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 MYANMAR    DIARY 3

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From Diary 2 and the "eastern part", it is now time to explore the central part with Mandalay.
10/12
I actually sleep a big part of the nigh, which is a real nice change.
A bit of afterthought: "You should only leave good thoughts and footprints" it is said. Well, I leave only light footprints, plenty of smiles, a vague trail of Kyal bills and my cold in Inlay - neither make me feel bad.
A toad waits for my morning shower, but due to the lack of warm water, it have to find another host. The hotel offers no breakfast, and I walk back to the junction and find some small, sweet bananas.
As I walk further away from the big road and the railroad, it start to look like a village. Here is a market and plenty of animals walking around in the streets. People are real smiling and friendly, and it seems like tourists are rare. I can't help thinking: Is this the right place at all?

Then the fist of 300 pagodas of Paleik are revealed in the trees. It is  in an a state of decay, making it look so great. Here are from gravel piles to brand new buildings, scatted over a waste area. Some seems to be inhabitated, some are being restored, some are taken over by nature. A few cows walk around along with some friendly dogs. I only meet a few people, despite some seems to live here. In the outer area, houses are mixed into the pagodas.
The motives are fantastic, and I try to capture them all - or not. Here are simply too many!

The area ends at a large temple, which is known for its three Birman Pythons. They came out of the forest in 1974, and have been here since. The get fed and bathed every eleventh day, and seems to thrive with that. Here are numerous statues with Buddha and a giant cobra - not that kind of snake, but what?
I walk back through the Pagoda area, trying not to photo any more, and instead concentrate on the plants, but here are not any real interesting.
I find the hotel, get my passport and walk to the friendly bus-ticket office. They don't have a bus, but he accompany me to the junction and stop a pick-up within one minute.

I get the passengers seat for the next 25 kilometres through green farmland, and the driver find me a moped-driver for the last five kilometres to Amarapura. We drive out along a huge lake, and he drops me off at the U-Bein Bridge. This pedestrian bridge must be five or six metres high and span for 1200 metres, across the Amarapura Lake. The amassing part about this is; the bridge is ancient, and made from teak.
The many temples fail to draw me in, but the area is fantastic. Fields, fishermen, huge trees and swampland. After having seen the land-part, I head out on the bridge. Several shops sell souvenirs, some made of the shiny seeds of watermelons, looking like apple seeds.

I walk to the other side, admiring the view and the people. Here are a few white tourists, way more Asian and lots of locals. I get my picture taken numerous times, and three guys even show me the print! Must be Koreans?
It has become lunchtime, and I try the local joint. First I get a chilli-garlic soup, which have to be respected. Then a huge dish of fried noodles with vegetables. More than I feel like eating, but I have to pay €1.
I decline the offers on mopeds at first, and start walking back along the lake. Here are still great motives, but the plants have been seen before, and I get a moped to drive me all the way to Mandalay.

The only real interesting site I have found is the Royal Mandalay Fort. The plan is to find a hotel close by first, and then explore the fort. The young man drop me off right outside a reasonable hotel, real close to the square, the fort occupies. The fort does not look that big on the Mandalay map, but it is waste! At least two kilometres on each side. A vide mound surrounds it, and only three bridges crosses it. I walk for half an hour to get to the nearest, admiring the perfect red brick wall on the other side. Watch towers for every hundred metres or so, and an iron fence on my way side.
When I finally reach a bridge, soldiers and signs tells me; foreigners can't enter here. Out to find a moped and drive five kilometres to the right bridge. The ticket is a bit steep, but covers many sights for five days. A moped-driver offers to drive me to the palace. It turns out foreigners only are aloud to see that part. It is in the other end of the waste area. The rest of the area are partly homes, partly military areas.

The Royal Palace is fantastic! In great condition, considering it is a wooden structure - and actually many. Some are throne halls, some temples, some empty and some closed. I do a tour around the large area, trying to capture at least a bit of the amassing construction. I could do with some tea, but that is not found here.
Back to the entrance by moped, reclaim my ID and out to have a walk around.
Somehow, I misses a corner, and turn into town too early - probably because something went wrong, when I plotted my hotel in the GPS. At least, I remembered to ask for a business card. Home by moped. In this town, they actually offers you a helmet.

