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Published: February 3rd 2012
K- 4.30am saw us on the local ferry from Mandalay to Bagan. Fortunately we got there early enough to secure a couple of plastic chairs by the rail - some tourists had grabbed rather too much of the deck and were reluctant to give it up and the locals were basically spread over the rest. We turned out to have grabbed an excellent spot and the next 12 hours gave us a really good taste of life along the Irrawaddy.
A few hours after sailing we watched the local women applying thanakha, the yellow cosmetic/ moisturiser / sunscreen made from a bark. The paste is ground on a portable mortar and flat stone and it was fascinating watching how much care was taken in applying it - a compact mirror being passed along with the stone. I confess that to me many of the applications look completely haphazard but watching this ritual it was clear that it is not, and although the look doesn't tempt me I don't think it's any weirder than me putting lipstick and mascara on every morning (which OK I haven't done for about 6 months!).
The boat had a kitchen at one end (with
open fires of course!) and at every stop vendors came on board selling everything from bannanas to noodles to samosas. We watched boats load and unload everythng from timber to flatscreen TVs and solar panels, at every stop other locals were there just doing their everyday chores or collecting friends and family on ox carts.
We sat next to a lovely French gentleman on the boat. Jean Pierre is 69 and is backpacking around Asia for a couple of months. He told us about the trek from Kalaw to Lake Inle (see next blog) and we bumped into him several times over the next week or so in both Bagan and Inle. I really hope we are able to travel so actively when we are 69.......but unlike him I am not so tempted to learn to wakeboard at age 67!
Our destination, Bagan, the home of over 2,000 temples (originally 5,000!). Beautiful and interesting (especially from above) I still couldn't help thinking that this was an excellent example of our friends maxim for Africa "just because you can, doesn't mean you should.....build 5,000 temples"! Probably my only regret of the trip so far however is that we did
Where did they get those hats?! Where did they get those hats?!
Vendors wait for the gangplank to come down....well some did. Others sold bananas from the river and threw them to the buyers. We caught all of ours!not take a hot air balloon over the ruins. We made the false assumption that this would be booked up well in advance and left it at that. We then met someone who had done it with a days notice. Hey ho - we climbed a few temples instead and got a perception of the area.
The following are a couple of miscellaneous items that I want to record but have slipped out of the relevant blogs due to our lack of interent access. One thing is that Myanmar does not have ATMs, nor will it change travelers cheques or take credit cards so you have to bring all the money you think you may need - or go home early! Also only immaculate dollar bills are accepted for exchange - and I mean immaculate.... the slightest crease or mark means they will be rejected (note to Banks - stop using black pen on the edge of notes!). This made for an interesting 2 days in Bangkok where we very annoyingly had to exchange USD travelers cheques into Thai Bhat and then buy new USD notes - Mark could probably work out our huge exchange loss in his head
Bagan
The one thing I regret is we didn't take the balloon over Bagan. We assumed it would be full ---and it wasn't but I have forbidden him from sharing!
Another thing we have forgotten to blog are the horoscopes we had done in Mandalay at a temple. I am a little susceptible to this sort of thing and had mentioned several times in various countries that I fancied having it done. To give context, astrology and horoscopes are taken very seriously in Asia - particularly in Myanmar. Although these were very high level the guy caught our attention when his first statement was "the first 6 months of this year you will just spend money.....you will not save any money". Not bad given that this trip is expected to last until end June! Oh and I have to learn to chill.....mmm, anyone else think thats a good idea?!
Mr. Cynical was so impressed that he also took the plunge. I won't share his forecast but suffice to say that all looks good for our return to the real world! To continue this theme Mark was very amused to find out later on our trek that as Mondays child and in my 40s I am currently in the phase of the "Fire Breathing Dragon" - he reckons he did not need
Nat Shrine - Bagan
Nats are spirits worshiped alongside Buddha. There are 37 official Nats. It is important to keep them happy as unlike Buddha they can take revenge for slights! a horoscope to work that one out. I was even more amused to find out that Mark's star sign is the Sheep.....bless!
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