In search of an Empire.Siam,Burma and Singapore.

[drron]

We landed on the two temple landing site.Now how did it get that name?

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Several local traders there to meet us.probably those allowed by the company.There are a team of catchers and a second team to bring the balloon back to earth-

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But something better awaits us-

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whilst our balloon is packed away-

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There was this delightful 20 year old selling T-shirts.Fluent in English with a great sense of humour.A natural.however she is married with a son.our pilot Cristophe was invited to her wedding.She is though a symbol of the trouble with Burma tourism.She makes a lot more money selling t-shirts than she would working in hospitality or as a guide.Behind her in the second photo you will see our basket has already been put onto the trailer-

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The second photo was her response to me saying la de.The 16 person baskets needed a truck and a lot of elbow grease-

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[drron]

After the balloon flight back to the Orcaella on the old bus,showered,had brekkie and then taken to our lodgings.review here-
http://www.australianfrequentflyer....nd-reviews/bagan-lodge-bagan-burma-65495.html

We were tired.after unpacking I went to sleep.awoke at 1330 and went to lunch.food was reasonable in quality and price.Mrsdrron preferred a glass of wine but I was a little thirsty-

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Mrsdrron had the penne carbonara which was very much better than at the la carbonara restaurant in Rome.between us we had this dish 3 times and each was different-

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So mrsdrron had an egg ontop,the next night I had the egg in a tomato and the next night mrsdrron had it sans egg and tomato.Cost $8.for the same price I had the special lunch Burmese mutton curry.came with a bowl of lentil soup.i enjoyed it.

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We ate out for lunch the second day.First went to the Green elephant in new bagan.Meant to be Thai/Burmese food.No Thai food that day and the Burmese curries were more expensive than at the hotel and were swimming in oil.So went to the Amata restaurant recommended by our guide.It is an alcohol free zone.Mrsdrron ordered a virgin pina colada-sorry not available today.We both had a lime juice.Next to the food.We both ordered a pork dish-sorry no pork today.So ended up ordering the chicken wings,tempura prawns and a thai green papaya salad-

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The chicken had died of old age,the prawns were small frozen ones deep fried and no papaya evident in the salad.The yellow bits are capsicum.It tasted revolting and I am sure it was the sour green mango salad.All up $25.Definitely not recommended.

 

[drron]

I'll finish off the food part of our stay in Bagan.brekkie was included in our rate and the spread was sufficient-

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This local jam tasted familiar for some reason-

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I was truly astonished that people had eaten what was labelled as baked potato-

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On the second night I had the local river fish curry.This was not nearly as good as the mutton curry.fish was hard and lots of oil-

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Next day 2 and we get templed out.

 

[jandj]

Just spent a couple of hours starting at page 1 of yours and Mrs drron's TR. In a word, fabulous.
I look forward to your reports as following your travels has always provided a very enjoyable part of time.

We are regulars to BKK (she who must be....being Thai and all) but your photographic descriptions of Burma are very compelling and I can feel a side trip coming on !
I have a very strong liking of Thailand and its culture, but I am also thinking the still not fully commercialised beauty of Burma should be seen before it changes.

Did I hear someone mention the old "slide nights" ah the memories. back in the 60's & 70's. I have hours of movies hiking in the Himalayas, and visits to other places far off, which I would not dare get out nowadays, as sadly I don't know anyone interested.

 

[drron]

I would definitely recommend a trip to Burma and sooner rather than later.
so to our second day in Burma.We again had used trip advisor to arrange a guide.Had been fabulous in Jordan and Thailand.But bombed out big time on this occasion.Aung aung had been recommended by 2 people on TA as a young former monk with very good English.Mrsdrron had been in contact via email and he was to ring us at Bagan lodge on the fiday afternoon.No call.Mrsdrron rang the number given and the guy answered as Aung Aung but she said he doesn't sound young.She was right again.An old guy in at least a modern taxi turns up with limited English.Well at least we would be driven around in comfort and our guide on the Orcaella had given us a list of the more impressive pagodas to see.

Saturday though started with us being awoken by a strange intermittent noise.Went outside and immediately recognised the source of the noise-

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Most of them were far too busy taking photos so no one saw me taking pictures of them.One landed quite close-

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Then it was off to our first temple-Shwezigon.The Shwe means gold we are told hence the number of temples whose name starts this way.Definitely one of the reccomendations for Bagan.

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Now this little fellow was doing this all wrong so I had to demonstrate the etiquette.only 3 strikes with a downward motion after each one and then your wish is granted-

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[drron]

It really is beautiful.Finished in 1102 and sponsored by kings Anawrahta and Kyansittha.

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At the bottom of this side of the temple they have a fenced off puddle so you can photograph the reflection.Unfortunately there was a large Chinese group with one fellow taking each of their cameras/phones and taking several pics with each.No one else was going to get a turn for some time so I just took an off centre pic which gives you an idea-

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[drron]

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Some things are the same the world over-

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Our car and driver-

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So off to our next temple.Htilominlo.

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[drron]

So this temple was built in 1218 by the king of the same name.here we had our only temple problem of our stay.The ship had given us photocopies of our Bagan permits which had cost 10 Euro.They were accepted everywhere except here where they insisted on the originals or $US20.But although you walk around the temple and the 2 side doors are locked-

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The back door isn't and no one to check permits.Oh dear.

