We don't start our tour until this evening so a day catching up with the housekeeping and then a stroll to the national monument,the main mosque,the catholic cathedral and finally a trip to the national museum before a taxi back to the hotel for a welcome beer.
The first thing we noticed was the humidity,soon the sweat was dripping off us even though we tried to be on the shady side of the street . We had to get used to the cars driving on the left again as they drive on the right in Burma. They used to but after their coup a general decided it was too british so made everyone drive on the right. However virtually all the cars,lorries,buses and especially the high end cars are all right hand drive and the road tolls are designed for them. We walked along the pavement which is more of a covered drain and has chunks of concrete missing so most people walk on the road.The motor bikes just avoid you and the cars tend to drive sedately as people tend to cross the road by putting their hands up and go for it. Thankfully as we approached the national monument,a huge concrete spire in the middle of a tree lined garden there are zebra crossings and foot bridges. Inside the park there was a herd of deer grazing in the shade off the trees. We passed through one of the metro stations which was a hive of activity with shops,cafes and crowds of passengers which brought us to the largest mosque in south east asia made of marble and concrete and opposite is the catholic church ,all gothic and made from stone. As it was 12 pm the church bells were competing with the muezzin. Quite bizarre and a bit surreal. We retrace our steps and carried on walking round the national monument park until we reached the national museum. The cafe served us delicious coffee frappes which was most welcome.
The museum was partly closed for renovation but we spent a few hours marvelling at some of the former sultans' treasures and ancient gold relics from various digs. It was far better curated than the museum in Bagan as many items were pictured next to photos of ancient statues/carvings that showed them in situ. Many had been returned in a bit of cultural goodwill by Holland as they had been taken as spoils of war when the local deposed sultan's were exiled to Singapore.It was also a bid odd to see furniture that was similar to some that we have in Wales but not surprising as Sebastian's maternal grandfather was born here and it was his. We hailed a taxi,gave him the hotel card but he didn't take us to the right one,couldn't do a u-turn and we took a rather circuitous route back as there are many one way streets round the centre. He appeared to be mortified and it couldn't have been a scam as it was the reputable taxi company and extra cost probably less than a US$.
We were so hot we just had to have another beer and shower before we met the rest of our tour party. There will be 6 of us on this tour: us,2 Canadians from Winnipeg ,an indian from Kolkutta and a german from Hamburg. We all went to a typical indonesian local cafe for dinner,mainly noodles and rice dishes. All quite mild until you add the lethal chilli sauces,a far cry from burma. we have been warned.