The boat from Bagan to Mandalay was a 12 hour treat from start to finish. The boat left the Bagan Jetty at 5:30 just as the sun rose over the river. The mists from a morning chill rose off the water but slowly dissipated as the sun rose above the plains of Bagan and shone down on the Ayeyarwady River. (I have also seen it spelled Irrawaddy but I suspect that is the anglicized version.) The river flows south through the middle of the country and the plain that it cuts through is as flat as it gets. In places, the high mud banks look like they were sliced flat with a knife and the scrubby grass that stands straight up above the banks give the appearance of a bad brush cut. In the west the plains end at the Chin State mountains and in the east at the Shan Hills.
Life along the river is vibrant; farming, fishing or the transport of people and goods keep something on the horizon to watch and wonder about. We passed all manner of vessels from scows to other tour boats and it was delightful to see whole families fishing in the river using, poles, traps and nets. Reminded me of my fishing days when the fishermen would take their families along for company and to share the work. Of course along the way we saw plenty more gold domed pagodas, a further reminder that Myanmar is a deeply Buddhist country. The settlements along the river were haphazard collections of tents and shacks where the fishermen and their families live during the dry season but relocate for the rainy season. Right now it’s “winter” in Myanmar, meaning that the temperatures plummet to the mid 20’s at night and in the morning.
On board the RV Panorama, part of the Alliance Cruise Group, there were about 32 passengers, most of them a tour group from Taiwan and the rest were Europeans except for me the lone Canadian. A woman from Slovenia told me she didn’t think Canadian’s travelled much. At first people snoozed below deck and I was lucky enough to have three seats to myself which made for a great bunk. After a nap I followed the lead of other passengers and went topside for breakfast and then out onto some really comfortable deck chairs on the stern.
The young men who were our stewards on the boat gave us a demonstration on the art of wearing the “longyi”. With a few deft twists and turns of fabric they created, hats, shorts, jackets, slings, back packs, carrying pouches and even an elephant. Then they demonstrated the use of “thanaka” a paste made from ground bark which the Myanmar wear on their faces as both a sun block and a skin cream. They even have some fancy designs that they create after the swirl of paste dries a bit and one of the Taiwanese passengers was eager to be a model.
Twelve hours evaporated and before I knew it we were approaching the mythical city of Mandalay, made famous in Kipling’s poem. Of course it bears little or no resemblance to the romantic version set out in the poem but it was impressive as we approached our dock.
There are other ways to get from Bagan to Mandalay but in my mind the 35 USD fare that included breakfast and lunch was the only way to go.
Things happen where you might be tempted to panic but doing so isn’t going to help. I had decided on a private taxi tour of Bagan as the best way to see the most Buddhist structures in one day as they are spread over 67 sq kms and there are more than 2000.
But the best laid plans… and so I found myself at the arrival gate in Bagan searching fruitlessly for the handheld sign that would bear my name. Not to be, I was nevertheless hustled out the door and into an awaiting taxi who wanted 35usd for a days tour. A fair price given they last from early morning arrival until sunset. However I had already paid in Yangon and a few kms into the journey I realized that, contrary to what I had been led to believe, this was not my car or my driver and I instructed him to turn around and go back to the airport.
Back inside the arrivals area I found a lovely helpful English speaking guide who called the number on my voucher and after a furious relay of other calls he assured me that although there had been a communication gap between Bagan and Yangon I would be picked up shortly. All in, I had 2 hours of waiting and my 8am tour started at 10am.
While I was getting in the right taxi the first taxi driver approached my pre-paid driver and demanded payment for the five minutes I was with him. My driver paid him and explained that he was paying him for taking me to the market, which he did not. No es mi pedo as my Mexican friends say.
Bagan Temples is a UNESCO World Heritage Site with good reason. Located on the banks of the Irrawaddy River in central Myanmar, and sprouting from the flat plains along the river is the largest collection of Buddhist temples, stupas and monasteries in the world. Time worn, reduced to rubble in some cases are stupas that show the bricks and mortar used to build them.Others are survivors, resplendently preserved and revered, covered in gold plate and gemstones they point the way to the heavens.
