Ancient Temples by the Irrawaddy

Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Bagan, Mandalay, Myanmar
Back at the Park Royal Hotel in Yangon we were looking forward to benefiting from some of its 5 star facilities again but we were given a really shabby room with a broken bath and a broken safe, and the wifi only functioned for an hour or two. We returned to the restaurant down the road at which we had eaten on our first night in Myanmar. Then, fresh from the delights of Thai cuisine, we had found the food there uninspiring. Tonight, after nearly a week of insipid meals, we realised that the food there was definitely above average and we enjoyed the meal.

The upside to having to get up at 4 .00am on Tuesday morning was that we could watch a little of the live coverage of Chelsea v. Man City. Unfortunately by the time it was time to leave it was looking as if City were about to suffer their first defeat of the season. Mr Win drove us through dark, deserted streets to the airport.

It was just starting to get light when the Air Bagan flight took off for the hour and twenty minute journey to Bagan. The flight was on an ATR 72 and was only about a third full but the service was very good and we were amused to find that the cabin had been decked out with Christmas decorations.

We were met by our new guide Ten and driver Ken. It was still very early in the morning but the Nyaung U market was in full swing. It was a bit cooler here than in Yangon and the stallholders were well wrapped up against the cold. For us it was just pleasant. Ten walked around with us pointing out any unusual items . We noticed immediately that there was a lot more tourist merchandise for sale here and some of the sales people were quite pushy.

The main attraction of the area is the 42 square kilometre plain on the banks of the Irrawaddy River, home to several thousand temples. Built in the 11th to 13th century the monuments glorified the king who first unified the disparate kingdoms of the region and introduced Buddhism to the land. Many are in poor repair and others are scarred by botched renovations but all are spectacular and the sheer number of temples, stupas, towers and monasteries is incredible. The actual number of temples is difficult to calculate as new ones are being constructed all the time

Ten took us to see several and we admired golden pagodas, carved stonework, earthquake proof brickwork, glazed tiles, teak doors and giant Buddhas galore. Many people were cycling between temples and another popular means of transport here was the horse and cart . We travelled by car. At each temple there were souvenir sellers. They were very persistent and we soon began to get tired of them. We were well and truly back on the tourist trail now and already missing the friendly shy people we had met off the beaten track.

We had an early lunch at “The Moon” vegetarian restaurant and checked in to our accommodation soon after midday. We were staying at the Bagan Thande Hotel, built in 1922 for the visit of the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VIII. It was situated on the banks of the river and we were surprised to find that we had a riverfront room. It was enormous with an equally spacious bathroom and a picture window overlooking the Irrawaddy. We had a pleasant few hours relaxing before setting out again at 3.30pm for some more sightseeing. First stop was a lacquerware workshop where we were subjected to more retail pressure then we wandered around a few more temples before driving to a large stupa for the sunset. People were already taking up positions on the top as we started the climb up the very steep stairway . It was somewhat vertiginous but from the top we had a 360 degree view of the plain below dotted with temples. As the sun sank everyone gathered on the western face, cameras poised for that perfect sunset shot.   It wasn’t particularly spectacular actually but the silhouetted stupas rising from the dusty plain made an atmospheric picture.

We clambered back down, a little nervously and were driven back to the hotel where we relaxed on our terrace as darkness fell over the river. It was tremendously tranquil until the mosquitoes started massing.

Ten had given us directions for some local restaurants which, after taking a couple of wrong turnings, we managed to find. There were about six in a row, all small establishments with just two or three tables. We selected one and the lady owner came to ask what we wanted. She reeled off a list of dishes and we both selected beef curry. She prepared a little feast for us with about eight side dishes to go with the curry . Her English was good and she explained what all the accompaniments were. We were the only tourists there, in fact the only customers. A younger lad who seemed to be her assistant did not speak such good English but that did not stop him trying to talk to us throughout the meal. He stood at the table and watched us intently as we ate which was rather unnerving. The beef was a little tough but some of the small dishes were very tasty.

It was to be a 9.00am start on Wednesday and so we had the luxury of a bit of a lie in. The breakfast buffet was quite good and was served on a patio overlooking the river. There was a misunderstanding over the day’s programme. The guide had not read the information properly and was a bit put out to find that, instead of an easy day pottering around a few more temples, we were going to be driving some distance to Mt Popa and then to the town of Salay. He said had he known we would have set out earlier.

Life in the villages in this area is very basic . Only in the last 20 years have there been pumping stations for the water supply. The fields are worked by bullocks and, apart from motorbikes, the most common form of transport is still the horse and cart. We stopped at a workshop where local people were making a variety of products, mostly from palms. A bullock circled a millstone to grind peanuts, a fiery looking spirit was being distilled from palm sugar and another wooden contraption was being worked to chop palm fibres.

As we travelled Ten told us a little about the schooling system in Myanmar. Primary and secondary education is theoretically free but parents must buy stationery and school uniforms for their children. Teachers’ salaries are very low and the standard of teaching in the schools is poor. Parents who can afford to, send their children for private tuition. This is given every day, by the same teachers, before school starts and after school finishes, making a very long day for the children. Ten has two boys in education and finds the private tuition fees a heavy burden . He has to pay £20 a month for each boy for each subject and they take six subjects. He is determined to give them the best education he can.

After an hour and a half the extinct volcano, Mt Popa appeared on the horizon. Atop a nearby volcanic plug was the country’s most important centre for Nat (spirit) worship and it was this that we were going to climb. It took around 30 minutes to climb the series of steep stairways. The route was lined, as usual, by souvenir stalls. Here though the aggressiveness of the vendors was matched by hundreds of aggressive monkeys. They scampered up and down the steps and massed in groups to ambush the tourists. When sent packing they thundered across the corrugated iron roof over our heads to reassemble at another point on the ascent. There were several colourful Nat shrines on the summit and lovely views of the surrounding hills.

It was another hour’s drive to Salay. Here we stopped for lunch at a traditional local restaurant . Keith as usual just wanted a beer and I was offered a choice of chicken curry, pork curry or beef curry. I chose pork and soon had a plate of rice in front of me and a bowl of curry. Then a few more small dishes appeared. Then some salad. Then some soup. Then some curried vegetables. Then some beef curry. Before long I was surrounded by food. I don’t seem to have been able to acquire a taste for their soup yet but most of rest was good.

At Salay we visited a 19th century teak monastery. There were some fascinating wooden carvings around the eaves and the interior was full of dusty old teak furniture and lacquer ware cabinets. The walls and roof were panelled with teak and they had preserved a couple of lovely carved doors but much of it was in a poor state of repair.

Before leaving Salay we visited a pagoda housing a large golden Buddha which is said to have been reclaimed from the river in 1888 . It was made of sawdust and by lying on your back with a torch in a little tunnel underneath the Buddha you are treated to a view of the interior supports.   As in many shrines some offerings here were made according to the day of the week on which you were born. There are eight days - Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday morning, Wednesday afternoon, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Each day has the name of an animal and everyone takes the name of their particular animal.

Back in Bagan we had a short walk around some of the temples near the hotel before settling on the lawn overlooking the river to watch the sunset with a cocktail. We found another very local restaurant on Wednesday night. No English menu and very attentive staff who hovered over us as we ate and kept checking that the food was alright. It wasn’t very exciting to be honest.

We had another early start on Thursday morning and so after a short spell of battling with the local internet service we retired to our tranquil riverside room.

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Comments

Siobhan
2011-12-18

am loving the sunset photos - very artistic !! xxxx

2025-02-11

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