Buddha’s and Fresco

Temples

Blue Bird Hotel, Balloons, and Staff

Bagan

Thousands of temples are spread across the plains of Bagan which was the capital of the Mandalay Region from the 9th to the 13th century.  Devotion to the Buddha resulted in over ten thousand temples built.  Now after earthquakes and wars and general erosion, only a few thousand remain.  Happily our small hotel, the Blue Bird, was a serene and welcoming respite after the “party boat” and the ensuing onslaught of touts vying to take you in their rundown cars to town.  Ron and I rolled our bags up the muddy riverside and casually made our way through the crowds to the more quiet part of the town.  We eventually found a young boy to drive us the fifteen minutes to the hotel in the town of New Bagan.  Once we settled into our very modern and cozy room, we took a walk on the dirt street to the nearest restaurant and had a surprisingly good meal.  It was colder than we thought and we had to request extra blankets and in the morning we needed to wear our jackets to breakfast.  Breakfasts here are wonderful as all hotels provide them as part of your room rate.  The feast usually includes fresh fruit juice, sliced fresh papaya, watermelon, banana, melon.  Homemade yogurt served in little jars, toast and croissant, freshly made crepes and French omelets.  There is always a selection of local food, especially the Mohinga, a rice noodle and fish soup which is the national dish of Burma.  I had it once but truthfully found it hard to eat fish soup for breakfast. Surprisingly there was also champagne, so we would have a glass in the garden sitting in the sun, warming up.  There are several ways to visit the temples, stupas and pagodas spread across the dry red, dusty plain.  You can hire a driver with a car.  You can ride a bicycle.  Or you can hire a pony cart and travel in a slow “romantic” but not so comfortable journey down the rutted roads.  We used the bicycles one day from our hotel.  They were old one speed bikes that were incredibly hard to peddle.  I thought it was me being weak, but when we traded Ron said my bike was especially difficult to peddle.  The new way to visit the temples is to rent an electric motor scooter.  Once we did that we traveled all over and it was fun.  We’d putt putt along at about 25-35 K and really got down some dirt tracts that we wouldn’t see any other people.  The temples were scattered all over, as far as you could see,  and you were free to wander any where you choose.  It was magical.  Inside each temple or pagoda were Buddha statues, usually four, facing north, south, east, west.  Many had beautiful faded detailed frescos on the walls.  How many places can you go where old relics and temples are free to be wandered and entered with no supervision, or rules?  The only new restriction was you cannot climb on the temples, which prevents destruction, but now you cannot capture any sunset views.   By mid day it was getting very hot.  We would return to our cold pool and the peace and quiet of the garden.  Upon returning we would receive a cold jasmine scented face towel and a cold glass of water.  Very refreshing as it is so dry and dusty.  You breathe in a lot of dust.  Bagan is my favorite place in Myanmar.  People were bright and kind.  There was no hard sell of anything.  We could walk around or drive our scooter down the narrow tree lined back streets and see people’s homes and qlimpse their simple lifestyle.  Many would smile and wave and call out “ Mingalabar” which is the greeting here.  It’s like a song.  Sunsets were colorful.  Sunrise we awoke to balloons lifting off over our hotel for those who wanted to pay $500 apiece for the pleasure of seeing the regions glorious temples from above.   We liked the intelligent woman who did our laundry for $3 and her husband who drove us to the airport, and hugged me goodbye!  We enjoyed the staff at our hotel who never seemed to mind my questions and laughed at my jokes.  I never said anything other than a greeting to the guard who stood to attention every time we came and went, but he had such kind soulful eyes.  And the waiters at the restaurants who brought us our food and beers who seemed genuinely happy at our reaction to the Burmese food, even though our meal probably cost more than they make in a day, or two!  Not everything is pretty or easy.  There are the bumps in the roads, both literally and figuratively, but they pale in comparison to the sweet simple things you learn from people who have it much harder in every way than we do, work harder every day than we do, and always seem to be at peace and happy.  Only once did I hear someone raise their voice.  It was totally out of character.  While I complained and grumbled getting gassed riding in the ancient broken down tuk tuk, spewing fumes and bouncing in every pothole, the driver was singing.  I am grateful for the experience.  Now off to Ngapali Beach, on the 72 seat turbo prop, and another experience to begin...