There are three settlements on the Bagan Temple plains; Old Bagan, New Bagan and Nyuang U Town. My tour started at the Nyuang market bustling with women sellers of fruits, vegetables, fabrics, jewellery, puppets, clothing, toys and many other goodies. Markets offer great photo opportunities, every stall is piled high with something of beauty, be it a food or a piece of clothing proudly displayed, I was told many times “made here, not China”. I bought several items including my own “longyi” for temple visits and a long legged skort as a further nod to modesty.
The temples and pagoda jut out of the plain in seemingly random patterns. Some are huddled close together and others are some distance apart. Each one is notable for different reasons, the gold, the Buddhas, the cool dark passageways, frescos, etc. In no way can one visit all 2000 in one day but I managed to pack in a few which to be honest became somewhat of a blur.
My driver spoke enough English to get me from A to B but not enough to fill in the mysteries of these ancient reminders of the 9th & 10th centuries. There is something haunting about the plains and what is poignantly missing is the human presence of the people that built them. To quote Borges, some places, “try to tell us something, or have said something we should not have missed, or are about to say something.”
The day ended with a short climb up a rare rise in the flat landscape to watch as the sun set behind the Temples of Bagan.
After a long day, especially considering my early start in Yangon, I was at last taken to the Bagan Wynn Hotel, one of the best hotels yet. Beautiful grounds and five star treatment at a very reasonable price through Hotels.com. My second day in Bagan was spent enjoying the pool and gardens of Bagan Wynn, catching my breath, working on my blog, answering friends emails and doing a little sink laundry. Tomorrow very early I am off to Mandalay, not by plane but by boat on the Irrawaddy River. Alarm set for 4:00 AM!
Between books, movies and a letter my brother once wrote to our mother in which he told her the was “on the road to Mandalay”, there awakened in me a romantic, nostalgic ideal of a place so different, magical, golden and so far away I could only dream of seeing it. But with some careful preparation requiring library time, online research, talking to people that have been here, and applying for and being granted a visa, here I am.
Getting here from Bangkok was easy and I had the foresight to ask , My Hotel (that is the actual name) to send a driver to meet me at the airport. Generally pick up service is out of my price range but I thought as a first time traveller to Yangon it would simplify things and it did. But, as I discovered, it is way cheaper and easy enough to take a taxi from the airport to your hotel. My Hotel is lovely and I would recommend it as being in a great location, well priced and right across the street from The People’s Park and the Shwedagon Pagoda, which I could see all lit up as I settled into my room. The staff at the Hotel are friendly and polite and make every effort to make you feel welcome, which I came to discover is a hallmark of Burmese people. The first thing upon arrival you are presented with a cold fruit juice before the business of check-in commences.
Day one I made a list on paper of the places I wanted to visit because I would never remember how to spell never mind pronounce them. Then I made a google map trail with all of the sites and started out the door. My driver that picked me up at the airport had helped me get cash (not available outside of Myanmar) and buy a SIM card with data making google maps and other on the go research possible.
First stop was a travel office where they helped me buy a ticket for the boat between Bagan and Mandalay where I will head after Yangon. All flights and hotels I have booked through Hotels.com and Air Asia or Myanmar airlines, flights being relatively cheap. I find the hotel prices a tad higher than in Thailand, but so far I have not been disappointed. As well I booked a private taxi tour in Bagan for 35USD. Generally making arrangements in a reputable travel agency rather than in your hotel can result in a greater variety and often a better price of options.
Business taken care of I headed to my first stop on the google map trail, the giant sized Reclining Buddha, weighing in at 66m long, 7.3m long face, 2.7 m worth of nose and 50cm high eyes, but who’s measuring? Not really old, built from 1959 to 1974, it is housed in the Chauk Htat Gyi Pagoda. Maybe the most interesting thing about the place was a giant sized mural depicting the life of Buddha, there were some English explanations and it covered his pre-life existence to his death and of course rebirth. The monks were welcoming and entrance was free/donations welcomed. Both the scale and the colour of the Buddha’s feet were impressive as were the golden robes.
