Big girl now !

Last night I dreamed I went to Mandalay.

Different spelling, I know but then I woke up and realised it was true. The stabilisers are off, after all these years of being spoon- fed by two people who had Masters degrees in travel planning,  I'm on my own two feet for the first time. 

Credit to Hannah, she's left me to it completely, apart from the odd bit of photocopying travel documents and helping me rationalise a massive pile of clothes into something manageable that fitted into the minutest of hold-alls.  Other than that, she's not checked up on what I've organised. I'm sure she's had to bite her tongue / sit on her hands a number of times. 

So far have only had a brief taste of Mynamar. Having had a whole month in Thailand I've acclimatised to Asia, albeit a very different one, and that helps. The day before yesterday I was in Central Embassy, Bangkok's newest shopping mall with every designer label and international food outlet ( there's a Harrods cafe and  a Laduree if you want a French macaron. ) You can get anything (at a price ).

Now Mynamar seems another world, yet geographically it's only a stone's throw away from Bangkok. It feels on the cusp of being fully developed as a tourist destination. Hoping there won't be a KFC, Starbucks or Macdonalds in sight.  A long wait at Mandalay airport and a domestic flight out of it, yesterday, was a taster into how things are going to be. No Departure board  - you have to second guess where to be and when. Flights can change times, on a whim. Duty Free consists of a small room with few brands of booze and fags. Toilet hand wash is pictured - no towels. Check in and security clearance was ramshackle by other airport standards. Transfer from plane to airport building was dramatic as the ancient bus carrying U.S. had a tyre blowout, just as we halted.  But there's  a charm to it being less sophisticated and without Thai bling and fakery - so far every person has been delightful and happy :- in the airport staff sang while they worked.

I'm loving the longhi men and women alike wear. Might have to get one - you don't show your bare arms or legs in this culture - wore a linen cardi yesterday to show respect for this (even though it was boiling) - air con only seems to  be on spasmodically - power shuts down in the afternoon quite regularly, apparently, but never on an evening when football is being aired on TV!  This a country still run in a dubious and corrupt way. 

It was love at first sight when I approached Bagan at sunset, a landscape punctuated with thousands of ancient pagodas. Haven't ventured out in daylight yet but can see several of them from my hotel verandah and this morning was woken by the gentle Buddhist pre- dawn call to prayer. Those who know me know I'm not an early riser, but I was very forgiving. It seems magical.