Flood!

From Yangon our next stop was Bagan. We purchased tickets on what we thought was a 16-hour long ride on an air-con bus. On both counts we were wrong. The bus did have air-con but they only used it 50% of the time. The trip is usually 16 hours, but at about hour 12 the driver stopped for no apparent reason. It was about 3 AM at the time. We stayed there till 7AM when we found out that the road ahead had become a river! At around 9AM, buses started attempting the river crossing, through about a foot of water. Thankfully none got stuck, although many were spewing sickly black smoke. Our turn finally came at 10:30. After another few hours we made it to Bagan.
























Austin looking pretty cool in front of a bus that was similar to ours.

















A delicious roadside meal complete with Myanmar beer. (Burmese food is actually quite nasty. Fortunately, there is a large Indian community that makes excellent chapati!) Myanmar beer is great, but it's a government joint-venture so we will probably stick to the Mandalay brew in the future.


























This vendor successfully sold me some mints!

































Tractors and oxcarts ferry people and vehicles across the road-turned-river.

















A young girl warms shields herself from the rain.

-- Will