My second stop was the most important spiritual home for the people of Myanmar. The huge golden stupa of the Shwedagon Pagoda is visible from many parts of the city. The shrine is said to have been built during the lifetime of the Buddha and houses eight of his hairs. I was very fortunate to hire a guide at the entrance and he was very informative. I never would have gleaned as much had I attempted it on my own. Si Thu, named for the day of the week he was born on and another word with significance to his parents, explained that everyone born on the same day off the week has the same first name or version thereof. Unlike us they do not have surnames and in business and relationships it is thought that some days are more suited than others to a positive interaction.
The most notable thing, even at the airport, were the Burmese people, they are calm, elegant and well-dressed. For the most part they still wear the long beautiful skirts and long-sleeved blouse/shirts that reflect their modest natures. They walk tall in these skirts and even though the men in particular, often wear a western style dress shirt they pair it the “longyi.” I was so lucky when visiting Yangon that it was Independence Day, a holiday where people travel and gather with family for outings and devotions in the temples. We saw many university graduates being photographed by family and friends with the stupa in the background demonstrating the importance of the shrine to the people. Another notable group were novitiates who, carrying golden umbrellas, gathered with their sponsors, on their last days before entering a monastery. The sponsors support them financially while in the service of Buddha which can be for a short time or a life time of service, but something that is undertaken by all men.
Archeologists have dated Shwedagon as having been started somewhere between the 6th and 14th century, but it withstood the tests of time, neglect, government, earthquakes and stands as a testament to Buddhist devotion. The Pagoda, complicated layers of internal bricks and mortar is covered with gold plate near the top, gold leaf in the lower areas and is encrusted with jewels and a huge diamond is the icing on the cake.
A busy day even by Shwedagon standards, I found the people were polite, curious and many wanted to practice their English and they didn’t mind having there pictures taken, in fact they seemed quite happy to oblige. The children I encountered were particularly endearing and well behaved, and obviously treasured by their families. Of course when visiting the temples one must leave ones shoes at the door, and it’s nothing short of a miracle that those same slippers, sandals, runners and flip flops find their way back to the right pair of feet. In order to avoid being offensive, Western guests are given a longyi to wear in exchange for a refundable cash deposit.
My guide had a couple of interesting stories involving the British regime, the fervor of which may have been influenced by the fact that it was Independence Day. The first story concerned a golden Buddha, returned to Myanmar by Queen Victoria following a dream that schooled her in the error of having removed it from it’s rightful home. The second involved a huge bell weighting many tons that the British army attempted to make off with but somehow let it slip into the river where it languished until rescued by the ingenuity of Burmese who managed to float it using bamboo pools and ferrying it back to the shore.
The rubies, emeralds, diamonds, sapphires (to name a few types of stones) encrusted in gold are most impressive. Although you can’t climb up to see them, there is a photo display of the different sections of the pagoda and the gemstones that adorn them. Devotees are able to purchase a gold plate and they have their names engraved. Rings and other forms of personal jewelry are donated and hung in different sections as offerings to the Buddha. Of course the biggest and most impressive stone of all is the diamond that tops the spire. Clearly an important place, the Shwedagon crowds were thick, I was glad I went (unwittingly) on a national holiday, giving me so much access to people watching.
Leaving the Pagoda behind I made my way to downtown Yangon. A densely populated area, you can really see the impact of urbanization as people from the countryside seek their fortunes in the city. The best time to just wander and watch is in the heart of a city and generally there is something interesting happening at the turn of every corner.
Like all colonial cities the influence of the colonizer, in this case the English, is everywhere in the core of Yangon. Some of the buildings built during the British era when Yangon was the capital, have been maintained but others are in disrepair. I happened upon the Independence Day celebration with live music and throngs of people visiting the main square with the tall Independence monument in the middle of the park. In addition to music there were food vendors, ballon sellers, entertainers and picnickers sitting on the grass enjoying the festive atmosphere.
