Category Archives: Southeast Asia

Bagan – Seen (scene) along the road

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You can’t drive anywhere in Bagan without passing temples and stupas. Many of these have names; maybe they all do. But many are just mysterious, ancient, and beautiful structures we just passed by on the way to somewhere else. Hey, it would take a year or more to visit them all!

The next two photos are of Hti-lo Minlo Temple, a place we possibly would have visited, had I not inadvertently forgotten to collect my shoes from the previous temple in my haste to escape a crowd of vendors who were desperate to make a living in this off-season for tourists and knew a sucker when they saw one (I’d foolishly bought something from one of them).

 

 

Yes, I did manage to retrieve the sandals!  😉

Below are some other temples and stupas, whose names I don’t know. But they sure are pretty…

          

Possibly, one or two of these might be other views of Htilo-Minlo from other angles on the road, I’m not sure. But I hope that all of these photos will show you something of the beauty and grace of the Bagan landscape.

Bagan – the soybean paste factory

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Our first factory! This family-run business makes (we were assured) the very best soybean paste in all of Myanmar.

First, we must have access to the needed raw ingredients. In this case, primarily soybeans and water.

And tools! Of course there must be tools.

The men pour the soybeans into a chute that empties into a vat, where they add water (and maybe other stuff?), boil it over a hot fire, and stir until the mix is thickened. The mix is then poured into the next vat and the next; more water is added; and eventually a thick paste is obtained. I am assured that this is truly delicious stuff.

    

Now that we have brewed up a vat-full of delicious soybean paste, it goes to the next area of the factory for packaging. This is women’s work.

  

 

At the edge of this work area is the home of the factory owner. We ask if we may look inside, and permission is granted.

   

 

Bagan – the traditional way of life

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Along the road from Shwezigon Pagoda to the soya bean paste factory (to be posted tomorrow), we passed through a small village. Some of the roofs may be better constructed than centuries ago, and there’s the occasional satellite dish. A well-constructed little dry-goods store has proprietor’s quarters above. But really, little has changed here in all this time. The houses and many fences are still made of woven bamboo, and many of the roofs are thatch. The road is still dirt. Vehicles–what few there are–share the road with children and animals.

It’s not so different here from one generation to the next.

      

Many of the homes and stores in southeast Asia have little “spirit houses” in which the spirit of the place may dwell without invading the human habitation. In the cities, these are often made of concrete. Here in the village, though, the spirits live much like the humans do.

Now here’s that lovely dry-goods store, built (it proclaims in both Burmese and Anglo numerals) in 1983. These people are doing relatively very well indeed.

Here are some people who are, perhaps, not doing so well, but still, they have a boat. And waste not, want not. Empty provision sacks, sewn together, make fine sails for traveling along the wide Irrawady River.

 

 

 

 

Bagan – the hotel and the travesty

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This is a serious post, and it’s not all about the beauty of Myanmar (of which there is much to be said). It’s about something gone horribly, heart-achingly wrong. The picture says it all:

A travesty on the landscape

This modern “viewing tower,” out of all proportion to the harmonious landscape around it, was built as a part of the hotel we stayed at. I blush to admit we had anything to do with it. This structure is such a monstrous parody of its surroundings that if buildings could be evil, this just might qualify.

To put this in perspective: The plains of Bagan are punctuated with thousands of ruins of millenium-old temples and stupas whose delicate spires reach skyward, bestowing a rhythm and grace on the landscape. At ground level, this viewing tower, built in brick, mirrors some of the traditional forms. But rising from its center is not a graceful bell-shaped dome ending in a spire, but rather a thick, phallic metal cylinder ending in a tourist restaurant and an observation deck (US $10 entry fee).

Welcome to the Aureum Palace Resort Hotel, built by a rich Burmese entrepreneur reputed to be close to the country’s powerful ruling regime. The fact that permission was ever granted to build this monstrosity suggests strongly that such rumors could be true.

As for the Aureum Palace Resort Hotel itself–we couldn’t wait to get out of there. Despite the manifest luxury and the friendly, young staff, nothing seemed to work–either physically or systematically.

