Day 85 - Worst Bus Ride in Myanmar

So far the worst bus ride in Myanmar today! I woke up at 3am to catch a 4am bus ride from Bagan to Kalaw, a city in the mountains with many trekking opportunities. The bus was a minivan without any air-conditioning, and again, they packed the bus with as many people as possible, both inside and on top of the bus.

All of this would have been fine, had I not gotten stuck with the WORST seat on the bus...I was in the middle seat in the back row, without a headrest, and no handrests to hold onto while the bus traversed up the rocky and windy roads towards Kalaw. There was little room to move, and my feet couldn't reach the floor when I sat up straight, so I had to slouch half the time. The whole ride took 10 hours...!!!

By the time we arrived in Kalaw, I just took a fatty nap for about 3 hours before heading to town to grab some Nepali food, finally some good food! You may have noticed that I have not been posting too many food pictures from Myanmar, partially due to my disappointment with most of the food I had eaten so far. Everything is oily and bland... The curries are usually meat dishes soaked in oil, with a little bit of curry at the bottom of the dish. I ended up splurging on imported Thailand knock-off Pringles chips because I didn't want any of the other food...

I ended up just taking it easy today. The climate was cooler than Pyin Oo Lwin, which is a nice change from the heat in Bagan.

Tomorrow I head on a 3 day/2 night hiking trek through Kalaw, headed to Inle Lake, and stopping at local villages, monasteries, and guest houses.

Day 84 - Bagan Temples Part 2

I decided to take another route today through Bagan to see some more temples. It was one of the less traveled routes south of Nyaung U and through some of the more difficult and dusty dirt roads. I must have seen only 3 other tourists on bikes cycling through the trails, one of whom I met on the boat ride from Pokkoku to Bagan. This would be the third time in three days that I saw him at a random temple!

I started my biking trek at noon, probably the worst time to start as the sun was bright and the sky was cloudless today compared to yesterday. It was quite a workout, although this was all alleviated by random stops in the temples, where the air was cooler and the breeze flowed through the passages.

After seeing temple after temple, I arrived at a small village called Min Nan Thu. The only electricity they had in the village was powered through batteries similar to those used in cars. The villagers were friendly and one of the men asked if I was interested in purchasing some bronzeware. I told him it would be too heavy to carry around, so he asked if I had any extra tee-shirts to barter with. I asked him why everyone seemed to want tee-shirts and he explained that Myanmar produced bad quality tee-shirts and everyone wanted clothing outside of the country since it would last longer and wouldn't stretch out so quickly.

I was given a tour of the village, where much of it is self-sustaining. They make their own cotton and clothing, sesame and peanut oils, horse-cart wheels, and cigars among other things. The main crops they cultivate are peanuts, sesame, and various legumes.

At around 6:30pm, I decided to head back to the last temple I visited yesterday so that I could catch the sunset. It was anti-climatic since the sky was full of clouds in the distance near the horizon, so there wasn't much of a sunset to see. I met my sand-painting friend again and he said:

“My friend, the sun is going down so my prices are going down!”

I jokingly asked him if it would be free at around midnight and he replied:

“Price goes back up because the moon goes up!”

He later explained that the sunset hasn't been up to par lately because there hasn't been much rain in the area, which has also affected their farming.

He successfully sold a sand painting today, after 4 days of nothing, so that was a good way to end the day, although it would have been better if he had sold more. I asked him why he didn't become a motorbike tourguide since he had a motorbike and was a very personable and talkative individual, but he said that the government made it illegal for any foreigner to ride a motorbike in the city. I find that ridiculous, since it limits his opportunity to make some money on a talent he obviously has. It might be to limit how much access foreigners have to the country, but it ends up hurting the locals as well. I took a motorbike in Mandalay, but he said it was still illegal for me to do so...

We parted ways at the end of the night, but he said:

“See You Later Alligator!”

Instead of “Goodbye” because he hoped to see me again either in Bagan in a year, or at the White House in the United States... I wish him the best of luck and to hope to meet with him again.

Making Cotton

...and Cigars

Nearing Sunset in Bagan

Day 83 - Bagan Temples Part 1

There are two popular ways to view the temples in Bagan – either by horsecart with a tourguide or by bicycle. I opted to rent a bicycle so that I could go at my own pace, and because I was running out of Myanmar Kyat currency.

There are three sections of Bagan to explore – Nyaung U, Old Bagan, and New Bagan. Most of the more popular temples are situated near Old Bagan, which used to be where many of the locals lived before they were forced to relocate to New Bagan by the government when it was developing tourism.

I decided to take the popular route from Nyaung U to Old Bagan, stopping by whatever temples that caught my eye. Many of the temples have “key-keepers” who take care of the temples and hold the keys to the gates at the entrances to the temples. I found most of the locals to be extremely friendly, being tour guides when I entered each temple. Of course, they also wanted to try and sell me some of the merchandise that they had, ranging from lacquerware to sand paintings to tee-shirts. I didn't find it to be too distracting as their friendly demeanor made up for it.

