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.