We arrived here last night after flying to Mandalay on our plane and then getting on a short half-hour prop local plane flight to Bagan. Our hotel is called a sanctuary / resort and is more like what I would call a retreat facility. We have individual bungalows. Our local guide is very amusing and informative. Most of today was visiting the temples of Bagan I had seen videos of this place and it did not disappoint. It is amazing how many of these temples are everywhere. You basically can’t look around anywhere and not see several. It’s hard to describe how many there are. Many of them were built in the 11th century. There were many huge Buddas. The ones here look quite different from the Chinese ones. These are more slender as opposed to the plump Chinese ones. Several that we saw were made of a single piece of teak wood. Incredible craftsmanship!
Yesterday when we were on our plane Merle was able to sit in the cockpit during the landing. I was able to visit the cockpit for a few minutes. That was pretty exciting. I might be able to be there during a landing or a takeoff. They are drawing names out of a hat to see who gets to do it.
Tomorrow morning November 16 we will fly back to Mandalay and then get on our plane to fly to Oman. It is hard to believe that is our last stop before returning to London and the flight home. As is often the case, the first two weeks went by rather slowly (not in a bad way ) but this last week has zipped by.
Myanmar’s history has been pretty difficult and I understand that tourists have only been coming here in the last 5 to 10 years. It was closed off to the world for a very long time. So some of what we saw is not visited very much by foreign travelers— yet.
Today was our day to see the temples, pagodas, and stupids of Bagan. There are subtle differences among them but don’t ask me what they are! Those built in the 12th century and in goldleaf were incredible. At sunset we had a short river boat ride to a sand bank in the river for drinks and appetizers awaited us.
Our group:
I wanted to write a few things about our group: we are similar ages most in their 60s or 70s and a few in their 50s. There is an 87 year-old woman in great shape! They are from all over the US. Four are from California. As is normal in group dynamics, you could hit it off with some folks right away. Others took 2+ weeks to break the ice! One gal is a dog trainer and I had some good conversations with her. We have 3-4 MDs, 1 dentist & 1 nurse. (I actually wrote this on our flight to Oman —over five hours long). For the first time people are running around the plane, gathering around the bar, playing cards. They are socializing more than I’ve ever seen. We have avoided all political discussions except one night at dinner around 10 of us sat together and we’re all in agreement about
the moron in the White House.
More about Oman tomorrow.
Yesterday when we were on our plane Merle was able to sit in the cockpit during the landing. I was able to visit the cockpit for a few minutes. That was pretty exciting. I might be able to be there during a landing or a takeoff. They are drawing names out of a hat to see who gets to do it.
Tomorrow morning November 16 we will fly back to Mandalay and then get on our plane to fly to Oman. It is hard to believe that is our last stop before returning to London and the flight home. As is often the case, the first two weeks went by rather slowly (not in a bad way ) but this last week has zipped by.
Myanmar’s history has been pretty difficult and I understand that tourists have only been coming here in the last 5 to 10 years. It was closed off to the world for a very long time. So some of what we saw is not visited very much by foreign travelers— yet.
Today was our day to see the temples, pagodas, and stupids of Bagan. There are subtle differences among them but don’t ask me what they are! Those built in the 12th century and in goldleaf were incredible. At sunset we had a short river boat ride to a sand bank in the river for drinks and appetizers awaited us.
Our group:
I wanted to write a few things about our group: we are similar ages most in their 60s or 70s and a few in their 50s. There is an 87 year-old woman in great shape! They are from all over the US. Four are from California. As is normal in group dynamics, you could hit it off with some folks right away. Others took 2+ weeks to break the ice! One gal is a dog trainer and I had some good conversations with her. We have 3-4 MDs, 1 dentist & 1 nurse. (I actually wrote this on our flight to Oman —over five hours long). For the first time people are running around the plane, gathering around the bar, playing cards. They are socializing more than I’ve ever seen. We have avoided all political discussions except one night at dinner around 10 of us sat together and we’re all in agreement about
the moron in the White House.
More about Oman tomorrow.
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