Dead flat, white beaches

Sun soaked goldenrods

Hillside Buddhist temples

Temples everywhere; all shapes, sizes, colors…

Red, white, real gold plating many

Women with waist length hair, traditional yellowish-white face paint make up adorning

Sound of small waves rippling out from beneath countless boats traversing the 1,350 mile long Irrawaddy River–the Aye Yarwaddy here

A small child’s single blue flip flop floats atop the roiling water

Grasses, sticks, branches float amidst this brownish river

Tiny wooden shacks perch on riverbanks, children swimming (bathing?) in water below

Eating toast with strawberry jelly, drinking tiny cups of green tea

Glancing side to side across this plain of history, closed to outsiders for many decades until recently,

I’m not inspired to jump into the water, but I am inspired