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Published: November 27th 2012
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Tyler and an ancient stupa in the background. Bagan, the eighth wonder of the world.
Arrival began as it had with our arrival at Inle lake, with a bus trek you’d rather forget, but can’t. I look at Liam sitting next to me, his eyes wide and face white. Every few minutes he pokes me, points out the window at a group of kids running along the edge of a cliff, strange packs of animals grazing dusty fields. The A/C is so cold we steal someone’s blanket to keep ourselves warm.
So after an eternity, we pull into Bagan in the early hours of the morning, and are greeted by a hoard of friendly horse-carriage drivers that almost maul each other for our business. We pre-arranged what we thought would be a taxi, but turned out to be a wooden carriage being pulled by an old brown horse.
Lack of sleep on the bus means an afternoon nap is mandatory. After an afternoon siesta, it’s time to find some local food. As we stumble through the dusty and bumpy roads, we come across a thriving market hidden behind a few wooden doors covered by low slung cloth. There’s no question that this is a place we
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Our taxi ride from the bus station on arrival in Bagan. Horse and cart is still a popular form of transport have to explore, so we venture in.
This market is insane. As soon as we walk in we realize the seriousness of what we’re doing, this is no tourist market, and it sure isn’t for the faint of heart. Narrow alleyways are only lit by thin strips of light that peer through the gaps of the low-slung cloth used as a ceiling. It’s busy, it smells and it’s noisy, in fact it’s an absolute overload of the senses, so much so that at a point I almost throw up. But once you get used to the craziness and start moving with the flow of traffic it becomes quite an exhilarating experience. You can buy most things here, from fresh fish to beetle-nut.
We get a quick break outside the market to catch our breath and deliberate on what we just experienced. Liam decides we should see how far 2,000 kyat will go towards some brunch in the market. Because I was the most freaked out by this place, I take the challenge to fulfill the daunting task. I now know what to expect, and so I head into the abyss with more confidence. It actually turns out to
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A lady at the local market selling fresh fish and other foods fished out of the Ayeyarwady river. be a little more pleasant than my initial baptism, and I find an odd combination of foods for our feast.
Later in the day, we rent some bicycles from a local store at 1,000 kyat per person and go on a mission to old Bagan to watch the sunset over the legendary temples. The landscape is beyond imaginable, with 800 to 900 year old temples dotted all over a semi-arid landscape covering a vast area. Unfortunately we miss our opportunity to watch the sunset due to our overwhelming need to eat, but what we manage to see is an awe inspiring end to an eventful day.
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