Deer Park

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The penultimate day, straight north.

Villages, a few interesting bridges and lots of construction

Talcy sand sections, for that thrill of wandering bike

After more hills we entered tiger country, we’re far north. There are only 150 tigers left in Myanmar. The Chinese pay $10,000 each for parts. New laws get you 70 years in prison (queue the Hillary joke) which sounds about right, short of a firing squad

Dragonfruit, from the top of these cacti. Very valuable and behind barbed wire fences

More rice harvesting, but this time they have a machine

The workers camp

Later we take a detour off to a pagoda down a road lined with coloured urns

At the end there’s a crowd of kids (Soe tells me wealthy private school girls.) One insists on a pic

Then 4

Then all of them. Every girl’s phone has to be used for a pic, so it took about 5 minutes. Very embarrassing

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The ride

Yay! Later in the day, hills and twisties

Every road we’ve travelled has had short sections of construction. Sometimes for an hour, sometimes for most of the day. The crews are from the local villages. You’ll always see women, sometimes they make up the whole team.

A scooter ferry. They’re stacked up close, sideways, would be difficult for us

Nice fun little exit for this lady

A beautiful ride across plains before the hills. Sunflower fields, new blooms

Gas stop at this town, billiard table in the left hand opening

There are tables in every town. The kids are good. They’d clean up on a pool table with the bigger balls.

Into the hills

Great views

A crop of the above. They’re harvesting the rice as they seem to be doing everywhere right now

Finished back on plains

This valley was stunning

Later that night we went out an outside restaurant In Gangaw, a very small village. It was remarkable because I had the best fish I’ve ever had in my life. No exaggeration, I almost gasped after my first mouthful. In fact it was a bittersweet experience as I knew I wouldn’t be here, a quite famous restaurant, again.

From outside

Around the back. Comfortable, relaxed, great service.

The BBQ cook. Most food is prepared in an inside kitchen

Our table. Top is the Myanmar made Crown Royal. It’s the staple drink of men here. Every table has bottles of it. I stuck to beer. The Myanmar food story in an upcoming post

Here’s the place to go, the Premier 2 restaurant, coordinates 22.171278, 94.133005. Stay at the Gangaw Hotel. It’s a small, modern, family-run business. A room is $35 to $50.

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The day’s route

I took this opportunity to get into 6th for the first time in Myanmar. Juvenile

Country

Town

We passed a beautiful lake. Two families were sorting their catch roadside

The smell was intense but not unpleasant. Soe says the fish, depending oil type, sell for about ten cents a kilogram. They use nets

One of the typical homes on the lake

Boat launch

Solo

Sorted

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The bike has now parted goats, cows ands water buffalo

Girl novice monks collecting money from the merchants. They do this twice weekly
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Limited commentary, catch up day.

Deserves its own page.

This temple is the most impressive structure we’ve seen yet in Myanmar, and that we’ve seen in SE Asia so far. It was built in 1105 by King Kyanzittha.

From Wiki

The temple layout is in a cruciform with several terraces leading to a small pagoda at the top covered by an umbrella known as hti, which is the name of the umbrella or top ornament found in almost all pagodas in Myanmar. The Buddhist temple houses four standing Buddhas, each one facing the cardinal direction of East, North, West and South. The temple is said to be an architectural wonder in a fusion of Mon and adopted Indian style of architecture. The impressive temple has also been titled the “Westminster Abbey of Burma”.

The whole thing, an interesting read: Ananda Temple

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The view from the only climbable pagoda in the area. A 12 year old American girl fell off and died a week ago. No guard rails.

Lots of visitors from all over SE Asia

May, but it’s unlikely, bulk this up with more pics later.