The Regimental History tour of Burma

Sea Topaz
Duncan Briggs
Mon 7 Dec 2015 05:26
There were seventeen of us in the group; a mixture of ex serving officers and relatives of officers who had fought in WWII in Burma.
We started with a few days in Yangon where we visited the Swedagon Pagoda, the Taukkyan war cemetery and the Sittang Bridge outside Yangon. We looked at the battle site near the bridge and Duncan explained what happened there.
From there we flew to Mandalay, where we visited, Mandalay Hill, had a look outside Fort Dufferin and did a short cruise on the Irrawaddy River. David Bredin explained about the fighting in this area.
A short flight took us to Myitkyina, where Brian explained the battles in the area of Moguang. Myitkyina is know for its gem, amber and jade market. We had a short ceremony at the pagoda where the Union Jack was raised after the fighting.
Next flight was back to Mandalay where we started a two hours bus ride into the hill station of Maymyo. This was a lovely town. We visited the church where there were memorials to Gurkhas in WWII. We also visited the market, the longest teak bridge and the Botanical Garden.
We caught a flight to Bagan late afternoon. The day after we visited a number of very interesting Pagodas of the thousands that are there. The early morning balloon ride was cancelled because of low clouds.
After breakfast we flew to Heho, which is the gateway to Inle Lake. By then we were getting used to having many other tourists around us. It was raining quite heavily by then. After a one hour bus ride, we got into four longtail boats to take us to the hotel. They were well prepared for the rain with big ponchos for each one of us. We just dropped the baggage off and then went by boat (in the rain) to a restaurant for lunch and to visit yet another pagoda. By late afternoon the rain had ceased.
Next morning was a dry glorious day and we enjoyed the day's boat trip much more. It was interesting to see the leg rowing fishermen on their tiny boats. We also visited a weaving factory, a black smith and a wooden boat building yard.
Next morning we had an early start for our flight back to Yangon, which was delayed due to low clouds.
Once back in Yangon, we were told that the famous Scott market was closed, so we could not do our Xmas shopping, very disappointing.
Tomorrow we fly to Auckland via Singapore.
It has been a very special experience to do this trip with relatives of people who had fought here in Burma, clearly under terrible conditions.
 
 
Sunset in Yangon
Shwedagon Pagoda
Old colonial building in Yangon
War memorial
Christopher at his brother's grave
Sittang bridge
Duncan doing his talk
Mandalay Hill
Teak transport
On the Irrawaddy river
Fort and Mandalay Hill at night
Our transport
Temple in Myitikyina
Our transport
Brian talking about battle at Mogaung
Monk and our guide
Three family members throwing flowers over the bridge
Railway station
Ceremony with the monks
More reef laying
Amber market
Excellent food
Longest teak bridge
Our hotel in Maymyo
Memory to Gurkhas
Maymyo
Maymyo transport
Market
Botanical garden
Temples in Bagan
Lacquer works in Bagan
Inle Lake transport
Rice giving ceremoany
Just young boys
Getting back to the hotel
Leg rowing fishermen
Ceremonial barge
Black smith
Boat building
Inle Lake houses
Back to the hotel
Lunch in Yangon
Paper making