Advertisement
Published: October 4th 2006
Another day and another early start (the concept of sleeping in doesn't exist in this country!) saw us stumbling somewhat bleary eyed onto the 5am boat from Mandalay to Bagan. By the time the Ayeyarwady river reaches Mandalay it's huge and initially the scenery wasn't that impressive - the river was so wide and the cloud low that it was difficult to see anything along the flat river bank and surrounding plains. As the day progressed though and we moved closer to one bank or the other, we got many glimpses of river life..... water buffalo grazing as they rested, people washing themselves, their clothes, fishing for dinner, kids playing in the river and everyone just getting on with life. Almost everyone we saw stopped whatever they were doing to wave, smile or laugh and shout "hello" as we passed, some even ran down to the river from their homes especially to wave and point as we drifted by. By the end of the day my arm was seriously aching from so much waving and my voice fading from shouting 'Min gala ba' so often! Each time we stopped to pick up or drop off passengers the whole village seemed to
turn out too, either to try and sell us their goods or just to wave and peer at the strange foreigners. At the first stop women with baskets of samosa's balanced on their heads waded chest deep into the river to get within throwing distance of the boat, whilst at the second stop the dockside was packed full of women jostling each other, shouting and waving brightly coloured blankets for sale.
In the last few hours as we approached Bagan the riverside became increasing dotted with gold, white or redbrick stupa's... a small reflection of what we were to experience at Bagan itself. This was the 'fast' boat, so we finally arrived after just the 10 hours on the river! At $16 per foreigner it's way above what most Burmese can afford, even at the vastly reduced 'locals' price - I had contemplated, briefly, taking the slow boat to be with more locals but the thought of even more hours on a boat, minus the nice comfy seats and air-conditioning, well, ermm...... ;0) Off the boat and a short horse and cart ride later we got to Nyaung U - at $7 a night for a huge teak wood
decorated room it was much more our thing than the $100 plus a night that they were charging in Old Bagan!
Over 4400 temples were built at Bagan between 1047 and 1287, when the kingdom was finally overrun by the Mongols of Kublai Khan. Whilst evidence show's civilisation existed at Bagan way before 1047, it's golden era came when the Bamar King Anawrahta ascended the throne in 1044. Theravada Buddhism was becoming increasingly popular in the region - Anawrahta himself had been converted by a monk sent by the Mon King of Thaton. Anawratha asked to be given a number of sacred Buddhist texts and relics, the monk refused, so Anawrahta gathered his army, marched south, sacked the Mon kingdom and took everything worth having, including the king of Thaton, back to Bagan. He then set about a massive temple building program at Bagan, helped along by the labour of his 30,000 Mon prisoners of war. His successors continued building temples and the result, several wars, centuries of erosion and an earthquake later is what I was to spend the next four days seeing. Needless to say I didn't get round to everyone of the several thousand remaining temples
but to be honest I could easily have spent the remaining three weeks of my visa here giving it a good try!
