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Laura woke me up with a start as we had arrived at the bus station in Mandalay. I looked at the clock and it was 4am, how the hell had we arrived so early when we had left so late. Also at around 1am the bus stopped and we noticed some smoke coming from the back. I would of been more concerned had we not been so tired and I guess the motionless bus made me fall asleep, anyhow I guess the bus got fixed!
We stumbled off the bus and there was another rugby scum of people shouting at the driver, not sure what going on but they obviously were not interested in us. Eventually a few taxi drivers approached us asked where we were going and gave the usual inflated prices. We haggled a bit and one driver informed us he had two westerners already. Low and behold it was the American and the Czech guy from the Indian and who we bumped into over night at the rest stop. Even more amazingly they were staying at the same hotel we were. The American chap looked particularly annoyed because the drivers had tried to rip them off badly and he was too tired to deal with it. As we were all going to the same place we negotiated a good price and walked over to the run down looking taxi which would take us through town.
I sat in the front with my knees around my ears in my longyi doing that zombie like thing when you are dead tired. It took around 20 minutes to reach our destination, the Rich Queen hotel. The driver opened the gate and the very sleepy looking owner appeared to show us in. The hotel was down a little alley and had that Delhi feel already about it. Unfortunately there was only one room available at present and the guys kindly offered it to us.
Our room was on the very top floor which still looked like it was under construction. The hallway window had no glass with a good 40 foot drop on the other side. Our room was a twin, as usual, with air conditioning and a large window (no curtain though). The bathroom was large and had a hot and cold tap which was a good sign for hot water. I put on the air conditioning and both us quickly fell asleep.
I woke up about 10:30am and the sun light was muted by the tinted window. It looked overcast outside and you could hear the faint beeping of horns and the revving motorbike engines in the street way below. The quietness was a real plus point of the room but the room was defiantly not worth $25 and I would haggle the owner the best I could. I headed down and met the American chap who was struggling with the slow Internet. I managed to get $5 off the room price which isn't a great deal but something anyway! The rest of the morning flew by and I went for a walk down the street to the main junction. It wasn't long before I was mauled by motorbike taxi drivers looking for fares. I didn't manage to see an ATM so I aborted the mission and took cover back in the hotel.
The place had a very Mumbai feel about it which was mostly due to the intense heat. After catching up on Internet duties we decided to go out and find some food. The streets are arranged in a grid system like Manhattan, so if you ask for anywhere you will get a grid reference such as, 'on the corner of 26th and 83rd' which made things relatively easy. We did our pet hate and looked at the lonely planet guide and found an area with a few hotels. The intersection we found was full of little eateries teeming with locals. We asked for the menus and were presented with extortionately priced food which was obviously tourist inflation (really pisses you off after a while). After looking around we found the 'Golden Sham', a charming place with high ceilings and rows of table leading up to the buffet counter at the front. The owner told us the price for which we struggling on Kyat (Myanmar currency). We asked to pay on dollars and get change in kyat, they agreed but tried to rip us off. The handy currency converter on the iPad saved us and we actually got a good deal.
Money issues aside, we tucked into rice, various veg dishes, fish, chicken and pork dishes. The food was really tasty and accompanied with soup, salads and dips. After two platefuls we were stuffed and I I nearly feel asleep there and then. We waddled home very full to escape the heat and we spent the afternoon planning tomorrow and reading, whist being unable to get ourselves off the bed. In the evening we able to FaceTime our families which was nice especially as Laura was feeling a little homesick today... Especially as Emsie was visiting home from Scotland. By this point I was dead tired and headed to bed to the comfort of our air conditioned room.
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