Where No Roads Go

Life in Burma is filled with Pagodas and Buddha and rice. After 5 wonderful nights on Ngwe Saung beach where the sun and stars shine equally as bright we choked down a runny egg and powder coffee breakfast before trishawing into town to catch the 6am bus back to Yangon. Although my expectations were low, I admit I had a glimmer of hope that the bus wouldn't be as uncomfortable as the ride to the beach. But lone behold as we pulled into town there was good ol' mustard stripe. Instead of the back wheel this time we had the front, right behind the driver where knees easily reached chin and there's just no escape as people pile in through the front door to catch a ride. The Barmar soft rock was pumping, ladies were barfing in bags and well, the journey back was about the same comfort level as is was getting to the beach. Arriving in Yangon cramping and cranky we powered through a taxi ride to get to the other bus terminal (both of which are ridiculously far out of town) and managed to get some seats on the overnight bus heading to Bagan. The 15 hours to Bagan were horrid. Very little sleep, more barfing Burmese and soft classics, and oh, did I mention there was no road? It's strage, there are toll booths all over the place yet the money clearly does not go to the up-keep of the road. It would be better if they used all the bills that are constantly being handed over to fill the stupid holes. Maybe that would help. Seriously though, there just wasn't a road. We were driving through dense forest over a sort of "cleared path" all while in seats made for a Burmese person which is about equivelent to a 8 year old child. Comfortable!

Anyway, after arriving in one piece and many hours of sleeping we did a little exploring and arraged for a horse cart the next morning. Bagan is comparable to Cambodia's Ankor Watt or India's Hampi. It is a vast and open valley littered with thousands and thousands of temples. Some are big, some are small, some are locked and some are not, some are gold but most are just sandstone or brick but all of them are just totally incredible. The first day we did the "big hits" tour with the horse we named Yukon. Our driver was a relaxed guy and knew what he was doing in terms of temples so we didn't miss much. We made for a break halfway through the day at a roadside restaurant where we quickly made friends with everyone hanging out there. I got my make-up done while Aaron played soccer and we ate and ate and ate until it was no longer possible. Two Star Colas later we were back in the saddle, or cart anyway, to see more temples! Timing it just perfectly we joined the crowds on one of the larger temples with open upstairs stupas for a beautiful sunset. It's amazing to see and the pictures really do not do the area justice at all. To give you a small idea the Bagan kings built over 4400 temples in a 230 year period. Earthquakes, looters and general erosion have done some damage but the vast majority of the temples still remain holding strong - although UNESCO World Heritage has pulled out as a sponsor due to the uncooprative junta. Each temple houses many Buddha statues of which a large handful are consistantly being recovered in gold leaf and we like to hope that the ten dollars we pay to see the temples goes to their restoration...although more likely it's going to new unused airports and shopping centers (sigh).

After the first, very long, day we opted for a slower start the next morning and rented some shoddy bikes that lacked tred, gears or breaks... but Aaron's had a basket which he put his murse in. hehe. We hit the roads, well sandy dirt paths, and stumbled apon some great temples that probably haven't seen anyone in a while... the lesser known temples were preserved with beautiful paintings and murals and smiling Buddhas. It was peaceful and ultimately quiet being away from the main sites and we spent a lot of time just hanging around in some of our favorite spots, lounging on the stupas or chatting with the local temple guards and vendors.

While in Bagan we enjoyed a little change from rice and fried noodles with one night of Italian, one night Indian, and one night a mixture of things but it was really nice - especially the curry and chapats (secretly I miss India). A few souvineres later and a boat ticket to boot we've opted out of the bus and are taking the 12 hour boat-boat to Mandalay. As transport has prooved to take days longer then we originally though we are having to cut a few corners on our Myanmar circut without overstaying our welcome so instead of the overland route we'll be flying to Bangkok within the first week of March which leaves us a limited amount of time here. Gotta run!