Irrawaddy River, Burma - 7

Hi, When we woke up for our last day of touring off the river boat we had a beautiful sunrise.

I think these are fisherman getting an early start on their day.

Our first stop was a monastery the outside of which was decorated with carvings of scenes.  Each of the scenes was described in both Burmese and English.

Inside were, as we had come to expect, numerous statues of Buddha.  This one was dated from the 13th century.

The other statues were much newer.  I think this one was from the 18th century.

Some of us then walked through the area near the monastery.  This provided an opportunity to see numerous structures, including these temples (above and 2 below),

this gate to an area with numerous sitting Buddhas,

and these statues that appear to be monks.

Other structures include this ruin of an old Library,

and a number of colonial buildings.

As we found previously, the local people willingly posed for photos.  The children were wonderful (above and below).

These monks were enjoying a bit of respite and conversation and

these older women were resting outside their homes.

Carts pulled by a team of cattle are still quite prevalent and

trucks are overloaded in the traditional Asian way.

We returned to the boat briefly.  The sun was now coming into our windows from the opposite side of the river and glinting off the water.  This provided a nice silhouette. 

That evening we were taken to the top of a high tower.  This gave a commanding view of the surrounding temples.

We arrived in time to view sunset.

After sunset I took a cart ride around the temple grounds.  I asked my driver to stop so I could take this photo.  Thanks for looking.