Saturday 26 / Sunday 27 November: YANGON to home

Our flight is not until 4pm so we have some time to kill this morning. We take a taxi with Linda and Paul to the National Museum and while away an hour or so exploring the 5 floors. Highlights include the Lion Throne of King Thibaw from the Mandalay Palce: a massive raised ceremonial doorway sumptuously gilded with ornate carving. There are a number of beautiful Jewel-encrusted and filigreed courtly regalia on display although we are sad to read that a significant proportion of them still remain displayed at the V&A rather than being returned to their homeland. We also see a display of musical instruments, puppets and local crafts but decide we have had enough when we reach the Buddah display!

Alex takes us to the airport where we say our farewells. A short flight to KL, all on time, before a rather tedious 3 hour wait in the transit hall. We are on the top deck of the Air Bus again and do manage a bit of fitful sleep before our arrival at Heathrow 13 hours later, 5.30am local time on Sunday morning. We have to get a bus to Reading as Paddington is closed this morning due to Crossrail construction. Then the train to Topsham, home in time for a late cup of coffee, a lot of washing and time to reminisce about our adventures.

Friday 25 November: YANGON

Alex lead us on a short walking tour of Yangon. No bikes today. We start at a Catholic Church which seems incongruous and we are sure there must be some Buddhas somewhere! We walk through the old colonial area and a colourful market with an overwhelming aroma of dried fish paste which neither of us ever want to smell again. We revisit the market and some of the areas that we explored on our first day and are pleased that we are feeling more acclimatised to the heat and general bustle. Simon has been admiring Alex's "Bike Myanmar" cycling shirt so we take a taxi to Bike World, probably Myanmar's only bike shop. It is in the back of beyond and we were naive to think it might be like retail outlets at home. There is nothing on display, it is full of bike parts and the shirts are retrieved from a cardboard box behind the counter. We are hot, dusty and thirsty so we find a very rustic bar near the lake for a beer. Although hungry we are not brave enough to risk the food. At 4pm we regroup to visit the Shwegadon Pagoda, the largest and most ornate pagoda in Myanmar. We have seen the golden dome glinting on the horizon and it is equally impressive close up in the setting sun. There are 7 sections around the pagoda representing the various days of the week. Using days of birth the Burmese are categorised as various animals and these are used to determine whether you are predicted to be a good match for your partner. Simon and I were born on a Monday so are both Tigers. We feel this may be a better option than a Mouse or a Guinea Pig which represent Thursday and Friday! There are 63 smaller golden stupas surrounding the massive main dome and it is very atmospheric with locals lighting candles and incense and pouring water as an offering at their relevant station. The main dome is really huge and the pinnacle is apparently encrusted with diamonds, jewels and other precious stones.

We then gather for our final supper as a group and manage another curry (although we are both rather longing for some bread and cheese and a glass of red wine!) We show our appreciation to Alex, our guide who has been really fantastic. He is a modest and charming Burmese man who has worked incredibly hard over the last couple of weeks. His organisational skills have been exceptional and he has really helped us to understand a little better some of the customs and beliefs of this fascinating country. 

Thursday 24 November BAGAN to YANGON

7:30 depart on the bikes, which seems quite leisurely. This is an optional trip, so not all the group takes part. We cycle to a temple next to the banks of the ocherous Ayrewaddy. It's 11th Century and cracked by the recent earthquakes.  The main Buddha sits resplendent before us, golden and peaceful amongst the dusty interior. The lady who keeps the key to the temple lights some incense which mingles with the musky temple smell. Beneath the Buddah is the usual table for the spirits which are propitiated with offerings of bananas and coconut. There are some narrow tunnels and caves behind the Buddah which we stoop along in a fetid claustrophobic sweat. Then it's time to cycle back through the main Bagan complex and we're now killing time until our internal flight to Yangon. We visit the "Be nice to Animals restaurant the Moon" (i.e vegetarian) and have green papaya salad and tamarind leaf curry, with dragon fruit, lime and mint juice (the colour of beetroot, and which makes you look as if you've been chewing beetle nuts). We learn on the news that the UN has accused Myanmar of ethnic cleansing in the north. The Rohinge people from the Rakhine area are Muslims unwanted by neighbouring Bangladesh or Myanmar it appears and they are a highly persecuted minority group. The flight to Yangon with trusty Yangon Airlines is on time and we are back where we started nearly two weeks ago. 

