The TEMPLE
HUNTING DAY! The guide picked us up quite early, before it got hot. And hot it
would become, +42C! We agreed on the itenary:
- ·
Bulethi
pagoda
- ·
Nyaung
Oo market
- ·
Shwe
Zi Gon pagoda
- ·
Gu Byauk Kyi temple
- ·
Wet Kyi Inn village
- ·
Hti
Lo Min Lo temple
- ·
Anauk
Phaw Saw village
- ·
Pha
Ya Thon Zu temple
- ·
Ta
yoke Pyay for the sunset.
We hired a
car with AC with guide & driver for the whole day for 60 USD. Good tendency. The prices are getting lower. I
don´t mind paying for a guide and a car but in a country without ATMs and
without possibility to use credit cards it gets a bit uneasy sometimes.
The tour
started with the older architecture and continued onwards 11th to 13 th
century. We started up far away in Bulethi paya where we took a slow start and
had a long talk with the guide while we sat on the top of the pagoda looking at
sun rising slowly over the Bagan plain. The view was fantastic, the weather not
yet hot so it was a perfect morning. The hawkers really can screw up the most
beautiful site. They were already active selling sand paintings on top of the
pagoda. We talked about politics, as always, and came to a conclusion that
since Chinese eat everything, we could export military from Myanmar to China
and also ex. communists from Poland so they could be eaten by the Chinese. I
mean, both the commies and the military sucked and were not really wanted by
the anyone except themselves. Parasites.
We then continued
to Nyag U and the local market. Already filled with people selling and buying
the crops, fish, meat and all kinds of
strange things, most of which could be eaten. What a difference to visit a
market with someone who knows the salesmen! The guide explained what crops are used in
what way, what the different spices are and we spend around 2h looking and
tasting the different foods. We buught some strange foods and generally had a
good time. The sweet & spicy mango slices were very tasty! Had a lot of
laughs with a lady selling rats. She called them mice but they were the mothers
of all mice in that case. Already skinned and cleaned, they looked almost yummy.
We also learned that the locals are a bit unhappy because the hotels buy all
the prawns and river lobsters from the fishermen
and local people can´t buy those products as easy as before. I bet. The river
lobsters we ate in Cambodia were bloody superb! I could eat one every day!
So we went
to the Swedagon pagoda. A gold pagoda crowded with local people, tourist,
salesmen. A very busy place. It actually looked exactly like so many other
pagodas so it was maybe not that interesting from the architectural point of
view but they did leave one section without plaster and gold so that you could
see the brick work underneath. I especially liked the old Nats in one of the
side temple. The Nats were pre-Buddha so they were really interesting as part
of the original Myanmar religion that survived the religious revolution.
I noticed a
Korean photographers “mafia” equipped with all the possible Lowe-pro gadgets
and bags and all the latest Nikons bodies with the latest lenses. Geezas! Is it
really photography when your guide says to a monk to walk back and forth before
a group of 6 photographers so they can get a nice shot? (In midday sun where
the pics will be crap anyway, regardless of your Photoshop skills).
Enough with
the Swedagon. Several busses with Italian tourists pulled up so we fled. Needed
to stop for a short loo visit so we pulled up to an ITALIAN (?) place serving
pizza. It was just an emergency stop for toilet (& beer for me) on the way
but GEEEZAS! I mean common! You spend hundreds of dollars, hell thousands to
come as far as Myanmar, and then you end up in a PIZZERIA?? And guess who sat
there?! A pair of backpackers! The kind of backpackers who visit old temples
and say “whoaaaw, could you feel that spirits, sunset” etc. bullcrap with meditation
and all. That kind that don´t wash their clothes for a week and don´t take
showers since it´s un-cool to bring western civilisation to remote regions.
Right, that is why they order a fakking PIZZA! To NOT spread the
"civilisation" around. I´ve been travelling across the world since I
was 16 and believe me, there is always a place to take a shower and you can always
wash your t-shirt somewhere. And no, I did not eat pizza in Myanmar. J
Went
forward to Gu Byauk Kyi
temple. A beautifully painted pagoda from 11th
century. Some really old paintings that were so fragile and looked so detailed.
