Monkey Mount Popa

Up early to go to Mount Popa. The man got annoyed as we had 8 people for the taxi instead of 7 and there wasn't going to be enough room. So at breakfast Alba asked some 'Chinese' people what there plans were for the day. They said that we could share there bus that had been pre booked. 6 of us went with them all. I asked how to say thank you in Chinese and be told me that he was from Vietnam...so felt a little awkward. There first stop was the golden stupa we had done the day before. All the women (annoying butterfly people) came up to the bus from the temple and recognised us both. Was very funny. We told everyone to be careful about them all! Just as we then set off to mount Popa. The driver said that he wanted extra from us all. The Vietnamese people got annoyed as they had already paid a fortune for the bus and felt sorry for us. The 6 of us got off and asked some locals for a taxi. They came with a really small pickup truck. We all squeezed into the back. A little uncomfortable! After an hour we all arrived and were greeted by rather a lot of monkeys. My concept on monkeys has changed a lot...no longer a big fan of them!! Walked up 777 steps to get to the top. Views at the top were amazing when we eventually got there after having a few too many frights from the monkeys. After spending quite a long time at the top we all headed back down and stopped half way down to eat Hawker food. We had noodles with herbs and masses of different sauces she mixed in with her hands! It was so good though. Just before we got to the our pickup truck. The three of us (girls) tried to get a good picture of a baby monkey, but you couldn't see the baby's mothers face. I heard it snarling and told the others but it suddenly came running after us with it's teeth out and hands trying to grab us. I scampered down the stairs very fast and managed to escape it. Apparently it touched Morag but she also just got away. Got some cheap mango on the side of the road and had to be careful that the monkeys didn't come and attack us for the food. Everyone squeezed back into the pickup truck. Morag and I were especially squeezed at the back and the others seemed to look a little more comfy than us. When we arrived back we said goodbye to Alba as she is taking a bus to Inle lake. We said we would meet the guys later. Had a shower and wrote our dairies up. Morag and I then went to two different cafes. Got a mango shake that tasted like pineapple!! Morag got a tuna sandwich which definitely wasn't tuna. At our next cafe we had a chocolate shake. We got free peanuts and when we finished we stopped chatting and stared that the bowl as the man went past which was slightly awkward...but he gave us some more. We had such a funny time. We went to get supper with, Fernado, Pablo and Kekay. They all finished uni a while ago. Had a very cheap supper. Fernado asked us what we would do if we could do anything for the next 20 years. He was complaining that ours weren't good but we all laughed at him as his didn't make sense at all. He started chatting about his friend who was shy and how his friend had broken up with his girlfriend and he wanted to get them back together. When we got back we paid for our room and the bus tomorrow. Leaving at 7.30 tomorrow. Chatted to 3 sisters who were half Brazilian and German. They were super nice but a shame we are traveling in the opposite direction. Bed time after doing a speedy little pack.