Wednesday 23 November: MOUNT POPA

We cycle off from the hotel heading east towards Mount Popa. The roads are fairly busy so we stay loosely in peloton although the going is tough with the sun ahead of us. We stop at a family run business which makes peanut and sesame oil, and palm sugar as sweets and distilled into liqueur. We watch oxen turning the mill extracting the oil from the peanuts and I am encouraged to have a go. A man climbs up a very tall palm tree on a minute rickety ladder in order to extract the syrup from the palm fruit and we then see the distillation process. Reminiscent of the fire water that we tried in Croatia I'm afraid we are not tempted to buy a bottle to take home. Onward again on an undulating terrain as we see Mount Popa looming ahead. We are not actually going to the top although there are a steep few kilometres at the end which requires low gears and thigh power. We have a pleasant lunch in a garden surrounded by dragon fruits before a bus ride to the base of Taung Kalat Buddhist monastery which is perched on the hillside accessed by 777 steps. In fact the place is extremely tacky with tat and bling and is overrun with nasty wild monkeys. We are barefoot and have to avoid the monkey poo! We learn that the Burmese also practice Nat worship involving 37 nature spirits and we see gaudily dressed lifesized models of them all. One Nat was a gambler and an alcoholic. Tired from our ascent and descent we are pleased to take the bus home where we both enjoy a traditional Myanmar massage together. Even Simon whinces at one stage! Cocktails in the bar before group supper at Star Beam: very good fish curry.

Tuesday 22 November: BAGAN

We leave in a rickety old truck just after 5 am and make our way to the "launch zone". We are given a safety drill and told how to get into the basket. The balloons are inflated and we get in. Take off is very smooth and we are soon high above the Bagan area with all its pagodas and stupas. Bagan has 2,000 or so ancient monasteries,temples, shrines and stupas - the remains of an ancient city that had its hayday in the 11th to 13th centuries and which Marco Polo much admired. It's spread over a 26 square mile area with the Ayerwaddy river over to the west. There are 16 balloons in total and we all float gently south westwards. We see the sun rise and the light changes on all the temples, as the brick glows warmly in the sunshine. We pass directly over a golden stupa. After an hour and twenty minutes we land very gently in a field and it takes the crew a while to get to us. We then have a glass of champagne and some banana cake. Rather bizarrely I buy a copy of George Orwell's Burmese Days from an itinerant seller who comes up to us on his motorbike. Then back to the hotel and we rejoin the group and cycle around the Bagan area, visiting many temples on the way. We visit a temple with four Buddhas at each point of the compas. They have no necks, the ears touch the shoulders and the fingers are square....so not all Buddhas are alike...these are more modern ones. In the evening we go to the top of a brick temple to watch the sunset. We are not the only ones there! So sunrise and sunset in one day! We have supper at a local restaurant with puppeteers and dancers from the local village.

Monday 21 November: MONYWA to BAGAN

We cycle out of Monywa along busy roads humming with motorcycles, lorries and commuters. We see novice nuns dressed in pale pink collecting alms and carrying them aloft of their shaven heads. Surviving the traffic we peel off onto a side road which becomes increasingly rough and potholed. Only bicycles and motorcycles can make it down here. We pass through even more rural farming villages and see them working in the fields ploughing the land and growing cabbages, corn, mustard and large yellow honeydew melons which we sample freshly picked. The surface is only a dirt track and is extremely dusty and hard going. We feel lucky when we hear that the group before us had to cycle this stretch in the rain and mud, so we don't complain for long. We visit A Myint an unspoiled backwater on the banks of the River Chindwin where we see ancient crumbling stupas smothered in weeds and mildew. Some contain intricate murals on their walls depicting the story of Buddha. A flatter cycle takes us to Pakkoku where we have a traditional Myanmar lunch in a local restaurant off the tourist track. Chicken curry with a selection of side dishes and some chips to make us feel at home. We then get a boat down the Ayrewaddy River to Bagan where we can see the impressive temples and pagodas on the skyline as we approach. We are both feeling a bit under the weather with streaming colds (I blame the man on the flight to Heho who was coughing and spluttering behind us!) so we give the group meal a miss and have an early night. We have an early start in the morning.

