Early in the morning, 'Road to Mandalay' slipped away from her overnight anchorage and continued down stream to Bagan. After an enjoyable breakfast, I watched as the mysterious silhouette of Mount Popa slipped by on our port side. Mount Popa is an extinct volcano with a collapsed caldera, famous as the home of the 37 Nats, spirits widely believed in by both Buddhists and non-Buddhists. There's a brief introduction to Nats in Wikipedia here.
Cruising to Bagan: Mount Popa, viewed from the Ayeyarwaddy.
By nine o'clock, the ship was once again anchoring mid-stream, opposite the private 'Belmond' landing stage at Bagan. Logistics staff and a motor boat were waiting to bring the guests ashore at 9.30 a.m. Once on land, we were faced with the steep, zig-zag climb up to the 'Belmond' car park.
The private 'Belmond' landing stage at Bagan.
Guests had four choices for the morning tour. Two small coaches and a car were ready to take three of the groups and a series of modern mountain bicyles (with safety helmets) were waiting for the 'Bagan by Bicycle' guests. A far cry from my first bicycle ride at Bagan, back in 2008, which I described in the post here. That bike ride serves as an example of how trivial events can have long-term effects. A minor incident at the beginning of that ride (I fell off) introduced me to Doctor Hla Tun and, as a result, I have ever since tried to support the educational and charitable work he organises in Myanmar.
The 'Bagan by Bicycle' guests about to set off.
Doctor Hla Tun had come ashore with the guests but he immediately set off on the short walk to the adjacent Bagan Medical Clinic where he would start his consultations which would continue until 11.0 p.m. Once I'd watched the various groups of guests depart to explore Bagan, I followed Doctor Hla Tun to the Clinic. Both the Belmond car park and the Bagan Medical Clinic are within the Compound of Bagan Monastery.
Bagan Medical Clinic, Friday: Doctor Hla Tun passes the 2-storey clinic building on his way to his consulting room.
The original clinic building, opened in 2011 is still the 'centre of operations' as it houses patient registration and the dispensary, in addition to consulting rooms and 'messing' facilities for the staff. The monk who has supervised the activities of the clinic since its opening greeted me and showed me the patient registrations so far - 188.
Bagan Medical Clinic, Friday: The monk who has supervised the activities of the clinic since its opening.
Doctor Hla Tun appeared and it was decided that it was an appropriate moment for a 'group shot' with the staff present.
Bagan Medical Clinic, Friday: The 'group shot'.
I then accompanied Doctor Hla Tun to his consulting room where I met Doctor Jyn Aung Thet, a charming, Burmese-born doctor from Wisconsin, U.S.A. who, now retired, returns to Burma and frequently carries out consultations at the clinic.
Bagan Medical Clinic, Friday: Doctor Jyn Aung Thet carries out a consultation.
Doctor Jyn Aung Thet was accompanied by his cousin, a radiologist, and she was studying the Fukuda UF-850XTD full digital Ultrasound System, recently-installed in the 2-storey building.
Bagan Medical Clinic, Friday: Doctor Jyn Aung Thet's cousin
I then carried out my customary tour of the now-extensive clinic site, looking for developments since my last visit in April 2017 (which was described in the post here). The Dentist's room on the ground floor of the 2-storey building was much as I'd seen it in April.
Bagan Medical Clinic, Friday: The well-equipped Dentist's room in the 2-storey building.
The 2-storey building has rooms for two Operating Theatres on the upper floor. The first room now has the specialist equipment installed but staff training and Government approval has to be completed before it can be brought into use.
Bagan Medical Clinic, Friday: Equipped Operating Theatre in the 2-storey building.
Nearby is a the essential Large Medical Autoclave. This allows equipment used in surgical operations to be sterilised. There's a Wikipedia article on autoclaves here.
Bagan Medical Clinic, Friday: Large Medical Autoclave.
The mobile X-ray equipment I noted on my last visit was still awaiting the delivery of associated equipment prior to commissioning.
Bagan Medical Clinic, Friday: Toshiba Mobile X-ray Machine.
I moved to the nearby Hospital Building which had been very much a building site on my previous visit. The upper floor is now structurally complete with railings on the balcony.
Bagan Medical Clinic, Friday: The upper floor of the Hospital Building is now structurally complete.
The building is now painted outside and the two wards on the ground floor have had tiled floors and walls finished. Most electrics, including oscillating ceiling fans, are complete. White-painted patient beds are temporarily stored in the wards.
Bagan Medical Clinic, Friday: One of two wards in the Hospital Building almost complete and temporarily storing beds.
Next, I examined the new standby generator - a Caterpillar DE65E0 packaged unit which has been provided with a smart-looking building with a blue roof. This is another addition since my previous visit just a few months earlier.
Bagan Medical Clinic, Friday: The Standby Electricity Generator in its blue-roofed building.
Bagan Medical Clinic, Friday: Waiting patients in the Dormitory Building.
Bagan Medical Clinic, Friday: On a 'Clinic Day' all the stalls lining the approach to the Clinic are open for business.
Bagan Medical Clinic, Friday: Another substantial building is under construction in between the First Clinic Building and Doctor Hla Tun's consulting room.
All the clinic buildings are on monastery land and operate under the authority of the Abbott of the monastery. The monastery and monastic school operate from a series of fairly recent buildings dotted around the compound. But there is an older, wooden monastery building on the site, no longer in regular use. This is Nat Taung Kyaung, around 200 years old and quite famous for its carving. Since 2008, I've admired the building without studying it closely so I determined to make a photographic record of the outside at least. Being well away from the main tourist routes through Bagan, this building has become something of a 'hidden gem', although it has an extensive review in the scholarly publication 'Splendour in Wood'.
Nat-Taung Kyaung Monastery, Bagan
The detail of the carving remains impressive and compares with better-known Yoke-Sone-Kyaung at Salay, described in my post here.
Nat-Taung Kyaung Monastery, Bagan: Detail of wood carving.
The temperature had risen during the morning to around 32 Celsius - enough to leave me dripping with perspiration and exhausted. Knowing that the guests from the ship would have completed their morning tour and be returning to the ship for lunch, I made my way to the Belmond landing place and was quickly returned to the cool quiet of 'Road to Mandalay' where I enjoyed a splendid lunch. The guests went ashore again a 3.30 p.m. for a second exploration in "wonderful Bagan".
B-RTM: Bagan, Second trip ashore 15:30 Friday.
I accompanied the guests on the boat and then rejoined Doctor Hla Tun in Bagan Medical Clinic. Later in the afternoon, Doctor Hla Tun received some training in the interpretation of ultrsound images. Whilst the Doctor continued with his consultations until the last boat back to the ship at 11.0 p.m., I returned in time for a relaxed dinner, followed by a traditional marionette show in the lounge. I managed to do a little work on my computer before retiring.
Bagan Medical Clinic, Friday: Doctor Hla Tun examining images on the Ultrasound equipment.
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.
B-RTM: Cruising to Bagan.
Bagan Medical Clinic, Friday.
Nat-Taung Kyaung Monastery, Bagan.