Ko Soe Soe

108 Buddha’s

Young nuns and “da boys”

Golden

On the road to Mandalay...

After a quick few days in Bangkok we departed to Mandalay, Myanmar.  In under two hours we arrived to a very different scene.  Like stepping back in time, the airport terminal was reminiscent of the 50’s.  Many petite, darker skinned men and women were dressed in longyi, a sheet of colorful cloth about two meters long wrapped around their waist.  The taxi we took to town was old and without shocks, which bottomed out on the potholed roads relentlessly as the driver raced around like he was Mario Andretti to our hotel.   The town itself is nothing special, and when you get a real look at the dirt and crowded streets and traffic your tendency is to think “What am I doing here?”  Not a great place to walk as there are no formal sidewalks, just odd blocks of cement covering the sewers, most missing and others broken and wobbly.  The busy streets are full of small businesses, parked motorcycles, groups of men sitting on little stools around small tables sipping tea from tiny china cups.  I was amazed to see the old habit of chewing betel nut was still in fashion, and the disgusting habit calls for a lot of spitting of purple saliva into the streets.  Most people smile and their teeth are permanently stained with the dye from the nut.  We were pleasantly surprised when we arrived at our hotel and it was set back from the noise of the street, in a tropical garden with a nice pool and clean rooms that were very comfortable.  We spent hours and hours reviewing hotels and travelers’ trip advisor opinions preparing for this trip, and it is nice to be vindicated with a good choice in a place like Mandalay.  A sanctuary to escape to.  Seems like most tourists don’t spend too much time here. Most hire a guide and spend a few days looking at the old temples and monasteries.  We had a great guide named Ko Soe Soe, who was recommended to us by our friends who had used him the year before.  He planned to pick us up at our hotel the next morning at 8:30 and as we had negotiated a full day we hoped he would prove to be a good guide.  And he was!  Such a tall man and commanding in his stride.  I mentioned this to him and he explained he was of a tribe of people who were “mountain men” and were taller than most Burmese.  He had a great stained smile and we got into his old van with his driver, a young sweet silent boy, and drove through the city and into the countryside.  But before we did that Soe Soe took us first to change money, and then to a new modern store, a kind of Verizon store.  We bought SIM cards for our phone and iPad, which cost a dollar each.  Then bought approximately three weeks of 4 G data for another $8 each.  The hip kids in the shop had our phones up and running in minutes, and away we went.  We saw so many temples and monestaries that I cannot remember them all, but they were filled with gilded Buddha’s and colorful neon lights which seems a bit strange to me but the Burmese like the flashing auras around the statues.  The best was just being in the countryside and seeing real life.  Rows of veggies, rice paddies and peanuts.  White cows, oxen, and geese.  Horse drawn wagons, and pony carts.  We went to an orphanage where all the kids are from poor villages and the girls are trained as nuns.  They all dress in pink, while the boys are in monk robes of orange.  They all seem shy and curious.  Used to seeing tourists taking their photos but still innocent and smiling shyly.  We walked around ruins from the twelfth century, and older.   And since Ron had hurt his back and couldn’t take a small boat across a river and then ride in a pony cart to a wonderfully old wooden temple, Soe Soe had the driver take the van on dirt, barely drivable roads, that even a motorcycle would have had to bounce over. I was a tad nervous we would get stuck, but he sang out to my concerns, “ if a horse and cart can do it we can too!”  We made it and became my favorite part of the day as we saw the real village life where no other tourists came.  By the time we returned to our hotel, ten hours after we’d set off, we were exhausted!  Ron and I just showered and laid down, too tired to eat.  The next day we didn’t do much.  Stayed around the pool and relaxed in the peace and quiet.  Walked a block from our hotel for dinner, at a small family owned restaurant called Min Min.  We were lucky they were so close, and the food was pretty good. The two sisters who ran the place while their mother set vases of flowers on the tables and their father hovered around, spoke good English and were pretty modern.  The building was a real throwback to British design.  Over a hundred years old, the ceilings were tall and embellished with a motif of swirls and the room was long and narrow.  We ate there twice.   The last morning we had tickets to take a boat down the Irrawaddy River, which runs north to south almost the length of Myanmar.  The trip took almost 11 hours.  We hired a taxi to pick us up at 6 am, and got settled in our seats and departed in the dark at exactly 6:30 after the young crew helped carry our bags and kindly lit the narrow plank of wood up to the deck.  We paid for a newer boat which advertised comfortable reserved seats, and they proved to be very nice.  Like good plane seats. On the upper deck there was a covered area with table and chairs for eating, lunch being served along the way.  And bamboo chairs on the aft deck in the sunshine.  All would have been really nice if not for the group of youngish German boys, who began drinking at 8:30 and took over the bar area with their music blasting from a large speaker they brought. Singing and dancing and cheering and doing competitive pushups, they never stopped.  We all thought they would pass out by late afternoon, but they had the stamina of young fit men and certainly could drink endlessly.  I was amazed and annoyed. As we finally arrived at our destination, Bagan, we were docking slowly and one of the boys decides to take his drone and launch it from the deck of the boat.  He being rather drunk, it was the final insult to the day.  The drone hovered amongst all of us, he lost control and it crashed into me, causing an immediate hematoma to my finger and a cut on my leg.  It took all of Ron’s self control not to throw the drone, and possibly the young man, into the river.  We were off on a new adventure and happy to be off the “party” boat... 

