Pyay

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Day 19-Friday-January 29 We arrived in Pyay this morning and set off on our final excursion. Present day Pyay is located at the confluence of the Ayeyarwaddy and Nawin Rivers. The British Irrawaddy Flotilla Company established the current town in the late 19^thcentury on the Ayeyarwaddy River as a trans-shipment point for cargo between upper and lower Burma. Pyay is one of the most famous tourist destinations in Myanmar and is home to more than 80 gilded pagodas, including the Payagyi Pagoda which we will see this morning.

Our first stop after leaving the boat and boarding the bus was the ancient Sri Ksetra Pyu City Gate and wall built between the 4-7^th century that encompassed Pyu City, an area of over 5 square miles. We then went onto the Sri Ksetra Museum which held many ancient artifacts dating back to the 2^nd century BC. After that we drove back into Pyay to visit the Payagyi Pagoda. This is a brick conical shape stupa built around the 6^th century. Annette was able to get a great small Buddha head carved out of stone at their little gift shop. As there wasn’t much to see close-up, and only having a terrace that went around it just above ground level, we chose to pass on taking our shoes and socks off.

We boarded the bus again for a short ride to the Shwesandaw Pagoda, but it was under restoration so we passed on it. The driver dropped several of us off so we could walk past the shops on our way back to the boat, which was about a 20 minute walk.

After arriving back at the boat we continued the packing process for our departure from the boat early tomorrow morning and our bus ride back to Yangon for the overnight stay before flying to Inle Lake. We had lunch and settled our account and made arrangements for our gratuities to the crew members and guides.

We have our bags pretty much ready to close and Ye Min stopped by with our 2 baggage tags. We had our final dinner and went up to the lounge for a farewell from the crew which was a very nice send-off.

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Photos

Ye Min at the bus
He and another member of the crew are waiting for us to board the bus in Pyay.

Ancient city wall
Part of the wall that surrounded the Pyu ancient city.

Ancient wall
Pyu ancient city wall.

Annette on the wall
Having fun on our excursion.

Road sign
Describing the UNESCO World Heritage Pyu ancient city of Sri Ksetra.

Sections of history
Parts of the ancient city ruins.

Woman working the field
She works the field on the Sri Ksetra grounds with a small pagoda in the background.

Ye Min gives overview
He tells us the history of the ancient city and the museum we will visit.

Archeological Museum
Sri Ksetra museum with lots of ancient artifacts.

Ancient carved stone
Has a Buddha type image carved in the inset.

Payagyi Pagoda
Built between the 5th and 6th Century AD.

Monument sign
Describing the Payagyi Pagoda.

Flower
Near the pagoda.

Annette at Payagyi
A small worship structure on the grounds with a dragon.

Another dragon
Look into my eyes.

Annette and Victoria
Annette is negotiating for a carved stone at the Payagyi pagoda gift shop.

Like a bird?
These two girls have birds in their cages that are for sale.

A small market
On our way back to the boat, we passed a small market.

Looks tasty
Wrapped goodies for sale at the market.

Take care of tourists
A sign in the city...we had a laugh.

A seamster
A guy pedaling away on his Singer sewing machine.