Day 39. On the way to Golden Rock.

(posted on Day 44)
Yesterday afternoon, I flew back to Yangon from Bagan. When we went to check into the airport at Bagan, it was so laid back. My guide checked me in, then asked if I wanted a cup of coffee. We went back outside of the airport to a fenced in area that was a cafe where everyone else was waiting for the airplane (including a couple of guys from Malaysia whom I had been running into off and on the past two days). They work in the music video business. We sat and talked about our wonderful experience in Bagan. One of them tried to sell me a $50USD bill which he couldn't use in Myanmar (ok, big hint for anyone traveling to Myanmar....it really is "cash only" like the guide book says...no credit cards--that includes the hotels!, no bank machines, don't exchange money at the airport! Your guide will exchange it for you at twice the exchange rate. You will only need a little bit of local money for meals. And here's another catch that the guide books don't tell you about...the bills have to be totally flawless! If it even has an ink flaw on it from the printing press, they won't accept it!! I had about US$100 that I couldn't use, which really strapped me towards the end. Everyone I ran into was having the same problem. Luckily on the last day, my hotel took Japanese yen to settle my bill, which I had, and which I obviously won't be using now. Don't ask me why, but they prefer American money...even the other foreigners were carrying USDollars...when I read that in the guide book, I thought it was weird, but it's true. Everything is priced in USDollars...so you'll need a lot of spotless 20's and 1's .. Especially if you want to buy anything!).

Anyway, back to the airport, the guide suddenly said, time to go inside....I asked him how he knew, and he said that when they turn the a/c on in the terminal building, that means the plane is about 15 minutes away. :-)

So today, Day 39, after spending the night in Yangon, up and out early to drive to Golden Rock (with my Yangon driver and guide), about a four hour drive away. On the way we just happened upon a group of monks coming into a village to get their food for the day from the villagers...I had seen this before in both Thailand and Bhutan. They walk single file into the village with their pots, and the villagers come out and fill each of their pots with rice and any leftovers they might have...











Then we stopped at a pagoda called "four sisters". This was built in the style of another form of Buddhism, where the buddhas are out in the open...





The reason for the name "four sisters" is because there is a myth surrounding this about four sisters who used to take care of cleaning up around this one. They promised the Buddha that they would not marry, but would dedicate their lives to taking care of them. Then one day, one of the sisters got married...soon after that one of the buddhas developed a crack. The sister thought it was her fault so she died of grief soon after that. The crack has since been repaired, and these statues are constantly being repaired and repainted (more on that later).

Then we stopped in at the monastery where the monks were preparing for their noon time meal...











Lining up single file again...





...to proceed into their communal dining room...






Then on up the road, stopping at a fishing village where they make dried fish. I will spare you those photos....yuk...but thought that John, and any of you other people who like to fish, would enjoy seeing this fisherman at work...





He has a huge net (I missed the photo when he pulled the entire net out of the water, but its twice as tall as he is), and he walks through the water with the net, just scooping up the fish! I think the fish were called snake heads. They then dry these fish and sell them to people from other villages who sometimes only have this as their only source of protein throughout the week, since they live too far away from the market to go every day, and so may go only once a week.

We now arrive at Golden Rock.......well almost. First we have to get into an open truck to travel about 10 kilometers straight up a winding, narrow road, which is not accessible to cars...





Then the truck arrives at its final destination, and we're still not there yet! Now I know why the guide told me to pack light, as we now need to walk three kilometers to our hotel, with our stuff. Now I know for all of you avid walkers, this may sound like a piece of cake....but it was about 43 degrees celsius, and the reason we had to walk from here is because it was even more steep and hard for even the trucks. It seemed like at least 10 kilometers!! They do have these porters who will carry you up!! But I was determined to walk. When we were almost there where it got relatively flat, we did stop for this photo opp with some porters...





Although it's not a great photo, you get an idea of the other option for mode of transport up the hill.

Phew.....so we first checked into our hotel for a brief rest and a shower...

(to be continued....)


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Day 38. Last day in Bagan.

(posted Day 41)
After my little afternoon siesta yesterday (day 37), we first went to a lacquerware shop to see how they were made. When I read this on my itinerary, I thought it was one of those hokey, touristy things, but it was fascinating. They first make strips of bamboo, then they weave it together, then they apply coat after coat of lacquer, scraping it smooth after each application, then they etch it, then they dip it and dip it. A simple soup bowl takes one month to complete! Ok, so I broke down and bought a beautiful black lacquer box with gold leaf elephants and bamboo drawings. Not cheap really, but will make a nice addition to my collection.

