Bagan Days

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The long painful bus ride

The taxi (a 1960 Zepher) picked us up at 4:45am and took us to the bus pickup. The bus came at 5:25, 25 minutes late. It was a small mini-bus. The fact that there are 24 seats in it is ridiculous. Our seats were right behind the driver. And these seats were small! Unfortunately for us, there was also some kind of compressor right in front of us and the engine was just below the floor. We started driving and it quickly became apparent how uncomfortable the ride was going to be. Not too long into the trip, the bus stopped at a place for people to get breakfast. Neither of us wanted anything. A half hour later, the bus picked up some people who apparently were moving just about every possession they had (including their motor-scooter, which yes, was put inside the bus!). These two stops took close to an hour. Then we continued our trip. Fortunately, one of the guys who was evidently acting as navigator or something told Laura she could take the seat behind us. So, we each had two seats (about the width of a normal seat for us). Two phenomenally uncomfortable seats with no leg room.

And the journey continued. At least the scenery became quite nice along this part of the journey. It also was still not too hot. While there was only 1 driver, there were about 4 people on the bus who seemed to have some kind of role. Throughout the journey the sliding door into the minibus was kept open. Two guys were at the door to this standing almost half in, half outside the bus. They would periodically hang out to watch for things when going around corners.

The roads were absolutely terrible. I have never seen roads that bad. Furthermore, evidently this is the only real road connecting Inle with Bagan, probably the two biggest tourist areas in the country. While the road was two way for traffic, it was really only about just over 1 lane width wise. So, everytime we came across what was usually a truck in the other direction, one vehicle would have to pull over. This was a little scary especially in the mountains when it was hard to see around corners. When we went by the large tour bus that had gone into a ditch, we both sort of wondered whether we'd make it. Upon seeing this, the guy sitting shotgun (and we aren't sure what his role exactly was) gave Mike a glance and little grin that seemed to say "don't worry, it's no problem!"

In addition to seeing great scenery, we went through a number of small villages. A lot of these people could have been living almost in the 18th century. Basic thatch houses/huts. A number of the villages didn't appear to have electricity. We saw very few motorscooters here. It was definitely a different world. We also some hard labor. People with hammers breaking stones on the side of the road. We are not really sure why. Whatever the reason, we also are not sure whether they did this for a living or if this was forced labor by the government. We have a feeling some of it was forced labor, but hard to be certain.

We left the mountains after crossing a checkpoint (probably at a border of states). While the first guy at the checkpoint was quite stern, the other guy was very friendly. Again, not as intimidating as we might have imagined.

Then, the weather started to get warmer. And so the ride continued. Just before lunch we picked up more passengers, so there were quite a few onboard now. Probably 30 people on a bus that would have been crowded with 15 hobbits! At that point, Laura and I were back to sharing our original seats. People in Myanmar definitely know how to maximize space on transportation. We saw plenty of pickup trucks that had benches lining the back with roofs over them. There would be 6 or 7 people smooshed together on each side with a few others sitting on the floor in between. So around 15 people in the back on the inside. There would then be 12 or 15 people sitting on the roof and maybe 4 people standing on the railing on the back holding onto the roof. So, we are talking literally 35 people on a mid-sized pickup truck!!! And these trucks would still be going 40 miles an hour over bumpy roads in the stretches where you could actually attain a decent speed. We stopped for lunch at an absolutely disgusting place. It was a restaurant with plenty of massive black bees flying around. And I can't imagine there is a health code anywhere that this place was not violating. Needless to say, we did not eat. But we did have to use the bathrooms which were behind the restaurant. Was that ever a sight. Lots and lots of garbage scattered over the ground. Water that looked like raw sewage (and probably was). Finally, it was time to get back on the bus.

After a few more hours of driving we finally arrived in Bagan. The total trip was 10 hours. And if you look at the distance between Inle Lake and Bagan on a map, it is probably just over 200 miles! The key takeaway on transportation in Myanmar is...fly. The bus ride was definitely an experience. We were the only foreigners and we really got to see some Burmese life and great scenery. And to do it once might even be worth the sacrifice if only to have a humorous transportation story to share with others. But one bus ride was certainly more than enough!

First Night in Bagan

We got to the place we were to stay in Bagan. Neither of us was impressed at all. The bathroom was pretty dingy and the room not very good. We were evidently some of the only guests there. After checking in, we went to walk around and check out other places to see if they might be better. The first couple places did not seem much better. We decided to try checking out a place about another half mile away which we heard had a pool and was supposed to be nice. It was the Golden Express Hotel. Everything about it was much nicer. We decided we would move there the next day.

