In search of an Empire.Siam,Burma and Singapore.

[drron]

Didn't expect the range of flowers.The fruit and veggies here in the main looked good.Better than any other market we saw.

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The last one is winter potato.I have had this in Laos.Just peel and eat.Not too bad.

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Mrsd made a lady's day by buying a bunch of these roses for a dollar-

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Drinking water being distributed.Even in the photo it doesn't look clear-

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Plenty of chillis-

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[drron]

The markets continued.A fascinating hour with good interaction with the locals.

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Dried fish-a major source of protein.

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And any amount of dried shrimp you want-

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Lots of onions and garlic-

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[drron]

Local fish are heavily salted.Flies are complimentary-

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Eugenia leaves for temple offerings-

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And a staple of Burmese cuisine which smelt as good as it looks!Fish paste-

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Pickled young mango-

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Bean curd.We would know it as tofu but in Burma what they call tofu is yellow and totally different-

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Sausage anyone?

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Fast food-rice and prawns-

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[love_the_life]

I must say the fish paste has a certain je ne sais quoi about it, possibly not high on my must eat list :mrgreen:

 

[drron]

Eggs and fermented tea leaves-

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Spices-

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Thanaka-the yellow stuff on the faces of women and children-

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Ordinary tea leaves and what they sometimes do with the fermented ones.Oh yummy.

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Betel chewing is common here-leaves nuts and preparation-

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We now entered a less salubrious part of the market-

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[drron]

A general store with modern scales and weights-

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Produce not quite as fresh in this section-

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Not much room on this bike-

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[drron]

The last of the markets-

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As we were leaving the nuns were out collecting alms-

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Some interesting names and whilst we would like to turn brown they would rather turn white-

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[drron]

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Would you buy your betel nut from this lady?

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Now we sailed downriver to Pyay.The effects of erosion are obvious-

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This central area of Burma is dry.It reminds me of the country around Townsville-

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[drron]

How long before this house falls over?

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These huts on the sandbank will be washed away next wet season.Usually they come from country villages where they have little land.The sandbanks are fertile and they get a crop of veggies.As soon as harvested back they go to there villages-

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These 2 being sensible hitching a ride upriver-

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A casualty of erosion.The hut behind didn't do too well either-

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Some old stupas-

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[drron]

More industry near a small village-

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Finally reaching Pyay which put on a show for us-

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The next day dawned and it was off to an elephant camp with 2.30 hours in a second hand Korean bus without shock absorbers-

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[drron]

Some big houses in Pyay but outside the city the rice has been harvested and the veggie crops going in-

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About half way we stopped at a small village for a "happy"stop-

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The family supplements it's income by making concrete blocks.Note the difference,dad is doing the work-

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[drron]

And the "happy"room-

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Arriving at the elephant camp we were greeted by this little guy-

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And then the elephants-

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And this 14 month old rejected by his mother so hand reared.Thinks he is human-

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Then the elephants were put to work.

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[RooFlyer]

Putting in a blistering posting pace, dr.ron

 

[JohnM]

Putting in a blistering posting pace, dr.ron

He's trying to take your TR crown .

 

[drron]

I did do a 3 hour walk around the neighbourhood this morning and 1 hour doing laps this afternoon.Place is nearly empty so the internet speed is fast so taking advantage.Also our first flight on Air Kanbawza tomorrow so thought I should get to 10000 posts before that.

So back to the elephants.What fun can a piece of plastic be-

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Party pooper-

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Time for lunch-

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While the baby goes home alone-

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Nothing stops the champagne flowing.

 

[drron]

Hot work this eating-

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Elephant food-

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This fellow wanted to use his trunk to eat-

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Whilst the senior citizen at age 78 preferred to have food placed in his mouth-

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Then the elephants went back to work-

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With our guide Soe.A fantastically nice fellow-

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Belmonds donation to the village-

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[drron]

I thought it appropriate that my 10000th post should be on a TR.So here it is with the elephants back at work-

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So we say goodbye to the elephants and the village-

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And the teak plantations which are being thinned-

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[drron]

Some shots from the bus on the way back to the Orcaella-

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Passed a few sets of graves,usually 4-5.Possibly from colonial times-

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Past a large lake-

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And sugarcane which was being harvested manually-

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[drron]

Continuing the bus ride-

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Even eucalypts to make us feel at home-

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Thousand year old pagoda in a World Heritage area.Unfortunately we didn't stop-

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[drron]

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A Pandaw vessel goes by as we arrive back at the ship-

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On board we all had a session with a famous Myanmar astrologer.

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It was amazing.We all had strong life lines,were leaders,were going to be rich and live to 95.Mrsdrron believed him when he said to achieve her potential she had to wear a ruby ring on her right ring finger.So she bought one!
It was a bit scary as he really did get my past pretty right even saying I had an accident 50 years ago which was fixed this year(it was still 2014).I had my original knee injury at age 14 and my knee replacement in 2014.He also said I am 2 people-finally someone has found out I'm schizophrenic.However he meant I have experienced some psychic phenomena including someone telling me about their past life.This indeed has happened.

More light hearted was a longhi demonstration where drron gets into a skirt-

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The professionals had a lot of uses-

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The last is how to play elephants with your kids.
But finally it is sunset-

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