Day 48 - 51 The Temples of Bagan, Myanmar.

It was a 6.15am flight from Yangon and our reliable aid, 'Saw' picked us up on time from our $45.00 'room'........ (without a view!) to take us to the Airport for our flight to the ancient town of Bagan. Complete with our Hotel room 'packed breakfast', which comprised a bag of 5 bananas! ....... which did not appear too appetising at 4.00 o'clock in the morning, so we decided to give them to 'Saw' for later, ............ all three children, still in tact and teddies asleep in the rucksack, we slipped out of Yangon as the sun was rising.

I did quite like Yangon as a city and although stripped of its status as capital in 2005, it remains the hub of Myanmar economic activity, with its highly charged political underground debate and the starting point for most international travellers. Following this frustrating start to our journey through Myanmar, Jo had managed to book some very nice accomodation in Old Bagan, on the internet, at a very reasonable price. It was a special offer as it was low season and a fraction of the 'walk in' price. In Myanmar, 'walk in' Hotel prices were extremely expensive and non negotiable, so the only real chance of a deal was on-line, however, internet connection was not always great to sort this out.

We were staying at the 'Thiripyilsaya Spa Resort' and we were not disappointed when we arrived. In fact the taxi ride from the Airport took us past hundreds of both small and large ancient temples and was a sight seeing tour in itself! Luckily the Hotel was also in Old Bagan, rather than New Bagan, so all the temples were literally on the doorstep. Basically, in 1990, the government forceably relocated the residents of Old Bagan, planting them in undeveloped land 4km to the south (now known as New Bagan). The massive Bagan Archeological Zone, comprising some 4,400 temples and stretching for 42 sq km is quite an amazing site to see and creates a very surreal scene, unlike any other you can imagine.

The comfort of the Hotel was a welcome break and the children were even more excited with the thought of a swimming pool. In fact the view from the balcony and poolside was also stunning, with far reaching views across the Ayeyarwady River, which at sunset, was quite striking. We had a relaxing first day, chilling out by the pool and catching up on a bit of school work with the children, on the bar-side balcony beneath the cooling breeze of the welcomed overhead ceiling fans, but the heat of the day was tremendous!

The next morning was an early start, up at 4.30am!, to catch the sunrise over Bagan's thousands of temples, by climbing the huge 'Shewesandaw Paya'. To say the steps were narrow and very steep was an understatement!! and both Jo and Fred struggled with the height, when we finally reached the top. Our transport from the Hotel was a local horse and carriage (cheaper than a taxi ...... although took a little longer) which was a very pleasant way to wind our way through various temples until we reached one of only two that can be climbed to take in the view. Unfortunately, the sun rise wasn't at its best, but we sat patiently waiting, joined by the guardian's son who filled us in on a little more history, and it was a great way to start the day. Back down at the base our young 'guide' was also a good salesman, as we bought one of his elephant batiks, which was very good! He also showed us into what looked like a very plain rectangular temple, ........ well, long brick shed! ....... but inside was an 18m sleeping Buddha!! ............ haven't got one of those in my shed at home! ....... in fact, come to think of it, at the moment, I haven't got a shed ........ or a home!! I clearly must have upset the spirits at some stage in my life as walking in to to take a look at this amazing find, I tripped in my flip-flops on the uneven stone floor, in the darknes, and took off the top of my big toe!! ..... not sure blaspheme in front of Buddha was going to help my journey into the next life either!!

Patched up and back on the horse and trap, our horseman took us on a trip around various other temples, one of which was a colossus of a temple, called 'Dhammayangyi Pahto Temple', ............. not a name you are going to remember!! ............. resembling an Egyptian Pyramid! It was absolutely massive and could be seen from miles around and also it was possible to walk inside. There were four main entrances to the temple, each protected by huge stone Buddhas and beyond each entrance was an inner corridor, with ancient decortive mureals on the walls and these corridors must have been some 60m in length which would have created a hotel sized chasm in the middle! ........ but there was no way in! The first three inner entrances had huge archways that had been blocked up with brick, probably some one hundred years earlier, but the fourth archway remained open to reveal an absolutely massive stone Buddha. We learned from our horseman that the entrances had been blocked up because the other Buddhas had been stolen many years ago!! ................. call me old fashioned but how somebody could steal a 40 foot stone Buddha, in the days when all you had was a hammer, chisel and a piece of old rope! .... was beyond me!! ................... I mean its not as if you could hide it in your garden shed!! .............. and it's a little big to fit on your mantle piece?! ....... and it would look well out of place around your fish pond with the other gnomes'!!! ...... Still ............ they managed to steal three of them!! ............... I suppose three of them around your pond with a couple of fishing rods and a wheel barrow thrown in might have looked a little less suspicious!! Even with all the archways open, it would still have left a huge chasm in the middle of the temple, the contents of which remain hidden and a mystery.

The reason behind building these stupas was that it was suposed to ensure that you had a good passage to the afterlife and it would therefore put you in good favour with the spirits. .............. obviously if you didn't build one you would be reincarnated as a 'property surveyor' and be banished to a life in the kingdom known as 'Recession'!! .......................... I knew there had to be a simpler and 'higher' explanation!! ............... still, I know the first thing I am going to do when I get back!!!

Anyway, this was a fascinating place and a lot of historic 'tomb raiding' occured because the temples were left unprotected, with no security ............. and probably aided by some unscrupulous Government officials of their day!! The first temples were believed to have been started in the 200 year dynasty from 1044, following which the next King bankrupted the city by building the Mingalazedi pagoda, leaving it open to attack from the infamous Kublai Khan, in 1287. The city was crushed again in 1975, when an earthquake, measuring 6.5 on the Richter scale damaged many of Bagan's main structures. All credit to the people of Bagan, many of these damaged structures have been and are still being, repaired and rebuilt and local people are now employed by families who own the temples to look after and protect them, acting as guardians and living on site.

Outside some of the temples would be a small group of local people who would be selling various ancient artifacts, with some very interesting pieces, dating back to the 17th/18th century ............. a good excuse for the children to test their bartering skills, especially Harry who was by now perfecting this ritual, helping Freddie to spend his 12,300 kyat on a bronze mask, that started off at 25,000 kyat. (about 10 pounds)

Imogen riding a pygmy elephant! ................... We all bought a 'gold leaf' to rub on Buddha!

We returned back to the Hotel and managed to book ourselves in for another couple of nights at our previous, very favourable rate, which included breakfast and evening meal and we spent the next couple of days catching up on sleep, school work and relaxing by the pool, although finding some sanctuary during the middle of the day in our air conditioned chalets, one for us and one for the children!, as the outside temperature was very very hot. One of the nice things about travelling out of season was that there were very few people staying at the hotel.



Spookily on the last day we met a very nice couple from NZ, who had lived in Hong Kong for the last 32 years. He was in finance and coincidently knew my good friend Graeme from HK! ........... what a small world!

Our next stop was Inle Lake, north east of Bagan and famously known for it's 'leg rowing' fishermen.