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Published: January 29th 2007
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Monks at dusk
Shwedagon Paya Yangon: A couple of days were spent in the capitol Yangon (Rangoon for all those colonial types); looking at more golden stupas, avoiding the large holes in the pavements and admiring the “classic” cars still running on the roads.
The highlight was probably the Shwedagon Paya temple. We had wandered around only for a few minutes, admiring the buildings and statues, when an elderly gentleman came up to us and started explaining the layout of the temple. The Shwedagon Paya’s arrangement was based on the points of a compass and their relative animals in accordance with Burmese astrology. He asked what days Dan and I were born and we replied Thursday and Wednesday night respectively. He explained that as I was born on a Wednesday evening I should pray in the North-West of the temple to the statue of a Tuskless Elephant. Dan on the other hand should make offerings to the statue of the Rat in the West. The gentleman then proceeded to tell me what I had in store in the next few years: this was, apparently, a plentiful period for me at present and that I probably had a girlfriend I was extremely happy and that it would
Yangon
Dan was greatly impressed by the range and number of old vehicles still in use. Buses were a particular delight. all be sunshine and light for the next few years (hmmmmmm!?!). He then turned to Dan: “You on the other hand……” and basically said that Dan was evil. That’s not quite true but that is what Dan took from the conversation. This was a bad period for Dan, it was his own fault for past transgressions but the good news was that it would only last for 4 more years. Terrific! This depressed Dan for a little bit and he took offence at being told that it was entirely his own fault for any disaster that would befall him. However later that evening we worked out that Dan was actually born on a Wednesday evening as well, so it was good news for everybody. Hoorah!
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Inle lake is a very large pond (over 40 square miles) upon which people have constructed numerous stilt villages and have cultivated floating gardens upon which they grow their fruit and vegetables. Why they live on the lake and not next to it is beyond me but then it wouldn’t be famous and I wouldn’t have visited it. We spent a day trekking the surrounding hills as well as a day on a boat
tour to see some of the surrounding attractions. The Leaping Cat Monastery was among these. This is where cats who show and Evel Knievel-like tendency to leap through hoops (alas, not on fire) live in peace until tourists show up and then the monks coerce them into performing. I can’t really complain as I was one of those tourists and I would have been disappointed if I had left without seeing at least one vaulting feline. I think getting a cat to jump over 12 double-decker buses was going too far, though.
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Mandalay was full of dust (as was most of Myanmar). We visited The Snake Temple (a temple with some snakes in) and U Bein’ teak bridge (a long bridge made of teak). We saw other stuff as well. Sometimes I just loose steam with this travelblog writing. Now is one of those times.
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Bagan: Right, I’m a bit more up for this one. Bagan was brilliant. Situated on a curve of the Ayeyarwady River, Bagan is a vast dusty plane upon which thousands of stupas were built between 850-1250(ish). Some are large; most are small but the overall effect when you cast your eyes towards the
horizon is extraordinary. They were built at a time when Bagan was the capitol and before the kingdom fell to the Mongols. Although Bagan shares some similarities to Angkor Wat (they were both builtduring the same period) the experience was quite different. Some of the temples here are in excellent condition and you can climb to the upper terraces that provide amazing views of yet more temples.
Dan and I spent three days cycling around the grassy plane. In that time we had 11 punctures (Dan 6, Neil 5) but fortunately there was always a nice local nearby who would fix it for you. It was amazing to see so many different styles of temples so close together; each one different from the next. I would recommend visiting Bagan to anybody.
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A note about Myanmar buses.
Dan and I traveled around Myanmar by bus (with the exception of Mandalay to Bagan which was by riverboat). Because I have done this I will now never complain about British buses again. All journeys were at night and lasted anywhere between ten and eighteen hours of which in total, I got about 45 minutes sleep. Each journey delighted in being worse
than the previous one; bumpy roads, no roads, seats into which I couldn’t physically fit, bad Jean Claude Van Damme movies. The worst journey was the final one from Bagan to Yangon where we sat the back of the bus and our buttocks received such a beating from the potholed road that I feared that I would never be able to sit casually down again. To those who complain about British buses; you don’t know you’ve been born!
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