Bagan, last days in Myanmar, end of March 2015

Myingyan to Bagan, 66 km
Lovely ride through small villages, it is school holiday time so all the kids are out and about. Happy and friendly. Morning tea at a local tea shop. Chillis drying in the sun. Found a nice place to stay in Bagan late afternoon then headed out on the  the bikes to see the sunset over the pagodas. But due to the smog the sun did not really set , just kind of went out before the horizon! Bagan is famous for its thousands of ancient temples and pagodas. We visited here in August 1986 so it was interesting to return. Now there are three towns to stay in. So many hotels, guesthouses and restaurants but reasonably separate from the temples and pagodas which are still the same. Ancient and some falling apart but still very impressive. We biked around all the next day,  as they cover a huge area,  in the heat and both got punctures from the spikey grass. Great timing as we were back on the main rd right outside a beer station. Sunrise, you can now take a large hot air balloon ( there are at least 10) to see the sights but at US $320 each we passed...  but heard it was impressive. Next morning we left the hotel in the dark at 4.45 am to take the ferry up the Arrawaddy river back to Mandalay. It left at 5.30 and was supposed to take 10 hours but actually took 14 hours due I think to the low water level and negotiating from one side to the other around sand banks. Good, quiet relaxing trip but a bit long and arrived in Mandalay in the dark so a hectic ride through the busy streets to our hotel. Next day we finally found the famous teak bridge which was about 20km south. Then packed up the bikes into bike boxes which Trevor had found and stored at the hotel for a couple of weeks. Then that was it, taxi to the airport which is miles out of town and off to Bangkok. Spent our full 28 day visa in Myanmar, absolutely loved it but it was time to go particularly because by late March the heat and smog was unbearable. Another fabulous 1000 plus km ridden and new friends made along the way. Bea and Pieter are on the way through Thailand and Lao to Vietnam, Evelyn and William finish their year long tour and head back to the French alps, Grum is pedalling to India, Nepal and beyond and we are off to Europe...