Bagan, Myanmar - Dec 11-13

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Bagan Day #1 Day 1: After our crazy overnight journey to bagan, we were quite tired so ended up sleeping from 6 am to noon. Our hotel was a 3 star with 4 star price. Bagan Is still a small city and as such, tourist services are somewhat pricier than Yangon or other SEA cities. The blankets were fine but the print reminded the ladies of those old stool dirty blankets so first impression of the room was not good. The saving grace was the good outdoor patio with garden views. We rented electrical bikes for half the day for $5 ea. Got 2 bikes and Chots rode with me as she doesn't know how to ride a bike. Sought out a Riverside restaurant so we could get a view of the Ayeyarwady river. A few beers and dishes later we set off to a small village (Myinkaba) for some good Burmese lacquerware. The Golden Cuckoo gave us a tour of the process. It was a 4 generation family run place with original designs and 7 or 14 layer lacquer.

The 14 yr stuff is kept in an air conditioned room and costs a lot, for example a typical bookcase was $11,000, including shipping. As bagan has over 2000 temples and stupas, we inevitably came across a few while biking around. The best time is sunset and we arrived at the perfect time. Every temple and stupa has at least one statue of Buddha. Many were destroyed In the 1975 earthquake so some of the statues have been reconstructed, and unfortunately by inexperienced sculptors as the faces all look funny and not god like. When returning the bikes we realized we ran out of the local currency and the money changer was closed.......so the bike vendor took me to a black market dealer which was basically a grocery shop run by 2 ladies. Meanwhile Chots and Meghna stayed back and watched the locals watching the SEA games inauguration ceremony on National TV. We bought 3 big bottles of tiger beer and drank them on our wonderful patio. The hotel manager was kind enough to make us some kwahsei but it didn't taste like it. We were so glad we tried it for breakfast in Yangon. Unfortunately for Chots she missed out and has not yet had a good kwahsei in Myanmar.

Day 2: Started with an early cold morning bus pick at 515AM tp take a balloon ride over Bagan with Balloons over Bagan. The bus was an old 1920s war bus with solid wooden windows like a scene out of a military barracks.
 
Balloon ride in the morning was a phenomenal experience and well worth the $320 a person. We were 16 ppl per basket, which had 4 compartments so we were split up in groups of 4. So a fellow named Alex joined the 3 of us. We were up in the air by 615 AM with several other balloons. It was an 1hr ride over the temples with breathtaking views of the temples giving one a sense of the expanse of land and number of temples dedicated to Buddha. The landing wasn't as bumpy as I expected. A team of 8 guys basically held us down once we touched down. We then had a Champagne breakfast with some pastries and had a chance to discuss our travel experiences and backgrounds with other people

Chotu got a bit buzzed on the champagne...After a full breakfast at the hotel we started a Full day tour with our guide Za Za in a minivan. Shoes had to be taken off at each temple so it was a bit arduous so flip flops were the best option and feet had to washed each evening. We had Lunch under a shaded tree at a local eatery called saraba II where the salads (tamarind leaf salad) and mutton curry were really tasty. We visited several temples including one built by cruel and mad king who chopped workers' hands off if bricks were not laid tight enough.
 
A nice Tea break before going into see Ananda temple refreshed us before we saw what is considered the most beautiful temple in Bagan. And of course it is Chotu's namesake. The highlight was meeting an indian restoration team at Ananda temple as India has supposedly provided 22 million dollars for restoration efforts in Bagan. There was a Bengali artist, one chemist and one engineer anc they Gave us a private viewing of some restored frescoes . They seemed very pleased to meet some Indians and speak in Hindi. Went for a quick snack again. Myanmar chapati on the roadside which was basically soup with bits of chapati which Meghna loved. The tour ended with a Sunset view from one of the temples that is open to climbing to the top. Of course there were the throngs of tourists doing t he same so the top tier got quite full and crowded. A French tourist came and stood next to a lady who was holding a spot for her husband and the French guy acted so rude and wouldn't move and ter repeated requests. So I stepped in and had a confrontation with him and somehow all my French studying culminated to this one moment where I was able to to argue and have A French fight! He claimed he didn't understand English and I argued that he did and was being a jerk and reinforcing the rude Frenchman stereotype.

After sunset Chots and megs crawled down the stairs with fright as they both have a slight fear of heights. Dinner at old bagan "be kind to animals moon" restaurant where alcohol was not served due to proximity to temples was anti climactic, especially as we spent 30 min on our hotel room patio (with beer) debating where to go. Funnily we Could hear dogs whining at the restaurant, perhaps warnings us that restaurant is not actually friendly to animals. The fake Weaver bird nests were also amusing. The night ended with an open air pickup truck taxi back to hotel where Chots struck a conversation with driver who loved bollywood movie with "guy with 2 thumbs and hates Chinese people" As a side we Got taxi rides for 6000 or 7000 chats between our hotel in new bagan and old bagan or Nyang O.

Bagan Day #2

Bagan Day #2

Bagan Day #3 Day 3: Had a later start than the previous days so slept in a bit. Started off with some laquerware shopping at Bagan house which was shady. The layers of lacquer claimed were differing and the pieces were not stored in an air conditioned room so we felt the quality was questionable. Ended up at golden cuckoo and bought $100 worth of stuff. Owner and Chots had a tobacco paan and she finally learned the trick to eating them without getting affected by it.
 
Had a snack and drink (Mandalay red) at "a little bit of Bagan" and then they ran out of it; what a shame as we actually liked it better than Myanmar beer. A quick Dip into museum across restaurant which was full of petrified wood.

We rented 2 electric bikes for 4000 chats each ($4) and went off to Sulamani temple, which was one that we saw from the balloon ride the previous day. While riding to it we lost balance in the sand and Chots and sameer fell off....After some hysterics we continued our ride in the sand. It was a Peaceful and relaxing late afternoon visit at our 2nd favorite temple. We then biked to the river front and found a local fisherman to take us on a river cruise for 15000 chats ($15). Walked through his village and saw a bit of river folk living. Stopped at an old monastery and were invaded by kids selling "picassos", which were basically colored postcards. We ended up buying one drawing from each child for 200 chats each. We then Watched the sunset over the Ayeyarwady river on the boat. Back to Nyang O on bikes as the sun set, which made the ride seem longer than in the opposite direction.
 
Had some Grilled food at shwe su draught beer place but alas the fish was not as good as Yangon. Moved back to a little bit of bagan and had some more mediocre Myanmar food, albeit Chotu finally had a good noodle soup. We mustered up the courage to try Mandalay rum for 300 chat over a drinking game.
Taxi back home for 7000 chat ($7).