As I am drafting this blog, hot air balloons are flying over me heading for the sunrise in Bagan. Back to my thoughts..we left Luang Prabang with a 6am tuk tuk pick up and on our way to the airport, we spotted hundreds of monks in the midst of their call to alms ceremony. Miles of monks walking down a street, single file in the morning fog. I couldn't have asked for a more perfect way to end our time at this special place. After three back to back flights on three different airlines, we landed in NYU, the airport for Bagan. We walked out expecting throngs of folks vying for our taxi need but nope...crickets... this is different. Finally, a kind local came over and asked where we were going, we gave him the name of our hotel in Nyaung U and asked him how much. About fifteen minutes later and $k5000 (k1000 = $1 US), we arrived at the Zfreeti.
I'm not sure where to start with this place. I stood at the top of the Shwesandaw Paya Pagoda waiting for the sun to rise thinking how crazy it is that I am a small being surrounded by 4000 sacred stupas, pagodas and temples in Bagan, Myanmar. The best way to see the temples is by bike so Noreen and I shelled out $2 US each to rent a bike for the day. I named my bike Fixie, I figured fitting for not having any gears. We rode out to Old Bagan where we visited the Ananda Pahto temple and then settled down at the Be Kind To Animals The Moon (highly recommend - best guacamole and pappadoms) restaurant for lunch and this is where our Bagan adventure really began. There was a lot going on at the restaurant, notably the yellow nail polished woman with a nasty attitude sitting at the next table with her husband. Apparently, the atmosphere of Bagan did not suit her. We sat there listening to her complain about wanting to go back to Japan (she's not Japanese), rudely commanding the wait staff bring her a new candle as she's getting "eaten by flies" and complain about her pasta dish. Three things: these flies don't bite, her husband must have one heck of a mute button and who orders pasta in Bagan and expects it to be top notch? After ordering our food, we pulled out the map to figure out which temples to tackle. Enter Maung Po who works at the restaurant or so we thought. We don't really know. Anyway, he was very gracious at answering all our questions. As long as he kept answering, I kept asking! It turns out that he works as a guide on the side and after some further conversation, we decided to hire him for the afternoon. I asked him how much and he said being we are backpackers, he will charge us karma. This isn't my first rodeo and while karma as payment is a nice thought, how much would good karma cost? He said his standard rate for tourists is $40 US for the day so Noreen and I had it in our heads to give him $10 each which in hindsight, turned out to be too much. So after lunch, Maung Po led us with his scooter through the little side roads to his favorite temples with story telling to go with it. At one of the temples, he even read my palm. I'm still trying to piece together the details of my palm reading as I'm sure he is still trying to piece together the Asian American concept. "You look Asian." He said. "I am Asian." I responded. "But you sound American." He continued. "I am American." I responded. Our time ended with him leaving us at his secret sunset temple where we were intercepted by two 11 year old ninjas, Koko and Mao Mao. Koko came out ninja style with his flashlight and said, "this way!" He led is up some dark steps and scales up this ledge prompting us to follow. "Give me your bag, put your foot here then here...give me your hand." he prompts. It's a lot of trust we are putting on an 11 year old. We were later joined by a pair from France and a gal from the Netherlands. The funniest moment was when Koko was trying to get Netherlands to buy his postcards and she said she bought a set for k2000 and he gasped, "bad business! It's k5000!" We broke out in laughter. It was a private party of five travelers, a random guide who later helped us down the ledge and the two ninjas. I wouldn't have experienced a sunset any other way.
One evening, we hired a long tail boat out on the jetty to take us out for a sunset viewing on the river. We had some extra time so our boat hire took us across the river to this family farm compound built of stilts and sleeping mats. Actually, to say its built on stilts is an over statement. The little girl and her older sister were eager to show us their house. I've seen a lot of poor living conditions through my years of travel but this one struck me in a different way. It's one of the experiences I am still trying to grasp and process- the poor living conditions. These people really have nothing yet they have everything if it was only judged by the laughter of the little girl that greeted us.
