Bagan

Pet squirrel.

Scenes from a local market.

The empty tourist section.

Happy bikers.

Making soybean paste in a sweat shop.

An enormous reclining Buddha.

Interior stone work.

The beautiful Ananda Paya temple.

A massive one in the 'outback'.

Monday, May 28^th.

First thing this morning we drove to the beautiful golden stupa Shwezigonzedi Pagoda. There Pu Pu was approached by a young girl who wanted to guide her around. What was interesting about her is that she had a small tame squirrel on her shoulder. I had seen them running around, but never up close. Different nose than our squirrels.

At this pagoda there was a shelter where Pu Pu explained that a king had tried to protect his son from the outside world and spoiled him in a palace. But eventually, the son got out and saw the four stages: old age, illness, and death. This son became a buddha and swore off the trappings of his life.

Then we went to a meditation building that had narrow dark corridors with frescos and paintings on the walls that have unfortunately faded over the years and have not been protected.

Next Pu Pu took us to the local market where we walked around watching what was going on. Markets like this are a major source of social interaction for the local people. The market was packed, except for the tourist souvenir section, which was empty. It was interesting to see the young nuns dressed in pink who go to the market for donations. At every stall the seller would give them something, a carrot, a bit of garlic, some rice, a banana, etc. Apparently, they do this twice a week in order to get food to feed themselves.

Then we visited a business where they make soy bean paste. The soy beans here are smaller and look more like lentils. They are boiled and the husks sold to farmers to feed their cattle, and the juice it syphoned off and then boiled, reduced and stirred until all the water is gone and there is just a thick black paste left, that they then package into small bags for the local women to cook with.

We visited Kubyaukgyi Hpaya Temple, which is modelled after a temple in India. It had fine mural paintings on its walls and ceilings depicting historically significant events in Myanmar. Unfortunately, the paintings have faded badly and have not been protected and some were actually removed and taken to Germany in 1899. There are also two footprints on the high ceiling that are reputed to be of Buddha.

We visited two more temples before eating lunch at a local restaurant. Then we returned to the hotel for a two-hour break. I went for a short walk across the street and down to the river, hoping to see some more river life, but there was nothing there, except another large temple covered with bamboo scaffolding that is being repaired. There were a couple of interesting houses on the road, one of which was a bamboo frame covered in bamboo matts with a man sitting outside reading a paper on his lounger.

Then I went back to the hotel and decided to get in the pool. I had it to myself. Shortly after it started to rain and I enjoyed the warm water on the body and the cool water on my head, very relaxing.

In the afternoon, we continued our exploration of this enormous archaeological site. The area is 40 square kilometres and contains 4200 temples and stupas. Some were built in the 9^th century, but most were built between the 11^th and 13^th century, before the Moghuls conquered this area in the 1300’s. There are a large variety of shapes, sizes, and styles. Some are enormous and others are quite small. A few are made from sandstone that had to be brought from miles away, and most of the others are made from brick. The area has been hit several times over the years by earthquakes and many of them have fallen or been damaged. The Military governments of Myanmar had restored many of them with no regard to the reconstruction rules of UNESCO. That plus, although the site is designated by Myanmar as an historically important archaeological site, they accepted bribes from a company who has built a five star hotel and a golf course in the middle of the complex. As a result, this whole complex is not listed as a World Heritage Site and it has not benefitted from the money that UNESCO designation would provide.

It was raining lightly most of the afternoon as we visited a temple with an enormous sitting Buddha in the front hall and a huge reclining Buddha in the rear hall. We visited an area where there were several smaller ones and we could walk around them. We saw a couple that had ornate carvings inside. Finally, we visited Ananda Paya which Pu Pu said was the most beautiful (which is why she saved it for last) and the archaeologists designated as the masterpiece. It was very different from the rest and looked more like a cathedral or palace. 

Our last stop was at a man-made hill which we walked up to get a better view of the area but, the rain put a damper on things and made it difficult to take photos.

Then we headed by the Floral Breeze Hotel where we said goodbye to our third driver and then had an hour break before dinner. We ate at the hotel restaurant because we didn’t want to walk anywhere in the rain. Then off to the room for the night.