Myanmar Part 2 - Bagan

I have to apologize that this took so long! And this doesn't even get us halfway through a trip that was over almost a month ago! And so much more to tell everyone - just got back from an Elephant Festival and I am teaching for six weeks! So keep checking back as I will continue on with the Myanmar trip and post more news too.

Bagan – Sunday October 22 to Tuesday October 24

The guesthouse we stayed at in Bagan is called My Kha Lar, and we arrived there just as it was getting dark. It seemed like it would be okay – it was big, had a bathroom and air conditioning, but something about the toilet wasn’t quite right (more on that later). We decided to walk to dinner and enjoy the evening. Bagan is like something out of the old west – dusty and primitive. As we walked to dinner we saw a lot of bicycles and horse carts. It is also very dark at night, even on the main streets. We asked the woman who owns My Kha Lar how to get to the restaurant we wanted to go to (Aroma 2) and she tells us to head out of the guesthouse take a right and go to where the lights are (and she says electricity as “Electric City” – which I remember it being pronounced like that in ‘Nam too – and I know how much Thomas loves that!) and take a left. We made it there (after I consulted the map a couple of times) and damn if Lonely Planet wasn’t right – the best Indian food ever! It was outside by candlelight (and mosquitos) and the food is served on a banana leaf. We had curry, bean soup, chapattis, six different chutneys (so friggin’ good) and cold beer (of course). The chapattis and chutneys were all you can eat and I certainly did my best to bankrupt them. Amazing food!

The owner of Aroma 2 is this excitable Indian guy – and he drops by your table a number of times. His wife, who is the cook, also comes out to mingle from time to time. At the end of dinner we are deciding what to do, and the owner tells us that we should take a Trishaw (a bicycle cart type of thing – where a “driver” can pedal two people who are on the cart facing back to back) to a “festival.” We are both pretty tired, but decide we can’t pass up this opportunity. So of course our Trishaw driver is about 14 years old, and I know it is going to be a struggle for him with my fat arse on that cart (it is about 15 minutes away), but he just says “no problem” and off we go. And he really struggles at certain points, and then about 10 minutes into it he just can’t pedal anymore. So I get off and walk alongside it. And funny thing, when it is just Margaret on the Trishaw our driver can pedal fine.

It must be my bubble butt! When we finally get to the festival it is kind of a letdown. There is a big stage and tons of people (we are the only foreigners there) watching this male singer – but he sounds like a wounded dog. We milled around for a bit and of course everyone is staring at us.
And it is hot and we are both getting crabby, so our driver (who has been following us around) takes us back (again I had to walk some of the way). And the toilet isn’t the only thing that gives me problems in the bathroom. I am taking a shower before bed, and notice it is a really slippery tub. As I am making a mental note of that I lose my footing and before I know it I have fallen out of the tub and am on my back on the floor looking up at the ceiling. When it happened it was super scary (and I’m lucky I didn’t get hurt) but as I am lying there on the floor I can’t help laughing. Thomas, another Carl Lewis Jr. appearance!

In the morning the toilet won’t flush. We go down to the desk and let them know and they send someone up to “fix” it while we eat breakfast. And it does seem fixed. We also book a flight to Heho (the airport near Kalaw and Inle Lake where will go next) for the next day and a horse cart for today (to take us around the ruins). Our horse cart driver is really nice, but doesn’t speak much English – and communication is spotty at best. The ride through the country side is peaceful and surreal. Horse carts, ox carts, ox plowing fields, villagers working in the fields, villagers carrying just about anything you can imagine here and there. It really seems like life 100+ years ago. Just add the occasional car here and there.

The temple ruins of Bagan are amazing – they rival Angkor Wat (some would even say they are more impressive). The main difference is in the terrain. Angkor Wat is in the middle of a jungle – so for the most part you can only see the temple you are exploring. But Bagan is in an open valley, with mountains rising up around it. So from the top of certain temples you can see all the other temples and have the mountains in the background. My opinion is that specific temples at Angkor are far more stunning and impressive, but taken as a whole, Bagan is just as impressive. Over 4,400 temples were built in the period 1057 to 1287 AD. Historians disagree (or aren’t sure) what happened to cause the decline of the area, but decline it did, and rapidly in the end of the 13th century. From the 14th to 18th century the area was considered “spooky” and was mostly deserted. The Burmese did not move back there until the British established a presence there. It is hard to imagine how everything looked back then, because on the religious sites were made out of permanent materials (most everything else was made out of wood) and therefore are the only structures remaining.

Ok, enough about temples and history, etc. What about the stories? And also – I am not even going to attempt to describe any of the temples in detail because words won’t do them justice (the pictures won’t either, but as Extreme would say, More Than Words).

The temples can range from being almost vacant to being complete tourist traps. Many of them have all sorts of souvenir stands – and as soon as you set foot on the ground people are demanding you look at their stuff (“just look is ok!”). It also feels about a billion degrees, especially when the sun gets up and there is little protection from it. I didn’t have to pee all day, even though I drank about a billion gallons of water. At one temple we looked at some bowls at a souvenir stand (everyone selling things claims that someone in their family made them) but decided the price was too high. When we were leaving the guy asks us to name our price (we already had and he declined), but he is also busy with other tourists and we head on our way. About one minute after we reach the next temple we see him coming after us on his moped! At first Margaret thinks he is mad at us, but then she sees that he has the bowl wrapped up in his longyi! So anyway – we figure we can’t turn him away now, so we have a new bowl!