We went to Nan Paya and Manuha temples, before the highlight of the day which was to go to the top of the Law Ka Ou Shaung temple to watch the sunset...and wow, the view was unbelievable...


We were the only two people on top of this temple, while all of the tourist buses were at this other location....


My guide knew who had the key to this temple...yep, he was the key keeper! Absolutely adorable!


The sunset wasn't great as it was hazy, but the view at dusk was well worth it...





Then it was back to my hotel for dinner, during which they had a little puppet show, although the dinner wasn't nearly as good as the great feast I had at lunch!

Yesterday was a phenomenal day!

So now for Day 38.... we headed out at 8:30am...not quite as early as yesterday's 4:00am wakeup call :-).

First stop was the Min Nanthu village to see how the people live and the different things they do. We first watched the women collect water for their family....


It is hard to believe that is the water they drink (after they treat it with sulfate). Each water can weighs about 15kilos (I'm not sure how many pounds that is, but I think more than 20--Jim, I'm sure you'll look it up for me :-). And they make several trips back and forth. And this woman was not young...


Then we went to a family's home where several women were shelling peanuts by pounding on them and wiping them off of the table, and then later they go through to pick out the peanuts. The one woman seemed to be eating one for every two she shelled :-)


This is one of their major crops here, and they are little tiny round peanuts and, sorry to any georgians, they are the best peanuts I've eaten. Then we watched a man making wagon wheels....unlike any cars, these will last for about 60 years.


Then it was on to see a glimpse of the family kitchen...


Then to watch grandma make "cigars" -- not hesitating to show me how they work...


They also weave with cotton and make palm oil, among other things. Very industrious group. The two girls were university-educated, but preferred to work in their family businesses.

After checking out Paya Thone Zu.....


We went up on top of the Ta Yoke Pyay temple for the day time view...


...where we met a delightful couple from Lyon, France. And so stopped and chatted with them for about an hour. I only mention this, because it made me aware of how laid back my guide was that he wasn't in any hurry. And when he saw me enjoying talking to this couple, he just let it flow. Was very relaxing for me too.

Then on to the largest temple in Bagan which was never finished (Dhanayan Ghi--not sure I've spelled that one right). This temple had many different features such as two buddhas facing out...


With a reclining buddha behind them...
(oops, wasn't enough light for this photo)


...as well as other differences, including the size. The differences were because the king who was having it built wanted his to be bigger and better than any other in the region. Most of the temples in this district have four buddhas, one facing each direction, north, south, east, west, with the one facing the east being the largest. This king also wanted his temple to be perfect, so if a workman didn't make the mortar exactly right, the king would cut off his hand (also, he had killed his father and brother to attain the throne!) So after a while, no one wanted to work on this temple, and so that is why it was never finished. The local people do not like to come here to honor Buddha as they feel this temple has bad karma from the ghost of that king.

We then went to Bu Paya, which resembles a gourd fruit, which was on the bank of the River Ayeyawaddy....


This stupa had fallen down and into the river during the earthquake so this is the rebuilt version.

We then went back to the same restaurant as yesterday for lunch, as I found the couple who were the owners to be so delightful, I wanted to bring them my business. This time the owner cooked, and I had Thai fish with chili....excellent!

Then it was time for the afternoon siesta that I took at the hotel pool.


I do have to admit though that I felt quite guilty next to this pool full of water after watching the women gather water from the water hole this morning.

Now back to the airport for my flight back to Yangon and more Myanmar adventures tomorrow. But I have to leave my wonderful Bagan guide of the last two days who was not just my guide, but my chef, my photographer (he was quite good with the camera), my friend and my younger brother. For my friends who want to go to Myanmar, I would highly recommend him and if you take me with you, he and his wife will have us to their house for dinner prepared by him!

Great two days in Bagan!

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Day 37-part 3. More of Bagan.

(posted day 41)
After leaving the wedding, the first thing we did was go to the market. Most households do not have refrigerators, and so they go to the market each morning to get what they need for lunch and dinner that day. It was a very simple and colorful market...











These are some of the ways they get things to market....





And this is how they get things home....


