Ahhhh the river

After the festival in the north it was time to hit the Irrawaddy river. At first it appeared like el vado, a lake in northern new mexico, which has sandy banks and is dotted with coniferous trees and has wide open areas where the trees are not gathered, but even though el vado is a lake it remains a place where the climate feels and looks very dry and it was the same on the river. But in this area there is a visual treat of seeing ox-drawn carts being pulled along the bank. After this type of environment the banks remain sandy but are surrounded by lush forest.

In this area all along the banks people are panning for gold. When you look at the sand and especially when you grab a handful you can easily see the flakes in it. This helps for the thousands of tons of gold that are covering stupas and statues in burma. The people that collect the gold seem very nomadic. They pitch elongated half dome tents out of plastic and bamboo, I assume, and live where the gold is until it is time to move to another area. There are many varieties in the way the gold is panned. From hand sifting to using large pumps and conveyors, but always done at the local level. There are no corporate machines or vehicles and always the people live where they work in a very modest manner. The first day we (those of us on the boat that were foreigners) arrived in a town called simbo. Just a great small place with dirt roads and a warm rural feeling with genuine hospitality. Tons of children walking the street some yelling "I like you, I like you, I like you..." At least I think this is what they were saying.

Next day headed to bamow(sp.?). The boat was fine at first. About mid way through the trip it was filled to over capacity with about 40 people and 8 or 10 benches to sit on, not so nice. Bamow is a small yet busy town with a lot of chinese influence because it is not so far from the border. The hotel I stayed at had an awesome buffet breakfast. Probably the best breakfast in myanmar. Various soup making stations, lots of sweets, egg dishes and plenty of fresh juice.
Left to the next town called Katha. Within 10 minutes the boat we are on, which was full of tourists, got stuck aground in the river. The workers onboard do something to free the boat and we were on our way. When the water was slightly deeper we docked and a boat that we had passed before we got stuck pulled along beside us and all the locals that were heading to katha got off that boat and onto the one we were on. They also replace the prop. Tourists get all the treatment.

Traveling down the river on the hill side or the banks there is stupa after stupa. As you pass one another looms up in the distance, this occurs on both sides of the river. Some are modest and some are grandiose, perhaps it depends on the wealth of the particular area.

The next morning leave from Katha at 5AM, definitely not my favorite. The banks are no longer sandy and gold panning is no longer the main industry. It has changed to teak timber from the surrounding forest on barges heading down the river. Most of the bank is now soft rock and covered with vegetation, the incline hasn't changed too much, but the panning must not be good. I get off at a town pronounced shweebo instead of going all the way to mandalay. Haggling is alive even for boat transportation. Instead of paying the $35 to mandalay I only pay $25 to shweebo, sweet.

Some thoughts:

There is a monk sitting next to me in the cybercafe.

Telephone booths are actually tables set up with telephones on them on the sidewalk that are connected to the lines overhead.

In Yangon there are no motorbikes. Instead of pitstop stations for motor bikes they have them for bicycles, a simple hand pump and a patch kit perhaps.