Our last day here was just pure comedy. The morning started with Noreen at the ATM testing if she could withdrawal more than $20US, she pressed the option for $300US, cash started spilling out and she freaked out. She decided to reenact the whole thing for me and accidentally pressed the option again for $300US. She's my black market exchange bank now! For exploring, we decided to rent e-bikes (scooter/bike hybrid) for the day. Folks on the road made it look easy the other day and the lady I negotiated with said we'd be fine so we went for it. Well, if fine met two falls for each of us including a face plant in the side roads dirt for yours truly then we did fine! I had my first initial fall in front of the e- bike renter when I was trying to make a turn in the dirt. She insisted..it's ok! Noreen's falls included pieces of her bike on the road but leave it to the good bystander samaritans to help piece it back together with twigs and twine (no joke!) while I stood on the sidelines cracking up! We made it to our secret sunset pagoda in one piece and made some serious and memorable postcard and painting dealings prior to sunset with Zozo, Maomao and Koko. We met a fellow American by way of New York named Jeff at our sunset spot. This is his third trip to Myanmar, the first being in 2006 and says not too much has changed in Bagan. He told us he fell off a pagoda yesterday so it was fitting I invited him to join us for dinner...table for three... battered and bruised! We were relieved to return the heavy e-bikes. After all, who knew e-biking was a contact sport?! There might have been some lost in translation instructions... language barrier and all...or pure clumsiness. I imagine renters will start including insurance deposits for their bike rentals in the near future. We met a couple from Sweden who told us about another girl that fell off her e- bike twice.. maybe it's an initiation?!
Bagan has been such a beautiful experience. The people here are just so kind and gracious. Zozo thanked us for helping his family when we bought his art (best $13US I've spent), Maung Po's cousin Aye Ye gifted us some lacquer jewelry boxes from her shop, people are eager to talk to practice their English, people learn languages (English, French, etc) from interacting with travelers, people are eager to help, the feeling of just sitting among such beautiful history watching sunrises and sunsets...I just want to bottle this all up! I'm going to miss climbing pagodas and temples in my barefeet in Bagan.
As I am drafting this blog, hot air balloons are flying over me heading for the sunrise in Bagan. Back to my thoughts..we left Luang Prabang with a 6am tuk tuk pick up and on our way to the airport, we spotted hundreds of monks in the midst of their call to alms ceremony. Miles of monks walking down a street, single file in the morning fog. I couldn't have asked for a more perfect way to end our time at this special place. After three back to back flights on three different airlines, we landed in NYU, the airport for Bagan. We walked out expecting throngs of folks vying for our taxi need but nope...crickets... this is different. Finally, a kind local came over and asked where we were going, we gave him the name of our hotel in Nyaung U and asked him how much. About fifteen minutes later and $k5000 (k1000 = $1 US), we arrived at the Zfreeti.
Our last day here was just pure comedy. The morning started with Noreen at the ATM testing if she could withdrawal more than $20US, she pressed the option for $300US, cash started spilling out and she freaked out. She decided to reenact the whole thing for me and accidentally pressed the option again for $300US. She's my black market exchange bank now! For exploring, we decided to rent e-bikes (scooter/bike hybrid) for the day. Folks on the road made it look easy the other day and the lady I negotiated with said we'd be fine so we went for it. Well, if fine met two falls for each of us including a face plant in the side roads dirt for yours truly then we did fine! I had my first initial fall in front of the e- bike renter when I was trying to make a turn in the dirt. She insisted..it's ok! Noreen's falls included pieces of her bike on the road but leave it to the good bystander samaritans to help piece it back together with twigs and twine (no joke!) while I stood on the sidelines cracking up! We made it to our secret sunset pagoda in one piece and made some serious and memorable postcard and painting dealings prior to sunset with Zozo, Maomao and Koko. We met a fellow American by way of New York named Jeff at our sunset spot. This is his third trip to Myanmar, the first being in 2006 and says not too much has changed in Bagan. He told us he fell off a pagoda yesterday so it was fitting I invited him to join us for dinner...table for three... battered and bruised! We were relieved to return the heavy e-bikes. After all, who knew e-biking was a contact sport?! There might have been some lost in translation instructions... language barrier and all...or pure clumsiness. I imagine renters will start including insurance deposits for their bike rentals in the near future. We met a couple from Sweden who told us about another girl that fell off her e- bike twice.. maybe it's an initiation?!
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