Wednesday 4 May 2016

On to Thazi

Events of Tuesday, 3rd May 2016

I had breakfast at the Aye Yar Resort and checked-out at 8.00 a.m. The monastery car picked me up with the usual driver, together with one of my other young friens from Clinic. We drove via the Anawratha Road to a pagoda famous for its wall paintings, Gu-Byauk-gyi, I think. Although the souvenir sellers were starting to set up their wares, it was still quiet. My friend said most guides take their clients to Nyaung Oo market first and that it would become busy later. We continued to Nyaung Oo and took the familiar road out of town, past the airport turn, then the railway station turn. I think Nyaung Oo is unique in having an airport nearer the town than the railway station. We carried on along the main road we’d used the day before, through Taung Zin.

The crumpled caldera of volcanic Mount Popa was visible through the haze on the left. Our route started to rise out of the plain so that we were travelling through wooded mountains. The area appeared to be the source of rock, with large piles of graded sizes which I assumed were for roadbuilding. There were also two new electricity transmission routes, one low voltage, one medium voltage, being erected. We passed a number of areas where minor improvemnts were being carried out to the road. As is usual, most of the labourers were women. Barrels of tar were being prepared for use by having a fire set under them but I also spotted a couple of ancient, wheeled tar boilers. We passed through a series of fairly small one-street villages, with a variety of stalls on both sides of the road and, of course, a profusion of tea shops.

We then entered a fairly major town with proper shops, rather than stalls, and a couple of impressive-looking modern bank buildings. There were at least two sets of modern traffic lights with countdown-timers. Providing the contrast at which Myanmar excels, there were also oxen grazing on the patches of sparse grass. As we threaded our way onto our road, I noted not just the number of teashops but also their large size.

We passed through another area of farmed land populated by pairs of oxen ploughing or hauling carts before we entered another fairly large town, Meiktila with its lake. We parked near the bridge which takes the road across an arm of the lake. I walked along a rather rickety bridge thrust into the lake leading to a very small pagoda.


Meiktila Lake Pagoda.

The lake water was clear and lots of fish, carp I think, could be seen. Walking back to the car, I spotted a wooden pumphouse extracting water from the lake. As we drove over the road bridge, we passed a huge, gilded ‘concrete barge’ with a bird's head at the edge of the lake, apparently another temple.

On our way out of town, we passed a massive, walled factory with a least 20 large sheds. A sign in English as well as Burmese revealed that this was Meiktila textile works.

Before long, we were running into Thazi, with one main road running through and a network of generally unmetalled side-streets. We easily located the Moon Light Guest House and I was made very welcome by the proprietors.

My friends who had delivered me safely to Thazi agreed to act as interpreters at the Diesel Locomotive Depot, where I had been given two Inspectors names as contacts. Unfortunately, they were both absent that day, but I was allowed to take a few pictures before we left. Having returned me to my hotel, my friends declined hospitality and set off back to Bagan.

Although it was rather hot, I decided to go for a walk along the main road to see a little more of the town, which I believe has a population of around 30,000. I passed a rather smart modern fire station with four appliances near the Police Station for Thazi Township. Both KBZ Bank and CB Bank had impressive modern buildings. Having got used to seeing pairs of oxen doing the ploughing and pulling, I was surprised to see two modern farm tractors pass along the main road. I found it reassuring, somehow, that most of the 'taxis' were horse-drawn 2-wheeled 'hackney cabs'. After exploring the main road, I took the side road leading to the station to make a photographic survey. By the time I was back at the Guest House, I was thoroughly exhausted but a cold drink followed by a nap restored me sufficiently to prepare this report.

Then I broke off for an evening meal, which was prepared exactly to my preferences and was excellent.

Related posts

There's a report on my visit to Thazi Locomotive Depot and Station here.
Next post describing this trip.

All my posts on this trip can be found here.

My pictures

There are a few pictures of this trip here.
Pictures at Meiktila Lake are here.

More pictures will be posted as soon as possible.

Bagan (Day 4)

Events of Monday, 2nd May 2016

On Monday, my last day in Bagan, the Monastery Compound housing Bagan Medical Clinic was strangely quiet as Sunday was the last opening day until the following Friday. However, Doctor Hla Tun was doing a special consultation for an 84 year old lady who had needed a wheelchair to get from car to consulting room, assisted by her younger companions.

Before flying back to Yangon in the afternoon, the Doctor had arranged that we would make presentations of stationery to schools. The Monastery's 'Hi-Ace' was already loaded and the regular Monastery driver so Doctor Hla Tun, the local Doctor and I boarded and we set off. During a tiring, hot day, we made joyful visits to three schools before I was returned to the Aye Yar Resort for my last night in Bagan and Dr. Hla Tun took the flight to Yangon.

Htee Pu

Htee Pu: Group picture of around 106 students who attended for stationery distribution

Bagan area school

Group picture after stationery distribution.

Nga Minn May school

Group picture after stationery distribution.

Related posts

Next post in this series.

All my posts on this trip can be found here.

My pictures

There are a few pictures of this trip here.

More pictures will be posted as soon as possible.

Bagan (Day 3)

Events of Sunday, 1st May 2016

On Sunday, I walked to the Clinic just after 8.00 a.m. The Doctor had already started work and he hold me that there had been 60 registrations at that time.

I'll describe my morning observing Dr. Hla Tun's consultations in a separate post.

A startling storm

There was a vicious thunderstorm around lunchtime and the electricity went off. The rain was very heavy for a while. The Clinic have some sort of standby generator (I didn't discover details) but they didn't use it - they just carried on using battery lighting until power was restored, after around an hour. The temperature was much more comfortable after the rain, most of which dried up quickly. I took the opportunity to leave the clinic and walk to the hotel with a view to exploring on foot. But the temperature was rapidly rising again, so when a middle-aged guy on a motor cycle offered a boat ride, I entered into negotiations.

A relaxing cruise on the Ayeyarwaddy

Briefly, we made a deal and I had a splendid cruise lasting one hour on his longtail boat with a roof which could have carried a couple of dozen tourists rather than one. We went up river almost to the Swezigon Pagoda before returning to the shore close to my hotel (I say 'shore' because there's no actual jetty but if you're lucky - I was - you keep your feet dry. It was late afternoon when we returned - a good time to watch the activities of the local people, many carrying out ablutions and clothes washing.

Related posts

Next post describing this trip.

All my posts on this trip can be found here.

My pictures

There are a few pictures of this trip here.

More pictures will be posted as soon as possible.