The temples of Bagan are spread over an area of 42sq-km.... so walking around isn't an option. There are 3 ways to see the sights - by bike, a nice air-conditioned car (more likely if you're staying in one of the 400 USD a night rooms in Old Bagan.... so not us) or a horse and cart. We had great fun on the first day being chauffeured round on a horse and cart - our driver was a funny guy and it was wonderful getting some respite from the sun under the canopy of the cart in between baking at the temples. I spent the next 3 days cycling round though and despite the heat, sweat and pain - think one speed 'basic' bike with a hard seat, none of the nice multi-speed, cushioned seat type here - I actually preferred the cycling. A lot of temples are reached by sandy ox cart lanes and I seemed to continuously find myself going slower and slower until I finally got completely bogged down in the sand.... that of
course was when I wasn't dodging herds of goats or farmers taking their ox carts to the next field! It was quite a challenging 3 days on the bike really.... we'd cycle to a temple, climb it or wander round for a bit, relax at the top looking out at the view, then move onto the next one.... yes, all v tough ;0)
One of my favourite experiences was at Shwesandaw Paya, a tall white pyramid style pagoda that was built in 1057 after Anawrahta had successfully conquered Thaton. Staircases on each side lead up past 5 terraces to a platform at the top, where we spent hours one afternoon just relaxing and looking at the stunning views surrounding us. We'd had the place to ourselves for @ 30 mins when a French couple we'd met in Hsipaw appeared and soon after we were joined by two young Burmese girls, sisters it seemed who wanted to sell us postcards.... quietly! They told us they were hiding from the 'policeman' patrolling below.... the 'policeman' we worked out was actually one of the key masters (like wardens) - every temple seemed to have one and I guess these girls didn't have
a license to be selling postcards here, so for a few hours that afternoon we had the company of two fugitives aged 12 and 8!! In Burma women use Thanakha paste on their faces and sometimes their bodies as a form of sunscreen, so to pass time until they could come out of hiding the girls decided to Thanakha us. The paste is made from the ground bark of the Thanakha tree and application it seems is no simple task - it is not just smeared on any old way but applied in a pattern, e.g. a circle on the cheeks, so whilst the older girl acted as make-up artist her sister assumed the role of chief adviser, pointing out whenever her sister wasn't doing it just right. They must have done a good job because every local we saw afterwards complemented us on our Thanakha..... or maybe it was just the novelty of seeing a westerner wearing it ;0) A few hours later the 'policeman' disappeared and our new friends were soon off, scrambling down the steep crumbing steps with ease and running home, turning back every 10 steps or so to wave at us! Home for them was
a small one roomed hut a short distance away where they lived with their parents, grandparents and 5 siblings…. none of whom it seemed went to school because the parents couldn’t afford it. Whilst the nearby towns are full of lovely hotels and restaurants you really don’t have to look far to see the poverty that some locals live in.
One of the most striking temples at Bagan is Ananda Pahto, built between 1090 and 1105. It has a central golden hti (the hti is the decorative metal bit on top of the temple) and spires that provide a stark contrast with the whitewashed walls of the temple base. Inside you can only walk around the first floor, where 4 huge Buddha statues 9.5 m tall stand, each with different hand positions - in addition to having four postures (standing, sitting, walking and reclining) the positioning of the Buddha's hands also confer different meanings. A short distance from the Pahto is Ananda OK Kyaung, a small monastery chapel with the most detailed and colourful 18th century murals of Buddhist scenes and everyday life in Bagan. There was no light inside and we were shown round by torchlight by a
young Burmese student who gave us an excellent tour. Weirdly enough he was expecting us..... We'd been to Ananda Pahto the day before where we'd bumped into the French couple and spent a hilarious 5 minutes watching as Lilly, the French girl, was accosted by a bunch of 6 or so Burmese women who after cooing about the fact that she was wearing a longyi (a sarong type garment worm by men and women in Burma - the patterns and way in which it's tied differ between these sexes) then jokingly remonstrated her for the way she'd tied it and set about correcting it for her!!! Anyway they'd just been to the Kyaung and highly recommended it - we were keen to visit and after we'd left them they had met the young guide again and told him to expect 2 English people. He'd then hung around waiting for us... except we'd gone back to our horse and cart and been taken us elsewhere. When we finally made it to the Kyaung the next day we were greeted with 'ahhh yes I have been expecting you'!!
Whilst Ananda was visually striking it was also one of the busiest temples
that we visited. In contrast Payathada Paya, differed in both its popularity on the tourist trail and its architecture - in the case of the latter it was unlike anything else I saw at Bagan. We reached Payathada after several wrong turns down dusty tracks.... it's easy to work out which direction to head when you're sat at the top of a temple with a clear view over the plains, back on the ground it’s a different matter with one dusty lane looking much like another and the temples hidden amongst the trees. We arrived at Payathada to find it locked but as usual an elderly key master soon appeared and unlocked it for us. Unlike other temples we visited this one had a huge top platform and whilst devoid of detailed motifs it was striking for the geometric style that had been was used in designing the windows and staircases. After a good 20mins lazing at the top we tipped the key master and went down to collect our bikes. Next thing we know he's cycled round to meet us at the front of the temple, jumped of his bike, picked up a stick and started sketching in the
sand. Initially we looked at each other a little perplexed but as he started waving his arms and mentioning temple names we realised that he's drawn us a map of how to get to other temples from here… so much better than getting lost again!