Here are the good points:

  • Very friendly staff, as mentioned above
  • Beautiful design (not counting the abomination at the entrance)
  • Open, breezy lobby
  • Large, attractive rooms

On the down side:

  • The first room we were given smelled of sewage
  • There was no water pressure, so water only trickled out of the shower
  • When we asked to change rooms, we were promised a new room when we returned in a couple of hours. But the new room was not forthcoming.
  • When we insisted on a new room, the new room in the same building also smelled of sewage and had the wrong type of bed. (This hotel was nearly empty, so there was no shortage of rooms.)
  • When we insisted on another new room, it took some time to “make one ready.” (Have I mentioned that the hotel was nearly empty?)
  • This new room was close to the hotel’s generator, and so was quite loud when the window was open and the generator on. But it was in a different building and did not smell like sewage. We accepted it.
  • The generator came on whenever the electricity failed, which was often. This was not the hotel’s fault; blackouts are normal in this part of the country, where there’s not enough electricity to go around. However, the air conditioning was not hooked up to the generator circuit, so there was no air conditioning when the generator was on. And it was loud when we opened the window (see above). And–get this–the air conditioning did not come back on when electricity was restored!
  • The bathroom door wouldn’t stay shut
  • The shower was stuck on the lower shower head, and the switch to the upper shower head didn’t work
  • The water ran hot and cold intermittently
  • They neglected to give us our wake-up call
  • While we sat in the lobby, a man began polishing the marble floor near us, using a loud machine. He polished and repolished the same square of marble for over an hour.
  • The driveway (which we had to walk across to get to the lobby) was paved in a stone so rough it was unpleasant both for walking and for driving. Not exactly a warm welcome.
  • And, by the way, this was the only hotel we stayed at in Myanmar that maintained a police presence much of the time. Hmm…

Well, Ive finished my diatribe now. This was the only ugly spot on our whole trip. Next post, on to the beautiful and interesting places again!

 

Bagan – Overview (Tayoke Pye Temple)

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So it occurs to me that here I’ve been prattling on about Bagan, and outside of the fact that you’ve figured out from these posts that Bagan is in Myanmar (Burma), many of you probably never heard of the place.

Let me just say that as a potential World Heritage Site (which it might have been, had there not been certain, er, mismanagement along the way that resulted in a few horrendous structures that were allowed to be built and renovations that were more or less botched. More about that later.) this is right up there with Angkor Wat and Machu Picchu.  Second to none. Mindblowing.

Bagan is a plain of about sixteen square miles located along the Irrawaddy River somewhat south of Mandalay. On this plain, over four thousand religious structures (stupas and temples) have been identified, all built between the 11th and 13th centuries AD, when Bagan was the center of a great empire. These structures, mostly still evident, are now in various states of preservation, reconstruction, and ruin. Of the palaces, mansions, farmhouses, cities, villages, markets, shops, and factories that must once have existed side by side with these religious structures, nothing remains. They would have been built of wood. Which burns.

Close to sunset of our first day in Bagan, we climbed to the second level of the Tayoke Pye Pagoda (one of the few that are considered safe to climb) to watch the sunset. Considering that it was monsoon season, the sunset wasn’t bad, with late afternoon golden light settling over the plain. We had the temple to ourselves.

The ruins of Tayoke Pye Pagoda show something of the character of the historic structures.

    

Notice the plants growing out of the stonework and masonry. This kind of structure and decay is typical of most of the temples in the region (which have much of value that could and should be preserved).

And as these views from the temple’s second level show, this one is surrounded by hundred (thousands, actually) of others, many of them just as amazing. Sixteen square miles of them, set into the most idyllic countryside imaginable.

         

Oh, and yes, there was a sunset (of sorts), a romantic rising of the mists over the plain.

 

 

 

 

 

Bagan – Shwezigon Pagoda (the Golden Platform Temple)

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Yes! It’s another golden pagoda. I think this one is really lovely, but it may fall short of true Burmese elegance in that it manages the transition from the square temple below to the round golden bell of the stupa above a bit awkwardly. But then, it’s the first one (I believe) that made the attempt–somewhere around year 1100AD, and all later stupas were developed from this model, though perhaps with a more graceful segue through octagonal phases.

 

Within, at least one Buddha is of a human scale and all golden, with an inviting smile.

So… what explains why this particular temple has the best collection of nats–pre-Buddhist spirits–that we’ve seen anywhere?

 

This includes a lovely, ancient statue of Thagyamin, king of the nats. (At least, I think this is him!)

 

Bagan – the market (part 2)

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Here are a few of the people at the market in Bagan.

    

 

And here are some of the interesting foods that people were selling.