Our next stop was our horse cart driver’s village. I think his family does pretty well (it was actually his aunt’s place) as they have the biggest hut in the village and lots of land and animals (ox) – but it was still pretty primitive – dirt floor, no running water or electricity, etc. We sit down and enjoy a snack of cooked sesame seeds. The driver’s aunt (an old lady – she looks like she is in her late 80s or maybe 90s) is making cigar like things, and we find out they are home-made Cheroots. Except they aren’t the small ones that you find everywhere in Myanmar (size of a cigarette say) – these are about as big as an ear of corn! And we find out they are a mix of tobacco and tree (palm?) bark. And then the old woman fires one up! It was so funny – and she tells us they are ok for women to smoke because they are mild.

Anyway – they offer us some cheroots and we smoke them too. You hold the Cheroot and bowl to ash in in (I love using the same word twice – grammar be damned!) the same hand – and they really are quite good!

A younger woman in the family makes clothes, including the “longyis” – and both Margaret and I get a pair.

So now I have my own man skirt. The young woman also has a small child – and he is very interested in (yet a little afraid of) Margaret – and she offers him a piece of candy and all of a sudden they are the best of friends.

We see more temples and then head to lunch. Can’t remember the name of the place but it was so good. Papadom chips, fried rice, banana shakes – just what you need! It ends up being a tough afternoon – it is so hot and there is no coverage from the sun when you are out of the horse cart – it really is draining and exhausting.

And then my first camera battery dies. And this is bad news. Because I only have 2 batteries (and the first one is the newer, longer lasting one) and I didn’t bring my charger and it is day 3 of 9. So I didn’t bring my charger b/c I thought it would have compatibility issues and I thought I remembered that 2 batteries lasted more than a week during my last trip to SE Asia. This would be one of many mistakes made during this trip – we made so many mistakes that Margaret and I now have a list of things to do and not to do when packing for a trip. So I change batteries.

The temples during the afternoon were busier and more of them were tourist traps. Which means there are more little kids there selling souvenirs. And some of them won’t leave you alone – they have been taught the hard sell and do it well. At one temple Margaret gave three little boys some candy as we were leaving – and their faces lit up. They were so excited and it made everyone laugh. But then they decided to show off and hung onto our cart as it was leaving – and they were smiling and laughing and just when it seemed like it was getting to a dangerous speed they let go and fell to the ground laughing and waving.

We stopped at a market along the way and I really wanted to get some t-shirts. They even had some pretty good ones – but the sizes were all jacked. The shirts weren’t long enough and were way too wide. I seriously don’t think there is a person in the world that those t-shirts would fit – it was so bizarre. By this time it is getting near sunset, so we head to a temple that our driver suggests to watch the sunset (supposedly a highlight of Bagan). And all of a sudden this kid (I can’t tell if the kid is a boy or a girl) starts biking behind our horse cart and smiles at us. We smile back and think nothing of it. When we turn down a dirt road the kid follows us so we ask him where he is going? And he responds, “I am following you. I have business to sell you.” And that line just cracks us up. The boy’s name is “Pew Pew” and he is nice, clever and speaks the best English we have heard so far in Bagan. He tells us that he is in Grade 7 (he says he speaks English so well because he has a good teacher), his mother died, his father drinks too much, he wants to buy eyeglasses for his grandmother, he sells wooden bottle openers and he wants to become a tour guide. He is really charming and outgoing – and I bet he will be a great tour guide in a few years.

We get to our temple for sunset and there are three other people there – but they are leaving, as the sunset is ruined by one huge cloud (of course the ONE cloud out there is completely covering the sunset). So Pew Pew shows us the best way to climb up and we get to a great place to sit and watch the cloud-set. I see Pew Pew walking around below and I swear I turned my head for one second and when I turned my head back Pew Pew was right next to me! I have no idea how he climbed up that fast – in fact I am still trying to figure it out. So we chat with Pew Pew while watching the sort of sunset. And this is where we learn about the wooden bottle openers that he sells – and we tell him we will take 10. Which of course he doesn’t have. So he tells us his village is on the way – and he will bike there and get more from his uncle and meet us at our guesthouse. He follows our horse cart and on the way he sees his father. They talk and Pew Pew follows us and says his dad will bring the bottle openers. So we get to our guesthouse, wait around for a bit with Pew Pew until his father shows up. And then we buy the bottle openers and Pew Pew says he is a “lucky” boy. We only hope he got to keep some of the money and his dad didn’t take it all for booze. And we both really miss him – it is amazing to me how you can miss a person after such a short time.

On the way to dinner we head to a Cake shop that doesn’t sell any cake. Or at least didn’t have any cake today. Of course my thoughts are that there is plenty of cake in the Detroit and Chicago areas (and scattered cake elsewhere of course). We then went to San Kah Bar for dinner – bruschetta, tomato salad, pizza, lasagna, beer, water and banana milkshakes. A fantastic western dinner – and weirdly enough, Bagan is known for its pizza! As we were wiped out, we headed back to the hotel to go to sleep. And our toilet wasn’t working again. Of course I really had to use the facilities! So another hotel person comes up and after the most painful 45 minutes, the toilet is cleared for use! Now I can rest peacefully.