U Bein Bridge - Amarapura
First published in 2017
For the visit to the U Bein Bridge, our guide has pre-arranged two of those rowing boats from which you can see the bridge against the setting sun. As this is one of the touristic hotspots in Myanmar, all other boats are fully booked.
He also suggests that we do not enter the boats right at the parking lot, but at a small island right in the middle of the bridge. So we spend some time walking slowly across this famous teakwood bridge and then climb down the stairs to the island.
Next comes the joke of the day: We leave the shore for maybe 10 meters and line up with the rest of the boats. We gag that most probably the lake is so shallow that we would have been able to walk instead of taking the boat and indeed we see a heron later on who stands easily in the water. The only question is how deep is the mud in which we were sunk.
The following sunset is great. For tomorrow the only rainy day is announced and the clouds, that are already coming in, turn beautifully red. And yes: The boat is worth the (small) money, as, in the end, this is the only place where you have an undistracted view to capture the bride as a silhouette.
