I hope you all have a wonderful stop in Myanmar whether staying in Ragoon, heading to Bagan, or taking the Road to Mandalay. I can't wait for your reports!!

O K, Marc, your wish is my desire. Since Belawan was taken off the itinerary, we have an extra day in Myanmar so we were given the option of going into Yangon today, mid afternoon, and staying at the Governor's Residence at a nominal price. Therefore we will leave tomorrow morning for the airport at 5:45 a.m. rather than an hour or more earlier from the ship. It sounds now like things will move nicely for the 48 (I think) people involved but you know that there will be a million complaints from those who expect Western amenities in a more primitive area. We are warned about "pit" toilets and having to wear long pants in the temples but already people are saying they don't believe that long pants are required. People are interesting.

Yesterday we had an "event" in Phuket that was the trip from HELL. Basically, there was NO communication between the tour company, tour desk and the guests. I won't go into details.

Ardis

Ardis and Stan --

Hang in there...have a great time...looking forward to your report.

It is hard to know where to start but I will try by mentioning things in a chronological manner.

We docked about one hour from Yangon, truly the most isolated and desolate spot I have seen. It is not a container port, it is a dock. That is all. The land is flat with few trees or foliage. One small farmhouse is visible from the ship. It is the dry season so the earth is cracked and few crops are planted. I see one Brahma cow.

Regent offered an overnight to Mandalay and one to Bagan. They also had a shuttle into Yangon, one hour each way with two hours on your own there. There was also a full day tour that I have no details of. We arrived about eleven a.m., stayed two nights and left about noon on the third day.

Since the city and airport are an hour from the ship we were given the option of going in the first afternoon and staying at the Governor's Residence for $250 a room. We were told that way we would not have to get up so early the next morning for our flight to Bagan. It was elegant and situated on the embassy road with the Laos, Sri Lanka and Indian embassies very close. Nothing else was close enough to walk to. We were told that the Shwedagon Pagoda was within walkable distance but it was not. Dinner was on our own. We were told there were four or five restaurants in the hotel but there was only one and the food was very mediocre. Another half day tour from Regent was coming in about 7:30 p.m. for dinner so we were asked to eat very early to the staff could take care of the large tour. The hotel was lovely and we were well taken care of. Organization was very good. When we arrived our keys with our names were waiting for us. By the way, there were about fifty in our group.

The next morning we had to be ready for the bus to the airport quite early. The people that stayed on the ship and caught the bus for the airport had to be ready about fifteen minutes before we did so we decided that it was just not necessary to come into the Governor's Residence the day before. It would have been just as convenient to leave from the ship, especially since we were unable to see the Shwegadon Pagoda on that first day.

It was interesting that on the drive into the city we went over a long new bridge. It has one lane in each direction with railroad tracks in the center. We were stopped by men accompanied by an armed man, paid some money and went on our way. We could not determine if it was a toll bridge as some said or contribution to a fund to overthrow the government!

The city of Yangon is very large with horrendous traffic. In a major contrast to Saigon, no motorbikes or bicycles are allowed in the city center. The people are very small, dark and both sexes are dressed in a western-type top with a long skirt called a longji. Outside of the central area there are wonderful artificial lakes, gardens and walking paths. Sadly, our hotel was too far for us to take advantage of them. Also, the afternoon heat was oppressive.

We were up at 4:30 .a.m. the next morning to be ready for our flight to Bagan. Breakfast was buffet style and nicely done. We arrived at Bagan at 8:00. We first visited the morning people’s market which is an amazing place. The women and females here want to protect their faces from the sun so they make a dust from the bark of a tree by grinding it on a stone, wetting it down and smearing their faces with it. Some do it very artistically with definite edges on the circles on their cheeks and forehead while other just smear it around. Even small babies are smeared with it. It is a vague yellow color.

The area around Bagan is absolutely flat and so dry the earth is cracked. Even in the wet season there is no agriculture here. We see large flocks of goats, Brahma cattle, and chickens. We asked if the goats were eaten and told they are not. It is impossible to determine how they survive since there are no plants in sight.

Our second stop was the Shwezigon Pagody which is very large and surrounded by polite venders. We had to remove our shoes and socks. It was very large with gold statues of the Buddah. The floors were dusty and dirty with normal dirt but there were no wet areas and no spitting. The floors in the sun were hot but we learned to stay in the shade or else walk fast. Stan was approached by a vender selling a ruby and a sapphire. Authentic, of course. The price for the ruby started at $120 and Stan just kept walking and showing no interest. We were looking at the stalls and admiring their goods and paying little attention to the ruby salesman. After more than thirty minutes we arrived back at the bus and by then the vendor had lowered his price to $5.00 and Stan bought it. It is oval shaped, nicely cut and about seven or eight carats of plastic or glass. It is a conversation piece and lots of fun.

