Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Mingalabar! Yep, welcome in Burmese, quite easy to remember! We are actually in Old Bagan, a hours flight north of Yangon. There were over 4000 Buddhist temples dotting the landscape but, a major earthquake in 1975 reduced that number to 3200. Why old? The reason is that the "Generals" who run the country, decided to make the area an archeological zone to encourage tourism. In the process, they displaced 5,000 people who received a plot of land in "New Bagan", no compensation and no support!
It's hard to put into words how jaw dropping this area is to look at. When Buddhism was introduced to Burma in the 11th Century they believed to build your own temple/pagoda for the people, would give you a better life when you "moved" on! As a result, over a two century period 4000 various sizes, designs, degrees of ornate etc were built. They dot the landscape as randomly as molehills, and there is no view that doesn't involve at least 10. We did a half day tour with a wonderful guide, each temple has one to four golden buddha's within them, painted interiors of frescos that you can still see, magnificent carvings and ornate entrances, both in sandstone and it takes your breath away.
There is still much to do, the hotel doesn't take credit cards, wifi/internet comes and goes, (hence no photos just yet) and there's no mobile phone signal!
On the plus side, lovely people and awesome surroundings. Our second day starts at sunrise for a hot air balloon trip. 7 balloons are launched simultaneously, each carrying 12 people thrown together in wonder! We are the last to launch, the balloons give perspective as the sun rises to bathe the golden roofs. We stand in perfect silence, apart from the odd burn for altitude, and watch this magnificent panorama unveil itself to daylight beneath us, stunning and unforgettable. We have another trip that takes in the local market, more temples, a village erected for a fair, the river that passes here, on its 1300 kms journey, and, finally, sunset from one if the main temples.
Add to all this, a magnificent vegetarian restaurant, where dinner has cost £12.50 and £9.00 per night, with Angelka thinking her meal on the second night, first course the local dish of Tea Leaf Salad, was one of the top 5 meals she'd ever had! Having gone to bed at 8.00pm its easy to sleep for 9 hours and we are very happy bunnies. Bagan sits in the Dry Zone, the temperature is quite high but there's no humidity and its chilly in the morning, perfect!
It is strange to be within a military state under martial law. I've not seen a single soldier, or policeman. Everything else you see, appears to be normal. I'm sure that every paper, TV and radio station is State controlled and that the lack of network is deliberate too! We have both been completely taken by this country but I'm not sure that it will cope well with the volume of tourists, they had 1m in 2012 and expect 1.5m this year. There isn't the infrastructure in terms of roads, car parks, toilets, hotels, ATM's etc so it could get messy without entrepreneurial investment. However, I'd recommend it to you in a heartbeat.
- comments