Antiquities in Burma, 2009

This is the fourth part of our 2009 Burmese Odyssey. To read more about our 2009 bash which includes many non-steam items, please see Rob and Yuehong in the Golden Land 2009.

Longer ago in a former life than I care to remember (actually it was in December 1975) I had seven days in Burma and that was just about enough to see Yangon (Rangoon) and travel by train to Mandalay and back. One of the side-trips I remember well is going to see U Bein's teak bridge. Amarapura and Ava, south of Mandalay, were both capitals of the country in turn and the bridge is said to have been built with remains from Ava. Yuehong has a standing invitation to read the guide books and ask to see places normal tourists frequent, so I could hardly refuse her request even if it meant we had to splash out on a taxi to Shwebo instead of taking the bus.

These days the bridge doesn't bear too close inspection as the parts that cross water are made of rapidly decaying concrete. However, it's a very pleasant stroll and as long as you put your blinkers on and ignore the tour buses and their contents (not many), the hawkers (lots) and the beggars (a few), there are some very nice photographs to be had, even in the middle of the day - it is said the sunsets are splendid. The waters here are rich and there is a huge (domesticated) duck population:

They are very much in competition with the fish:

I even had the benefit of a visiting Chinese model.

After which, we made our excuses and left, heading for Ava. Truth to tell there's not a great deal left of the city here, even though it was the capital for 400 years, what the earthquake in 1838 did not remove, successive generations of locals have appropriated. It's traditionally approached by a short ferry ride and a horse cart trip, that's the 1934 British built Ava bridge in the background, for a long time the only bridge over the Irrawaddy, it will be interesting to see if the recent replacement upstream lasts half as long.

There's not a great deal to see and only the Bagaya Monastery constructed of teak really makes it worth the effort:

It was time to head north and re-acquaint ourselves with some Temples of Steam, particularly those around Shwebo where we had some unfinished business from 2006/7 visits. Of the potentially active mills on the way into town, this was the only one which had left us frustrated:

The owner immediately recognised the mad foreigners and fortunately their rather battered old Marshall was working this time, it wasn't our greatest ever grice but it was great to be back in business.

I had some half a dozen further candidates for possible 'new action' and that meant at least one day's more taxi hire.