If not for some German bloke that ordered some poor locals to cut the painted
plaster in bits and rip it off the wall, it would be even better looking. Now
there were several cut marks. It still looked kick ass!
Next stop,
LUNCH! Wet Kyi Inn
village, just outside the Tarabha gate again but in the third restaurant from counting from the old
gate, the Golden Myanmar food place. HUGE buffet of Myanmar food attracted
locals in masses and occasional tourists with their guides. A very popular
place. Our guide said that since it´simportant to eat fresh meat in hot season,
“it´s important to have fresh food for the stomach” they all ate there. And Boy
did we get a selection of food! We paid
17000 (we paid 10 000 for the same selection the next day) for the buffet
and 4 beers. OK price we thought.
Midday break
at the hotel, until 16:00, for beer and swim and sunbathing. I was a bit restless so I went for a walk on
the hot river sandbank. Hot as hell and dry as a desert. I found some old
broken jars. I bet they were not ancient but just let me believe for a moment
that they were from 11th centuryJ. The bottom of the jar was very
uneven so it was definitely not made by a machine.
The guide
picked us up and we drove to New Bagan to see a local lackerware workshop. Bagan
is famous for lackerware so the guide proudly showed us the shop in his home
village. We saw the whole production cycle and bought some souvenirs that seemed
to be of nice quality. The horse hair lackerware that was so flexible was
great! Another amazing temple and then
into the Anauk Phaw Saw
village. Alocal agricultural
village where we had a chance to walk around the households and see how people
lived in a village on the Bagan plain. What a ride back to the 11th
century! No running water, no electricity, no horses. Just oxcarts, bamboo huts
and peanuts. That was a real strange experience. To see the poverty but also
the happiness and joy that the people had was something different. I would not trade with them but I did envy
them their freedom and the way they all helped each other as a big community.
The guide explained t us how the richer took care of the m poor ones and how
the “modern” world is slowly changing the old way of life. We spend over an
hour looking at the village life and learning how the villagers lived and worked.
We left with a smile and I´m still thinking of the people we met there. I bet
they are more happy the we are right now, without a car, without the internet,
the PS3, the latest Android phone etc.
From there
we visited the “triple” temple. Very cool temple that housed three Buddha images.
And I was a bit fed up with the hawkers there. I´ve never seen hawkers sell
their crap inside the temples! That was a bit too much. I know, they need to
make a living but please, let us look at the inside of the temples in peace and
show some respect. It is after all a holy place. Not OK. The triple temple had
some amazing paintings inside and the sun setting gave the Buddha images a nice
orange glow.
Continued
to the Ta yoke Pyay for the sunset. Quite crowded, even
the guide was surprised. After all he grew up here and worked as a guide for
living. Hetold us that he use to run off from school to hide in just that
temple with his friends J. We looked at the Buddha inside and went up. Puffing
and breathing heavily, sweating like a pig I made it up. Yes! And what do we
see? The Korean NIKON MAFFIA on the way up in share panic! Hurry guys, the sun
is setting!!!! With the tripods, backpacks, bags, light meters, lens cases,
flash guns etc. I bet that you could equip 7 pro photographers and cover a
whole war with that equipment! I´m being quite unfair since I also had 5 pro lenses
in my bike courier bag. They were all quite amazed when I stared to rip out my
lenses out of the bag. I guess I need to buy more lens cases and carry them in
a bike courier bag J. Squeezed out some nice shots and enjoyed the
sunset while listening to the Nikons shutter sounds.....
Back at the
hotel the gudie asked us if we wanted to rent a horse cart for the next day.
SURE WE WOULD! He helped us to select one just outside our hotel and we book the ride for the next day. The price was 17000 for a whole day. OK! We usually pay that for
a dinner for two!
To sum up
the day. the guide didn´t show us EVERY temple in Bagan. Nor was it the plan. He
meant that most of them we could explore ourselves. He showed us the most
important ones in chronological order, except the main one, the Ananda. From the
early period and forward. We learned how the architecture changed and maybe
more important, he showed us the CULTURAL LANDSCAPE of the Bagan plain. How
people live today. And I´m guessing, for some of the people in the remote
villages, the life did not change that much since the 13th century.
A priceless experience. An important lesson that I will remember for the rest
of my life.
