Bagan

The day started well; just 170 kms drive to take us to Bagan and a luxurious hotel for three nights with, allegedly, a bit of decent wifi* - some hope! We were on mainly small roads through villages; dust - so much dust,  a bit of gravel, some sand, many bumps and dips and one huge bridge that took as across the Irrawady - again.  As always, incredulous stares followed by smiles and much waving, was the order of the day. All very fine.

Bagan is quite extraordinary. Thousands, THOUSANDS of red brick temples dotted about all over the place. Some huge, many tiny but in so much abundance it took our breath away. Bits of it reminded me of some of the smaller, outlying temples at Angkor. We have certainly hit the tourist zone and, I'm sure that in a very few years time it will become overrun.  New businesses to serve the rapidly increasing number of visitors are being thrown up in a very haphazard fashion cheek by jowl with ancient monuments.  The portents are not good.

After lunch, car 2 decided to take part in the regularity, not for the points, as they are of no use to us now, but for the sheer fun of it.  It was nearly all on rough, sand roads, the Model A's natural territory.  We lined up behind Gerd and Birgit's gorgeous little BMW, when Gerd realised he had a problem. A few of us tried to give him a push up, and down, a dip, but to no avail.  The mechanics were called and, as there were very close by, we hoped that they would get the car going within the twenty minutes penalty time that they were allowed.  We may have been doing the regularity for fun, but the BMW was in first place and so it really mattered to them.

We set off on a quite marvellous route, it was, of necessity, not at all fast, but oh my it was rough. The dust, so much, great clouds of it covered the car and us: tremendous.  Car 2 took a slight detour from the route and decided to do a little sightseeing - we never did find the end of the regularity, but we certainly had some fun. When we reached the hotel we heard that the mechanics were still with Gerd's car - we felt sad that they had lost their coveted first place but we were sure the BMW would soon be with us and the star turn in the car park with its ravishing good looks.

We left, at 4 pm, in a little convoy for the dock and a sunset cruise on the Irrawady.  We were told that we would get off at a sandbank for a drink, but were not sure what that would entail. We parked in a tiny village on the riverside and were soon besieged by very small, beguiling children desperately trying to sell us things.  It's started.  What a tragedy, soon all tourists sites in Burma will have the scourge of children selling, just like at Angkor.  Vulnerable children do not belong chasing after tourists, they should be at home. I fear it will only escalate with devastating consequences for them, as in Cambodia.  

It was 10 to a boat and we were soon off. Our boat was first to leave. Captain Julian took the helm for a short while and we sped off soon losing sight of the others. Able Seaman Ines, had decided on Jimmy Choo stilettos as suitable footwear for walking on a sandbar - they were left on the boat ~! Soon, we spied our destination.  The wonderful Zani and her team had set up a little camp in a deserted spot, on a large sandbank on the river.  There were beautiful umbrellas, tables laden with snacks, lanterns, and large stoneware pots full of cocktails. Wow! What a time we had!

We arrived back at the hotel around 7.30 to be met by Birgit in the car park who told us the devastating news that the car was unfixable. We could hardly believe it.  The car had been amazingly well prepared and every conceivable thing had been done to it. It was the worst possible news.  Six of us, plus Birgit and Gerd huddled around a little table discussing the future and how they were going to remain part of our rally family - the most important thing.  All of us around the table had had to drop out of a rally previously and we all knew, only too well, the desperately sad, overwhelming feeling of failure. A solution was soon found.  They will travel, in a Land Rover, with the ever smiling Bert, our delightful Dutch  filmmaker.  Most rally cars are so stripped out that they do not have back seats, if they had them in the first place, so getting a lift is not as easy as it seems.  The Beuhler's have become our dear friends and I am delighted that they are carrying on to the end.  For them to leave early would be unthinkable.

Tomorrow, we leave the hotel at 5.30 am to go on a balloon ride over the temples. A balloon!  Too, too thrilling. Since leaving home for this trip I have travelled by:

Plane

Car

Minibus

Big bus

Train

Tuktuk

Bicycle

Big Boat

Small boat

Golf cart

Pick up

Cycle rickshaw

Ox cart

Horse carriage

and, tomorrow, a balloon. Yipee!

*still no proper wifi - posting v difficult.