As you likely do not know, Bagan is the ancient city here in Myanmar. There are over 3,000 pagodas and it is absolutely breathtaking. They are literally everywhere (just along the road in many places) and all are accesable. You can walk right up to them, climb all over them, they are in the middle of people's farm land, on hotel property, everywhere. And they are for the most part in very good condition. If I had to compare Bagan to Angkor in Siem Reap, Cambodia (as many people do) I would rank this much higher. Not only are there almost no tourists here (I am here in the off season), it is not nearly as commercial and popular (yet) as Angkor. Everything is more accessible, more real, and many times you go places people still find a lot of uniqueness in your being white - which is cool.
A few cool things to note that were not captured in any of the videos so far:
- I saw an old man tilling his field this morning with a wooden till pulled by two oxen. I sat and watched him awhile. He controlled them almost totally by vocal commands and he had to manuver the oxen around the thousand year old pagodas in the middle of his farm field. It was like I was looking back a few centuries in time. Amazing!
- I have spent many hours the last two days watching TV in the local restaurants. Both yesterday and today in the afternoon (around 4) I found myself at the same restaurant/cafe in Nyaung U watching Burmese soap operas (or maybe movies). Either way, they were so dramatic I could understand them without problem even though I obvisouly do not speak Burmese. Yesterday I enjoyed this time by myself where as today I was accompanied by a very nice Italian, Andrea, who I had dinner with last night and spent the afternoon and evening with today.
- Tonight, after dinner, Andrea and I went to a cafe in our town (New Bagan). This is the same cafe my "First Meal in Bagan" video was filmed at. We spent two hours there tonight enjoying a tea and bottled water while we watched Rise of the Plante of the Apes with about 30 Burmese men. It is a great set-up here in Burma. All the local cafes have nice HD TVs and they play whatever they want. As a patron you watch whatever is being played (can be a soap opera, the football game, a movie, the home shopping network, etc...) while you drink your coffee. Tonight, I was the only female (as I appear to be mostly when I go to these cafes - I'm not sure where the ladies hang out), we were the only 2 non-Burmese people, and we had a fabulous time! I know this will be something I likely will not forget.
- Not sure if I wrote about this yet or not, but when I was still in Yangon I saw a very young child (still learning to support his own weight as he was leaning on a shelving unit when I saw him standing up) playing with a butchers knife. The child was using one hand to support his weight on a shelving unit and simultaneously holding a cucumber slice against the surface (with the same hand). In the other hand, the child was holding a butcher's knife that he was using to pretend chop at the cucumber slice. I'm not sure how sharp the knife was, but I hope he didn't drop it on his foot. How crazy! I would have taken a photo, but I didn't want to ruin the moment.
- I ran into a Dutch girl I spent Christmas with in Penang, Malaysia last evening here in Bagan. Crazy small world, isn't it?
- We have regular power outages here in Myanmar. I experienced one in Yangon and they have them twice daily here in Bagan - once in the morning around 9:30 (lasted until maybe 11?) and one in the evening at 7:30.
- Today I was ushered out of my hotel quickly by the owner because the government was coming and I couldn't be here. I had come back from some sighseeing around 2pm and dropped off my electric bike for charging downstairs. I told them I would leave at 4 pm. At 3:30 the owner came to my room and told me I eithere had to leave at 3:30 (so immediately) or wait until 4:30 to leave, I could not leave at 4 pm like I had wanted to. She said the government was coming to check the hotel so I either had to go then or stay in my room. I told here I needed to shower and could not leave for at least 5 mintues. I finally got her to agree to this plan. I showered quickly, tucked away my valuables, and headed downstairs. (As a law here in Singapore, foreigners can only stay at registered guest houses. I suspect the guest house is not registered and that is why she was concerned about me being here. I did not check, but assumed it was registered since there were so many reviews online from foreigners. To note, this is only a suspicion. I never found out why they needed me to leave). Anyways, because of my suspicion, I was careful as I walked to the main door in case the government was here. They were not, but as I walked down the stairs they ushered my quickly out the door so "the governement" would not see me there. This country is such an experience!
- (I keep thinking of more things to write about....) I took the overnight bus from Yangon to Bagan. The bus, a VIP bus, was amazing. At one point, about 1 hour into our 10 hour ride, we pulled over on the side of the motorway, one of the "bus hostesses" (as I've named them) got a large item from under the bus, brough it up the front steps, and there in the aisle next to me appeared one of the push carts the air hostesses use on the airplanes. They did one round of snacks and around of refreshments for us. It was amazing! Plus we each got our own blankets, after our dinner stop they passed out little digestion tables (not sure what they really were and they weren't exactly to my liking...), and we had free water bottles. All for only USD$20! If travleing in Myanmar, use JJ Express and take the bus, it is a great experience!
Okay, I think most everything else can be seen in the videos below.
Enjoy! (If you don't watch all of them, at least watch the last two videos from Day 2. They are the best show of what life is like here in Myanmar!)
A few cool things to note that were not captured in any of the videos so far:
- I saw an old man tilling his field this morning with a wooden till pulled by two oxen. I sat and watched him awhile. He controlled them almost totally by vocal commands and he had to manuver the oxen around the thousand year old pagodas in the middle of his farm field. It was like I was looking back a few centuries in time. Amazing!