I use the internet at the hotel, despite here are still a hour of daylight. I have just experienced so much today, and need to write it down. I would not have thought, I could see more than one of these threes sights. If this luck continues, I run out of Myanmar way too fast.
Just around the corner, I find Little India with temples, restaurants and Indians. I get a great vegetarian supper, and just because I'm a optimist, I try and order a cup of tea. They have, and despite it taste nothing like the tea I thought of, I just have to order another cup: It taste like Danish Butter Cookies, caramel and other good things, all mixed up in wiping cream. If it wasn't for the calories tugged away this tightly, I would have several more. On the way back, I have to test what apparels to be toffee or at least cake.

Back at my room, I discover some moron have taken 250 photos with my camera. Well, they have to be processed. Eventually, I have to make separate slideshows for Paleik and around with the Pagodas, U-Bein Bridge and around and The Royal Mandalay Fort.
The work with the photos only last till around nine, the up-loading way longer!
I have to sit in the lobby, and as a truly god Buddhist, I am feeding the animals - in my case the mosquitoes. Only because I can't figure out, how not to.

11/12 I do not get woken by the loud prayers at five - but only because I'm not asleep anyway.
The local busses should depart from just around the corner, and after my hotel breakfast eventually arrived, I set out. The task of the day is to reach to the former British capital of Pyin Oo Lwin and especially its National Kandawgyi Botanical Gardens with its 480 species of plants. Not much, but the only BG I have found, and it covers 136 hectares.
As usual, I'm ping-ponged a bit , but the pick-up truck actually departs from the first corner I tried. Besides from the locals, I share it with two great French guys. It take a hour to fill the pick-up sufficient, and then we head out of the large city. Quite soon after we have escaped the town, the assent starts, and it continues all the way to Pyin Oo Lwin. It is hard for me to look out, and even harder to get any images of the surroundings. I so much misses having my own transport!
We soon find a nice hotel in the main street with hot water and all - they claim. But I have stopped believing them. The local moped driver speak a surprisingly good English, and I let him drive me the five kilometres to the botanical garden.

The National Kandawgyi Botanical Garden is covering a huge area. Some areas are with specific trees and bamboo, some with colourful flowers in patterns, several large lakes, a swamp land, walk-in aviary, a butterfly museum witch also have beetles, an impressive petrified wood collection with other fossils, a tall viewing tower and much more.
I spend several hours seeing the most interesting parts, and especially their huge orchid collection impresses me. They are sorted in genera and in foreign and domestic species. Most are grown either in the thin air, or in a mix of char-cold and coconut fibres.
The petrified wood museum is quite impressing as well. Some samples are polished, some more than seven metres tall. Next to it is a interesting collection of petrified mammal parts from around two millions years ago, mainly elephants' teeth and tusks.
The walk-in aviary on the other hand is a disappointment. I only see several species of pheasants and a Indian parakeet. One of the lake have both white and black swans and several species of geese, all in pristine condition.
The butterfly collection seems rather new, and quite big. I kind of like the huge and strange beetles the most, but the huge butterflies and moths are impressive - I just prefer to see them alive.
Just before I excite the garden, I try the viewing tower. Around 30 metres tall, and it does offer a great view to the surrounding mountains and the town.

On the way up here, I noticed several nurseries, and decide to walk back to town. One have a rather impressive orchid and bonsai collection, while the others are more common.
I do a pit-stop at a small road-side joint, which have instant tea. The next one is a real fancy place with tempting cakes. Way more Bihrmann than Birman (French for Myanmar), I know. And I get disappointed, as the look apparently is everything - not the taste.

I re-enter Pyin Oo Lwin by some back alleys, and a combination of pure luck and experience brings me right to the huge market. I spend a lot of time here, watching the iron work, fish, meat, prepared food, cloths, plastic household, spices, vegetables, fish, perfumes, eggs, ceramics,  fruits, cakes, orchids by weight, it seems and whatever you can dream of.  I do love these markets with the many motives - and unfortunately; little light.
The food stalls are open, and I get a stuffed pancake as a snack. Here are a few tourists, and as the other places, Frenchmen are dominating. Quite odd, as it was a British colony, not a French, and Frenchmen usually stick to their former colonies.

I guess I have been walking 15-20 kilometres, and I head for my room for a recharge. Then it is back into the town to find dinner. I find the night marked, and try several stalls. All real tasteful and nice. As I head further on, I passes the famous clock-tower and a Indian temple, light up for Christmas. A parade passes bye with trucks, women with lantanas and music.
Back at the hotel, I start working, while I wounded, why I have chosen to spend the night at 1000 metres height: It is a bit too cold for my comfort - not more than 15-20C.
The plan for tomorrow is a waterfall and the surrounding nature. It should be around 15 kilometres away, but my insane GPS find a 400 kilometre detour. I hope my moped driver is a bit more clever!

