our awesome world adventure

Here we are in Singapore … sitting with feet up at Tommy and Ma’s, it feels like home again …

… so we’re not going to be tourists here, but, whilst we’re in a tropical mood, here’s some Hawaiian flora to enjoy …

The atmosphere was heavy with smoke and we felt we had seen enough Asian shops and temples.

So … we hired a taxi and went to Le Meridien Resort. Along the way it was obvious that Phuket is a step up from India and Myanmar. Although the communications network looks “interesting”!!

Le Meridien is in it’s own bay with it’s own beach … nice!

We had a drink …

… and a swim in the perfect small surf …

… and lunch.

The highlight for Jan was this visitor … as Jan asks, what happens next when “… an elephant walks into a bar …”

We got up close and personal …

… and then off he walked.

We had a great, relaxing day to end an amazing five month journey.

Hard to top this, anywhere on the adventure.

… and on Grand Final weekend, of course … “the most important archeological site in SE Asia”.

From the little Bagan airport we rushed to this temple for a “sunset” view. Along the way passing dozens (hundreds?) of little (and big) temples and stupas. There are 2500 of them at Bagan!

From the top of “Sunset Pagoda”, in fading light, just a few of our photos …

Here, our first taste of Burmese “vendors” … very persistent! Jan bought this sand painting for not very much.

We stumbled down the stairs in the dark and went to stay overnight at the Bagan Lodge … nice …

There are no residents in the fields where all these old relics are, but the land is still farmed … primitively … by people from local villages.

To our first big temple, Ananda Temple …

Inside a maze of corridors and niches …

… (2 of) 4 huge Buddhas …

… and many small ones … and a monk!

Then for a pony cart ride … (after battling past the vendors!)

What a wonderful 45 minutes. Bush bashing amongst the pagodas, with an excellent commentary from the driver, a Mandalay University History dropout, now looking after his mum.

We then drove through his village … a peaceful place housing about 2000 in very clean and tidy bamboo, palm leaf and tin houses.

Jan succumbed and brought a “letter carrier” from this nice fellow.

Then we plunged into the busy town to visit the market. Easily the most fun of all the markets we’ve seen. The “bus” is so crowded the bags go on top and the conductor swings off the back …

The monks have to shop too …

The market was full of colour …

… and interesting characters …

… and some brought the baby to work.

Next to the Shwezigone Pagoda dating from the 12th century.

Jan helped with maintenance, by sticking on some gold leaf.

Then a nice Burmese buffet lunch (with some of the usual suspects).

To a lacquerware factory, where the age-old, VERY labour intensive and time consuming process was explained … very interesting!

We bought some, but not quite this elaborate …

Then on to the Sulamani Temple …

… where outside …

… and inside, the original decorations are more intact …

Then Dhammayangyi Temple (the pyramid of Bagan) …

… where we found more different Buddhas …

… and a monk …

Then for the finale … a climb up this almost impossibly steep pagoda (right of photo) …

… for this 360 degree view … simply amazing!

We had plenty of time here to absorb the wonder of it. Then the 4 hours of bus, plane, bus trip back to the ship.

But sunset over the Irrawaddy River was a fitting close.

After 3 days at sea we sailed up the massive Irrawaddy (Irramuddy?) River past paddy fields by the thousand to Yangon’s river port.

We set off on our 2 day excursion to Yangon and Bagan. The “main road” from the port to the city is a pot-holed, congested 2 laner. The infrastrucure here has a loooong way to go!

When we reached the city outskirts it looked like many other big Asian cities: lotsa people, lotsa stalls, terrible traffic.

Our one stop in Yangon was the amazing Shwedagon Pagoda. Gold with precious stones on top …

It’s hard to capture the scale of this place. But here’s a (feeble) attempt.

The Buddha images come in all shapes and sizes, (but not fat ones: they are Chinese) …

Being a Sunday, there were lots of locals about. They come here just to hang out with Buddha and eat lunch …

Some of the detail in the little temples is quite amazing, and the gold everywhere a bit overwhelming.

One tradition is to wash the Buddha that celebrates the day of the week of your birth. Jan Monday, Geoff Wednesday.

Back on the bus we drove past just a little of old colonial Rangoon which looked quite nice in parts. It included a huge British founded University and 2 impressive artificial lakes.

To the (fairly chaotic) airport and a flight on that well known carrier Mann Yadanarpon Airlines (they have only 3 planes!), to Bagan. Jan was a little nervous, but plane was new and the fight perfect.

The short posts we uploaded a few days ago have now been replaced with “proper” posts.

Jan had a fabulous day … one of the best of the whole adventure … so go back and take a look …

Enjoy!

Our expectations of Sri Lanka were, without good reason, set by India. But we were wrong. What a pleasant place!

Within minutes of getting on our bus tour, we were seeing a different world. Much more orderly; nice and green; gentle people; better looking buildings, well maintained; good roads; and above all else, nearly as clean and pristine as Singapore!

We passed beautiful parks …

This striking modern theatre in the shape of a lotus flower …

Thousands of these pretty trees, the national tree – the ironwood tree …

After an interesting 2 hour drive inland we were in the beautiful hills. Tea and rubber country … the cleared area is for replanting of rubber trees that are replaced every 16 years.

We stopped in a rubber plantation …

… and in tea plantations …

We then made a stop at a tea plantation manager’s house and sampled the tea … excellent!

It had a big tropical garden.

We watched these ladies picking tea …

… and went to a tea factory …

… and were garlanded with tea leaves …

… unfortunately they wouldn’t allow photos inside. Making tea (24 hours from picking to packed) is a simple but fascinating process. 15 tonnes a day in this factory.