We left to go to the Gubyaukgyi temple famous for its murals. Again, shoes and socks off. The murals were in process of being renovated but were very interesting,. The Bagan area if about twelve square miles and contains more than four thousand pagodas and temples. They did not use the word “stupa”. Since the land is so flat, wherever you look you can see twenty or more of these buildings. They are in all different sizes and the common ones are made of red brick which the larger more important ones are painted gold or covered with mats painted gold. They glisten in the sun. Each larger temple is approached by a covered corridor lines with polite vendors. Some were pushy but responded to laughter, joking and humor.

Our next visit of the morning was Ananda which is considered the most elaborate of the temples. By elaborate, I mean there were four Buddahs inside each one thirty-one feet high covered in gold leaf. Corridors spread out from there, each one with niches with Buddahs in them and the walls were all painted in gaudy decorations.

Our last visit of the morning was to the Minio Temple noted for its glistening white plaster carvings. We are getting tired of Buddahs. Lots of Buddahs!.


We were taken to our hotel, the Aureum Palace Hotel which is the most elegant one I have even experienced. Each cottage was a full apartment except for kitchen and huge. If there were something above six star, this one would be it. Golf carts were always available to take you where you wanted to go. One example of their service is that the next morning when we got up and were ready to go to breakfast at 5:45. we opened our door and waiting outside in the dark were two men, one to take our suitcase to the bus and the other to light our way by flashlight to the dining room.

To go back a little, lunch was served family style. There were four different entrees and other dishes served at tables for about fifteen of us. The food was delicious.

We had two and a half hours to do as we wished before our touring began again. The buses were excellent and the driver, helper and guide were very good, too.

At two o’clock we visited the Archeological Museum which was adequate and then to a lacquer-ware industry where we could SHOP. We did not stay long there but it was good to see how intricate the process is and the workers, men and women, sitting on the floor for hours working. Oh, goody, goody, now we can go to another Buddist temple. This time the massive Damayangyi Temple supposedly the largest in Bagan. After going through it, we got into horse-drawn carts, two or three to a cart, and were taken on a fifteen or twenty minute ride dto the Pyitthagyi Tample. It was loads of fun with so many carts going and with all the vendors following us on their bicycles. What we were not told is that in order to view the “sunset over Bagan” we had to take off our shoes and socks, climb steep narrow and high stairs to the third level and go out on the roof. Then the sunset was a nonevent with so much dust in the air. The sun just disappeared. Many of us just stayed down below where we were really hassled by the vendors. I can usually take them without any problem but this time it was more than I wanted. There was one little boy about five or six who kept pulling at my clothes and screaming at me in that very high voice small children have. I could easily have strangled him. I ended up going into the bus and hiding until he went away. The vendors got more and more aggressive as the day wore on as they knew their chances of a sale were going away.

We got back to the hotel late and had only thirty minutes before dinner. We needed more as a shower was imperative! The day was so hot and dusty, but again there was no spitting. A golf cart took those that needed it to a lower area by a lake where a large buffet was set up in front of a performance area. The dinner was very good with a wide variety. The entertainment was varied with high sing-song voices, Burmese dances and music. The hotel must have covered many acres and was so beautiful.

We were up the next morning and had a 7:30 flight back to Yangon. When we arrived in Yangon we were given the choice of returning to the ship, going to the Scott Market (which is a tourist market the Burmese people do not set foot in), or going to see the newel of Burma, the Shwedagon Pagoda. We went to the pagoda and were astounded by its beauty. It is huge and has so many different Buddahs, angels wearing cone shaped gold hats, lions, tigers and elephants. It was truly wonderful. I had been told that if you compare it to the Royal Palace in Bangkok, Bangkok comes out second and I agree. It was a peoples’ temple and people were praying, saying their beads and just walking around while chants came over a speaker. It was the high point of our trip Stan and I could not understand those who chose to do other things.

In several places we saw women doing road repair. There would be a container of hot asphalt and a woman would take a trowel of the asphalt, put it in a hole in the road and pat it down. Imagine, crouching in the terrible heat on black asphalt and doing this work.