We also visited Sulamani Pahto, a two storey temple built in 1181 which is famed for the quality of its brickwork. During construction the King ordered that the brickwork be so fine it should be impossible to insert a needles between the bricks.... and woe betide any bricklayer who failed to make the standard! Other favourites were Shwegugyi, built in 1131, which we climbed to watch sunset and Buledi, where we spent an hour at the top chatting to some painting vendors about local life here. Much of the local population is involved in tourism, either through hotels and restaurants or by selling arts and crafts. All of the big temples have people selling paintings, lacquareware, t-shirts, the usual stuff so getting into a temple can be feel like running the gauntlet... it’s rarely a case of will you be asked to buy something as you walk up to a temple, more like how
many times will you be asked to buy something! Even out on the roads you're not immune... a couple of times we were happily cycling along when a motorbike would appear from nowhere and pull up alongside us or we'd be chased down by kids on push bikes.... 'You want to buy a painting?' There were so many vendors that after a while they all blended to one… the vendors however were very astute at remembering tourists. Maybe because it was low season, or we chatted back to them, or we were around for a few days but when we returned to a temple a few days after our first visit we found some vendors remembered us, despite the fact that we hadn't bought anything from them!!! You might argue that it was a lucky guess but when they can tell you what you were wearing when they first saw you?! After a few days in the area we’d tuned out the constant calls of 'You buy postcards? $1. Good price.’ I nearly fell off my bike with laughter though as we cycled passed Thatbyinnyu Pahto and were greeted by a call off 'Hey, you want to buy my baby?
$1 Good price!" OK so maybe you had to be there but it was so funny after the continuous hassle to buy postcards, t-shirts, paintings etc. After a quick discussion I shouted back our counter offer of 1000kyat and she accepted ;0) As we cycled passed again a few minutes later she laughed, waved, pointed to some children and shouted 'Ahh which one you want? I give you special price for two!'
After 4 great days I decided I really must move on and surprise, surprise the bus to Kalaw involved a 4am start! There were a few upsides to crawling out of bed at such an ungodly hour - the first was seeing the mini monks collecting their food. We'd picked up a few passengers from hostels and stopped at the 'bus station' (or the kerbside outside the shop that sold the bus tickets) to wait for the remaining ones. As we dodged the bus men hefting rice and boxes of who know's what into every available inch of floor and roof space, we saw masses of young monks appear from every direction to form a nice orderly queue along the road. A few doors along from the
'bus station' was a food point that handed out food to the young monks gathered - in the near dark and at such an early hour the peacefulness of the monks compared with the labouring of the bus men was a surreal sight. The other advantage of the early start was seeing the most amazing sunrise - picture the stereotypical red ball of sun rising slowly over the horizon to a clear blue sky... alas my camera was in my bag and I was on the wrong side of the bus so no pictures :0(
In China I'd been amazed at how many people could be crammed into a minibus - the Chinese I have to say though could really learn a few lessons from the Burmese! Every seat was allocated, the aisle was filled with extra stalls and benches to squeeze in more people, the door was tied open and people were hanging out of the door, on the side of the bus and the roof.... basically anywhere you could get a hand hold! One guy spent virtually the whole 9 hours leaning out through the door just holding on with one arm. The journey was long, bumpy,
and dusty - air conditioning was of the window open variety, which with the dirt track road meant we were all covered in a layer of grime by the end. To start with the road was flat, but as we reached Shan state we started to climb and the hills became greener. On entering the state we passed through a checkpoint where everyone had to get off the bus and queue to show ID, foreigners in one queue, locals in another.