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This temple was surrounded by stalls mainly art.Though there was a stall using Karen women to get attention-the ones with neck rings.Total exploitation.But some nice photo ops-

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[drron]

You could buy all sorts of junk and dust catchers-

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But mrsdrron liked the paintings of monks.This young woman was delightful,was actually producing her work and only wanted $1 per small painting.she got the business-

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As we left I noticed this-

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Is this really the home of the tooth fairy?
On the way to the next temple we noticed the campers were increasing in numbers-

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[drron]

On our way to the Gawdawpalin temple there was a traffic jam at the Tharabar gate caused by a convoy of these fellows-

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The temple was started by King Narapatisithu in 1211 but he promptly died so finished by King Htilominlo in 1225.Was extensively damaged in the earthquake of 1975 and it has been reconstructed.

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Mrsdrron took a picture of these monks so they took a picture of us.i didn't realise we looked so funny.

 

[drron]

Outside the temple the theme of the stalls was puppets-

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It was then time for our less than delightful lunch.These stupas were beside the Amata restaurant-

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Afterwards our driver took us to a nearby temple not on our list.it looks like it is being reconstructed-

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[drron]

Outside there were only a couple of stalls but one was the most original that we saw.Again puppets but his own designs-

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And the sign outside most temples.
Now we were off to the Manuha temple built by the captured Mon king of that name in 1067.The oldest temple and also undergoing renovations.A funny sign outside-

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The biggest alms bowl at the entrance-

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To feed a rather large Buddha-

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Then went to the rear of the temple.People were entering a door then disappearing-

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Where did they go?

 

[drron]

Well they went in at the head of this large reclining Buddha and out a side door behind the feet-

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I think Buddha must have been the original capitalist.Sponsors get good signage-

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Some different temple bells-

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[drron]

Then it was off to our final temple.We decided we were templed out.This one is the Lawkananda temple built in the mid 11th century by King Anawrahta.The name supposedly means the jewel of the world.Now this temple is up stairs so mrsdrron decided to look around the nearby area whilst I went up to the temple.So here is the area below the temple.With the crowds coming in for the full moon festival there were crowds of locals at the temples.they all needed feeding-

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This young lady took her thanaka seriously-

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Now did you notice anything unusual?answer later.

 

[drron]

As I climbed to the temple it was obvious that across the water they were making arrangements for a full moon event on the sandbank-

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Whilst in the distance life went on as usual-

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The pagoda is striking-

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Picked up the difference yet?

 

[drron]

Another piece of evidence linking Buddha and capitalism.This pagoda has an unusual money making machine-

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based on Buddhist astrology with 8symbols-1 each for Thursday to Tuesday and 2 for Wednesday being split into Am and PM.This is a rotating machine with 8 bowls.You throw your money through the wire and if you get it into the bowl corresponding to the day of the week you are born your wish will come true.
I however had no need to make a wish.I had been mingalabarring my way around the temples offering to take pictures of family groups.Some got the message.Usually after I had taken the family portrait with their camera/phone they would insist on another with me in the middle.Maybe a Drron cargo cult is in the making.

Leaving the money making machine 2 old women with young babies approached me.I said mingalaba but no response.But then they rubbed the child's hand across my stomach,I said Lao?Their faces lit up so I invited them to rub my stomach as well.In laos this happened to me all the time.A fat man is like the Happy Buddha and rubbing the stomach is meant to bring good luck.I hoped it worked.
so now leaving the temple and a couple more opportunities to leave money behind-

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It took a while to leave the temple due to traffic-

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We then asked to be taken back to the hotel.We cancelled the next day.We were going to mt.Popa but a few hours in a car and rooflyers stories of monkey do made us decide to give it a miss.
Now what was the difference in the photos in the last 2 posts.
Simple-the water was blue not muddy as this was a backwater of the river not the main channel.

 

[drron]

Sunday started as usual-

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Mrsdrron decided to stay by the pool but I went on a morning walk.plenty of happy campers still coming into Bagan-

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I was heading for this place.fortunately this one had a big sign-

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I had to pass roadworks Burma style-

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naturally once again the women doing the hard yakka placing rocks individually whilst the men fixed tools for them-

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[drron]

I stopped and gave the women a friendly mingalaba and they offered me some plums.i politely declined.The supervisor obviously got angry at this.his voice was raised-

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So I went back and handed some of my tamarind candies to all the women.Great smiles in return.Glad to see this pagoda is doing it's bit for climate change-

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Several smaller stupas on the approaches to the pagoda-

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As you can see another under renovation.It was built in the second half of the 12th century by King Narathu.Our guide on the boat had told us of the recent history of this temple.As was common this temple was adopted by a general who sponsored its renovations.However this General was different to the others.He apparently warned her of an assassination attempt in 2003 instigated by the General who became PM the next year.naturally a few years later the general found himself under arrest.The story goes that since then donors to the pagoda have dried up hence renovations taking years.

More good karma.This truck apparently was from a remote village.parents were having a diffiucult time getting the kids back on the truck.Drron offers his candies to those on the truck.very soon it is full-

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[drron]

Even Buddha was having a touch up-

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[patnlcc]

I will be sorry when your trip ends, Ron.