We have now settled into a familiar daily itinerary. The ship moors up overnight. I still find it fascinating to see them pulling the ropes up to any object on the river bank usually a tree. The staff line the path from the gang plank up to the top of the river bank to make sure we don't fall. We take a walk through a village and see how the people live. They really have next to nothing. The wooden shacks don't contain any worldly goods and some don't even have electricity. They are still all well dressed usually in the longyi, the long skirt worn by both men and women. Although as a nation the Burmese are slim they get by with enough to eat usually rice or deep fried onions like a bahji. I did try one from a road side stall and it was tasty. They are all very friendly and smile at us especially when we smile at them and say "Mingle a bah", which is a universal greeting. I always thought Thailand was the land of smiles but Burma now wins that accolade. There is no more pestering for us to buy as there was in Bagan and at every stop we walk through the local market. There are 400,000 monks in Burma and every day they go out with their bowls collecting food from the locals, who spend a lot of time collecting for them. They are an important part of the education system. If a family cannot afford to send their kids to a local school they can be educated in the monastery but have to be novices and shave their heads, girls too. The boys wear saffron robes and the girls wear pink. There are lots of pagodas usually the most beautiful building in each town and all need re-gillding every 5 years. This is done despite the fact that the people are poor and they don't seem to mind. At the bottom of Tantkyi Hill we were treated to an Elephant dance and then taken up the Hill to see the recently re-gilded pagoda and lovely views. In Salay we also saw a funeral. The whole town had turned out for the lady who was 93 years old and had a very ornate coffin. In Magwe there is a statue of General Aung San, the father of "The Lady". At the Myathalun Pagoda there were huge numbers of people as it was a religious festival. Some of them had never seen Europeans before so we were a real curiosity. Huge numbers of children. There is no contraception in Burma. Our transportation has been various, coaches in the larger towns, uncomfortable horse and cart in smaller places, My favourite ride was on a trishaw which is a side car attached to a bicycle and is a frequent mode of transport for poorer people. Stefan's driver had a hard time and had to get off and push a few times but at least he got a good tip! The worst habit is the chewing of Betal nuts wrapped in a leaf. I tried one and found it disgusting. It explains the ghastly red teeth and poor dentition in a lot of the men and all the gobs of red on the road. Sadly, there is no rubbish disposal so the sides of the roads are littered with rubbish which gets washed away when the monsoons come but cannot be good for the environment. This is all the fault of the Military government who look after themselves and their cronies first and the people last.