Update from UNESCO, they didn't consider Old Bagan because they did not like the way the temples were being restored. Given that they gave a grant of $1m to restore 3,200 of them, you'd have to question their commitment! We suffer our first delay as a result of fog shutting Yangon airport which is where our connection is coming from. However, with nothing booked but R&R, who cares that it's in an airport terminal with no facilities! We've started dreaming of ...

Mingalabar! Yep, welcome in Burmese, quite easy to remember! We are actually in Old Bagan, a hours flight north of Yangon. There were over 4000 Buddhist temples dotting the landscape but, a major earthquake in 1975 reduced that number to 3200. Why old? The reason is that the "Generals" who run the country, decided to make the area an archeological zone to encourage tourism. In the process, they displaced 5,000 people who received a plot of land in "New Bagan", no...

I've not got off to the best start with Myanmar. Having taken my brand new passport, with Angelka's, to their London embassy, they proceeded to lose it, or at least, mislay it! I had to go to London a second time to find it by which time I'd hatched numerous plots to render their embassy unworkable until they found it! The embassy was in swanky Park Lane but was little more than a squat on the inside, dreadful organisation..... but, I have an open mind! We had...