Monday 21 February
Next morning I got up early to see the sunrise from the top deck – only afterward realised that our cabin faced east and I could just have opened the windows and done the same. But it was still nice to be on deck watching the banks of the river go by.

After breakfast we were asked if we minded joining the French group, who had brought their own French-speaking guide, and we were happy to do so, not having spoken much French for the last few months. It turned out he spoke excellent French, and was easier to understand than most of our English speaking guides.

Off we went to Sagaing, and Soon U Ponya Shin Paya. I’m embarrassed to say we didn’t recognize that we had already been there a few days before for quite a while. It had been the last thing we saw in a long day that had started at 4.30, and so not much had stayed in our memory banks! So even though it was a repeat, we actually learned and remembered more this time around. .

Then down the hill to a Buddhist nuns’ monastery. Very interesting – they were having their traditional breakfast, which consisted in part of fermented fish paste. Some people tried this, and regretted it, Harry included. We women had a walk around their quarters, which were very clean, although Spartan. We had been told that for poor families in Myanmar the only options for their children were the army or the monastery, and certainly there were children of all ages there, as well as adults. As we left they sang a traditional song.