As I finish the diary, the French guys pops bye with a bottle of strawberry liquor, and we have a long chat over it. They recommend a train ride to Hsipaw, the most eastern one can get by now. That will be that day after tomorrow for me.
I have to get up during the night to nick the thick blanket from the other bed - this is after all highland.

12/12 After the hotel's breakfast, I find my usual private driver, and we head out for the Anisakan Falls and especially the surrounding nature. It is a half hour drive down hill, and a bit chill due to the lack of sun. We passes a huge military facility, which could be the officers school. Despite the country is in some sort of civil war in several states, I have not seen any military yet.
Then we reach the coffee plantations, tugged away under the huge, native trees. On the other side of the road, fresh strawberries and the liqueur made from them, are sold in numerous stalls. The last few kilometres is by a real crappy gravel road, and my driver drops me off at some tent stalls.
From here, the road continues further down, and even steeper. It seems like they are upgrading the trail, and the most steep part have a surface of concrete. Further stalls are in the making, and I even meet some Myanmar tourists. Someone real know how to spoil their kids: The local women are caring a hammock, in which these spoiled kids are resting the entire way up.

The nature is fantastic: Huge mountains covered in forest and lush and dense under-forest. It is still winter, and not many flowers are found around. Quite soon, I meet a small waterfall, and if this is it, it is over-sold. But the trail continues, and so do I.
Some stretches are lime stone, and a sign with only local letters show of the big trail, I follow it. It turns out to lead to a small but rather deep cave. It is more or less stuffed with Buddha statues.
When I returns to the surface, the sun have decided to join in.
I make numerous documentary photos of the plants, and a few of the butterflies and the giant Golden Orb Spiders. Some have a body on the size of outer joint of my ring-finger. The photo is of a skinny one, the fat sits too high. Here are a few Crab-spiders, but not really many insects and no reptiles at all.

As I get further into the mountains, more and more water falls can be seen on the other sides of the gorges. Then I reach a small temple and the big fall. And it is truly big; around 30-40 metres tall and quite vide. The sun have not come around yet - if it actually does, but I do my best to get a picture - or two.
A small hut offers tea, and the young girl offers to guide me to another fall by the narrow trails. I can keep up with her on the flat stretches, but when the assent exceeds 50%, she is of like a gazelle, and I'm huffing and puffing, while I try not to faint. I end up paying her - real well! - just to continue by my self. I don't see that many "new" plants, but the views thought the overgrown canyons are still amassing. Then I find the red flowers of some parasitic plants and large bamboo. A few of the gingers still have their large, red inflorescences.

I reach the start of the trail, and had kind of hoped for a moped, but no such luck. Several kilometres uphill to the mainroad lies ahead. Here, I turn homewards, and hope to find the fruit stands within too long. They have some huge avocados, and I get six, larger than my fist for 500K.
As I crosses the road, a pick-up passes, and I get a lift back to Pyin Oo Lwin's. On the way, we pull into a private yard to unload some huge bags with small onions. I jump of at Pyin Oo Lwin's ringroad, and passes the "famous almost 100 years old" red church.

A short stop at the hotel, and then out to the train-station to buy a ticket for tomorrow. It is in the other end of the town, but my private driver have gone! Well, I got the time - but the energy does lack a bit. As I get there, I'm told they will open in a good hour.
On the way back, I find a barber and get my hair cut and beard trimmed for 1000K. I'm glad I didn't bother to bring my trimmer! A short pit-stop at the hotel, still no driver, and I head back to the station bye the back-roads. The six hour ride cost 2800K, and if I don't get it, because I'm asleep, I'll just buy another.

On the way back, I find a cup of tea for 500K: Real expensive! Then I make a detour to the Indian Temple and an antique shop next to it. Real old tribunal stuff with feathers and all, but nothing I have to have. A black and white diary cow keep walking up and down the main street, and I catch it on camera at the clock tower.
I try to find some, non-fancy vegetarian dinner, and succeed just before the hotel. Rice, four different vegetable dishes and some soup for 1000K. I bounces a huge dish with numerous fresh vegetables, as I have had enough.
I stock a bit of calories for the train, and returns to work at the hotel at dusk. While I work, tiny ants start to appear from the keyboard - that can't be good!
I end up freezing, and to add to the insult, the internet stop working, and there are no hot water.

