That was our verdict. We like Shelagh Stephenson’s plays and this was a stellar cast including Samantha Bond, Julie Legrand, Alison Steadman and Julia Sawalha, directed by Terry Johnson.
We went to Burma (Myanmar) & Langkawi Via Kuala Lumpur, using World Dreams (formerly – indeed when we first started arranging this adventure it was still named -Asia World) as our agents.
The photos are well labelled in our photo albums, which should serve as a pretty useful travel log in their own right.
Below are the links to all of the labelled photos, divided into four conveniently sized albums, unimaginatively labelled as Part One through to Part Four.
I didn’t take notes on this final Langkawi/Datai leg of our holiday. All I wrote in my notes was:
Photos of long-tailed macaque monkeys and great hornbill birds
A few recollections from memory 25 years later:
The Datai was a beautiful resort, with wonderful food and a top notch spa;
The weather was not especially good during our stay there – we didn’t see a great deal of sun and there was some rain. Much of the time, however, although cloudy, it was very pleasant for sitting outside and wandering about. We might have found much of the daytime too hot had it been “proper sunny”;
The staff were delightful. One member of the team named Sandra became “Janie’s George” answering a myriad of questions and sorting out small matters for us with smiles and efficiency;
Our cottage was an especially popular one with the monkeys that lived in the jungle around the resort. The staff became convinced that we were feeding the monkeys with bananas, because Janie likes to eat bananas herself. In truth we were taking pains to hide any bananas we might have from the monkeys, but they loved our balcony anyway.
The photographs from this part of our holiday are pictures 60 to 82 in this Flickr album – click here or below:
A placeholder piece which shows the full itinerary and has links to the albums of all our photographs for this trip can be found by clicking here or the link below:
Early meet (at 8:30). Goodness knows why. Fortunately, we had a good driver today, who uses the extra half hour to show some sites -Masjid Jamek mosque and the colonial buildings nearby – courthouse & City Hall in background [see headline picture]…
…then round to Merdeka Square (including Standard Chartered building etc) where they play cricket at the Royal Selangor Club.
Then on to see the National mosque, railway station, and administration building , then onto airport for a flight to Langkawi.
The photographs from this day are pictures 52 to 59 in this Flickr album – click here or below:
A placeholder piece which shows the full itinerary and has links to the albums of all our photographs for this trip can be found by clicking here or the link below:
Event free exit from Burma – arrived at KL – spent the best part of two hours getting baggage and then through KL traffic (awash with diplomats for APEC).
Set off promptly from Istana to Chinatown, where we bought some watches, a new suitcase for me and some cotton shirts for me.
Back to hotel with the loot, then off again for Golden Triangle (Jalan Alor) Hawkers stands, where we tried steamed balls, satays and dim sum very cheaply – beer cost much more than food !!
Home via traditional 7Eleven to get biscuits for Daiso.
The photographs from this part of this day are pictures 47 to 51 in this Flickr album – click here or below:
A placeholder piece which shows the full itinerary and has links to the albums of all our photographs for this trip can be found by clicking here or the link below:
[Then] on downtown to see old colonial buildings – City Hall, Rolls Building, High Court near Sule Pagoda and then Pansodan (Phayre) Street.
Drove on to Chinatown and the bustle to see the beautiful synagogue (Musmeah Yeshua) before heading out of town along Embassy road, where we saw more colonial buildings.
The photographs from this part of this day are pictures 35 to 46 in this Flickr album – click here or below:
A placeholder piece which shows the full itinerary and has links to the albums of all our photographs for this trip can be found by clicking here or the link below:
Set off quite early for Bago. Stopped briefly at the Taukkyan War Cemetery. Then a short stop at a simply ghastly government run hotel for over-priced farce with a saga behind getting a straw.
First stop, the market, where I bought bought lots of cheap watches and Janie dispensed loads of pens.
