Boat to Bagan

I'm on a slow boat to Bagan (pronounced B'gan) right now sleeves down, collar up, sarong covering my bare calves & feet and thoroughly sun screened. I bought a hat for the first time that I can remember - a good old Canadian made Tilley. It's been a life saver here, especially today.

We've pulled along side a docked boat to either pick up passengers or take on supplies. There is a flurry of banana trading over the railing. Ladies were tossing bananas and bags of small oranges up asking a 1000 kyats (outrageous) so the fruit was tossed back down.

We were up early at 4a today and off to the boat for a 6 am departure. It's a steel two deck boat with maybe 130 passengers - mostly groups but some solo. Our guide Nyi Nyi let us know that there was room only for 35 or so on the deck (with air con below) so I made a bee-line for the top deck and snagged a 2 seater wicker bench for Peg and I. The boat has seen better days, much, much better days. The inside top deck had an air con unit in one corner but the doors were all open. A couple of fans circulate some air. Downstairs were the bar and kitchen were it was deafening. Diesel smell permeating everything. There was cloud cover for most of the morning and a nice breeze so the first part of the journey wasn't too bad. Peg sought some shade around noon.

As the sun got higher the French got crankier, one nasty woman read Peg the riot act for some unfathomable reason - guess she felt she was more entitled to the shade. I went to sit with Peg for a bit but found the searing sun far more pleasant than sitting surrounded with sour faced entitled travellers.

Lunch was served around 11:30 a - tasty fried noodles + veg with egg omelet mixed in. Given the kitchen facilities I was impressed that they could feed so many.

The Galley

After lunch I decided to try the Myanmar beer - it was the coldest thing in the fridge. Check out the bar:

Ship's Bar

 ...and not to mention the Lido deck:

The Lido Deck

I put my legs up, snapped on my 300 mm zoom lens and just enjoyed watching life on the Ayeyarwady. The river is wide  fairly wide - 500 metres+  with sandy/clay banks. Golden topped pagodas, rice farmers, ox plows, fishermen, sandbars, barges, boats and waving children.

Pagodas near Sagaing

On the Ayeyarwady River

Finally remembered to turn on my GPS so check out the afternoon route:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/246236146