Cycling along the plains of Bagan....


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Asia » Burma » Mandalay Region » Bagan
February 5th 2011
Published: February 19th 2011
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One of the reasons we left a day later from Yangon was so that we could take a ferry boat from Mandalay to Bagan on the Ayeyarwaddy (Irrawaddy) river, which was apparently a beautiful trip (not to mention more comfortable than taking another bus!). It left at 6 am so we could see the sunrise on the boat just before floating by the famous hillside temples of Sagaing. Our boat was full of package tourists which was a bit of a shame as they seem to be a lot more demanding ("I have to pay 500 kyats for hot water??pff..." Uhm lady, you're on a boat, maybe you should be happy you can get hot water!). But of course, there were normal people too 😊

We enjoyed the views from the deck where we had to hold on to our seats before someone else took them, but at one point I was looking a little rednosed from the bright sun so we went to our seat inside. They played several movies, quite entertaining. All from the same genre; there was Rush Hour, Rush Hour 2 and another movie with pretty much the same plot but different actors. Mom gained an appreciation for Jackie chan's humor because she was cracking up at all his jokes (which in turn amused me). So all in all, a fun trip!

At around 3.30pm we arrived in old Bagan where souvenir salespeople (mostly little kids) sold postcards, lacquerware and George Orwell books (Burmese days).

We had a taxi to our hotel which was located in new Bagan. It was a nice hotel (Hotel Arthawka), even though it seemed we were the only guests, there were 5 staff waiting to greet us or help in any way they could. That is something we noticed everywhere we went in Myanmar, people always offer to help.

Despite our taxi driver telling us it would be very hard to see all the temples by bike (we did not want to see ALL the temples, we clarified) we stuck to our plan for the next day. For that afternoon we wanted to see whether we could see a sunset from one of the temples. One of the ladies at reception recommended one within walking distance from our hotel, the Dhammayazika Paya. After getting over our initial awe of seeing red temples, small and big, all over town, we walked over a sandy road as horse carts and motorbikes passed us. After about half an hour we got to the Dhammayazika Paya, a reddish golden stupa. We climbed up the stairs and there were about 8 other people, some French seniors, having a little photosession. As the sun was setting there were a few giggly locals too, quite funny. Then it was just us and we watched the sky go a dark red. We realised we had to leave soon to be back before dark but didn't realize how soon. About 10 minutes from our hotel we were still walking in the pitch dark! A horsecart with two tourists stopped to ask if we wanted a ride but we figured we were almost there, and kept walking. After getting bug spray and long pants we went to find a restaurant and found the Mar Lar Thein Gi restaurant where we were greeted by the son, whose English was great! We had a curry, sweet and sour fish and had our first tamarind flake candy which then was so addictive we bought a big bag!

With satisfied bellies we went back to Arthawka and arranged bikes for the next day.

The next morning we had our staple breakfast, two fried eggs on toast and found our bikes. After a quick test drive we switched one bike and went on our temple route which we planned to do..after reading the lonely planet one day route we figured we needed to find an alternative one to avoid the "crowds" (this is unlikely in Myanmar, but at some temples you might bump into two tour groups, so it's all relative😉

This is how we did it:

1. Out of New Bagan we cycled towards the Dhammayazika Paya and passed it, cycling past many unnamed temples over the plains towards the dhammayangi pahto. We stopped at one of these unnamed temples and climbed up to the top. Stunning views again of many temples all around us.

2. We continued took a path to the right towards the Dhammayangi pahto, a busier temple with many souvenir stalls out front. Some young girls carrying souvenirs followed us around telling us about the temple, showing us drawings on the wall, etc. This temple was not as impressive on the inside because it is filled with brick rubble in several parts and the buddhas are not very different from the others. Except for a reclining Buddha (a small one). From the outside it stands out because of the top of the temple which is worn down, like a stump.

3. After buying more postcards (we wanted to thank the girls in some way for walking us around, even when it gets tiring at times 😊 we took a right and headed for the Sulamani Paya. This temple was a definite favorite because it has well preserved mural paintings on the inside. They are still beautiful and tell whole stories about Buddha.

4. From here on we headed for the Thabeik Hmauk temple which is located just behind and is much smaller but similar to the Sulamani Paya. Except no one was there! The caretaker of the temple a wrinkly old man with about three teeth waved for us to follow him and he led us up some very narrow stairs to the next level of te temple. From here we had a great view, but then he waved for us to follow him again. So we headed up even more narrow stairs in darkness. Not great if you're claustrophobic... You could walk around the top of the temple which we did...this was probably the highlight of our Bagan visit! Also because of this cute man. He explained using his hands mostly that we should come back for sunset. We then tried to explain that we didn't think we would but that we thanked him. He asked for s present at the end and so we gave him 500 kyats, about 50 cents which seemed to be a normal tip here (but who really knows, the tipping system in Myanmar is still somewhat of a mystery to us) but he was so happy with this! He then wanted to help us with our bikes, show us the way ...as if he hadn't done enough! Wonderful experience.

5. After Thabeik Hmauk it was getting warm so we were ready for a lunch stop. We cycled to old Bagan past Ananda Paya which looked nice enough from the outside (and we'd seen plenty of buddhas before lunch) and stopped in front of Thatbyinnu Pahto which is one of the more famous temples and the larger ones. As we looked on our map to see where we would bike about 10 souvenir sellers came for us so we hopped on our bikes again to a quieter spot. We decided to bike to the creatively named 'Be kind to animals vegetarian restaurant'. It was all lonely planet travelers here, clearly! We had one of the most delicious Myanmar meals here, a fresh tomato curry with ground peanuts. Indian food can also be found all over the country so I ordered a vegetable curry chapati. Yum!

We cycled through old Bagan after lunch and stopped at temples but we'd seen enough of them inside. We were so content with our morning temple visits and the scenic bikeride that the busy atmosphere of the temples in old Bagan along the asphalt road was a bit of a let down afterwards. So instead we cycled to Myinkaba, a town famous for it's handicraft. We visited a lacquerware workshop which was very interesting and were again faced with the problem that we wanted to spend money but had to be careful so that we would have enough for the remaining days.

From Myinkaba we looked for another road to take than the asphalted road, because it is just a lot more scenic and quiet. We took a left turn and ended up in a village, where little boys chased Mom on her bike. A hilarious sight! We asked directions to New Bagan and ended up on a little dirt road again. After going to the side of the road to let a horsecart pass we realised that both our tires had gone flat.....so we had to walk along the same road as the night before whilst the sun was setting 😊 Luckily we made it back in time for dark this time and we had a well-deserved dip in the hotel pool. We then walked to town to check out another restaurant, but after seeing the menu we decided to go back to Mar Lar Thein Gi restaurant again!
They were happy to see us back for a second night and we fully enjoyed more delicious curries.

The next day we were set to depart early in the morning to head for Inle Lake.




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