13/12 I get up real early, hoping for the return of hot water and internet. There are neither. I have plenty of time for the breakfast, and even the stroll to the station. The train should arrival at eight, and it does! They start shunting a bit around to add some more passenger wagons, while the goods are still placed in the back.
Here are quite some tourists, all in the cars with pollster. I get the seat I wanted: At the window, in the middle of a wagon and in the shadow side. I know I will be missing the sun, but photos get so much better from here. I guess here are glass and here are shadows, but everything is open. The seats can be turned around, and here are plenty of room for the legs.

We leave the station on the dot, and with no more than 20-25 km/t, we gently wobbles out of the old tracks. The first part remain town, but pretty soon, we reach the farmland. With the exception of a few, small villages, we drive through farmland and nature the entire day.
Here are harvested rice patches, corn, small sunflowers, a lot of vegetables and endless stretches with flowering sunflower-bushes.
We cross rivers and even waterfalls, we pass mountains and gorges, swamplands and deep gorges. A short stretch turns foggy, but that only add to the atmosphere - and chill.

Around noon, we reach the famous and legendary Gokteik Viaduct from 1901, build in cast iron by the Pennsylvania and Maryland Bridge Construction Company. It raises around 100 metres over the large river high, which have cut a deep gorge. We zigzag down to reach it, and the views are spectacular. It spans 689 metres, and we drive real careful across.
On the other side, several tunnels leads us through the steep mountainside along with gorges which are cut into the rock.

Many times, we slow down or grind to a holt, and many times, I see small men with a red and a green flags, who have shifted the tracks. We stop a several tiny stations to exchange passengers and goods. Most are in the middle of nowhere, and are just tiny houses or even huts.
It is a great tour, and the speed so perfect for taking photos. But after seven hours, I don't mind we reach Hsipaw. It turns out to be a significantly smaller town than I had anticipated. Actually, it is a large village. Some eager young people are holding up posters at the remote station, and I let them drive me to their rather fancy back-packer hotel, in the middle of village. It do have shared bath and toilet, but it is a nice place, and the cheapest so fare.

I drop the bag and head out to explore. The last hour of daylight should be used. A small river crosses through, the closing market I find is mainly textiles, and only the main street have restaurants, it seems. I find a cup of instant tea at a little joint. As my plan is to head further up north, I start asking for connections. It seems like the only one is a morning bus, but I'll bet you can fit some local busses together. A more serious problem might be the permission to go up there. The young receptionist lived up there some time ago, and foreigners needed a visa. That might be obtained way back in Mandalay. And I planned to go further up...

On the way back, I start asking for vegetarian courses, but except from "fried rice with chicken - without chicken" I fails. Although this is 300 meter lower than last night, it feel like it could be colder. I grab a hot shower before every one else, and I get it! Then I go through the many photos the first time, before hunger forces me back in village.
A Chinese restaurant have tofu, and when I combine it with some vegetarian noodles, it make a proper meal.
Back to work - and freeze. I make a special slideshow from: Train from Pyin Oo Lwin to Hsipow.
At nine, I feel like a nice, hot cup of tea would be great, but the town seems to have closed, except from the back-packers bars with beers - no tea. Back at the room, I attack the salty cheese biscuits I bought for the train. Not the same, but they do hold salt and fat...
I desperately try to upload the days diary and photos, but as usually, the internet is just strong enough to make its present - not to either up-load, nor download any files.
Next morning, I learn this was the second last day of a month festival. Some of the poor backpackers have ordered a track, and then spend the entire night drinking with the locals.

14/12 I start the day heading out to the edge of town, just to visit the police station. Their slogan is "Can I Help You", and I sure hope they can. I want to know, if I can continue up north or not. The gate keeper ask me to wait, and bring my map inside the station. Another joins me, and he can't speak a word English either. The first returns, and it seems  like I actually can go north.

Nice to have sorted that out - although I'm just at unsolved as before, due to the languish problems. I am fare from sure they understood my question. While I at the edge of town, I might head out to the country side. The rather good map I got at the hotel, points out several sights of interest in the waste valley.
The road cross a big branch of the river, and I spot several ferns and orchids in the scares huge trees. I recon, this once was a dense forest with lots of epiphytes. Now, it is only a question of, when the last will vanish. Only the strangler figs seems to really thrive, they are on every tree and most buildings too.
The first sight I reach is Mrs Popcorn's Garden. Despite the tacky name, I turn in. Well, kind of a garden, and a lot like a café.
I get a cup of instant tea and then a dish of small, sticky, warm and dark purple rice cookies. A bit down the trail is "Little Bagan", which ought to be "Tiny Bagan", as it only holds a few, but severe disintegrated pagodas.

