We got into port later than normal because the tides in the river are unusual. We could only enter the port at a high tide since the river is so shallow. The first day in Myanmar, I participated in a city orientation tour through SAS. Our port was about an hour drive from the city of Yangon. Our first stop was at the Independence Memorial and Park. Since we arrived on a Sunday afternoon, it was packed with locals enjoying their day off.

This woman approached our group with a basket of live birds and explained that a person can pay to release a bird. We later learned that it’s good karma in the Buddhist faith to release a bird, but it was so strange to watch this woman walk around with a basket full of live birds. After we explored the park, we headed to our second stop of the day.

We then went to the Shwedagon Pagoda. This Pagoda is the most sacred Buddhist Pagoda in Myanmar. It is also the biggest one in Yangon. I was struck with awe at the beauty of this temple. You will notice in all of my pictures that we are barefoot. Shoes are not allowed. The temple is dripping in gold and is completely surrounded by gorgeous shrines. It was pure chaos inside. People were meditating in obscure places, there were strange smells, and so many languages that I’ve never heard before. I know that I’ve said this many times, but it is now the most beautiful place I’ve ever been. I explored the Pagoda until it was dark. After we left the Pagoda, we went to dinner at a lantern lit restaurant where we enjoyed the typical Burmese meal of chicken curry and rice (because they eat it every meal of the day). After dinner I went back to the ship because (shocker) I had another ridiculously early morning the following day.

I woke up at 3:30am for an early flight to Mandalay. At the airport we were surprised to see Goldfish crackers! Everyone in my group went wild. Its crazy what gets us excited these days. After a short flight to Mandalay, we went straight to a Buddhist Nunnery. We provided offerings (money) to the nuns, and we watched them eat their last meal of the day. The nuns at the Nunnery have to eat all of their meals before noon. and they all line up, process in, and have to eat in silence.

Then we visited a shrine to the Buddha. Only men were allowed to go in and touch the Buddha which was frustrating because I wanted to go in. Women were forced to watch outside on a closed circuit television. At this shrine there was also an art museum full of beautiful contemporary art. That made this visit a little better. Our next stop for the day was at a restaurant for lunch, and we ate chicken curry, of course.

After lunch we visited the only remaining piece of the old palace which has been repurposed into a monastary. The rest of the palace no longer exists because it was bombed during WWII. We then went to the World’s Largest Book at Kuthodaw Pagoda. This book is not a book that you would think of as a book. This golden temple is surrounded by hundreds of stone tablets that comprise the "world's largest book."

This book is 729 pages, each page is protected by its own building. The pages are inside the white structures below.

At the end of the day we drove to the U Bein Bridge. It is the longest teak bridge in the world, measuring 1.2 km and crossing Taungthaman Lake. We hopped in little canoes and rowed around the bridge until sunset. We watched the sun fall below the bridge. Then we were dropped off at the middle of the bridge, and we walked on the bridge back to land. Then we went to dinner and at dinner we watched a traditional puppet show.

The day started at 5am. Before the sun was up, we went to the Mandalay River and boarded a boat. We sailed for 8 hours down the river to Bagan. We stopped at a small village along the river. This community is famous for its ceramics. We watched women make pots on manpowered wheels. Two little boys ran up to me, and they gave me a tiny little bowl the size of my hand because I had given them some snacks. We toured the village and we made a last stop at a school. When we walked into a classroom there were English words written on the board. I talked to a few of the kids about the new words they were learning which was such an amazing experience. I was halfway around the world and these kids were learning my language. I spent the rest of the day on the boat, in the sun and reading. It was nice to take a break from school and sightseeing! Once we were back on land we had a reunion with all of the other SAS groups at dinner. Two days away from my friends feels like forever now. It was great to see them while in country. At dinner there was a dancing elephant performance (They don't use real elephants). After dinner we went back to the hotel. I went out with my friends, and we stayed out way later than we should have considering we had to wake up at 4am the next day.

I was up and ready by 5 am. I was going hot air ballooning and was so very excited. We drove to a field in the middle of nowhere. We ate a quick breakfast and watched the balloons begin to inflate. Once they flipped the balloons upright we began to board. It was extremely hot because of the heat from the fire. It was amazing watching the sunrise from the air. I didn’t even feel like I was off the ground. The winds were unusual that day, and we floated where they usually don’t go. We floated above New Bagan. It was exciting to the see the small children running out of their houses to wave to us. It was a wonderful experience. However, we did have a rough landing because we landed super close to a river and there was not enough room to deflate the balloon so we had a move a couple times. After ballooning we went back to the hotel for breakfast. We checked out of the hotel and visited a marketplace.

At the marketplace our guide guide gave us each a strip of paper with a Burmese pronunciation (word) and sent us each on a mission to find an item to donate to a school. I could not figure out what my item was and I looked so dumb trying to pronounce these words. The shop owners thought it was hilarious. Finally a woman understood me, she grabbed my hand and marched me outside. She took me to a stand full of rice and talked to the owner to negotiate a price. I guess my item was rice! I was so grateful for this kind woman!

After we finished shopping at the market we went to another pagoda. Next we visited a school. I’ve never had so many kids hanging on my arms. We played “CAT CAT DOG” (which is just like “DUCK DUCK GOOSE”, but there aren’t any ducks or geese in Myanmar!) This was such a heartwarming experience for me! The children were filled with joy. Just a side note, the children stopped smiling the moment we took a picture because it’s not culturally acceptable to smile! I promise they’re happy even if they don’t show it!

After the school we went on a donkey pulled carriage ride through pagodas that you can’t access any other way. We had lunch and then visited our final pagoda in Bagan. We had a quick drive to the airport and caught a flight back to Yangon. We enjoyed dinner in the city before heading back to the ship.

Today I had to make up a field class because I missed mine for my Poverty Class when we had issues getting into South Africa. I joined an Entrepreneurship Class for its field class. We visited two start up companies. The first company that we visited was Koe Koe Tech. We learned about the social welfare programs that they are developing. The second company that we visited was the Yangon Bakehouse. This company trains women who were are poverty stricken. They are trained in Culinary Arts so that they can get jobs and work outside of the home. We visited their training center and then one of the cafes. We got to eat the food that they made and it was so good!!! At the end of the day we got caught in traffic so we had a karaoke party on the bus! I will miss Myanmar so much. I never imagined I would love this country so much.