We were back at the ship for a late lunch, and decided to explore the city. We found a tuk tuk driver and off we went.

Past many wonderful buildings in the city …

To a beautiful lake … with a Bhuddist temple “floating” in it …

… past a Hindu temple …

… and then to a huge Bhuddist temple complex …

… complete with ebony (magnificent piece!) and ivory …

… and a resident elephant. Jan fed it chocolate biscuits!

We then visited the Galle Face hotel.

Legacy of the Raj and reminiscent of Raffles (like Raffles used to be, this one is right on the seafront). The huge industrial port is in the distance.

Then along the attractive Marine Drive and past the old Parliament House to the ship.

The new Parliament House is a magnificent building in a lake some miles away. We saw it, but couldn’t get a photo through the rain shower.

$20 and 2 hours well spent. An excellent day.

As we sailed towards Cochin, and many miles out to sea, there were acres of water hyacinth all around the ship.

We were accompanied in by the “Almighty God” …

Nearing the berth, things looked a little properous even.

We had arranged a tour to the Backwaters of Kerala, a huge network of lakes, canals and rivers 2+ hours by bus south of Cochin.

Along the way, many locals dressed like this.

There are huge paddy fields of rice here …

Rice used to be transported slowly by barge. Now trucks move it faster, so the barges have been converted to houseboats for tourists. About 600 of them apparently.

Most locals get around on the water. This is the local public “bus” …

… and locals waiting at a “bus” stop.

We saw all sorts of other water craft …

… and a 100 man “snake boat” used for races …

… and this was everywhere …

Some houses looked almost posh …

But the locals still carry on the practices of centuries. This woman bashing her washing on a stone …

… another one washing (with the help of a cat) …

This guy having a bath …

… and this lady doing the washing up …

We had a nice Indian buffet at this tourist resort …

… and then returned to Cochin where we visited the Chinese fishing nets (and tons of rubbish!)…

… near the “fort”. Really meaning the old European enclave used by the Portuguese, Dutch and British merchants. Many of their grand homes now conveted to hotels.

It was a long but interesting day.

So much for India … now for the surprise of Colombo …

Research didn’t suggest much to do in Mangalore. But we did interrupt what was otherwise a rest day to catch a free shuttle to the Mall for a couple of hours.

The city looks middle class (for India). Apparently a major centre for education. And we did see a big campus for Infosys, a large Indian IT company.

… and numbers of high rise apartments (this one on Lighthouse Hill with nice views over the sea) …

The Mall could be a suburban mall anywhere …

Out front, McDonalds and lots of shiny new looking tuk tuks waiting.

Town was tidy, but still Indian …

… and it appeared to be a market day …

Not far from the Mall we found a huge education campus called St Aloysius. Primary school, high school and tertiary colleges.

Apparently famous for its campus chapel, referred to as the Sistine Chapel of India. Hmmmm …

The Portuguese influence here is very obvious. I had not registered that it was not until 1961 that Nehru sent the Indian Army in to Goa to chase out the Portuguese.

The ship docked a fair way from the main towns of interest.

Not sure what this was doing here?

The bus ride through the green tropics was a nice change from the Middle East.

They used to mine for iron ore here … evidence of it in the soil colour everywhere …

Barges used to move the iron ore to the port. Now hundreds of them are rusting away in the river.

We went to Old Goa, once the Portuguese capital. Nearly all of it was demolished long ago because of endemic disease and the capital moved to Panjim. Only several big churches (2 pictured here) and a few other buildings remain at Old Goa.

This church had a tower fall down and they couldn’t be bothered to replace it.

Inside it used to be elaborately decorated thoughout like this,

… but someone decided to white plaster over almost all of it!

We then walked across 200 metres to this church …

… that houses the the tomb of Francis Xavier

We then drove though perilous narrow streets to Panjim past many elegant old Portuguese houses …

… and visited yet another food market …

… where we bought 5 small bananas from this guy for 40 cents and ate them.

Finally to a beautiful old Portugueses merchant’s home for a light snack lunch.

A good day … more Portuguese and tropical island (but with Indians), than I assume is typical of most of India.

We parked at Mumbai’s answer to Marina Bay Sands and Circular Quay …

We took a ship organised tour. We lunged into the colour, noise and chaos …

… visited Crawford Market …

… where our guide had to explain a custard apple to some of our fellow travellers!

We walked past these …

… to visit a strange temple, once one of the highest landmarks in Mumbai.

We drove along Marine Drive … where, from a distance, the beach looked surprisingly clean.

We saw many of the legendary trains …

… the MCG (complete with trains going past)!!!

… a man delivering ice …

… and thousands of miles of chaotic cables.

We saw the Dhabi Whallahs in action.

We went to the Gateway of India with a huge swarm of people (the detail is interesting!)

… and looked at the many boats, and the Taj Hotel …

We had a nice lunch at a restaurant near here: a relatively nicer part of Mumbai from what we could see … but across the street was a completely derelict hotel. Apparently there is a decades old bureaucratic dispute about it’s demolition(?)

After lunch we drove past slums …

… to this interesting Museum …

… displaying, amongst other things, the faces and headgear for many different Indian sects.

Then to some old Mumbai houses …

We had afternoon tea in this one.

Then back to the busy street … where there were all kinds of users …

On the way back to the ship, past the main Railway Station …

… at peak hour (on a public holiday so only 30% of people about!)

What can I say, based on just one day in Mumbai? Some travellers love India. Some are fascinated by it’s chaos, colour, culture, history, scenery and so on. They may be perfectly justified.

I will not be joining their ranks.

I could write chapters on this, but here I’ll just say this: India could be a much better place if it had way less people, and, just for starters, they just picked up their trash.