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Day 11 A 5 hour bus journey to Bagan took us along the highway for most of the way. We have looked forward to Bagan, hoping it would be a highlight of our adventures. Bagan's historical temples (featuring a mixture of hindu and Buddhist architecture and iconography) date back to the 13th century and cover an area of 28 square miles. The settlements around these brick built beauties were wooden homes that have since disappeared leaving empty plains around the sites. This gives the area its natural beauty. We were staying north of the temples in a bustling market town called Nyaung U, it was on the river and was not yet too overrun with tourism. The bus dropped us in the centre and gave us a free horse and cart ride to our guesthouse Innwa Motel. We had used some of our Agoda points to upgrade to a nicer hotel this time and so were pretty disappointed that there was no city view or tea and coffee making facilities or working Wifi. Paul went to 'discuss it' and we were given a nicer room and some coffee. We spent the evening checking out the town's eateries. I have to say that apart from the samosas we have been disappointed with the Burmese cuisine.
Day 12 After being blasted with Buddhist religious music from the early hours Paul headed out to the nearby market and to catch the parade that had woken us. I tried to catch up on my sleep. We then got cycles out and headed towards the temples to survey the sprawling area. We were stopped at one of the larger temples to buy the $20 week long heritage passes. We did a reccy for our sunrise temple. We climbed barefoot up Shwedandaw temple in the hot afternoon sun and took in the views of the huge temple plains stretching below us. That evening we went to Weatherspoons restaurant (not the real thing obviously) and Paul who at this point was feeling ill decided in any case to have a burger.
Day 13 Paul soon succumbed to Burmese belly too and was feeling too weak and ill to venture out, so we had a quiet day and I headed out to buy postcards for George and sort out our transportation.
Day 14 As Paul was feeling a bit weak still we hired an e bike (electric bike) at the hotel and were up at 5am to race to the temples before sunrise. Shwedandaw temple (sounds like something out of Harry Potter) had steep steps up the middle of each of its four sides to several tiers. The top two tiers were already filling up with people. We used our phones to light the way. Most people like me were wrapped up, Paul was in his t shirt. We watched for an hour as the sky changed colour and lit the misty fields and plains of temples around. Finally at 7:25am the sun peeped out and its golden glow warmed the landscape. Photographers elbowed each other for the best shots, some people meditated (western fakirs - oh I mean fakers) and the rest of us just admired and enjoyed this amazing spectacle. About half an hour after the sunset 20 hot air balloons set off in front of us between the sun and the temples making our view even more magical. The balloon passengers must have been disappointed not only had they missed the sunrise, but they had the sun behind them and the temples in front of them which doesn't seem right plus they had been ripped off to the tune of $390 each. A further insult to some was that if you were over 125 kilos you would need to pay double. After a rest we headed to the new build Golden temple in the afternoon, this was a slightly Disneyesque affair. I sat in the shade while Paul ran round and local girls asked if they could take photos of me - this had happened a lot to us on our travels round Myanmar. At sunset, we headed back to Shwedandaw temple. It was much busier than sunrise, with local and international tourists arriving by bus. As it was we didn't climb to the top tier. The British tourists around me had me giggling, they had found the perfect spot but were soon tutting and complaining, passive aggressively, as more people piled in in front of them. The French on the other hand, assertively tapped people on the shoulder and asked them to move out of the way. Paul sat perched, legs dangling on the edge, no-one would get in his way! The sunset was another beautiful natural wonder and a great end to a magical day.
Day 15 We hired bicycles again and decided to ride off the beaten track exploring remote and peaceful temples. Paul was still a bit weak so we stopped for a snooze at one temple under the watchful eye of a spandex-covered buddah with scouse-brows. Most temples are decorated inside with frescoes and statues. We discovered a temple that would be even better for sunset; one with an open flat roof called Pyathadar Hpaya temple. Soon after we got there, there were tens of coaches and vans arriving, it would be a busy one! We walked single file with others through the dark candle-lit staircase inside to the plateau roof with great views across the plain of temples. There were many souvenirs sellers also up there. Burmese tourists arrived and left just before the sunset; we weren't sure why they were there. They wouldn't be able to get to another temple in time to see the sunset. Anyway it was now getting crowded and more coaches were still arriving. We had a good view and Paul captured more stunning shots. After the sunset more local tourists continued to arrive - strange! We stopped to talk to a Canadian couple for a while, then we realised that we would have to cycle back in the pitch black along thick sand dirt tracks to get back to the highway. We needed to use our phone LED lights to see and to stop constantly to check our phone GPS to take the correct turns. It was a long ride home - especially through churned up sandy lanes - and a bit of a strain for Paul.
Day 16 We were now a bit templed out so we took a walk to the river to see locals doing their laundry and to see some riverbank settlements. We also explored the backstreets of Nyaung U. Paul also went back to the market for more people shots. The market was a genuine, not tourist market. Laden with meat and vegetable sellers and busy with small tea and food shops. The narrow walkways wer dark and congested with locals, mainly women, dressed in traditional garb. A street-photographer's dream - Paul was in his element.
Day 17 We left the lovely Bagan and took a 7 hour bus ride through the cool, unspoilt northern hills of Myanmar to Inle lake and the town of Nyaungshwe. We had a welcome drink and refeshing cool towel awaiting us at Yar Pyae guesthouse, plus a lovely room (mountain view) for £22.36 per night including breakfast. We then explored the town and grabbed some dinner.
