We stopped to talk with a street food vendor about his food and making a living selling it.
Statue of General Aung San who is Suu Kyi's father. Suu Kyi is the leader of the National League for Democracy that just won the big election in Myanmar that is posed to change the political function of the country.
We stopped a small local cafe to have a food exploratory lunch.
Phyo ordered a variety of dishes for us to try.
Most of them were ok but there were a few I didn't care for. It was a good experience though.
We then rode around town and Phyo took us to meet her English teacher April. April lived in Philadelphia for 14 years and taught at Temple University. She was very interesting and when I asked how she liked living in the US she said she didn't like that people were not as community oriented. That she never really got to know her neighbors because no one made the effort. They only waved or said hi if you happen to meet while getting the mail or was coming home at the same time.
On our way back to the hotel we stopped at this roadside kitchen to talk with a lady that was making food to be sold the next day at the market.
Rode past an elementary school.
Like here, the parents were waiting to pick up the kids only on motorbikes rather than in cars.
We got back to the hotel just in time to meet up with the others for an evening discovery tour. We first went to the Nanmyint Observatory Tower to get a panoramic view of the area's pagoda studded plains.
From the 11th floor we could see for miles. The pagodas and temples were scattered all over the area.
It has truly amazed me at how many of these ancient pagodas and temples are concentrated in the area. It's mind boggling to think about the amount of resources that were required, not to mention the massive labor force needed, to build all of them 700 - 900 years ago.
After leaving the tower we headed along a back road to go visit a remote farming village. As we were driving I noticed workers in a field putting in hay, or so I thought, and asked if we could stop to talk with them. It turned out that they were harvesting peanuts.
They were feeding the peanut vines into the thrasher to separate the remaining peanuts and to grind up the fodder to be stored and used for livestock feed.
Phyo introduced me to the owner and we discussed a little about farm life. I asked if I could help out for a while and he just smiled and said yes. So I pitched in and fed the thrasher for a bit. It was fun and I know the workers were thinking "This crazy foreigner".
The peanuts they had collected.
We headed on to the village. This team of Brahmas was taking a wagon to the village.
We first stopped by the elementary school to look around.
I loved this sign with the school motto - "Let us all strive to make our school perfect in every way".
Basic classroom
Interestingly they have a worship room. Maybe we need to learn a few things from them.
As we strolled on into the village we passed this house where an elderly woman was out front. She motioned for us to come over. She went into the house and came back with a bowl of peanuts to share with us.
She was so friendly and really tried to get us to stay, eat, and visit. It touched my heart that with her meager and humble home she was so giving to us total strangers. Again, maybe we could learn something from these people.
Notice in the picture above the bags in my hand. Earlierin the day we stopped at a local market and l fixed some bags (school workbooks, pencils, and a couple of treats) to give the children during our visit. Word soon got around and the kids came to see us.
They were very polite, weren't pushy or demanding, and waited their turn to receive our gifts. Phyo would ask them to tell us in English what their name was, how old they were and what grade they were in.
There was a group of young men playing cane ball (remember for a few days ago I had a picture of the woven cane balls). I asked if I could try it and they invited me to jump in. Did fairly well - or at least I didn't fall on my but - and they didn't laugh too hard.
Fun! Fun! Fun!
It was really evident that this was a farming village with all of the cattle and equipment.
These are melons but they are raised specifically for cattle feed. They are white inside.
We stopped to visit with this man. He told us his family was the one out in the peanut field and hadn't come in for supper yet. He also let us know he was 81 years old.
Peanuts
Would love to have some of these wheels at home.
It was getting dark so we climbed on this old truck to go back towards town for dinner.
We sat on bags of seed and bounced across the rough country roads. It had been a long time since I rode in the back of a truck.
On the way Phyo said she had a surprise stop for us. It was to climb a pagoda in the dark across from one of the large golden pagodas. There was a family having a birthday party on top of the pagoda and they had placed candles around the top edge. We lite some candles and added them for more light.
This was a very special treat in deed.
Well, we loaded back onto the truck and proceed to the restaurant. It was fun to watch people laugh as they saw us arrive in the old truck. During dinner we enjoyed a traditional Burmese dance performance and puppet show.
That concludes a most fantastic day.
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