This morning we flew from Bagan to Mandalay. Our first activity here was to watch 1500 monks gather for their mid-day meal. It was rather embarassing as there were nearly as many tourists as monks, and it seemed rather rude to be staring at them as they came to eat. However, it was interesting to see how 1500 people are fed every day. Many of the monks are quite young as you can see in the photo.

From the monastery we made a stop at the Saunder's Weaving School which was started almost 100 years ago by my great friend Leslie Paris's grandfather. The principal of the school was most kind and gave us a tour of the school. I am so pleased to have seen the school and made the connection with the Saunders' family history.

We then crossed a nearby river on a ferry driven by an old car engine (which Ron just loved!) to the ancient city of Inwa. It is on an island and was the Burmese capital for 400 years. We lurched in a horse cart over rutted, dusty roads to view what is left of the sites - a few temples and a teak monastery, as well as a watchtower which was damaged in the 1838 earthquake and now has a serious list - but a great view. The island is very rural and once again it was an interesting glimpse into a simple lifestyle.

Another short drive delivered us to the highlight of our day which was the 1.3 km long teak footbridge called the U Bein Bridge (or as it is called here, the U Pain bridge). It is over 200 years old and is the world's longest teak span - basically a plank bridge about two meters wide attached to high teak pilings. Right now the water is low and the bridge is about three or four meters above the water. It is very picturesque with people herding ducks, boats which look like gondolas for hire, monks crossing the span with umbrellas, and people from all over on the bridge to enjoy the sunset. Ron and I couldn't stop taking photos and will now have to do a lot of culling!