Sunday 20 November. MANDALAY to MONYWA

And so having watched the sun setting from the top of Mandalay Hill last night we set our alarm for 4:45 am so we can see the sun rise at U-Bein bridge today. We get there whilst it's still dark and slowly the sun irradiates the placid waters of lake Amarapura with orangey hues. We walk along the teak bridge that spans almost a mile across the lake. There are lots of monks about and they are happy to pose for photographs. There are fishermen trawling their nets through the shallow waters and rowing their narrow tailed boats across the lake.We then head off in the bus for 2 1/2 hours to our drop off point and start the day's cycle. We travel along dusty busy roads with lorries and motorbikes hooting all the time. Some of the vans are impossibly crowded with people sitting on the roof as well. After 25K we turn off onto a bumpy side road and head towards the giant standing Buddha that dominates the landscape. When we get nearer we can see the reclining Buddha as well, and just to complete the trilogy a seated Buddha is in the course of construction nearby. On the approach road there is a garden of 1,000 Buddhas amidst 1,000 banyan trees. Our next destination is Thanboddhay Pagoda, which is very kitsch and blingy. There are over 500,000 Buddhas in this pagoda of all sizes (mainly small). I'm feeling Buddha fatigue....or perhaps that's  just the early morning start. After another stretch of busy road we are relieved to make it to Monywa and check into our hotel, which is on a vast scale with lodges in its gardens. It even has a pool which we make good use of after a late lunch.

P.S Clare: I have a traditional massage which is unlike anything I have experienced before. I am given loose fitting clothes to wear and then I am pummelled, literally, from head to toe and stretched into positions that I didn't know were possible (even in Mary's yoga classes!) The masseur even stands on me and giggles at the expression on my face. At least she is only about 4 feet high and as light as a feather. Loosened and relaxed for supper on the terrace by the pool.

Saturday 19 November: MINGUN

The population of Mandalay is 2 million and I think there are as many motorcycles.The women ride at the back, side saddle and there are often whole families on board. No helmets of course. The city is humming in that typical Eastern Asian way. Today we cycle through the outskirts of the city where the poverty always seems more apparent. We pass dusty shanty houses made from bamboo with woven mats for roofs. There are watermelons, squashes and gourds of various shapes and sizes by the side of the road. It is misty this morning so our first sight of the Ayrewaddy River is in the haze as we cycle over a long bridge. We then pass into a quieter and more rural area following the West Bank of the river northwards. We have an early lunch of vegetable noodle soup overlooking the river before visiting the Mingun bell, the largest uncracked bell in the world at 90 tons. We see the large unfinished pagoda, partially destroyed by earthquake in 2015 so health and safety rules do not allow us to climb to the top for the panoramic views. We also visit the unusual white Hsinbyume Pagoda with wavy concentric terraces before boarding a boat which takes us back to Mandalay where our magic bus awaits. This evening we will watch the sunset from Mandalay Hill before an early start tomorrow to watch the same sun rising. 

Friday 18 November PINDARA to MANDALAY

We get up at 5:30 for a 6 o'clock breakfast and 6:30 departure. We're at 1,200 m here so the dawn is quite cold. We board the coach and drive for a bit before starting our cycle, which takes us through isolated rural settlements, where all the village children say "mingalarbar". There's mist in the valleys as it's still very early. We then cycle through eucalyptus lined roads through fields of mustard and linseed. There's a profusion of yellow asters/ daisies in this part. There are some roadside stalls selling strange looking vegetables which we don't recognise. Oxen pull wooden carts laden with freshly cut cabbages. The route is quite hilly at times and as we're heading north west the sun is on our backs and it's very hot. After about 5 or so hours cycling we have lunch in a little village eatery. It's then time to board the bus on the road to Mandalay, which descends along hairpin bends for many miles. The journey takes 5 hours. We arrive at Mandalay which is unbelievably busy with traffic and partularly huge numbers of motorbikes and is a complete contrast to the peaceful countryside of this morning.