Around town...

Where to begin...

The past week has been like a magic carpet ride.  Moving from country to country, city to city.  Bangkok was familiar and fun.  Walking the small soi, or alleys, in our hood, lined with restaurants, food carts, foot massage ladies with their reclining bamboo chairs all in a row, and little huts filled with simple flowing cotton pants and wild printed t-shirts.  All the young tourists ditch their western wear and begin to dress alike in the light weight happy clothes they can buy for a few dollars on every street.   Fresh squeezed bottles of sweet tangerine juice cooled in ice boxes, pad Thai noodles cooked by street venders in large metal woks, their metal spatulas making music banging on the edges while tossing the whole lovely tasty batch.  Cycles driving down the narrow walk way, tooting their horns, dogs wandering along, music playing from each restaurant open to the street, their short tables and tiny plastic stools filled with travelers eating and drinking all day long.  Yes, it’s a tourist scene, but what fun it is.  We spent one afternoon with our Canadian friends, having not seen one another since Bali two years ago. Wonderful to be in Bangkok at the same time! Along the river a nice footpath leads to the old fort and park.  Sunset time it is filled with locals and tourist.  Young kids juggle and perform back bends and yoga, like young lithe tourist have done forever.  At 6:00 pm exactly a loud speaker plays a nice tune and everyone stands to attention in respect as it is the National anthem.  Only two full days in the city and it was great to be back.

Room with a View

Bangkok and beyond...

Finally!   After endless hours of research, months of reading reviews of small hotels and flight schedules, polishing the house, creating banking online, and getting all of our proverbial ducks in a row, we hit the road.  Departed our house at 5:15 am for the ride up to LAX, sipped very nice champagne in the business class lounge, and got settled in our seats for the 15 hour flight to Hong Kong. Movies were a disappointment.  Managed to watch 3 and eat dinner even thought it was really breakfast time.  Then with the help of half an Ambien, slept for 4 hours.  Woke up and only had another 5 hours to go.   The lounge in Hong Kong is much nicer.  Comfortable seating, dimmed lights, beautiful food and drink selection.  And best of all, small private rooms to take a shower and refresh.  Back on the next plane for the final flight to Bangkok ~ a very bumpy ride.   After two meals on the original flight, several snacks in the lounge, I could not imagine taking another bite.  Told the stewardess not to bring me any food.  Shut my eyes and drifted into a exhausted sleep.  For some reason my ice cream radar went into overdrive and I came to just as they were handing out small Haggen-Dazs containers of goodness.   Always room for ice cream!  On full alert now.  Sugar rush.  Landing was smooth, getting through immigration a breeze, visa on arrival, and since we had 1000 baht, we didn’t have to stop to change money.  Taxi was new and the driver drove safely.  An auspicious beginning.  Arrived at our hotel at 1:30 in the morning.  The doorman remembered us and said “welcome home”.   We signed in, got tucked in, took another Ambien, and fell asleep to the sounds of working barges and boats cruising along the Chao Phraya River,  just beyond our window.  27 hours and we had arrived!