Chiles, ground, dried, whole, fresh…

 

 

 

Dried grains, beans, seeds, lentils, rice…

 

 

 

Er… leaves…

 

 

Dried and fresh fish and all kinds of seafood…

  

 

Bagan – the market (part 1)

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Today, we move to Bagan, where there is a lot to see, mostly temples and stupas, all very old. But let’s start with the market. I must confess that Dan and I are market junkies, we and our cameras. And because there is so much to see in the market, this will take two posts, the first for the place itself, and the second for some of the people and the things they sold.

The market comprises two quite separate parts. There is an inner, permanent structure where vendors sell household goods and where a few have set up fast-food stands. Outside of this is an outdoor market where people (farmers?) have come early to sell fresh and dried foods of all kinds.

In the outdoor market, customers hurry to buy their fresh food for the day and go home to cook. The day’s cooking must be completed while the morning is still cool (a relative term here; to us it’s all hot). This is one of the few places in Myanmar where we slow picture-takers were jostled occasionally by a person in a rush.

    

Inside, the physical environment was much more intense, but the shopping less hurried. Everyone was eager to do business with us. “First sale of the day! It is lucky! I give you good price!” Yes, a lucrative sale to a tourist would be a good start to the day, but we can’t do it for everyone. We carefully select one item and drive the bargain we want to achieve. The other vendors are not excessively pushy. Smiles are exchanged. We all understand.

   

  

Below: a traditional apothecary shop. 

 

Yangon – Crossing the Yangon River

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So…it was nearing the end of our last day in Yangon, which was also our last day in Myanmar, and we still had some time to explore one more facet of Burmese life that was not on the regular tourist trail. We decided to take the regular commuter ferry that runs every half hour from the Pansodan Ferry Terminal back and forth across the Yangon River to the suburb of Dalla; look around in Dalla for a bit; and then head back to Yangon.

For all its air of decay, Yangon is an expensive place to live–well beyond the means of the average worker. For the many people who choose instead to live in the much-less-expensive Dalla, this is their daily commute.

Our ferry about to leave the Pansodan terminal

Intrepid Zaw buys our tickets and tells us to hurry; the boat is about to leave. We race madly down the gangplank along with several dozen other stragglers, barely making the boat in time, catching each other’s eyes and grinning.

Then we got a look at where we were.

The lower level of the ferry

Good thing it wasn’t rush hour, when it would have been really crowded!

Upstairs, there was more room, and there were small plastic chairs you could rent if you wanted to sit down somewhere other than the floor. It occurs to me now to wonder whether going upstairs required a higher class (more expensive) ticket. I don’t recall anyone actually checking tickets.

Upstairs

Here are some views looking back at Yangon from the river.

The Pansodan Ferry Terminal, from which we had just departed

Yangon skyline, possibly former government buildings (?)

At the Dalla Ferry Terminal, an unprepossessing structure, people were already waiting for the ferry to arrive. Most were passengers waiting to cross back to Yangon; others were vendors hoping to serve a hot meal or a snack to the passengers.

Dalla Ferry Terminal

Waiting for the ferry

We all took our stuff and left the boat.

Passengers disembarking

At the ferry terminal in Dalla, the passengers got into taxis and other conveyances and went their separate ways to home.

Ready to go home

Dan and Zaw and I walked around the neighborhood for a while, and then we headed back to the terminal for the trip back to Yangon.

At the terminal in Dalla

When we reached Pansodan Terminal in Yangon, there was already a crowd waiting for the journey back across. Er…yes, those are dead chickens hanging from the bicycle handles.

At the terminal in Yangon

 

Yangon – Wholesale market

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You won’t find the wholesale market in any of the tourist guidebooks. But because of a change in the plane schedule we ended up with an extra day in Yangon, and we had seen everything on our itinerary. Not to fear. By the time the extra day came around, we’d traveled for almost a week with our intrepid guide Zaw, and he knew very well what we liked. And markets were high on that list. So here is another slice of ordinary life in Myanmar.

This is the market where vendors (farmers, mostly, I suspect) from all over the region come to sell their produce to the smaller curbside vendors you can see everywhere in the city.

They come in all kinds of conveyances and carry their wares into the market any way they can.

    

And they sell all sorts of produce.

      

I found this banana lady particularly remarkable. Well, not the lady herself, but rather the stunning variety of bananas she offered for sale. Wish we could get some of those here!

It must be a long day for the wholesalers. The market opens early, and they have to set out from places who-knows-how-distant to get there and set up. And then the whole exhausting day selling to customers. Sometimes a person just needs a break.