I'd slept soundly in the luxury of the 'Road to Mandalay' river ship and was gently awoken by early morning tea, delivered to my cabin at the appointed time.
'Road to Mandalay': Early morning tea.
I arose and took a leisurely breakfast in the spacious restaurant. The ship quietly slipped away from its mooring at Shwe Kyet Yet, turned, and gently made its way down stream, passing first under the massive Yadanabon Highway Bridge (opened 2008) and then the Ava Bridge. The original Ava Bridge was destroyed in World War II and rebuilt in 1953, providing a single line railway flanked by two carriageways for road traffic. We were then abeam historic Ava and a variety of shore tours were on offer to guests. Doctor Hla Tun had suggested that I take one of these, so I elected for 'Ava by Horse and Cart'. The ship swung around and moored midstream whist a chartered motor boat came from the shore to ferry the guests to the landing point.
Ava Tour by horse and cart: View of 'Road to Mandalay' as we were ferried ashore.
There was a sizeable 'welcoming committee' at the landing point, including a number of vendors selling souvenirs but there was also also a row of two-wheeled carts harnessed to willing horses. Some of the guests had decided, instead, to tour Ava by bicycle.
Ava Tour by horse and cart: I rather liked the 'STOP' signs, made out of welded steel rod.
The guests were quickly allocated to the various vehicles and we set off, at a gentle trot. Our first visit was to the Maha Aung Mye Bom San Monastery - 'The Brick Monastery'. This was built by Nanmadaw Me Nu, Chief Queen of King Bagyidaw in 1822, during the Konbaung Period when monasteries were generally wooden. In brick and stucco, its style copies the traditional wooden designs. It was damaged during an earthquake in 1838 and restored by the daughter of the Founder, Sinphyumashin, who was one of King Mindon's Queens.
Ava Tour by horse and cart: The Maha Aung Mye Bom San Monastery - 'The Brick Monastery'.
Our transport then took us to the Bagaya Monastery, built in 1834 in teak using 267 teak posts. The largest post is 60 feet tall with a circumference of 9 feet. The structure has a plan 188 feet long and 103 feet wide and houses a number of important cultural objects.
Ava Tour by horse and cart: Bagaya Monastery and one of the 'Road to Mandalay' guides.
After our visit to the monastery, our horse and cart returned us along generally quiet roads to the landing point, where the motor boat was waiting to take us back to 'Road to Mandalay'. Once all the guests were back on board, 'Road to Mandalay' weighed anchor and continued downstream on her trip to Bagan.
Ava Tour by horse and cart: The chartered motor boat ready to return the guests to the ship.
At 11.30 a.m. Doctor Hla Tun gave an illustrated presentation in the Observation Lounge on the Social Activities carried out by 'Road to Mandalay' and Belmond in Myanmar. Originally, this was in providing educational support to schools. There are a number of posts in this blog detailing this work: you can find them here. Initially, some medical support was given by occasional 'mobile clinics' but, since 2011, regular consultations have been provided at Bagan Medical Clinic. Supported by overseas and local donations, the clinic has rapidly expanded and this work is also documented in this blog at here. On 2nd May 2008, Cyclone Nargis struck the delta region of Myanmar (formerly Burma) causing major flooding and terrible damage. Doctor Hla Tun responded by organising relief to the more remote areas of the Delta Area and making over 50 trips to run temporary medical clinics. This work is summarised in a number of posts included in the group Charity Work.
Dr. Hla Tun's Presentation
After lunch, a variety of ship-board activities were available for the guests but I worked in my cabin until dinner. The ship moored mid-channel for the night. After dinner, there was a 'Surprise on the River' which I'd seen before a couple of times. For instance, in 2009 I wrote:-
The evening terminated in a ‘Surprise on the River’. Around 2,000 tiny rafts, each carrying a lighted candle and some fitted with a coloured paper screen to produce varied colours, floated down the river towards us from upstream where, hidden in the darkness, local villagers retained by ‘Road to Mandalay’ lit and launched the craft from a number of boats positioned across the river. The emotion as these lights came towards us, embraced the ship some passing on the one side some on the other then disappearing into the darkness downstream, is hard to describe. As the passengers made their way to bed (or to the Piano Bar for late-night drinks), there were many moist eyes at the beauty of the effect.I still found it a spectacular and moving experience. Then, I retired to bed. The next morning, we would sail to Bagan and, whilst the guests explored the wonders of the temples of Bagan I intended to spens the day around Bagan Medical Clinic.
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.
Clicking on the 'Next report' link displays the post describing the next events. In this way, you may read about the trip in sequence.
Next report
Alternately, clicking on the 'All my Burma-2017(2) reports' link displays all the posts on this trip in reverse date-of-posting order.
All my Burma-2017(2) reports.
My photograph albums
Where necessary, clicking on an image above will display an 'uncropped' view or, alternately, pictures may be selected, viewed or downloaded, in various sizes, from the albums listed:-
'Road to Mandalay': October 2017.
Ava Tour by horse and cart.
Dr. Hla Tun's Presentation.
