myanmar part II

 mingalabar (hello) again!
from mandalay we wanted to go more to the north, and decided to take the train this time. at the trainstation we had two possible trains, one would leave at 4:30 am, and arrive in the late evening, and the other left at 12 noon and arrived the next day in the morning. since we couldnt decide which train to take we flipped a coin...and the coin decided for the later train. since we booked just a day in advance the train was quite booked and we only got a ticket for the first class (the 3rd highest class). we had to pay the ticket in dollars, and since they could not give us change for the 100 dollar bill they said we should go to the hotel opposite the trainstation. in the hotel the could not (or did not want to) break it down to smaller notes, so we decidet to do this in the bank. in the bank, as soon as we entered, all (we saw at least 20) people stopped working, but they had to tell us that they cant help us!! (i started to wander what these banks do...) but they told us to go to the jewelery shop just across the road. as we arrived there, we were immediately led to the back of the shop, where we could get smaller notes...we did not even have to ask for it (seemed they knew in advance!). so we got our ticket, and the next day our journey started!

the seats in first class...some foam to sit on, nothing at the back rest

 and the rails are the worst i have seen in my life... you feel rather like in a ship then in a train...its bouncing all the time, which is especially unconfortable when you want to sleep!

pagodas everywhere

at the stations many people are selling food

the landscape...

...was beautiful

with traditional sun bloc (sandel wood)

people were in a good mood - we were the attraction

monk

and again pagodas

in the night people slept everywhere

sunrise

was beautiful

my bed!

 after 22 hours we arrived quite far up in the north, in myitkyina! actuaally the plan was to do some trekking, but it did not sound that good and would have been expensive. my initial plan was to go more north, to putao, but you need a special licence, which would take many days and cost a cupple of hundred dollars. so we skipped that and just realized the second part of our plan...to go by boat on the ayerwardy river back to mandalay. but first some impressions from myitkyina!

the stuff for the face comes from this wood (sandel wood)

fruit market

he is selling medicine...herbs, trees, and parts of animals

 one of the biggest problem in myanmar for animals is that they are haunted, killed and used for medicine. some stays in myanmar, but the biggest quantity is moved through the mountains to china...its a huge market for this kind of medicine. i asked some ladies who were also selling animal parts if i could take a picture, but they refused - he did not care.

market

again...pagoda

buddha and me

flo with potential spies!!

the bus station in myitkyina

many things are transported on the head

petrol station

change tire on our bus because of flat tire

very common way to travel

arrived in bhamo, from where we took the boat

an amazing bridge

every year after monsoon they have to rebuilt this bridge!

 in the morning we left with that ferry. it was a cargo ferry, and we expected to be in mandalay in 2 days...on the ferry we learned that it would take four days! in the end we were really happy that it took so long, because many burmese people were traveling with us, and like this we had the chance to get to know some of them a bit better!

our ferry

with some cargo in the beginning

some of our neighbours

water buffalos

different villages, different pagodas

some people

cargo got more...

...also while we rode

toilet

our boat was by far the biggest - and since many cargo stops one of the slowest!

women showeing

temple

what a 20 liter bottle!!!

more cargo

since nobody spoke english, games were the easierst way to communicate

teak wood in the back of the picture

our bed...the grey blanket was my bed!

we slept like the locals just on the floor, with a blanket as a mattress. since the people who were traveling with us were mostly from some rural villages they did not have a lot of contact with foreigners before. so everything we did was observed by many eyes... for example when i put out my sleeping bag the were all wandering what i was doing. they have never seen such a thing before, and it was great fun for everybody when i got into the sleeping bag and closed the zip! so what ever we did was interesting!

loads of water melons

passengers on the deck below

more cargo!!

me and the captain

sun set

tourists!!

there was a couple from equador with us, and later a spanish couple came on the boat, and 2 guys from japan...

even slower then us are rafts

since they are so slow (only little current) people live on them

food is delivered by villagers who come with boats to the rafts!

myanmar flag...nice colors!

our neighbours

hmmm...i wanted to upload just 7 (yes, really seven!!) more pictures, but now it tells me that my memory capacity is full...what ever that means! so the next post will start with the last pictures!!