Myanmar Part 2 - Pyay

We survived our first very bumpy, slow bus ride to Pyay, 6 hours north of Yangon. Just before sunset we went down to the river and hung out with the locals that were washing themselves, their babies and their clothes. We were overwhelmed at the welcome that we had and the children wanted to hug me and kiss me. Not many tourists come to Pyay and we found out later that it is a very difficult place to leave. Literally.



The following day we met a French man called Bernard and the 3 of us hired a pick-up so that we could do some sight seeing. The very friendly hotel receptionist that works nights also tagged along as our guide.

First of all we went to see the Paya of the Golden Spectacles, which is a Buddha image with lovely huge gold glasses (the only one in the world). This Buddha image has had a number of pairs of specs partly due to the English stealing the originals Not our finest moment!



The Buddha now also has a spare pair. He must have gone to Specsavers!


Next we visited the enormous and beautiful Shwesanda Paya, perched atop a central hill (great views). This is Sehatgyi Paya, a giant seated Buddha.


Next we went to Thayekhittaya, the sprawling walled city of Pyu, who ruled here 1500 years ago. Here's one of the remaining enormous monuments:


This is Bawhawgyi Paya; it's 46 metres high:


We then headed back to Pyay, had a beer at a beer station and watched the world go by.


This is a statue of Aung San, which sits in the central square. The vast majority of the people in Myanmar love this heroic man, who fought to kick out the English and then fought to kick out the Japanese. Very very sadly he was assassinated at the age of 32. I'm sure Myanmar would be a very different country if he'd have lived longer. Fortunately, he left his people Aung San Suu Kyi, his incredible, awe-inspiring, fearless daughter, who continues to fight for democracy in her country.


We watched the local men play 'cane ball'; it's incredible to see these guys do the splits in the air! They are so flexible and athletic and it is much more exciting than soccer - not sure about the nappy-type outfit though!

Once again we hung out with the locals by the river and watched the sunset.

We had 2 nights in wonderful Pyay and then we planned to leave. We had the option of a 15 hour bus journey on a local bus i.e. very old, clapped out, jam-packed bus with no air con, or a 10 hour over night train journey. We opted for the train but when we arrived at 9pm for the 10pm train we were told that it was cancelled. We went to the bus station and ended up getting on the 10pm bus back to Yangon. We arrived at 4am and 4 hours later we got a posh bus, that took 10 hours, to Bagan. We were so relieved to arrive in Bagan almost 24 hours since we'd left Pyay and sleep in a bed. Now we know why tourists don't visit Pyay but we're glad that we did.