Across the river by ferry, we managed to get inside one of these buses which are basically big pick-up trucks with narrow lengthwise bench seats. These buses DO NOT leave until full - including the rooftop!!! Little did we know that when full, not only do the people climb up on the roof, they then hang off the back - I think about 20 people were holding on for their lives on the tailgate as the bus tanked along. It was a fun ride inside jammed elbow to elbow with all the curious locals. 1 hour later we were in the small town of Twante (pronounced 'Twanty').
Greeted by more torrential rain, we were led to a local joint for a bite to eat, and then perused the market. I guess they don't see a lot of Westerners there, and were very curious about us, staring intently. Friendly though, as we had become used to in Myanmar. Of course, the market was filled with many strange and colourful sights, but not quite as smelly as many other markets we had been in. For the tourists, a local highlight is visiting the pottery shacks just on the outskirts of town. Using our newly purchased umbrellas, we strolled through the puddle-ridden streets to these thatched shacks and enjoyed watching one lady spinning the pottery wheel by hand, while the man molded a large pot on it in less than a minute! All the time, we had their kids jumping around us, wanting photos taken of course. Walking back to catch our bus kids were playing in the rain and deep puddles everywhere. Our journey back was another overloaded bus back to the river where we had fun on the ferry with the local vendors carrying their trays of things to sell - mostly kids sent out to make extra cash for the family. They were funny as they pretty much forgot about selling the gum and trinkets and were more interested in having their photos taken. An exhilarating and soggy day. *Stub
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