Day 18 We hired bikes from the guesthouse and rode up the highway north of town. The highway overlooked rice and vegetable fields and lakes. As ever we saw men ploughing fields with oxen. Along the way we spotted some tourist vans and decided to investigate. It was a teak monastery and young novice monks are supposed to be studying inside. In fact, the place appears to be just a photo opportunity for tourists, there was little studying taking place and the kids were highly distracted and diverted by the constant stream of onlookers, Paul did get some great shots though, hee hee. We then decided to turn back and follow the road south of Nyaungshwe to Inle lake. Such a lovely shady ride through the country with hills to the east and lake settlements to the west. we followed our path on Google maps and headed towards the lake. We luckily arived at a wooden footbridge that led out into the floating villages. People can take canoe rides down the village canals and see floating village life and the stilted wooden houses. We planned to do a boat trip the following day so we didn't bother. It was lovely just to sit in one of the bridge shelters and watch canoes row past and the stilted housing refelected in the waters. We arrived back in town to see a pantomime elephant dancing in the street to loud blasting music. It stopped at each of the businesses (restaurants, shops and hotels) to dance and collect money. Welcome back drink and refreshing towel back at the guesthouse on our return too! We finished our day with some Peking duck at Live Dim Sum restaurant. Duck skin and hoi sin pancakes to start, then duck meat in ginger and oyster sauce..... mmm... only twelve quid including drinks.
Day 19 Our hotel was great and they tried to vary the breakfasts but they served up greasy noodles for breakfast and I felt a bit queasy. We had booked a boat trip on the lake for a stupid price only $20 for the two of us. Our boat driver was wearing a Man United jacket. From the tour office, he walked us to the quay, which is alongside a canal to the lake. It took about thirty minutes along the canal system to get to the lake. We were greeted by some very showy boat men, dressed in traditional garb and who balance their lobster pots on one leg and do other poses for money. Great for photos but totally touristy. After the posers we stopped for more shots of real fishermen standing and rowing with their feet at the same time as checking their nets. The tour company had written out our itinerary for the day and first stop was the umbrella making place. We had a mini tour and were shown how the paper was made from mulberry leaves. Next was Indein market. There is a different market every day around the lake. We wound down a reed lined canal to a lakeside town overlooked by hillside pagodas and ruined stupas. The market, albeit geared up in part to the tourist market had a wonderful atmosphere. Most tribes people wore traditional costume and there were friendly characterful faces everywhere. We walked up to the ruined stupas and Paul spotted a hill covered with old stupas. We took a slightly overgrown path off the road and saw it leading up steps to the stupas. Ahead we saw a monk heading up. We overtook the elderly monk on his way up the hill to his hermitage with views across Indein. He welcomed us in and Paul took some photos of him. We marveled at the views across the town and towrds the lake, then returned to the market to have a teahouse break and watch the village market life pass by. Paul took a wonderful shot of a Shan man in tribal dress seated next to us. After Indein it was on to the silver and goldsmith place - each stop was designed as a chance for the boatman to supplement his income with some commission, but we were not buying. We were then taken to lunch at a stilted restaurant on the lake. The prices were three times those back in town. We had been told that we would stop for lunch at Nampan,a floating village, where there were lots of restaurants to choose from. We ordered some fried rice and beer. Another greasy affair and I was starting to feel grim. Our boatman joined us as we were relaxing and asked us where we would like to go next but his agenda was to get us to pay extra to visit a place on the itinerary, which he said was a long drive away. We refused, of course, and asked to be taken to the other places on the itinerary. We were then taken to a very tacky, commercialised pagoda Phaung Daw Oo with trinket sellers everywhere and a sign on the main shrine saying "ladies prohibited" which is not very Buddhist. It would be the floating gardens next, which appeared to be more like floating vegetable patches. We also got a glimpse of some of the floating villages. Our last stop was the Jumping cat monastery, so called because a monk had trained a cat to do jumping tricks for visitors, but neither the cat nor the monk were now there. It was a wooden building and quite atmospheric and there were plenty of non-jumping cats and monks around. Our tour was then cut short by a couple of hours as we were driven back to town. A bit of a disappointing end to the day. As a tourist we would have preferred to get what we believed we had paid for. We would have had no objection to paying more in the first place to ensure that the boat man was being adequately paid, but this underhand practice was wrong on principle. Such a shame as the tour was still amazing.
Day 20 I was ill all night again, we were due to check out at 12 so I rested whilst Paul went for a walk round the town. Our hotel then gave us a room for free which was a big relief to me to be near a toilet of my own. We were being picked up from the hotel at 6:30pm for the overnight bus trip back to Yangon. I was dreading it! I knew that there would be no western toilet stops on the way and I was in a bit of discomfort. Anyway, despite my moaning we both managed to get bits and pieces of sleep along the way to Yangon and I survived the 12 hour trip without incident.
Day 21 We were dropped off at the northern Yangon bus station at 6:30am and got a taxi to the airport, unfortunately our flight was not until 17:35 (and it was delayed) so we were like Tom Hanks in The Terminal for the day. Despite a fairly grim journey to end our tour we had had a fantastic time in Myanmar. The people were warm and friendly and the culture was yet to be polluted too much by western capitalism. Go see it before it changes!
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