Today we travelled about three hundred kilometers south from Mandalay to another hill station called Kalaw. The first part of the journey was through a low-lying agricultural region where we continued our fascination with the ox carts which are used everywhere here for pulling loads and plowing fields. Mechanized tractors or other farm vehicles are virtually nonexistent. Almost as equally charming are the local "taxis" - the horsecarts - which are used in all the...

A breath of fresh air today! We travelled two hours up into the mountains to an old British hill station, previously called Maymyo and now called Pyin Oo Lwin. In colonial times, the British resided here for 3-4 months in the hot summer months. It is the cool season now, but 32-34 C is not cool for us and we were glad to escape both the heat and pollution of Mandalay for this delightful place which is 3400 ft higher and several degrees cooler. There are many old ...

This morning we headed to the riverside where we were transported up the Ayeyarwady river for about 45 minutes to a small village called Mingun. It is the site of the world's largest unfinished pagoda - or as it has been called, the world's largest pile of bricks! It was only 1/3 finished when the king died in 1819 and then was then severely damaged in the 1838 earthquake, leaving a grand, if somewhat dangerous, flat topped viewpoint 150 feet high with large crac...

This morning we flew from Bagan to Mandalay. Our first activity here was to watch 1500 monks gather for their mid-day meal. It was rather embarassing as there were nearly as many tourists as monks, and it seemed rather rude to be staring at them as they came to eat. However, it was interesting to see how 1500 people are fed every day. Many of the monks are quite young as you can see in the photo. From the monastery we made a stop at the Saunder's Weaving Schoo...

Easy day today. We rented bikes and rode around the village near us. It was interesting to see women washing clothes in the river, pigs in the back yards, and life in rural Bagan. After visiting a couple more temples we decided to have a relaxing afternoon around our pool. Bagan is a magical place which rivals Angkor Wat on scale and impressiveness. The stone carvings are not as intricate as Angkor Wat, but the many Buddha statues in the temples are perfectly p...