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