Bagan, Myanmar (formerly Burma) - March 9th

This is Joani. Bob needed a day to rest after Delhi. We caught up with the ship in Myanmar.

Bagan is only an hour plane ride from Yangon (formerly Rangoon). There are over 5000 monuments here, 2217 of them either pagodas or temples. Pagodas are solid with no entrances. Temples have doors. Why here? Basically, because it was a boom time and all the wealthy wanted to one up each other with a temple. The king of this area had the largest one of course. Successive kings had to add their own.

First stop, the local market:

 This is a very fertile agricultural area: peanuts, soy and pigeon beans, potatoes. No rice, too dry. I found a woman with her treadle sewing machine, making the traditional longhis (long wrap skirts). Bought a silk one with a matching blouse.

It was here that we ran into the “mosquitos”: pesky vendors on motorcycles that followed us from stop to stop, selling knock off lacquerware, longhis, blouses, pants and various other goods. When someone on the bus got a good price, word spread like wild fire. Very popular were the $5 cotton lounge style pants. These vendors were even waiting at our hotel at 5:00am the next morning as we boarded the bus for the plane.

First of many Buddhas. The Buddhas here don’t look like the “happy” type sitting down because that represents the Chinese type of Buddhism. Myanmar brought their Buddhism from India, thus a different style face, clothing etc..

First pagoda of the day: the Schwezigone Pagoda: It means Golden Sand Hill.

Second monument: Ananda Phya temple, which means endless wisdom or happiness. 4 Buddhas inside here, one on each side. Only one is still original. The others were vandalized.

Reflection of the temple inside a well: this pagoda can be seen as a reflection if you stand in just the right spot. The builders used this to check and make sure the pagoda was straight and in-line. They didn’t have yardsticks.

Smiling, because of the way the light shines on his face, if you are standing away. If you stand up close, no smile.

Lunch break then hotel check in and a siesta during the heat of the day. It got up to 101. Some went swimming. Some took naps.  Most used the free Wi-Fi.

After our break we visited a local shop making lacquerware handicraft unique to Bagan. Made from bamboo or teak. Anywhere from 8 to 24 layers of lacquer, depending on the quality of the piece. Each layer takes a week to dry. Carved then the color or gold applied. These also took time as more lacquer was put on over the color. Of course, there was a store.

Above, examples of the different steps in making the lacquerware.

Below, video of a craftsman smoothing out work on his pottery wheel.

In order to get around the many temples and pagodas, there are pony carts that take you around dusty tracks, stopping when you want a picture. Took us to the Pya That Chi temple to climb to a terrace to watch the sunset.

Above and below: other temples busy with tourists that we saw during our ride.The sun was only 15 minutes from setting when a huge cloud of dust came into view.

It was just a local farmer was driving his cows home:

The view from the Pya That Chi temple terrace was magnificent. You could see for miles. Hot air balloon rides are offered, to give another bird’s eye view of the area. 16 square miles of monuments. It is an archeological zone administered by the government.

On the terrace. Below, the view at dusk.

Finally, dinner and bed. Up at 5am for trip home.