- I have spent many hours the last two days watching TV in the local restaurants. Both yesterday and today in the afternoon (around 4) I found myself at the same restaurant/cafe in Nyaung U watching Burmese soap operas (or maybe movies). Either way, they were so dramatic I could understand them without problem even though I obvisouly do not speak Burmese. Yesterday I enjoyed this time by myself where as today I was accompanied by a very nice Italian, Andrea, who I had dinner with last night and spent the afternoon and evening with today.
- Tonight, after dinner, Andrea and I went to a cafe in our town (New Bagan). This is the same cafe my "First Meal in Bagan" video was filmed at. We spent two hours there tonight enjoying a tea and bottled water while we watched Rise of the Plante of the Apes with about 30 Burmese men. It is a great set-up here in Burma. All the local cafes have nice HD TVs and they play whatever they want. As a patron you watch whatever is being played (can be a soap opera, the football game, a movie, the home shopping network, etc...) while you drink your coffee. Tonight, I was the only female (as I appear to be mostly when I go to these cafes - I'm not sure where the ladies hang out), we were the only 2 non-Burmese people, and we had a fabulous time! I know this will be something I likely will not forget.
- Not sure if I wrote about this yet or not, but when I was still in Yangon I saw a very young child (still learning to support his own weight as he was leaning on a shelving unit when I saw him standing up) playing with a butchers knife. The child was using one hand to support his weight on a shelving unit and simultaneously holding a cucumber slice against the surface (with the same hand). In the other hand, the child was holding a butcher's knife that he was using to pretend chop at the cucumber slice. I'm not sure how sharp the knife was, but I hope he didn't drop it on his foot. How crazy! I would have taken a photo, but I didn't want to ruin the moment.
- I ran into a Dutch girl I spent Christmas with in Penang, Malaysia last evening here in Bagan. Crazy small world, isn't it?
- We have regular power outages here in Myanmar. I experienced one in Yangon and they have them twice daily here in Bagan - once in the morning around 9:30 (lasted until maybe 11?) and one in the evening at 7:30.
- Today I was ushered out of my hotel quickly by the owner because the government was coming and I couldn't be here. I had come back from some sighseeing around 2pm and dropped off my electric bike for charging downstairs. I told them I would leave at 4 pm. At 3:30 the owner came to my room and told me I eithere had to leave at 3:30 (so immediately) or wait until 4:30 to leave, I could not leave at 4 pm like I had wanted to. She said the government was coming to check the hotel so I either had to go then or stay in my room. I told here I needed to shower and could not leave for at least 5 mintues. I finally got her to agree to this plan. I showered quickly, tucked away my valuables, and headed downstairs. (As a law here in Singapore, foreigners can only stay at registered guest houses. I suspect the guest house is not registered and that is why she was concerned about me being here. I did not check, but assumed it was registered since there were so many reviews online from foreigners. To note, this is only a suspicion. I never found out why they needed me to leave). Anyways, because of my suspicion, I was careful as I walked to the main door in case the government was here. They were not, but as I walked down the stairs they ushered my quickly out the door so "the governement" would not see me there. This country is such an experience!
- (I keep thinking of more things to write about....) I took the overnight bus from Yangon to Bagan. The bus, a VIP bus, was amazing. At one point, about 1 hour into our 10 hour ride, we pulled over on the side of the motorway, one of the "bus hostesses" (as I've named them) got a large item from under the bus, brough it up the front steps, and there in the aisle next to me appeared one of the push carts the air hostesses use on the airplanes. They did one round of snacks and around of refreshments for us. It was amazing! Plus we each got our own blankets, after our dinner stop they passed out little digestion tables (not sure what they really were and they weren't exactly to my liking...), and we had free water bottles. All for only USD$20! If travleing in Myanmar, use JJ Express and take the bus, it is a great experience!
Okay, I think most everything else can be seen in the videos below.
Enjoy! (If you don't watch all of them, at least watch the last two videos from Day 2. They are the best show of what life is like here in Myanmar!)
Videos Day 1 in Bagan:
Windy First Video from Bagan
First Meal in Bagan, Great Little Cafe in New Bagan Town
Inside a Pagoda In Bagan
Out Back of a Beautiful Pagoda
A Refreshing 7-Up in Nyaung U
Videos Day 2 in Bagan:
The Streets of Nyaung U
The Streets of Nyaung U Part II
Nyaung U Local Market
How the Locals Live in Bagan
Okay, I'm off to bed now as I have an early morning flight to Inle Lake tomorrow. I will be leaving the 105* temperatures here for 75* in Inle Lake. Not sure I've packed appropriately....
Best!
First Meal in Bagan, Great Little Cafe in New Bagan Town
Inside a Pagoda In Bagan
Out Back of a Beautiful Pagoda
A Refreshing 7-Up in Nyaung U
Videos Day 2 in Bagan:
The Streets of Nyaung U
The Streets of Nyaung U Part II
Nyaung U Local Market
How the Locals Live in Bagan
Okay, I'm off to bed now as I have an early morning flight to Inle Lake tomorrow. I will be leaving the 105* temperatures here for 75* in Inle Lake. Not sure I've packed appropriately....
Best!
