10 9 (Monday)
I actually slept last night in that old run down hotel. I hadn't slept through the night in so long I was beginning to think the car accident I was in had knocked out my ability to sleep.
We were up by 6 a.m. and downstairs having breakfast (toast/warm bread, jelly and tea) by 6:30. The staff came in to stare at the Americans who dropped into their hotel. We were on the road headed back to Yangon by 7:30. U Tin Wint found out that some army man found his cell phone at the first market where we stopped after leaving Inle Lake. He was soooooo happy and we were happy for him.
We drove and drove. At one point we came upon miles and miles of trucks and cars (mostly trucks) pulled off on the side of the road. We passed right by them and positioned ourselves at the front of the line. There were military people all around. We wanted to know what was going on. U Tin Wint told us it was because Senior General so and so (the leader of the country) was coming through. I got out of the car and was standing on the side of the road until U Tin Wint made me get in the car. I could hear fear in his voice. After "big boy" went by then we were able to continue our journey. It must have taken HOURS out of the day for the truckers. We stopped at a famous cattle auction. We walked around on the ground just to have a look. They were selling cattle and water buffalo. We walked around a bit admiring the different sale items.
Back to the pot holes. It rained on and off most of the day which made the driving even more treacherous. At twighlight I suggested to U Tin Wint that he turn on the car lights. He didn't see any need but did put on the parking lights. Around 7 pm in the pitch black he finally turned on the big lights. It was so dangerous because people were walking on the sides of the roads, dogs were out in the middle, motorcycles and other vehicles were approaching without lights. There were no street lights.
As we got closer to Yangon we had to swerve to miss two water buffalo that were right in the middle of the road.
We finally pulled into our hotel after 300 miles and 15 hours on the road. we were absolutely exhausted.