Next we went to check out some of the temples and stupas. There are about 3,500 stupas and temples in Bagan...everywhere you look! I had no idea there would be so many. I have never seen anything like it. Most of them date back to the 11th to 13th centuries. The reasons there are so many from that period is that Bagan was the capital during that time and fell to the Mongols in 1287. Also prior to the 11th century, there was only one crop in this region....then from the 11th to 13th century, crops multiplied significantly, resulting in people giving more money for the building of religious monuments as they felt that if they contributed a stupa or temple, they would return to a higher station in the next life. Also during the time of Bagan rule there were 55 different kings, and all had to outdo the other with their offering of a bigger and better stupa or temple; then their ministers were inclined to make contributions of smaller stupas/temples around that of their king. Also, brick and sandstone, which is used in construction of these monuments is plentiful in this region.

The first one we went to see, Shwezigon, is completely covered in gold leaf. The gold leaf needs to be replaced every few years.


This is the most important shrine in Bagan, and was completed in 1089.

Many of them lost their tops during the 1975 earthquake, so the tops had to be replaced, so are not from the original construction. You can see here, on the Gu Byauk Gyi temple, how the top is a lighter color.


This temple is famous for its 12th century mural paintings of the story of buddha. Unfortunately, many of the fresco tiles were stolen by tourists. Then many of the tiles had fallen off of the walls during the earthquake, and there was no organized effort to "save them." Instead, locals were hired to "clean up" from the devastation, and they threw away the tiles that were in the wreckage. But some of the paintings can still be seen...


This temple, Ananda, houses 1,674 Buddha statues....


The four main buddhas are shown standing rather than the normal sitting position...


This temple is important because of its architecture, which took great care with the ventilation (even in the 40degree Celsius heat, it was cool inside) and the window openings were placed in a way to capture the Buddha images within the temple as if there were lights shining on them, as you can see above (there were no lights in this room....the light is natural). As we strolled through this temple, we came across some tourists from 100 miles away who had come to see the temples during school break and had never seen a caucasian person before, and so were quite taken with seeing me, especially since I was from New York City in America (even now, most of the tourists are Asian, although I've seen an occasional person from France or Germany). Anyway, they each had to have their photo taken with me, including the 75 year old grandfather...


All of this, and its just now time to go to lunch. And what a treat! My guide took me to a restaurant that had just been opened 8 months ago by a friend he used to work with at a local hotel.



And my guide, who would like to have his own cooking class, took over the kitchen and made my lunch...


...lentil soup, Myanmar curry chicken (different from Thai or Indian), tomato/onion/ground peanut salad, prawns with tomato sauce and papaya and watermelon for dessert. yum!

While we were there, he was helping the young servers with their English (the two young girls on the left...the woman on the right owns the restaurant with her husband).



After lunch, it's time to go to my hotel for an afternoon siesta. The afternoon highs here are in the 40's (again, that's celsius!!), so good to lay low for a couple of hours at the peak of the heat.

My hotel has a lovely setting...


...with a wonderful pool area....but the room is only ok. It has air conditioning and hot water, so how much more does one need, hey?

Siesta time!

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Day 37--part 2. Bagan

(posted on day 41)
Wow, what a day in Bagan! I have an absolutely wonderful guide! More about that later.

As we drove from the airport at about 7:20am (it was a little over an hour flight from Yangon), we encountered a "parade" of people, so we stopped so I could get some photos.


The procession was related to an initiation ceremony for boys...they will have their heads shaved, and live at the monastery for one month.






The girls/young women bring offerings for the temple...


Then there is also initiation for the girls, who will get their ears pierced.


Is she adorable or what?...


This is all quite a community event, especially in a town the size of Bagan, which has about 12,000 people. The elephant dance topped off the event...


After enjoying the festivities, we then moved on to a wedding. My guide knew the groom, and so they welcomed us with open arms, even serving us some noodles with chicken, with a bean sauce (tasted a bit like curry). My guide said that when his son got married, there were 750 people invited....which he said is typical, so what's one more person.

The bride can wear any color, except green, as that means there will be a divorce in the future. It was in many ways similar to a western wedding....the wedding party, led off by the flower girl...


The bridesmaids...



The bride and groom...


The parents and grandmother of the bride...


And let's not forget the aunts...who give gifts of personal meaning to the bride and groom (such as bracelets, rings, etc).


I'll even show up in their wedding album....


(I wasn't quite dressed for the occasion!)
And they will go off in their "just married" car :-).


So by now it's only 10:30am, and time to get started on the tour of Old Bagan where all of the stupas and temples are located.

I will continue that part of the day in a new post because I'm afraid when I add all of those pictures, it will be too many to post.

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