Next to Shwemawdaw Pagoda – bigger than the Shwedagon, but not so attractive. Next to the Shwethalyang Buddah – enormous reclining Buddha (55 m x 6 m)…
Then on to Kha Khat Wain Kyaung , lovely monastery where they were so keen to feed us, we had to eat some sweet meats.
Avoided “three coach” restaurant and tried new place, Yadanar Garden – opened only three days ago and we were the first foreign customers. Kyaw supervised the cooking and doled out loads of advice while doing so. We tasted good “nasi, goring” and cashews, fried pork, water convolvulus (vegetable), chicken and cashews and long gooey pork with spring onion. Very good.
Then on to Yangon Green Elephant shop (did not buy), Scott [Bogyoke Aung San] market – bought the rattan bamboo mats there instead, plus some earrings for Daiso
Driver, Maung Maung vanished on us, but we finally found him and got to the Chaukhtatgyi reclining Buddha ([seemed to us] smaller than Bago?– but said bigger! [66m])
Daisy examines Chaukhtatgyi’s feet
Back to hotel for wash and scrub, and then bought Japanese lacquerware at Elephant concession in hotel before going to Strand Hotel for dinner (chicken, salad, shrimp salad, chicken, curry, mutton curry, fried noodles and western chocolate sweet…really sweet.
The photographs from this day are pictures 09 to 34 in this Flickr album – click here or below:
A placeholder piece which shows the full itinerary and has links to the albums of all our photographs for this trip can be found by clicking here or the link below:
Slight delay, but got to Yangon in time to check back in to Inya Lake and then Shwedagon Pagoda in all its evening glory. Once days are faded in the humidity, humid evening heat, we returned to the hotel,
…bathed properly (hurrah) then off for dinner at Yuzana Garden, joined by Gareth Lloyd [agent] (EPL) for drink. We ate belly pork “almost May style” and roast duck. Tried to slag off Kyaw, but it didn’t work!!!
The photographs from this part of this day are pictures 01 to 08 in this Flickr album – click here or below:
A placeholder piece which shows the full itinerary and has links to the albums of all our photographs for this trip can be found by clicking here or the link below:
Took breakfast and enjoyed our veranda for a while – set off at 10.oo for Tha Lay
View from our verandaWeird scenes inside the floating hotel
Driver Maung Maung. Nyaungshwe – had lunch at Hupin Hotel, restaurant – beautiful beef, curry and crispy belly pork and bitter soup – then onto Shan monastery for photo opportunity and on to Heho Airport.
Tha Lay (Shan Monastery)
The photographs from this part of this day are pictures 91 to 95 in this Flickr album – click here or below:
A placeholder piece which shows the full itinerary and has links to the albums of all our photographs for this trip can be found by clicking here or the link below:
Breakfast on the terrace – then onto Nampan market (another five day market, we hit)…
Many Pa’O people as well as Inthas. Bought one more carving (Paduang), then on to Inpaw Kon village with silk weaving…
…I tried to dive into the wash [almost doing the splits when boat-hopping], but Janie stopped me – then onto ironmongery in same village
…then on to a floating garden and visited an adorable family (pens out)…
Lunch at Shwe Inn Tha where Yinyin Htay cooked us pumpkin soup, eeel & pork (plus chicken cashews & pork balls) and splendid local papaya. After siesta (during which Kyaw fixed my case) went to floating market (which is for tourists now really)
…went to silversmiths (with floating market in hot pursuit). Janie bought mask – then on to Paung Paw Do Pagoda with the five images of Buddha (so gold-leaved they are more or less blobs now) – only four of which travel…
…then on to Jumping Cats Monastery (Nga Pe Chaung)…
…then back to hotel. Avoided bugs in room by taking on bugs on veranda. Dinner included fried gourd salad, chicken with mushrooms, pork and potato (traditionally oily cooking style) very good. Yinyin Htay came out to take a bow and a gong. We retired hurt.
A placeholder piece which shows the full itinerary and has links to the albums of all our photographs for this trip can be found by clicking here or the link below:
Memory Singer Cambridge 27 Oct 1998, Tue Cambridge Evening News (Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England) Newspapers.com
