Sadly we're now in the big city Yangon (formerly Rangoon) staying in a pretty large, soulless 5* hotel. The government decided a few years ago to ban motorcycles (much the favoured form of transport as its cheap and you can easily get a family of 5 on one bike) and consequently the traffic is a complete nightmare as a good 40% of the vehicles are taxis. No one will give an inch and lane markings don't mean anything. Hooting is illegal but luckily most people ignore that which is probably as well as even more accidents would happen. Our coach driver was dreadful and would swerve from lane to lane to get in front and one time he braked so hard both Ian and I were actually thrown from our seats. I ended up on the floor between our front seats and the refrigerated box and Ian somehow managed to get a foot hold and stop himself being thrown towards the windscreen. The next day I insisted our seatbelts were untied so that we could actually use them!
The first morning we kicked off our sightseeing with a visit to this reclining Buddha, unfortunately the building resembled an aircraft hangar with harsh lighting and gantries in the way.
One of reasons the original Buddha was special was because he was born with 108 markings on his feet. With tattoos so popular nowadays I wonder what our descendants will make of bodies found 2000 years from now - will they be similarly deified?
But the eyelashes were to die for.
From there we drove around the lake to see the Royal Barge, a popular place for wedding couples. This bride was having her make-up done but happy to be photographed.
After lunch we walked through the streets downtown (still don't understand what that means!) and took in the sights and smells of street life.
I'm not sure why this fly paper was so prominently positioned
We saw quite a few commercial rose growers when we were on the Irrawaddy and they seem to protect the buds quite early on, so the fields are full of these white tips.
This little girl wasn't looking for fleas as we originally thought, but for grey hairs which she then pulled out. We pointed to Ian's head and all had a good laugh.
Then late afternoon we visited the Shwedagon Pagoda, one of the most famous and probably the oldest pagoda in the world It sits atop a hill and is 99 meters high, the main gold-plated dome is topped by a stupa containing over 7,000 diamonds, rubies, topaz and sapphires, the whole giddy concoction offset by a massive emerald positioned to reflect the last rays of the setting sun.
The pagoda is said to contain eight hairs of the Buddha and as Myanmar's most revered shrine it has always been customary for families, mendicants and followers of the Buddha to make the pilgrimage to the Shwedagon in much the same way that Muslims feel compelled to visit the Kaaba at Mecca at least once in their lifetime.
Ringing the bell 5 times for good luck
It was a nightmare to photograph but does look beautiful illuminated at night (viewed from our balcony).
The following day we had just a 2 hour sightseeing programme including another pagoda but it was rather an anti climax after Shwedagon.
And that brought our holiday to Myanmar to a close - it was absolutely fantastic, we loved the place and especially the people. I hope you've enjoyed following us around.