Oh, yes, yesterday afternoon we visited a “typical” Burmese village. We walked through it, inside their houses and saw the local people including a toothless old woman smoking a “cigar” about one inch in diameter with a pan suspended under it. The village had many goats and cattle but no agriculture. We can’t figure out how they eat. Young women were getting water in five gallon cans with two of them balanced on a pole of bamboo laid across their shoulders.

In many places, the young girls would ask us for lipstick or perfume. They were never pushy but very sweet. The Burmese people are very small and slight and attractive.

Stan and I are very glad we went but would not find it necessary to go into Yangon the night before. It would have worked just as well to go from the ship in the morning. BUT our main suggestion would be to skip Bagan and just do the Shwegadon Pagoda in Yangon. It could very easily and completely be done by taking the shuttle, taking a taxi to the pagoda, and taking the shuttle back. As I said, it was a four hour time frame.

I feel I must compare Myanmar and Cambodia. The temples of Myanmar are very repetitious. All Buddahs and the layout of the buildings are the same. We would not do Bagan again but would love to do Yangon and the temple there again. It was stunning. Cambodia is Hindu and each temple is covered in extensive carvings. Each one is so different from the others where the Buddhist temples are so much the same. We have done Cambodia twice and would love to do it still again.

We learned this morning that we will not be going to Sri Lanka since the Tamil Tigers are causing problems again. We will arrive at Cochin a day early and they are adding Goa.

Ardis

Ardis, thank you for the thorough report. As we loved Angor Wat, we have a desire to see Burma; thank you for the good and hte bad. If you hear from anyone that took the trip to Mandalay, I would like to hear about that, too.

I am sorry to hear that you won't be going to Colombo. I actually have lots of memories (some good, some not) of my trip to Colombo and would like to go back.

Ardis - loved your report & so glad you all actually got to stop there after all the worries during the unrest last year. Sounds like an absolutely fascinating country. Another place to add to my hope to visit list.

Ardis, what a great report. Thanks for sharing. Sorry that you won't be going to Colombo. As Marc said, there are some high points (we took the train to Kandy to the Temple of the Tooth...beautiful ride) and low points (a speeding bus ride back to ship...being late...horrendous traffic). Enjoy the rest of your trip. Linda & Larry

Ardis, loved reading your report! It had such great detail. Sorry you're missing Colombo. Do you remember last year when we were there,cruises immediately after ours had to skip it also due to unrest. This is where we went to the Elephant Orphanage and it was such a great day. After seeing it on "60 Minutes", I just had to visit in person and so happy we did.
What are your plans for Goa?

Ardis, I too loved your report, we can always count on you to tell it like you see it! Sounds like it was a great excursion maybe if you never repeat it. I know what you mean about Buddahs and more and more Buddahs! This is an area of the world I have barely touched, and would love to go back.

Ardis - Thanks very much for the detailed report. It is most helpful. Hopefully, we will get to Yangon.

Enjoy your extra day in Goa. I'm sorry you are missing Colombo.

Cheers, Anne

I enjoyed your review, Ardis

Ardis --

Thanks for such a extensive report.

Sorry about the canx of Sri Lanka...probably for the best. Though it's a shame the pax this year won't get to experience the mind-boggling dash down the mountain to the Voyager from seeing the shrine of the Sacred Tooth. We certainly learned why our mini-bus driver was called "Bullet!"

Our best to Stan.

Karen and Larry

I'm sorry I don't have any information on Mandalay. Some people went but I don't know any of them personally.

Kochin is a flop for us as the only things available are Backwaters and more Backwaters which we did once which was enough. We had planned the Flavors of Kerala which was well done last year and highly rated but it was canceled. At Goa there is only one tour offered which includes three gorgeous churches as only the Portuguese can do them and I am looking forward to that.

At Sri Lanka we were so looking forward to the "I Do" ceremony which we did last year but must save it for a future visit.

People are just great this year and we have made so many new friends. We are also participating in many of the games that we did not do last year and meeting more people that way. Trivia has been a bust but we have won twice so we can't complain.
We miss seeing Larry and Karen abroad as they are two special people.
Stan and I decided to really push the envelope and make a special request of Pekin duck. It had to be marinated five days and was it ever delicous. It was served with steamed rice and stir fried vegetables in a crepe of some kind. What a special meal.

By the way, Dana and Jamie's pastor has been on board and at first presented some short messages and devotionals each sea day. Now he is showing short film followed by a discussion. He seems to be a truly exceptional man,

Ardis