Back to Mandalay on a bus full of pineapples and sacks of beans… the only way to the north open to foreigners requires going through Mandalay in the middle of the country, so reaching our destination of Myitkyina will be a 36 hour + affair. Traveling anywhere in Myanmar requires the patience of a saint. Our original plan, hatched just before departing [omitted], would see us getting back to Mandalay in time to catch the 1:50pm train to Myitkyina (a 24 hour ride). Of course the bus arrived late and I’m sitting here scribbling in my notebook at the train station after having spent another day in Mandalay, waiting for our train, which is expected to be more than 6 hours late. Patience…