I'd come to Kalaw to do a trek, which I did but which didn't quite turn out to be the experience I'd hoped for. I'd planned to do the 3 day walk to Inle but silly me let myself be convinced by one of the guides at the hostel that it would be too muddy, impossible, dangerous, flooded, yada yada yada. I should have asked round more, especially as half the town seemed to be travel agents, but the first two guides I met said the same thing, I believed them and the recommendation by the LP of guides at this hostel! Will I never learn?! In the end I did a two day trek in the hills
around Kalaw - the scenery was beautiful, we walked through minority villages, past plantations of everything from tea to oranges and saw the most striking sunset, the only negative being the slight rather major personality clash that I had with my guide! When I finally did get to Inle I heard rave reviews from other people that had walked it… lesson learnt on that one!
When I returned to the hostel after the trek I was ambushed by the owner - did I want to go to Pindaya tomorrow? Three other guests wanted to go, it would be cheaper with 4 etc etc etc. The other three ended up being two (David, an English guy and Ines, a Swiss girl) and we soon discovered that the owner had fed us all the same story and played us all off against each other! We actually started the day in Kalaw as the local 5 day rotating market was in town. With all the rain the previous day it was muddy underfoot, not to mention hot, busy, noisy, and intense with all the colours and smells you'd expect - bright coloured veggies, chillies measured out in old soup cans, tobacco leaves
and of course the obligatory flopping fish. There were also heaps of tourists but I was really pleased to see that this hadn’t had a huge impact on the nature of the market…. almost everything on sale was targeted at locals and I only saw one stall selling any tourist stuff.
It was a 2 hour drive to Pindaya, mostly through flat farmland where the cauliflower harvest season seemed to be in full swing (well, something that looked like a cauliflower anyway) - everywhere people were either pulling them in from the fields or loading them into trucks, to a height that I was convinced would cause a cauliflower avalanche when the trucks went round a corner. Our reason for coming to Pindaya was to see the caves that, halfway up a cliff side, are jammed full of Buddha images, over 8000 of them! The images were everywhere, covering every spare inch of wall and floor space, with just enough room to squeeze down the narrow seemingly random pathways that had been left between them. We had great fun getting lost, crawling on our hands and knee's into small grotto's to discover images with neon flashing lights and trying
to hunt out the ‘British’ Buddha.... you see every image had a plaque with the names and nationalities of those that had paid for it - Swiss, Israeli, French, Spanish, American, Italian, Japanese, Malaysian and almost every other nationality except for British! In the end it became a bit of a mission for David and I to find a British one, with Ines grinning ever more smugly each time we turned a corner and discovered yet another Swiss one! Never did find the British one but we didn’t study all 8000 odd of them so there’s hope….. :0)
After the caves we stopped at Nam Cherry, a paper and umbrella making workshop where we watched as workers handmade first the paper and then the umbrella's, the latter ranging from traditional monk ones to pretty painted ones (not the type to be using in the rain!) and on to huge ones that could be used as garden umbrella's. After a bit of shopping (alas I couldn’t quite get the garden sized one into my rucksack…) we stopped for lunch at the local market in Pindaya, much to the amusement of the locals we sat with to eat a bright yellow
kind of tapioca type thing - v yummy but I’ve no idea what it was! On the way back to Kalaw our driver asked if we wanted to stop at a monastery. We were all feeling a bit Buddha’d out by this point but it turned out to be one of the highlights of the day. The monastery was a beautiful traditional teak wood type, dark inside with, as expected, many Buddha images. We were wandering around the main hall when suddenly the head monk appeared to greet us and give us a personal tour! It seemed as soon as we’d arrived someone had dashed off to find him - he spoke perfect English and was keen to practise it with the occasional visitors that passed through. He must have been in his 60’s or 70’s and had learnt English when he’d been in the air force, first training in the UK and then being based for a spell in the US. This of course was all a long time ago... he'd been at the monastery for the last 20 years or so, arriving to find a dilapidated shell that he’d spent years working to restore to it’s now beautiful
state. There were old photo's around the hall of him with his former RAF buddies, monks from the monastery who had gone to India and others that had come to visit here - we’d looked at them before he’d arrived but it was meant so much more to get the personal history behind them all.
Next up... boating around Inle, more temples and leaving Burma.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.165s; Tpl: 0.027s; cc: 8; qc: 24; dbt: 0.1155s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
