ugh this didn’t post from the other night because the internet at our house is sometimes very slow. here it is for the second time, in my mind.
***
I have so much to write about from the weekend but instead i’ll share pictures that i got from a co-traveler that i was chatting with on facebook today.
these are from mingun, outside of mandalay, burma. these pictures were explicitly taken so i could show my parents! so here you go!
this is what i was standing on top of in the picture.
it was supposed to be the biggest stupa in burma, but it was never completed. it’s still massive.
i met my co-traveler as a friend of a friend. that’s how it goes. they were both canadian, they had met before; it just so happened that i ended up being in the same place as him for slightly longer than she did.
it was my last day in mandalay, in the north of burma. i was almost out of kyat and not interested in spending too much. i had just switched hotels because other friends had left. this new room, comparatively, was extra small – although the water pressure was surprisingly great in the bathroom, which wasn’t shared, for once. that’s what $8 will get you.
$8 includes a standard breakfast of eggs, orange juice, bananas, and toast: that’s what i was eating when john came into the breakfast room and invited me to go with him to mingun.
he was rushed. he had somewhere to be in the afternoon. i wasn’t sure whether it was financially smart; i wanted to have enough money to eat and snack.
you know what i’ve found out about traveling? people are ridiculously nice. and especially so in solo-traveler circles, where sometimes it’s really nice to have a companion. so he offered to pay for me. and of course i hesitated because it’s bred into us to hesitate, to feel bad – but i accepted his offer, knowing that i’ll one day pass it on to another traveler like me who’s constantly worried about money but stuck in another half of the world and trying to take advantage of it.
***
the rest of this story isn’t that enthralling but it’s late enough that i have to stop and finish typing later if i want to get up at my usual 5 am time.
love,
britt
Teacher Brittany Says 