As we drove to our first stop our guide said there was an initiation ceremony in the village and as the family were very rich there were going to be 3 elephants. True to his word ,as we entered the village we came to an abrupt halt as we had encountered it in all it's splendour. Processions of family and friends,cars for the old folk,hand pushed sound systems,elephants and bullock carts. They seem to happen everyday but this could be because the children are now on a 3 month holiday from school and so can be away in a monastery or nunnery for a period of time. We eventually made it to the fresh market and wended our way through the stalls resplendent with all their wares. Then we started on the pagoda complexes and temples , just the two before lunch! This whole area is littered with religious buildings,most in need of restoration due to earthquakes and normal decay. In particular their lotus buds(top of the buildings )need gold every 5 or 6 years or so and consequently many have bamboo scaffolding around them. Before lunch we visited a lacquer workshop which was fascinating as we have never considered where it comes from.We did buy a little piece too. After lunch we had a welcome swim before visiting a quiet pagoda complex before climbing up the outside of a stupa top watch the sunset with all the other tourists!
For dinner we boarded another of the small lorries that pass for buses here and went to another restaurant with a cultural show
. The puppeteers were brilliant,even making them do somersaults and winking!
Bagan day1
Friday, March 03, 2017
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New Bagan, Mandalay Region
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