We then went to a restaurant that had Italian food with pretty decent pizza. At this point, we were both pretty bummed that we had to go back to our hotel that we had already paid for. Upon getting back to the hotel, Mike discovered what was evidently feces from what we would guess to be a small mouse. Conveniently, this feces was on the pillow and bedding! That was the last straw. We grabbed our bags and left to the Golden Express Hotel. It was the best decision we had made. We had a fairly large clean room, bathroom with western tub, TV and nice grounds.

Exploring Bagan

After a great breakfast where we had omelettes, eggs, crepes, toast and fruit, we rented bikes to explore Bagan. There are over 2000 pagodas and temples in the Bagan area. Many of them were constructed between the 11th and 13th centuries. They range from being smaller pagodas 10 or 12 feet high to very large temples.

One thing that was quite evident as we toured around was how few tourists there were in Bagan. One downside of this is the number of "friends" we were picking up. At every temple we went to people were coming up to us "Hello. Where are you from? Let me show you this. Here, look at my paintings. Here, look at these..." We got off our bikes at one pagoda and were walking around. A kid on a motorscooter saw the bikes, stopped there, followed us and then started the usual routine. It is tough, because obviously a lot of these people are quite poor and rely heavily on tourists. However, when it happens so frequently it gets very annoying.

After biking and exploring for awhile, we headed back to the hotel and relaxed. We found a restaurant quite close to the hotel called Queen Restaurant that seemed to have a pretty good menu. The food ended up being great!

Our stay in Bagan over the next few days was pretty similar. Eat a big breakfast, bike or walk around to check out some pagodas and temples. Rest in the hotel during the afternoon when it alternated between being very hot and humid and raining. Then we would go to the Queen Restaurant for dinner (we ate there everyday. very good). And then watch the World Cup on TV assuming storms did not knock out the picture! We found a place that had good quality lacquerware and bought a couple things from there. It was nice that we were actually able to see the people making pieces while we were there. Mike was having flashbacks to his project in Morocco last year working with local handicraft artisans and business owners.

Leaving Bagan...and Myanmar

Our plan was to head from Bagan to Mandalay by train. Spending a few days in Mandalay and then take an overnight train to Yangon. Due to a limited amount of US dollars and no way to get more or use a credit card, we were not able to take flights. At this point, we were ready to leave Myanmar and head to Thailand. We were really ready to see a beach. We especially were dreading the transportation in Myanmar.

So, we headed off to the train station to go to Mandalay. Our train was supposed to be at 7:00am. It was supposed to be a 7 hour train ride. It was 8:30 and still no train. In the states or in Europe, people would be going crazy if a train was that late with no explanation. But everyone was just sleeping or waiting. As were we. Waiting for Godot it felt like. We discussed how it was too bad we could not have just flown to Yangon and then just left to Thailand. Then, we started to realize maybe we could. After taking a tally of our money, we figured we could fly to Yangon and hopefully get our flight to Thailand earlier.

We went to the ticket office to see if we could possibly refund our train tickets. The people were very helpful and amazingly we got our money refunded. We then headed back into town. The hotel people were surprised to see us. We got 2 cheap tickets to Yangon for the next morning and were able to get our flight changed from Yangon to Bangkok for the next day as well which coincided nicely with the flight from Bagan to Yangon.

We had one more Bagan day and then headed out the next morning. Fortunately, it was uneventful flying from Bagan to Yangon. And we then left for Bangkok.

Myanmar was a unique experience. We got to see an interesting country with some great sites in a place few people visit. We encountered plenty of very nice local people and had a lot of great food. It is also the most different place either of us have ever been to. Throughout our time there we saw very few western brands; Coca Cola was about the only Western item you could consistently. While we are glad that we went there, we don't envision going back anytime soon.

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Photos

This does not do justice to the bus ride
Mike looks comfortable right? Except that I have to fit where my backpack is sitting. And this was taken early, before it got hot!

A bumpy road
So much for the highway...This one lane dirt road lasted for several hours in the mountains. After it was a one lane, pot-hole ridden paved road.

Bagan 1
Some of the many pagodas and temples in Bagan

Women working on lacquerware
Working on the more intricate final designs

Our restaurant!
I believe this is meal #4 at Queen Restaurant...so good!

View of the Ayeyarwaddy River
Where we stopped for lunch one day

And our pagoda!
View of the closest pagoda from the balcony of our hotel