OK, so I finally leave the lounge for gate C1A and walk through what seems like a two mile long gauntlet of commercialism that makes up airports these days to get to the gate. I ask the counter agent if they are boarding yet. She says not for a few minutes. So I sit down reach for my iPhone, only to realize I had left it in the lounge. Crap! So now I am running back through that corridor of consumerism with all my stuff in one of those little shopping carts sweating like a you know what in church. Breathlessly I arrive at the lounge and the guy behind the desk is smiling and holding up my phone. They had just called the gate to notify me. Thank you, thank you, thankyou! And I am once again dashing like a mad man back to the gate. I'm sure they are boarding now. Stores full of Rolexes, Dr. Dre Beats, womens cosmetics, even Victoria's not so secret go flashing by, but do you think I can find someplace selling bottled water? No, and my throat is like sandpaper. Finally, I spot a restaurant with a cooler outside and pay $3 US for a bottle of Avian.
Arriving at the gate once again I am happy to see they have not boarded yet. I spot Bev Jenkins by her bright red hair. She is another of the workshop participants who Naomi (Nathan's assistant) had told me would be on the flight too and to look for a possibly blond or redhead. I had seen her on facebook so I went up and introduced myself. Then I saw this tall guy with "the hat", kind of like Mangione. Nathan's arrived and I give him a big sweaty bear hug. Turns out there are four other participants on this flight too and we all make brief intros before boarding the Airbus 320. This is a much smaller aircraft than the previous two and I am sweating (figurative and literally) that they are going to give me grief about my heavy (I think my arms are 2 inches longer now) backpack with all my photo gear in it, and want to gate check it. "No way, Jose!" or whatever the Thai equivalent is. But no one seems to notice.
Great!, this time I get a window seat, which I hate because to have to climb over everyone to get to the loo. But this is a short flight so should not be a problem. I must really reek by now (it's been 26 hours "on the road to Mandalay" without Bob and Bing!) because the Spanish lady next to me is holding her scarf up to her nose. So, I try to shrink into the fuselage and hug the window. She fell asleep during the hour and a half flight so I guess she got over it.
At Mandalay airport we cleared customs and proceeded to the luggage carousel. Didn't see my bag right away but knew it was there because I had put one of those electronic "Tiles" inside it and my iPhone had picked it up and indicated the bag was somewhere near by. Oh, there it is and we now all have our luggage, which ironically was x-rayed as we departed the luggage claim area.
Next we all wanted to convert money and get local SIM cards for our phones. Apparently they money changes are really particular and scrutinize each US bill you hand them. It has to be pristine, like the ink was hardly dry! None of my bills passed inspection and they would not convert them to the local Kyat. Fortunately there was an ATM in the terminal and I took out 200,000 Kyats, about $200 US I think. Then we got SIM cards for our phones. Actually mine was working on arrival so not sure I really needed one, but Nathan suggested getting one because once we leave Mandalay, service might get spotty and this way we could be fairly assured of internet availability.
Piling into a 10 passenger van we are off and discover the "road to Mandalay" is a dusty, bumpy, and long one. Having asked Nathan about his girls, it seems he has full custody of is 8 year old biological daughter and is 15 year old adopted step daughter. The mother plays little or no part in their lives. A nanny takes care of them when he travels.
Our hotel, the Ayarwaddy River View, is comfortable with spacious rooms and a helpful staff. The weather is hot but not unbearable and the hotel is air conditioned. I mean really air conditioned! Not like a lot of European hotels where the rooms are slightly cooler than outside, I had to turn the unit off a few times. Periodically the power in the hotel goes off for a few minutes and then comes back on.
Dinner at the roof top restaurant was delicious and the sun set across the river was beautiful. After a gigantic local beer I was ready to crash.
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