23/1/14 - Bagan - Ohn Ne Kyaung - Aung Pun Choung

Thursday 23 January, 2014

Bagan - Ohn Ne Kyaung - Aung Pun Choung

Steve is up early to catch the sunrise and to watch the balloons float over Bagan. A cool morning, but truly beautiful to sit atop a stupa and watch the sun come up over this extraordinary landscape.

Breakfast and then a final trip to one last stupa (by now the expression NAFP - not another f...ing pagoda was well entrenched). The Shwezigon Stupa is said to be the most sacred stupa in Bagan and is the only one built from sandstone (all others are built of brick). Very beautiful, but we are kind of over the whole pagoda thing.

We then roll on to the markets of Nyaung Oo. This village is the largest village near to Bagan. The people used to live all around the stupas, but the government decided it should be a massive archeological site and so all the people were moved from 'Old Bagan' to 'New Bagan'. Interestingly, the population of the area is only about 80,000. Mind you, we suspect this increases dramatically with tourists!

Bagan is definitely a 'must see', however there is no question that a visit here is tainted by the aggressive hawkers.

Back on board for a leisurely cruise further up river to Ohn Ne Kyaung. This is a small village (about 1000 people) that it seems Pandaw support in some way. There is nothing here except the village and we are free to wander through, effectively in to people's homes, to see how they live. Our village hosts are wonderful. There is (by western standards) clearly a significant lack of resources, but the people seem content and welcome us openly. We finish at the village school and all 200 odd students come out and line up to greet us. They sing us a couple of songs so we in return sing Waltzing Matilda for them. We then hand out pads, pencils, rulers and pencil sharpeners to every student which they gleefully accept. One more 'thank you' song and we are back on the boat to cruise to our overnight mooring.

Kitchen!

22/1/14 - Tan Kyi Taung - Bagan

Wednesday 22 January, 2014

Tan Kyi Taung - Bagan

Looking toward Bagan at dawn

Bagan is meant to be the highlight of the cruise and it does not disappoint. There were once over 10,000 pagodas in this area, now there are around 3000 which is still a most impressive and amazing sight. Our morning tour takes us to Shwesandaw Stupa where in one of the side buildings is an old, reclining Buddha image - not the glitzy kind of statue we found in Yangon, but a seemingly, good to honest ancient Buddha. We climb the VERY steep steps up the stupa and take in our first gaze across the landscape of Bagan - astonishing! What it would have looked like 800 -1000 years ago when these stupas were first being constructed, goodness knows, but today it is quite fabulous.

Next, on to Dhamayangyi Temple. This is the largest temple in Bagan and was built by a wealthy prince as atonement for murdering his father, elder brother and wife in order that he should be king! The brick construction is extraordinary - they didn't use mortar but instead the stone masons had to make sure that every brick fitted precisely to the bricks around it. The story goes that the prince would try and put a ??? Between the bricks and if he could, he would have the hands of the stone mason cut off!

A brief stop at the Khemeinga Pagoda Complex where we are surrounded by small stupas each with a small Buddha inside then on to the Ananda Temple - the masterpiece temple of Bagan, containing numerous artifacts. next to the temple is also an brick monastery where there are some stunning murals inside a small building.

This place is amazing - a truly wondrous landscape. We knew it was meant to be special, but it surprised us just how special it actually is - again, it is somewhere where pictures do not do it justice - you need to visit to get the 'vibe'.

The afternoon takes us to a lacquerware factory. We expected this to be a bit 'ho hum', but again we are surprised at how interesting the process is - from stripping cane down to its thinnest strands which are then wound round and round to form the various shapes. The bamboo is then smoothed and covered in lacquer from a special lacquer tree and then left to dry in an underground cellar for up to a week. The lacquering and drying process is then repeated up to 12 times! So, yes, a piece can take 3 months to be made before it is then etched with the desired pattern before having colour applied to the etching. Depending on the number of colours, this process can again takes a couple of weeks while they wait for each colour to dry and set. A large piece can take up to 6 months to make!

After some shopping (Rose a teapot and jewelry box, Bronwen a bangle, Steve an owl - guess who came out best!) We head off to climb a stupa to watch the sunset - simply fabulous!

Now back to the boat to freshen up before cocktail hour and dinner. After dinner we are treated (the word is used a little loosely) to a puppet show on the sun deck. The show was vaguely amusing and one had to admire the quality of the puppets and the skills of the puppeteers, but to the untrained ear and eye, the sixteen (yes, sixteen) dances were a tad repetitive.

Bed!

21/1/14 - Pa Khan Nge - Sale - Tan Kyi Taung

Tuesday 21 January, 2014

Pa Khan Nge - Sale - Tan Kyi Taung

A brief cruise this morning to Sale (pronounced sah-lay) where we have a relaxed walk about town to look at the various colonial building and then ending at a very special teak temple (Yout-Saun-Kyaung).

On to the largest 'lacquer ware' Buddha in Myanmar. This particular Buddha is actually made of sawdust and is also hollow. We wander back to the boat to cast off and head to Tan Kyi Taung.

At Tan Kyi Taung we all climb aboard Jeeps of various shapes, sizes and states of repair to head up Tan Kaung Mountain to the hill top stupa. The view from the top, not just of the vast vista of the hills around, but especially of the view across the Ayeyarwaddy river to Bagan in the distance was truly spectacular. It is one of those vistas where you can take as many photos as you like and try and describe it as best you can, but it is a place that you just have to have been there to experience - pagoda over your shoulder, the ancient civilisation of Bagan in the distance - this IS Myanmar.

 

On return to the dock, we are to be entertained by the local villagers with a traditional elephant dance(!). This is not something that we were looking forward to - again, we have feelings of exploiting the locals - but the elephant costume is impressive and the locals actually seem to get a buzz from being able to perform for us. The performance itself was also quite impressive - the costume is heavy, about 115 Kgs, and the acrobatics of the 2 villagers inside the costume demonstrate a strength and agility that is not obvious when you look at their very slight build. The performance concludes and we all make a donation to the local temple fund then back on board for sunset cocktails.

Now for what truly WAS the most embarrassing performance of the trip - we are under instruction to get dressed up in local Myanmar costume, i.e. longyi's and shirts, and then walk the catwalk to be judged for Mr and Ms Pandaw. Steve dressed in his longyi but declined the opportunity to walk the catwalk. I guess it was a bit of a laugh, but...hmmm...

Dinner. Bed.