The sandy shores of the Ayeyarwaddy River

We had an early start today as the alarm went off at 4.45am for a 5am pick-up for our trip down the Ayearwaddy river from Bagan to Mandalay.  We got straight on the boat and fell asleep for over an hour, waking up in time to go on the deck for a lovely sunrise.

The boat trip was long and pretty uneventful but it was great to sit on deck reading and watching the world go by.  The banks of the Ayeyarwaddy are sandy for most of the way and you occasionally see small villages and settlements but much of the way is pretty bare.  This makeshift shelter is typical of what we saw and this woman had just fed her pigs before letting them drink from the river.

After sunset on the deck, the arrival into Mandalay was pretty spectacular in the dark with lit up Pagodas lining the shore.

We are dropped off and share a pick-up truck to our hotel where we check in then go out for dinner.  Man City v Chelsea is on at 11.45pm and although we're tired we really want to watch it so we are chuffed that our hotel has cable TV and we can watch from the comfort of our beds.  Fred falls asleep for much of it and its a 1-1 draw, finishing at nearly 2am ... time for bed.