Many of the stall holders were just setting up for the day. There was many lovely souvenirs that were hard to resist buying. There was a lot of fish and fresh meat too. On the way back to the hotel we saw a parade of monks who were returning from their morning alms collection. Shortly behind them were a group of pigs bathing in a puddle in the centre of the road!
We ate a lot at breakfast and they seemed to want us to eat more, so filled a take away box with samosas for us to take away.
We had a fairly lazy day. We changed money, planned future travel and purchased bus tickets for our onward journey to Mandalay.
As the clock was heading towards 6.00pm, we walked to the Irrawaddy River hoping to catch the sun setting. We walked through a little village of traditional houses, so different to the main town. The path leading towards the river was filled with so much plastic rubbish, it was a real shame. Walking through it, we arrived at a fairly steep bank. Carefully, we made our way down to the riverside. There were a few locals doing their laundry and a few fishermen tending their boats.
A local lady approached and asked if we would like a boat ride. We were unsure at first as we hadn't planned to go on a boat. The lady spoke again and the price had halved. Now it was almost too good to miss! We took our shoes off and walked over to where a fisherman was preparing a boat. We climbed in and were off. The captain paddled and punted us out along the river. It was very shallow and full of sandbanks.
There was no one. Not a tourist in sight. The water was so flat and like a mirror. A couple of locals pulled in their fishing nets and headed to the shore. Our captain explained they were catching fish with a wiggle of his hand, as not a word of English was spoken. The views over the water were breathtaking as the sun set and the colours of the sky stunning! After the sun dipped below the horizon we were paddled back to shore. We were met by a couple of local children swimming and next we moored up at the bank. As we looked behind us the sky was even more beautiful now as the reds deepened in colour. Wow!
We paddled back across the smaller stream to the bank guided by a local lady. The bank looked a little muddy but she showed us where to step. Darryl obviously didn't watch closely enough and sank in the mud. The lady thought it was hilarious. We did too but getting the mud off was tricky.
We headed up the riverbank and listened to the locals shouting, hello ... No. They continued for a while and we thought they were practising their English. But they eventually caught us up and pointed to a different path. This time they shouted, hello ... No ... Snake! It appears that the path we were heading along was where the snakes live. We are very grateful they came after us and helped us take the correct path!
We walked with them to their village, where they pointed us in the right direction and then turned off and went home, waving as they went. We took the road straight to our amazing vegetarian restaurant. We sat down, ordered our meal and then in walked our Canadian friends. We chatted over delicious aubergine salad with peanuts and a fried potato and vegetable dish. Tea is served free with each meal so we drank plenty before leaving the restaurant.
We walked to the location where our friends had to meet their hotel mini bus and found a whole new area of shops and restaurants. This is where we spent the rest of the evening. There was plenty to see. We looked at old money, some from the military rule and Japanese rule too. We saw beautiful wood carvings and watched a local lady hand weaving on a loom. She was wearing long neck bracelets around her neck and legs. We are nit sure if she was a member of this Myanmar tribe or she wore the rings for the tourists.
