Home » Burma (Myanmar) » Myanmar 2001 - Part Two - Bagan, Mt. Popa and Salay

At 5:00 in the morning I left for the airport. The hotel's regular driver hadn't arrived yet so the doorman walked out into the dark street to look for a taxi.

Myanmar 2001 - Part Two - Bagan, Mt. Popa and Salay

Dougburnett
2003-11-23 19:10:34

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cups - 6 for $15. They were delicately engraved in three colors and very lovely. When I got home I wished I had bought more: everybody who saw them wanted one.

Back at the hotel I took the afternoon off. It was starting to get real hot and I had been going pretty steady. As I was sitting around, I realized I hadn't reconfirmed my flight to Mandalay as I was told to do. I tried to call the air office but the phone was dead. I went to the hotel desk, but they don't have any luck either. As time passed I realized that the air office had closed. The desk clerk, who has been making the calls for me, suggested I take the hotel car and visit the air office manager's home just to make sure.

We drove slowly back to New Bagan and then down several neat side streets to a two-story house. As we walked to the door we could hear loud music playing. "Wait here," the driver said. He then opened the door and yells something. A young man came and invited us in. We took our shoes off and stepped inside. There were a couple of teenagers sitting on the floor singing to a TV Karaoke - that's where the music was coming from. The furnishings were all quite new and wouldn't have looked out of place in any western home. They invited us to sit down but before we could, a middle-aged woman appeared - the air office manager. She checked her list and then showed me my name was on it.

Before sunset I rented a bike again and rode over to the Bupaya which was a paya located on a bluff overlooking the Ayeyarwady river. There were a few dusty cafes and stands selling food and souvenirs nearby. I stopped for a drink at one café and watched some local kids sing Karaoke. As sunset neared, tour buses appeared and I had to fight for a good vantage point. The hit of the sunset was the lady with the digital camera. She would take a picture and then show it on the little digital display on the back. The Burmese loved this and there was always a small crowd around her.

Back at the hotel, I decided I needed a change. I had seen a little Myanmar restaurant about 1/2 mile back on the main road and I decided to walk over and see what was going on. When I got there I noticed they had a tape player. "Does that work?" I asked the owner. When he nods yes, I got out my tape. A beer arrived about the same time that Vince Gill started singing, "Kindly Keep It Country." The owner came back and said, "Country music." It was a statement and not a question. Apparently I wasn't the first to stop here.

I sat and drank my beer. I talked to a local taxi driver who stopped in to pick up some food and I wrote in my journal. There were several Myanmar diners too: three young men who avoided eye contact and a young couple who only looked at each other. I talked to the owner's young son, but his English wasn't very good.

It was pitch black outside the open-sided café. More horse carts and bikes drove past than cars. A couple of skinny dogs wandered around looking for scraps. Finally, I retrieved my tape and walked back the dark road to the hotel. In the distance I could see that some of the payas were lit with spotlights. The night was cool and starry. I was very happy but also sad: tomorrow I would be leaving. I was off to Mandalay.

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