During the night of Tuesday/Wednesday, I was woken by a bright, flashing light. I realised that the sky was full of sheet lightning and I could hear subdued thunder. Yangon was receiving torrential, tropical rain. After a while, the thunderstorm ceased but the heavy rain continued and I found it difficult to return to sleep afterwards.
My friend Myo Lwin had arranged that we would visit Zalun Pyidawpyan Pagoda near Daunggyi in the Delta region on Wednesday. I'd never been anywhere in the Ayeyarwaddy Delta area before and I'd only made one return crossing of the Yangon River when, in 2009, I took the ferry to Dalla (that trip is described here).
I had to get up at 4.00 a.m. to allow us to set off at 5.00 a.m. Google advised me that the distance by road from my hotel to the pagoda was 144 k.m. and that, in normal conditions, it would take just over three hours.
However, the day of our journey was the first of three consecutive days of official Public Holidays to mark the Full Moon Day of Thadingyut (End of Buddhist Lent), so road conditions were not normal. Myo Lwin had suggested we set off at five o'clock in the hope of avoiding the worst of the traffic. My hotel had provided me with a comprehensive 'Breakfast Box' to take with me and we set off on time, in heavy rain.
The roads were already crowded as we made our way north through the city towards Insein. Before reaching Insein, we turned west onto Thamine Train Station Road and then crossed the Yangon River on a multi-span steel girder truss bridge which, I later discovered, was the Bayint Naung Bridge 2. Another bridge a few yards downsteam carrying traffic into the city was barely visible through the rain and the darkness. Our route took us generally north-west through an industrial area. Traffic slowed to a crawl and, as we approached a large traffic-light controlled junction, we stopped and remained stopped. White-coated traffic police could do little to resolve the tangle of vehicles.
White-coated traffic police could do little to resolve the tangle of vehicles.
With agonising slowless, we inched forward every so often. Eventually, we traversed that junction but, very soon, had another congested junction to negotiate. It was some hours before we were moving fairly freely and decided to stop for breakfast at a large roadside restaurant offering a Chinese-style menu.
Breakfast at a large, roadside restaurant.
Near Nyaungdon, we crossed the Ayeyarwaddy River on a multi-span steel girder truss bridge carrying both road and a single railway line.
Crossing the Ayeyarwaddy River.
It took us almost 8 hours to reach the pagoda. There was no rain and it was pleasant to walk in the pagoda compound.
Zalun Pyidawpyan Pagoda, applying gold leaf to the Buddha image.
We set off on our return journey and the nearby town of Daunggyi was thronged with people, many of them making their way to or from the local pagoda.
By Road to the Delta 4-Oct-2017: Daunggyi.
We decided to visit the pagoda, crowded with pilgrims and with a very jolly holiday atmosphere. The pagoda was under restoration so parts from the Hti which tops the spire had been brought down for restoration and were on display. I found it interesting and enjoyable.
Daunggyi, pagoda under restoration
For dinner, we stopped at the same roadside restaurant as on the outward journey - they'd been so busy during the day, the menu was becoming severely limited. Our journey back, partly in darkness, was much quicker than the outward trip but I still wasn't back in the hotel until after 8.00 p.m., tired but happy.
Related posts on this website
This is one of a series of posts describing my 12th visit to Myanmar. The post Starting out is the first post in the series.
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Next report on this trip.
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All my Burma-2017(2) reports.
My photograph albums
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Yangon around and about.
Sule Shangri-La Hotel, Yangon.
By Road to the Delta.
[Text and pictures added, 21-Oct-2017]