Many of the temples had upper levels that weren't accessable due to restrictions by the government, but I did come across some that I was able to climb up. Once up top, the view was even more incredible, with thousands of temples sprawled across the small city in every direction. The terrain was flat, so there wasn't any sort of obstruction of my view of the many temples surrounding me.

Most of the temples were built in the 13^th century, and many of the paintings are still originals inside. Some of the Buddha statues have had to be restored though, and there was a major earthquake in the 20^th century that destroyed many of the temples completely.

The city of Bagan is one of the biggest tourist draws in Myanmar, but many of the temples I visited were empty. Near the end of the day, I settled on one of the temples that I could climb and just enjoyed the moment by myself for the next couple of hours. While there, a sand-painting seller came to the temple to try and sell me some of his paintings. He was a humorous, and good-natured salesman and we had a chat about the country, all while he cracked jokes.

After telling him I wasn't interested in buying the paintings, he said:

“OK, I give you present (sand painting), and you give me present ($$$)”

After telling him that I had already heard so many people saying their would give a “great price” for the paintings, he said:

“OK, I give you Wonderful price instead!”

He asked me if I was happy, and I replied that I was just “OK”, so he said:

“If you were happy, I sell for $15, but since you are just 'OK', I give you discount!”

He was pretty open about his dislike of the government. He said that he was only able to talk about it so openly on the tops of these temples, and if he said anything in the streets, he'd be handcuffed and led to prison. I asked him if he participated in the protests in 2007 and he said he protested everyday...but “in his dreams”. He said most of the money that was made in Myanmar ends up in the governments' pockets and in their families' pockets.

There aren't any private of government jobs in Bagan and most of the villagers have had to resort to selling merchandise to tourists to make any sort of income. You could either own a restaurant, work at a hotel, be a horse-cart driver, or sell merchandise. There isn't enough restaurant or hotel work, so the only other feasible way of making any money is through souvenir sales. And tourism has waned in the past couple of years, starting with the protests in 2007, and then a cyclone that swept through the country in 2008, then the protests in Thailand that closed down the airport for a while (Bangkok is one of the most popular cities to fly to Myanmar), and now the US Dollar is not worth much in exchange with the Kyat... It's a pretty depressing scenario.

But this young 22-year old salesman continued to be in good spirits throughout our conversation, and I could tell he got through the struggle by cracking jokes and talking a lot. There were times when he did get serious and I knew he hurt inside, telling me how hard it is to sell a painting, and how he'd come home and his mom would ask him how his day went, and how his silence was enough of an answer for her to know that he was unsuccessful for the day. He said most people made around 40K kyat each month, and if he were to move to Yangon, where the opportunities were better, that he would make around 60K kyat. This was better, but it would only be enough to support himself in the city, and he would be somewhere where he couldn't take care of his family or see his friends, so this wasn't an option.

It's times like these that make me think about how these people survive here...The government doesn't seem to care enough about its people to make the living conditions better, or to provide jobs, and internationally, most countries have sanctions that prevent any sort of business to enter the country that would help the locals. He said the key to everything was with China. The country has strong ties with Myanmar, and that is where the country gets most of its support. If China put some sort of pressure on the government to change things around, maybe things would be better... a sobering thought, all of this.

Day 82 - Pokkuku to Bagan

Decided to take the scenic river route on my way to the city of Bagan down the massive Ayeyarwady River. I took another local bus from Monywa to Pokkoku, which thankfully only took 2 hours since there weren't as many stops to pick up more locals.

Pokkoku is best known as the city that initially started the monk protests in 2007. They are also known for their tobacco and thanakha (sandalwood powder make-up) production. I didn't get a chance to explore the city, as I took a motorbike straight to the jetty.

I ended up being about 3 hours too early, so I sat around and had some tea and lunch, chatting with some of the locals about their traditions of marriage and whatnot. The area was very poor, and people kept asking for shampoo for some reason. I think that's the hot item these days. Others were selling blankets or at least willing to trade us for tee-shirts or other items we had in our backpacks.

The boat ride was pleasant, but there wasn't much to see along the river. The only thing I can really note is how wide and massive the river is. It was probably the biggest river I've rode along on a boat.

Arriving at Bagan was beautiful as you could begin to see some of the temples along the cliffs, waiting to be devoured by the river as the cliff slowly eroded.

After settling into my motel room, I rented a bike to explore the town. I headed to one of the biggest pagodas, the Shwezigon Pagoda, and along the way, I saw some small temples just outside one of the villages to climb and explore. It must be something to have some ancient temples that are hundreds of years old, right outside of your village.

I rode my bike around the village, just seeing the way the people lived. Some monks were playing soccer, mothers were walking around with their babies, and other boys were playing with rattan balls.

Along the Ayeyarwady River

Shwezigon Pagoda