afloat on the ayeyarwady

Wake up call at..5am!!! Noooo.
All for a worthy cause though as I am writing this (though not posting as there is no wifi on this overnight sandbank!) in my beautifully appointed cabin on RV Katha Pandaw and the journey has now begun. At hand too is a night cap treat. A glass of Myanmar whisky....I kid you not...which is very tasty with overtones of smoke and toasted tea.
Enough of the revelling!
This at the end of seven hours by bus from Yangon to the very ancient city of Pyay which in various incarnations to the present began life three centuries BC, and as it was then is still being irrigated and farmed today.
On route was a window glimpse at rural Myanmar life where 70% of the population live and work. Villages are tiny. A cluster of wood, brick and bamboo houses with clean swept yards and a menagerie of chickens, dogs, an occasional cow and pig and small tea house. Towns are bigger, more chaotic with motorbikes, schools and yes, still chickens and dogs and several tea houses.
And there are always pagodas, gold and glistening.
An elevenses stop at a tea house and the less adventurous order Coke and the more adventurous order the local tea, dark, potent and sweetened with condensed milk...so I think we may have had it over the Coke drinkers for sugar hit!
Finally to the RV Katha Pandaw, moored on the Ayeyarwady River and as we are escorted with great care down a steep river bank, men and primarily women who have been carrying 50kg bags of rice to a trading vessel get to carry our bags to the boat. ...balanced on their heads!

The sun set and this mighty river, the original Road to Mandalay will be home for 14 days. The bag is unpacked and stowed.
The golden land is washed in sunset.