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.