It’s been raining since yesterday, I even woke up in the middle of the night listening to the rain batter down.  It’s such a change from the first day when I arrived in Bagan where the dust and the heat was the problem. The dust was everywhere and there were small hillocks of sand all along the sides of the road but since the rain started yesterday they have been slowly eroded away and spread about to the point where it looks like a quagmire.

But the rains freshen the place up and takes the dust out of the air and allows you to breathe once more without getting a nose full of shit. However the drivers are not as courteous when it comes to puddle etiquette, they will just go through and don’t seem to care if you are in the splash zone.  I have been splashed twice so far as I’ve been minding my own business. Possibly Karma at play, because  this does remind me of the time when I was driving the bus along Renfrew Road many moons ago and I soaked an innocent pedestrian. There was a huge puddle and we were doing about 40 mph and I just could not avoid it and this poor lassie got completely drookit. The wave of water I sent up in the air was like a tsunami and she had no where to go.  Then again this was something I had always wanted to do but I wish I could have picked my victim. I felt very guilty but I was also laughing on the inside too. 

The trip from Bagan to Kalaw took about 7 hours and it rained all the way.  The roads are in a terrible state of repair and I had to laugh because we went through about 4 toll booths along the way.  You have to pay for the privilege to use these crap roads. 

The small mini bus was full and so they put all the luggage on the roof which made it very top heavy. At times you could feel it wobble and walk round the corner because they came into the corner way too fast. There was a smell of rubber because the rear tyres were getting buffed away because we were over loaded.  It’s not a very comfortable or interesting trip but it is the only way to get here.

We made it in one piece and my hotel was only a short walk from where the bus stopped.  The hotels in Kalaw are very expensive and to be honest I was a bit disappointed when I saw mine considering it cost $40 a night which by my standards is expensive. But no choice or I would have spent the night out in the rain.

I did however find some good food to warm me up. ..