We got on the boat for a very pleasant journey up river in the blazing sun! Amazing we had to keep reminding ourselves it was December 30th. As we pulled in to the jetty the female porters were ready to unload the boat - below. One lady crouched on the bank was still doing her washing and didn't move much when we docked. Mind you the river was very muddy if not a bit dirty too. But if its the best you've got.
It's quite poor here as its not very good for agriculture and it doesn't rain much. The road infrastructure is still pretty good but it doesn't mean much if you're poor.
We went to visit a local village to see how they made incense sticks . It was a dusty place with around 600 houses - pretty much all bamboo or wood. The kids were fascinated by western visitors and followed you round holding your hand. We were lucky that there was a novication ceremony about to take place. This is the ceremony when 6 or 7 young boys join the monastery for a short or long period. It's a big deal to the parents and all the village. The parents of the novices feed the village in a feast. We came across the ladies of the village who were sifting the rice for the feast. As you can see a real community event.
After that we drove another few hours, boat across the river then onto the back of a truck to visit some sandstone caves to see more Buddha statues. I wasn't too impressed as there was too much litter and it looked a bit sham olio . And then back in the dark to our hotel.
Up at 6:30 for the drive to Mandalay only stopping to see some temples and these 2 large Buddhas on the hillside. Honestly they have Buddha OCD - you have never seen so many statues. One temple today had 550,000 Buddha statues in it! How many is enough?
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