Our room was small, probably the smallest place I've ever stayed, but I guess that's par for the course on a small boat. Actually we were in a deluxe room, and we saw the standard room, which is was ridiculously tiny. The boat's crew was excellent, and the food was pretty good throughout. It was nice that it was small, about seventy guests, and old-fashioned, although at times it bordered on tired and could use a touch of updating. But it's definitely a unique experience, and by far the nicest way to see this part of the country. After a decent lunch on board, the guests were taken on a guided bus tour of Bagan, which was too close to tacky for comfort. So we opted for our own equally tacky but much more private way of exploring Bagan, a horse drawn carriage.

The next morning we left Yangon via the extremely chaotic domestic airport, and flew to the amazing ancient capital of Bagan. We were meeting our ship, the Road to Mandalay, there, which would, naturally, be taking us to Mandalay after our sightseeing in Bagan. This is an excellent way to do this trip because Somchai always wants to go on a cruise, and I would rather cut my leg off, but this mini-cruise on an old, elegant ship run by the Orient Express company isn't cruiselike at all. So I get credit for accomodating Somchai's preferences, avoid the shuffleboard and Julie McCoy aspects of mass cruising, and get to keep my leg.