Off to Bagan

Up shortly after 5:00, packd and got to taxi pier. Got on the boat about 6:30, and it left at 6:45.

Talk about a nice ride. This is infinitely nicer than taking a bus.

The boat runs down the Ayeyarwady River. The river is quite wide and the land around the river is pretty much flat. There is lots of activity on the river, it's a major commercial river, big boats and lots of small boats and local fishing boats. The shoreline is very boring. There's a big group of German tourists on the boat, most older. There's also a few backpacker-types on board.

The boat had a kitchen on board, so dad and I had breakfast about 10:15.

For most of the rest of the journey, I read or watched the activity on the river and shore. As we went past villages, all the kids on the shore would start yelling and waving their arms at us. Also, a lot of local boats waved at us as we went by.

The boat can't just steam down the river. It has to weave down the river, back and forth, because of sand bars. It's low water, but the captains have a pretty good idea where to go. Every once in a while, when crossing a low area, two other crew members would move to the front of the boat and stick long bamboo poles into the water to gauge the water depth, and signal to the captain.

Got to Bagan about 5:00, took a horse cart to our guest house of choice, May Kha Lar Guest House. Along the way, it stopped at the government checkpoint, where all tourists are required to pay a $10 fee to get into the Bagan Archeological Area. The guest house was nice, $12/night, includes A/C if the government power is working, which it was when we arrived. I showered, then we walked to Restaurant Road (or Row), where many of the restaurants live. Had supper at a place called "A Little Bit of Bagan", dad had a chicken burger and fries. He keeps ordering chicken burger and fries (or just fries) wherever we go. I had pasta.

As we were eating, the government power went off. Power grid in Myanmar is very flakey, much like it was in Laos. No internet tonight!

After supper, we walked along Restaurant Road, and stopped to talk to the proprietor of Aroma 2 (Aroma 1 is in Inle Lake). He was telling us how there's no tourists here at all, usually his restaurant is full, and nowadays there's hardly anyone there.

Ever since we left Yangon, dad has been happier than a lark. He doesn't want to leave now!

Nyaung U, the town where we stay in Bagan, is small, easy to walk around. Other forms of transport around the town are horse cart of trishaw.

We got back to the guest house at 8:00, I wrote in journal and read and went to bd about 10:00. Dad crashed earlier.