Myanmar’s Ancient City – Old Bagan
After Yangon, we were here in Bagan. Bagan is in the Mandalay Region, about the central of the country. Indeed, Bagan should always be included in any trip in Myanmar. This thousand years old town tells the tales of Burmese religion and history.
Bagan in June is way hotter than Yangon, and is very dry. Irrawaddy River is just nearby, and I could see a lot of green, but it is just feel like desert. In order to have more time to explore, we got on to a 7am plane (which means I had to arrive the airport by 5am). I felt dizzy. There was a big different in temperate in the taxi and outside. I was fainting when I got off the taxi.
But I was looking foward to the villa.
We booked the whole house, and it means, I could have my OWN HOUSE! Yeah!!
Different from Yangon, taxi drivers in Bagan do not speak fluent English, barely capable to communicate with foreign tourists. By barely capable, I mean you have to speak very slow and repeat several times to explain the place you want to go.
Bagan is divided into New Bagan and Old Bagan. Most of the monuments are located in Old Bagan, and New Bagan is where most of the people are living. (Note)
The villa provides 5stars hotel services and I did not need to carry my own luggage from the taxi to the room. I felt like heaven (c’mon I AM a budget traveler and sometime poor backpacker). The lobby is full of Hindu culture. Look forward, there is a swimming pool with views of temples and stupas. Although it is not an infinity pool, the view is infinity. I felt like heaven.
But wait, is heaven that hot? I was sweating by just standing in the lobby, waiting to check-in.
Taxi tour?
After settled down, my no-patient friend called the taxi driver immediately. Because June is not a tourist season in Bagan, the taxi driver gave us his business card right after we hopped onto the car, said we could go anywhere we want with flat price. Well, we do not know anything in Bagan, we could only go wherever he took us to.
Because my friend has been to Bagan before, he explains that photographs in most Myanmar’s travelling promotional materials are taken in Bagan. I would also like to take picture like those too!
We went to four to five stupas. The taxi driver is just a taxi drive not a tourist guide, he could not explain to us in details about each temples and stupas. He was just waiting for us in the entrance.
In every stupa, no shoe or sock is allowed to get in. And this is one of the reasons that flip-flops or is a must traveling in Myanmar. The heat on the ground was hot like a pan and I was just unable to stand still with bare feet. It was cooking my feet!
I tipped my toes and tried to walk to the shade as quickly as I could, then ran into the temple. There was no air-condition in the temple, but I felt cool.
Stupas always have four sides.
Here, stupas are very old and tearing. And it is because of this reason, the ancient monuments can be kept in their original structure. Although temples are old and tearing, local people still come to worship. We walked round and round the stupa and found that buddha statues do not look like those in other south east asian countries. The body is smaller, fingers are longer, and earloops are also longer in ratio. There was no light in the temple (all temples rarely have electricity and lighting relies on natural sunlight). We did not stay long in every temple.
Buddha statuteThe unbearable heat was very annoying. The main attractions in Bagan are all temples and stupas. Every temple and stupa has its own story. It may not be built by the royal family in that period. It may be built by some rich families for their ancestors not buddha.
Finally sunset calms the heat down.
The taxi driver took us to a restaurant for dinner. (probably he could get some money for every customers he brought to?) The outdoor setting was full of mosquitoes. We were busy spraying repellent and killing mosquitoes. I did not know what the food taste like.
Next day our tour guide finally appeared, and finally someone could explain to me about the different buddha look here in temples in Bagan (note). In these two days we went to about 8 temples, but everyone look alike and I could only name a few.
Note: There is a 25000kyat (around USD15) of monument maintenance fee which you need to pay once you got your luggage out of the prohibited area in airport. Someone will guide you to the counter. The counter staff will give you a small card. Do not throw away this card. Some of the larger temples or stupas requires you to show this little card, otherwise you will have to pay at least 30000kyat at door for another card to enter into those monuments.
Note: The villa I stayed is Aureum Palace Hotel Bagan in Old Bagan. The government would like to protect the thousand years monuments here in this area and moving hotels and villas out of this area. Maybe this villa will disappear when I come again next time.
Note: According to the guide, the Bbuddha statues here in Bagan came from nearby countries. Hence, every Bagan king interpret the appearance of Buddha in different way, and so Buddha statues here look different in temples built by different kings.