Just next to it is the Maha Nanda Kantha Monastery, famous for its Bamboo Buddha. I find the real big hall with numerous teak pillars and several statues, but here are not a soul. Well, except Buddha's? Outside is a big pond with lotus and a pagoda, and then a village. I follow the river a bit, and reach the railroad. It passes through a Nyaung Go Pih village, which look like all the others to me. Well, they might have more tin-roofs.
The railroad leads me to a huge Banyan tree and a small pagoda.

From here, the rice fields starts, and I head right out through them. The dams are a pathway, although not direct! The harvested hay is stacked up,  while the remaining stems are left in the dry soil. A few water buffalos are parked around, and the grass on the dams teaming with grasshoppers. I spot a few "new" plants, but as fare as I can tell, they might be invasive. This is agriculture land, and as such quite disturbed.

A few bamboo huts are used by the farmer's for their midday rest and cooking, and I ask for directions to Nam Onn; some hot springs. I see the skin of a single snake, some birds and so many grasshoppers.
I cross a branch of the river, and reach the hills.
Another village offers some great motives, and a dusty road lours me in. It head into the hills, and passes a limestone wall. Some alters are fitted in the shallow cave, and it look like an elephant and a horse!
One hut have a huge Euphorbia outside, and it might be native - or African.

From the top, there is a great view over the valley, but not much else to see, and I head down again. I kind of look forward to the hot springs, only because I hope for tourists, and thereby tea.
The river have to be crossed again, and then a dam distributes the water into two canals. A bit further up the stream, two small walls of boulders form the hot pools; Nam Onn. A few of the local boys enjoy them, and here are no tea! I follow the trail further into the gorge along the river, and see several interesting plants, although I got a feeling of them being African as well?

One small area is teaming with several different butterflies - and I know why: It is not the natural minerals they are after, it is the ones brought by humans. Anyway, it look great.
I follow the road on the other side of the river down to a village, and passes a Muslim cemetery. In every bend of the river, mopeds are parked, and people are washing themselves in the little river.
Eventually, I make it to one of the main roads, and turn towards Hsipaw. Huge trees are scatted quite fare apart, but all have numerous staghorn ferns, other ferns and five or more species of orchids.

After six hours of walking, I reach my hotel, but only for a minute's break. Then I head out in the town to find a bus ticket. A bright girl won't sell me one, as the northern area is closed due to fighting. She have a surprisingly good English, and somehow, I believe her. Plan B is unfortunately to return to Mandalay, as my next original targets were further up north. An to add to the insult, it seems like the only bus leave at 5;30 in the night! I ask five stands and the hotel, and get the same answer. And a taxi is around 80.000k, which I after all find a bit too steep. Well, the bus drive is six hours, and I recon that is a long drive in a taxi.

I head down to the mighty Dot Hta Waddy River, and along its banks, I find a vegetable market. They do have a morning market: 02-05, and that does not sound interesting! Here, the local products are sold in daylight, and I do several rounds.
They don't mind me taking photos, they just turn away every time! Back at the river, the mopeds, trucks and buffalos are washed in the same spot. A few fishermen in long-boats seems to have luck, judging from the tables at the market.

I zigzag back through town, but it is truly just a village, and quite soon, I am at the little joint, I found tea at yesterday. The owner is just as laughing, and I enjoy another bag of instant tea. I have walked for seven hours, covered pretty much everything just remotely interesting - and a lot of rice patches.
Back at the hotel, I bite the bullet, and buy a ticket for Mandalay. Then I start on the diary and photos, while the dusk take over. The internet is still only symbolic. I even tried in the middle of the night: Same result.

The pictures of the day deserve their own; Hsipaw Valley slideshow. At seven, I head back to the Chinese restaurant. I don't bother to spend too much time NOT finding vegetarian food, and yesterday's meal was the best so far anyway.
Back at the hotel, I meet the guys who went for a track. They accidentally got their guide so drunk in rice vine, they had to find their own way home. He meet them this morning with a chipped tooth due to the nights drinking, matching their hangovers quite well. A perfect match!
Then I speak with an Italian girl, till way too late, my morning bus considered. Then again; I don't sleep much anyway, and the internet almost kind of work at night - or not. As I returns towards the west, I finish the Tour 3 slideshow.

From this "Easter Part", which also seems to be the "Northern Part" as well, and I head a bit west in Diary 4

Photos   Map & Plan   Diary 1  2  3  4  5  6