A busy day today with village visits in the morning and again later this afternoon.
Our morning tour was around the village of Minhla where we were to visit the old fort and the local market.
The river bank was particularly steep, with lots of step and to make it harder they all seemed to be different heights and depths, but with the trusty crew and a few deep breaths we all made it.
Minhla fort was just next to our mooring, on the banks of the river. It was built with help from Italian engineers in 1860 to keep British forces out of Burma. There were 35 cannons positioned at the fort.
On the opposite side of the river there was another fort, thus preventing any river passage of the British Navy.
On November 17th 1885 Minhla Fort fell to the British, who then sailed up the Irrawaddy River to claim the Royal Palace at Mandalay during the Third Anglo-Burmese War.
The Fort is in good condition but it was a bit worrying to stand on the walls and look down to see most of the foundation bricks lying on the river bank, having been eroded away.
We then walked into town to the local market, where we had all been given a challenge. We were to form groups of around 6 or 7 and then armed with a shopping list and some local money (provided) we were to buy some fresh vegetables. Terry had run through the list with us all and told us how to pronounce the words. We noticed that a couple of ladies seemed very enthusiastic so we joined their group!
At the market, the two ladies got down to the task. We decided that our first job was to buy a longyi (local attire, a 'sarong' worn by men and women). We found a stall selling some very nice ones and after a bit of haggling we had one each. We also had another one which was un-stitched, just a length of material, we bought it just because it's a beautiful piece of material.
Then we found our ladies again, just in time to 'help' complete the last couple of purchases. Everyone at the market was so friendly, they are obviously used to the foreigners and their silly game, and seemed to enjoy it as much as we did.
Task completed we still had time to wander around the market some more.
I saw some brightly coloured shopping baskets but when I found that they were plastic from China they lost their appeal. Then we found our way back to the meeting point and, helping carry the vegetable baskets, all went back to the ship. We set sail at 11.00 - the tour had only been 2 hours, it had seemed longer; it was great.
We sat enjoying the world pass by, had a wonderful lunch, and then around 2.30 moored at our next port of call - Magwe.
Magwe, has around 40,000 people and is the hottest town in Burma with temps around 46 degrees in summer, they grow peanuts and sesame.
(Go-Myanmar.com website describes Magwe as 'a dusty town rarely visited by tourists")
The river bank here was not steep, just a slight rise and then a few steps but the crew were in attendance and very mindful of everyone's safety.
We got on our coach and headed through town, spotting a few large trays of peanuts drying on rooftops.
We visited a local park and saw a wonderful statue of General Aung San (Aung San Suu Kyi 's father)
He is revered as the architect of modern Burma and a national hero, he was responsible for bringing about Burma's independence from the British but was assassinated six months before independence.
Whilst standing in the park Terry gave us a wonderful talk about the General and the family life of Aung San Suu Kyi.
Then we waked across the road to another area of the park and saw the Independence Monument.
We then drove out of town to visit a Buddhist Nunnery. The girls looked so lovely, and sang a welcome song for us. We were encouraged to ask questions and were all enthralled by these beautiful people.
Then we drove up to the summit of the Naguttama hill to the Myathalun Pagoda.
I found my 'birthday buddha' which, being born on a Wednesday, has the symbol of the elephant. I poured the ritual 3 cups of water over the elephant and the buddha and then rang the bell 3 times. This should give me peace and tranquility in my life.
The Pagoda was magnificent and so was the view, the itinerary had obviously been planned for us to be up there at sunset but the weather had changed and it was not a spectacular sunset. As the sun continued to set we drove back down the hill to the boat.
Tonight's cocktail was - Iron Cross. Brandy, Cointreau, Lime Juice and a Cherry.
Sounded awful but was actually very nice (just the one though).
Dinner tonight was a special booking in the gourmet dining room. We had booked with 8 others and were to enjoy a gourmet evening with the menu created by Luke Nyugen.
Well I must say that we were a little disappointed, the portions were very small and the food itself was bland compared to the food served in the usual restaurant. The menu in this special dining room changes next week but no one at our table was rushing to make a booking.
We stayed chatting until after the movie had started so once again, it was an early night.
We stayed at our Magwe mooring overnight.
Day 8 Thursday Dec 7th
Time to relax this morning as we cruise along towards our afternoon destination, the town of Salay. If we had any doubts about the erosion of the river bank, this morning banished them. As we cruised along we could see and hear large clods of earth dropping into the river.
We enjoyed more sights of river life.
We were very pleased to see evidence of some attempt to control the erosion, posts placed into the bank and bamboo placed in a chequer board pattern.
We docked after lunch, once again our mooring was next to the locals bathing and doing their washing.
Michael opted to 'sit this one out' so I disembarked solo.
I had a nice surprise in that there were no steps up the river bank, we just walked along through crops and down a side street. There were a few hawkers but we were told that they had driven down from Bagan and that the prices were somewhat higher than others would be charging in Bagan. They were factoring in the price of petrol to drive here. Among the items they were hawking were copies of George Orwell's novel Burmese Days.
We set off with Thomas as our guide, on a walking tour around town. The town had only 6.500 people and was a very nice, quiet place.
We passed a lovely roadside shrine, actually two shrines one much grander than the other.
We stopped to have a look at an old colonial house which is on the market for $30,000US, it is estimated that with local tradesmen it would cost $20,000US to restore it. No one on our tour was interested in this project.
Our first stop was an old monastery.
Only one monk lives here now, in this large colonial building. He is in his late 70s and was assigned two younger monks to look after him but they absconded, leaving him alone.
The old wooden monastery, was built in 1882,and houses some lovely historic items. It was quite dark inside the monastery and we had to be careful not to trip over the steps, we were grateful that Thomas had brought a small torch.
We then stopped at a wonderful giant gold Buddha - Maga Laba Man Paya, the largest laquered Buddha in Burma which dates back to the 13th Century. It was really beautiful and I just took a few minutes to pause and take in the serenity. It was whilst I was in quiet reflection that I noticed that there were a couple of small geckos running around Buddhas left cheek. That definitely brought a smile to my lips.
There were some lovely statues in the grounds too.
We carried on our walking tour, stopping to visit the home of the family of the rich man who built the wooden monastery. His great, great grandson welcomed us into his home.
We also walked past the home of a wealthy trader, he had imported grass for his front roadside verge.
We were back on board the boat by sunset, another beautiful end to the day.
The evening's entertainment was down to the passengers tonight, it was 'Longyi Night'. There was much hilarity from the bar staff when everyone arrived in their longyis, but they kindly took everyone in hand and soon we all had our longyis correctly tied.
The men were first to parade, two circuits of the lounge. Then it was the turn of us ladies - as one spectator commented - "The women definitely have more rhythm". There were prizes for the best dressed, but neither Michael nor I won this competition.
After dinner it was karaoke night - something we avidly avoid so, once more an early night.
We were moored at Salay overnight.
(At lunch time we had met the new head chef, he was from Wales. I joked about a change of menu and sure enough tonight we had Leek Soup!!)
