Today we went on a day trip to Bago. We went with several teachers from school and it was really really nice to go and do something like that again. It has been a while since we did (day)trips. Last year of course a trip to Bagan but that was almost a year ago.
While we were driving into the countryside I was thinking to myself how I love Myanmar outside of Yangon. Yangon has never been my favourite place in Burma and I was reminded of that again today. Of course, it is nice to be able to get loads of western food stuff here 9thanks to the City Mart supermarket chain) but I also realised that I get annoyed at not having things like power just because I expect a city like Yangon to have a regular power supply (or other things that you expect to have). I wouldn't mind things missing so much if it was normal not to have them (I remember that from my travel time).
Bago is still very nice. I don't like the main street so much but they have some beautiful houses around there. We didn't go into Shwethatalyaung Pagoda since we were asked to pay $10 each (the non-Myanmar). Ok, it would give us entrance to a few other sites but we weren't going to visit many places anyway. While arriving at the Paya though,I had that strange feeling you sometimes have of recollecting an experience. I remembered how I loved visiting new places when I was still traveling by myself. The freedom of lingering as long as you wanted, exploring wherever you wanted to go, not having to pay attention to anyone. I miss it. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't want to trade my time now for anything but I think that as soon as the kids are older, backpacking will be back on our travel calender.
Our organiser was bend on drinking palm juice. That's were we were heading after lunch. With 2 preschoolers and 2 preteens included in the party, sitting on a mat while some people drink palm juice (which is slightly alcoholic) is not something that you can do for too long. So we left a group behind and went to visit the Snake Pagoda. I hadn't been there for a while. Last I heard the snake was dead. The snake turned out to be alive after all. Not extremely active but our science teacher says it is hugely overfed and under exercised. It is enormous though. While I was inside the enclosure with the kids (all 5 of them) the snake moved its head and 'tasted' the air. Xenne wasn't at all afraid of it but I was the more afraid for him. Not that it would harm him I'm sure (they told me years ago that the snake eats 12 chickens a week...which seems more than enough), but it is a big snake (about 5 meters).
The monastery looks a whole lot different from the last time I was there (which must have been somewhere in 2007). Then, the monastery looked almost forgotten. Now there was a huge entrance gate, a big open space to park the bus, a covered area on the side with 2 big cars which obviously belonged to the monastery. It felt strange.
Our little one was so easy during the trip. Not yet four months and she cried not even once. The other two had a great time. It helped that both had a playmate of around the same age. It is something we should do more often.
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