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We woke to the sound of construction work going on outside and a single, hazy beaming light coming through the curtains. Our overnight to Mandalay was booked for 7pm so we had the whole day to our leisure. I ordered us fried eggs for breakfast whilst stocking up on toast and juicy watermelon slices. Laura joined me just as our eggs arrived which were cooked well with the bright yellow yolk really runny. Then women were hard at work outside in there large brimmed hats shovelling cement mix whilst the blokes sat around idly chatting. That's one thing we have found here is that the women all work... And really hard! In fact more women then men here are university educated. We packed our things for check out but were told as it was off season we could stay in our room for free today, which was a very kind gesture. By this point I had phoned a couple of guesthouses in Mandalay which were full but we remembered one recommend by the girls from Bagan. We found an Internet cafe with surprisingly a surprising quick connection and obtained the telephone number to the hotel. After the obligatory Facebook checks (Laura's friend Kath was getting married today and she wanted to wish her a wonderful day) we headed back to the hotel where over the phone, I secured us two nights at the 'rich queens' hotel in Mandalay.
With time to kill we headed out into the increasing heat to find a place to chill and perhaps get a nice cool drink. A couple of nice looking places were ridiculously overpriced but eventually we stumbled into a little place with a pretty, green mowed lawn outside. We ordered two very refreshing lime soda whilst the blogs were updated and I carried on with my book. Laura had Indian on her mind and we thought we would keep our promise and try the food from the charming Indian family down the road. Entering the restaurant there were two westerners (one American, one Czech) who had already ordered. The room was cool but the constant flies landing on you did try ones patience. We ordered the vegetable curries with chapattis for which the women gave us that, 'how dare you order the cheapest thing on the menu look!' The avocado salad the American ordered looked amazing but it wasn't long before ours came. To be honest, I again was disappointed, it lacked the wow factor we had experienced in India and some of the side dishes were quite frankly horrible. What saved it for me was the tamarind chutney which was lovely and the chapattis were also tasty. I know it is not India but given the close ties and history between the two we both thought the Indian cuisine would be top notch.
In the extreme heat today we attempted a siesta to no avail and it wasn't long before we headed out again as Laura was craving fruit juice. Close to our hotel was a place that specialised in fruit shakes so we tried banana and strawberry milkshakes. Both were very tasty with the strawberry having that sharpness which I love. Apparently this is a popular place for the locals to have their juices so it can't be bad! With time to kill until 5pm, when my little street stall opened, we found another local bar and drank water whilst a parade come past us which was again likely to do with monks. In the precession there were young girls in beautiful dresses of various bright colours, some holding umbrellas to protect them from the sun. In contrast, there were groups of boys just singing, shouting and dancing wearing jeans and T shirts, some looked drunk! Horses with young children on them all decorated were at the back which were likely the young monks due to be inaugurated. After they passed it was time to get some noodles from the nice stall we visited on the 4th.
I had the same two dishes but Laura tried a tea leaf salad which was oily but very tasty. It made a change to eat something which was filling but also relatively light. By now the light was starting to fade as the sun disappeared behind the tree line. We collected our belongings and the kind ladies at our hotel offered us some free watermelon to eat before we caught the bus. Our pick up arrived and we were sent off like royalty, everyone coming out to wave us off. It had been a lovely stay and we were both quite sad to leave but knew it had to be done. Arriving at the bus station we saw it would be a local's bus as everyone was waiting outside. I was in my longyi which gave me few looks but I hoped people appreciated me trying to wear the local attire. Two other westerners turned up looking in a rush and explained they were due to catch a bus to Yangon from here. Unfortunately the bus pick up was 11km from here which meant they had to frantically find a ride to take them there. One of the kind locals waiting for our bus went off with them and sorted them out!
Our bus turned up about 40 minutes late which was pretty standard for so called 'Myanmar time'. The coach looked decent and actually has amazing leg room, the most we had on our trip I think but the bust smelt very fusty. We settled in with the usual Myanmar local TV playing and munched on biscuits and sweets. The first half of the trip was bumpy to say the least, accompanied with the slow descent down the windy mountain path we arrived here on. It was dark so you didn't have to face the vertical drops down the side although deep down you know they were there. Luckily we averted disaster and we on the 'Road to Mandalay' so to speak.....
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