Ancient stupa
Monday, 27 February 2017
Sunday, 26 February 2017
First days in Myanmar
Two nice nights in Paris then flight to Bangkok. OK so far but then...
... connection to Yangon couldn't land, went elsewhere and eventually managed to land in Yangon 5 hours late.
Got escorted to our guesthouse which is fine, wandered into the centre dodging people and traffic, visited the Sule pagoda from which all distances are measured then in bed by 8pm. Slept the clock round.
Went walkabout, mostly around old colonial Yangon. Reminded us of Jakarta. Evening saw us at the Shwedagon pagoda, the biggest Buddhist temple in Myanmar. Brilliant!
Long slow bus north to Pyay a bit off the beaten track but halfway to Bagan. Cheap motel on edge of town but best meal in restaurant 5 minutes away. Not a lot of English spoken.
Hired motorbike to visit ancient city of Sri Ksetra which was huge but ended about 10th century. Three of the oldest stupas in Myanmar. Got asked for photos with a couple of families. Watched sun going down over the Irriwady.
Long bus ride to Bagan tomorrow.
Thursday, 16 February 2017
Xmas, skis and now off again.
We spent Xmas with Nicky, Glyn, Bryony and Morgan. Their house is making progress and we were installed in the new bedroom with en-suite shower-room. No carpet when we arrived, but Nicky said it might come in a few days so wouldn't it be a good idea (for Judy) to finish the painting! So it got painted and carpeted just in time.
Meanwhile, Chris's Christmas jigsaw puzzle was a full-size spiral staircase to install. Not easy what with low ceilings, uneven floors etc. So Glyn and Chris spent the best part of a week measuring, calculating and finally getting it in place the day before Christmas Eve.
The weather was kind, the dogs needed walking and a generally good time was had by all. Then we headed to Devon to visit friends we hadn't seen for a long time and hot-bedded around for a week. Thanks to all who looked after us with such hospitality.
January 5th was Judy's mother's 90th birthday. Amazingly she played tennis in the morning then we headed off to a night of luxury in a country-house hotel. Very nice and great food.
We stayed a few more days and the caught the ferry to St Malo which is our favourite as they load early so you can have a good meal on board, then chug across the channel arriving when it's getting light. Got home to a house which was at 7 degrees - not bad considering there had been no heating for a month and temperatures here had been very cold at times.
Back in the swing of things now - don't know why people say there's nothing going on - we don't seem to have a moment, went to jazz, even went to watch the ballet, a mix from Kiev and other places east. Then there was news of snow as it had turned very cold, so we we waited until the weather was good and the avalanche warnings were minimal. Had four days skiing and three nights in B&B's, all very good, only had to put the snow chains on one day.
We're having a bit of a problem with the French tax system as it seems all our ISA's in the UK are actually taxable in France. Ah well, we'll have to pay, at least the tax inspector was almost apologetic.
Now we're getting ready to go off to Myanmar for a month, more news from there if we can get connected.
Meanwhile, Chris's Christmas jigsaw puzzle was a full-size spiral staircase to install. Not easy what with low ceilings, uneven floors etc. So Glyn and Chris spent the best part of a week measuring, calculating and finally getting it in place the day before Christmas Eve.
The weather was kind, the dogs needed walking and a generally good time was had by all. Then we headed to Devon to visit friends we hadn't seen for a long time and hot-bedded around for a week. Thanks to all who looked after us with such hospitality.
January 5th was Judy's mother's 90th birthday. Amazingly she played tennis in the morning then we headed off to a night of luxury in a country-house hotel. Very nice and great food.
We stayed a few more days and the caught the ferry to St Malo which is our favourite as they load early so you can have a good meal on board, then chug across the channel arriving when it's getting light. Got home to a house which was at 7 degrees - not bad considering there had been no heating for a month and temperatures here had been very cold at times.
Back in the swing of things now - don't know why people say there's nothing going on - we don't seem to have a moment, went to jazz, even went to watch the ballet, a mix from Kiev and other places east. Then there was news of snow as it had turned very cold, so we we waited until the weather was good and the avalanche warnings were minimal. Had four days skiing and three nights in B&B's, all very good, only had to put the snow chains on one day.
We're having a bit of a problem with the French tax system as it seems all our ISA's in the UK are actually taxable in France. Ah well, we'll have to pay, at least the tax inspector was almost apologetic.
Now we're getting ready to go off to Myanmar for a month, more news from there if we can get connected.
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