January 19 - Bagan (1)

Pagodas, temples and stupas and more pagodas, temple and stupas.  The land is literally blanketed in them.  You are almost pressed to look anywhere without seeing one or many.  Every size imaginable and although they are all much the same shape each has its own particular shape.

We spent the entire day visiting examples of them.  Some of them date back to the 11th century and remain in reasonably good shape on the exterior but the interiors have deteriorated to varying degrees.  I must admit that I didn't go into every one we visited.  The interest just wasn't there.  I preferred to remain outside, interact with people and take photographs.  In some of the temples photos are prohibited so I didn't spent a great deal of time in them.  One where we climbed to the top was almost an adventure in itself.  The stone stairs were dark and steep and the ceilings were low.  I banged my head and almost missed my step on several occasions.  On another I tripped and fell flat on my face with my camera and glasses going flying in front of me.  I am happy to say there was no damage done to anything but it was embarrassing for sure.

I bought more clothes (shirts and pajama type pants) than I had thought I would ever do.  I began the day by buying a shirt for $2.00 and the more I thought about it the more sense it made.  According to the laundry list in the room it costs $3.75 to launder a shirt so it seemed to make more sense to me to buy a new one for $2.00 (or less - I got the last one for $1.66) than to pay to have one laundered every day.  I certainly won't vouch for the quality of the shirts but even if they disintegrate after one washing it was still a good deal.  The pants will be good and comfortable for around the house and for sleeping when sweat pants are too warm.  Hopefully the extra purchases won't be the straw that broke the camel's back as far as my suitcase is concerned.

Breakfast wasn't all that interesting today.  I had two bowls of lentil soup to which I added some beans and green onions.  There was no fried rice or noodles I didn't much like the available cold stuff.  The outdoor setting was beautiful (though a tad cool for most folks) - a view of the river, a couple of old temples, lots of flowers and an expansive area.  I will have to take my camera to breakfast tomorrow.  Lunch was once again at a Green Elephant restaurant (turns out to be a franchise operation).  The lentil soup wasn't nearly as good as the other day but the fish curry, vegetables and appetizers were all good.  I think that the next time we go to a similar restaurant I will order from the menu rather than having the set meal.  After exactly the same thing three times now I am ready for a change.   Again the restaurant was in a beautiful river view setting.  My major complaint to day would have to be with the flies that plagued us through lunch in spite of the waiter fanning us constantly.

At the last stop of the day I once again decided not to climb to the top of the temple.  The rest of the group went to the top to watch the sunset.  It was a funny sight to see so many people dotting the skyline.  Looked like chickens in a shooting gallery.  The sunset wasn't all that spectacular and I only got one acceptable photo (my big camera was locked in the bus) because I couldn't line up a shot that I liked in spite of walking across a field of corn stubble while the group waved at me from the temple.

Just before sunset I was sitting having a smoke around the corner of the temple and more or less trying to escape the hawkers/vendors but the kids found me anyway.  One VERY persistent young girl pestered me long enough and wouldn't take "No" for answer so I bought a shirt from her at the cheapest rate of the day.  Her young, maybe four year old, brother was with her and was parroting her while trying to sell me a lacquered bowl.  After a few minutes he left and then came running back with a shirt that might fit a five year old.  His sister, mother and I broke into fits of laughter.  It was all I could do not to buy something from him.

Had a few good conversations with local people today - a university student studying geography who knew a fair bit about Canada, a taxi driver who wanted to know about my camera and my watch and a sand painting artist.  Many of the kids and young people today were asking if I had any Canadian coins or pins.  It never occurred to me to bring such things along.  Other young men asked to trade lighters but theirs were probably empty.

We also visited a lacquer workshop to see how they make the many lacquered goods.  Another time consuming  (up to six months and a multitude of processes) to produce one item.  It was so dark in parts of the workshop that I wondered how the women who were engraving could see what they were doing.  One man was attaching gold leaf so quickly his hands were blurred and others were drawing equally quickly.  Amazing.  I managed to resist purchasing anything because the items wouldn't squash in my suitcase like clothing.  Some of the items they produce sell for as little as $1.00 and I was stunned to think of the labour that went into the production of something that could be sold so cheaply and still provide a profit for each person in the chain.

Tomorrow I think that we drive for an hour and a half to visit an extinct volcano and then might actually have some free time in the afternoon....