told. We visited the grave of Captain EBJ Vaughan of the 6th Punjab infantry as well as the Head masters residence which is a small museum with collections of antique coins and pots. After lunch...

Left Sagaing at 06.30 and continued cruising up the Irrawaddy, during the morning we had a presentation on the past, present and future of Burma which gave an insight of the opinion of a Burmese national. After lunch we moored at Nwe Nyein village where we visited the closed kilns used for the famous 50 gallon hand made water pots and an array of glazed pots and figurines. Continued cruising and moored over night at Male.

We cast off at 06.00 which is a great time to get up and see the surrounding area and carried on upstream to Yandabo village. We went for walking tour of a village famous for making terracotta pottery from the river bank clay. We were showed the pottery making process at various stages from throwing the pot on a potters wheel being driven by someone using their feet. They are then patted into shape using a type of wooden board along with a pattern by the same met...

We left the hotel at 11.00 to head for the jetty where we join our boat for the next 10 nights. We have sailed with Pandaw on the Mekong from Cambodia to Vietnam and so we're looking forward to a trip up the Ayeryarwady (Irrawaddy) river knowing that we have the comfort of the boat, good shore excursions and relaxing whilst sailing past unique countryside. We boarded RV Kindat Pandaw and got settled into our cabin before a welcome drink and safety briefing. Afte...

Today we are due to fly to the ancient city of Pagan at 17.30 so we spent a couple of hours lolling around a couple more temples and the Mandalay palace. We took our cases with us and transferred to the airport after finishing. Every time our driver wanted to tell us something he said "lisen me" and on the hours drive back to the airport lisen me became more frequent, I pretended to be asleep so Lesley listened but she has now decided that when she wants my atten...