When the British designed Yangon, they put the Sule Pagoda front and centre in the heart of the city directly in front of the Manabandoola Park , ironically the future home of the Independence Monument. There are some obvious signs of economic success in Yangon including business towers, glitzy hotels and a huge mall with every designer label store imaginable. A stark contrast to its next door neighbour the Bogyoe Aung San Market, built during colonial times it sells the signature treasures of Myanmar to tourists including jewellery, paintings, puppets, lacquerware and jade. An even greater contrast is the Theingyi Zedi fruit and vegetable market with hundreds of ramshackle stalls, narrow aisles, and hoards of people elbowing their way through the chaos.
Yangon was more than a surprise to me. I expected something more dismal or downhearted about the place given recent history but it was surprisingly calm in it’s busyness, peaceful in it’s industry and beautiful in its hodgepodge of then and now. My admiration for the city is directly attributable to the welcome given by the friendly, warm people I met on my Yangon wandering.
Koh Panang is one of dozens of islands in Thailand, located along the east coast in the Andaman Sea and off the west coast in the Gulf of Thailand. Like most of them, Koh (meaning island) Pha-Ngan is a holiday destination for flocks of beach goers from all corners of the globe. Popular with backpackers, families, solo travellers, snowbirds and the like, the islands are accustomed to foreign visitors and have really smooth operations that get you from airports to ports, on to ferries, and finally out to the islands.
From my limited knowledge I would think that Koh Panang is fairly typical. White sandy beaches, lots of excursions and activities and plenty of partying, especially notable as we were there for New Years. As evidence of some free spirited behaviour we same many bandaged people on the beaches following the celebrations.
The main transport around the island are rented scooters and motos, which accounted for many of the bandaged limbs and heads we spotted after New Years.
After the heat and hard work negotiating our way through Cambodia it was nice to have a few days of sun, sand and delicious Thai food.Heather had a friend from the UK on Koh Pha-Ngan and she was there with friends from New Zealand. They were a lively bunch of family and friends and were so much fun. The usual FB friends invites transpired and hopefully our paths will cross again. They come to Koh Panang yearly, for several months at a time, and I think this is true of many of the island visitors.
We stayed at the See Through Boutique Hotel which did not live up to the photos on Hotels.com. It was OK but not great in terms of the rooms themselves, in definite need of some upgrades and paint. But you couldn’t beat the location and for a small fee we moved from a standard hotel type room to a bungalow which had a veranda with hammock, a fridge and air conditioning. Right on the beach it was a short walk to their beach front restaurant which served a decent breakfast but not so great after that. Massage of course is a main event and at about $15.00CAD I enjoyed a couple of sessions.
And now on to the real job of traveling and seeing the historic and cultural sites of SE Asia. With Cambodia done my next stop is Yangon, Myanmar, formerly Rangoon, Burma.
Gentle, kind and beautiful my travels in Cambodia have been made easy and enjoyable by the people. I’m traveling with my friend Heather for a few weeks before she returns to work in England. She kindly met me at the international airport in Bangkok after a long flight from London. We transferred to the smaller airport and flew off to Siem Reap where we stayed at a lovely little guesthouse off the noisy tourist streets. Chheng Residence Hotel was lovely with a garden pool area and very helpful staff. Always good to have somewhere to cool down the body temp after a long hot day of exploring.
Siem Reap Psar Chas area by day
After dinner and a swim, we wandered out into the evening and strolled down the avenues to the river and into Psar Chas, the old French colonial heart of Siem Reap. There are markets, restaurants and bars tucked away in the old French-era shophouses and the Main Street of the area is known as Pub street. There were tons of tourists and it was crowded but still somehow manages to keep a small town feeling. Lots of travellers, vacationers mingling with the Khmer people as the Cambodians and their language are called.
Other than the pretty zip of this little town people come to Siem Reap to visit the Angkor Temples, impressive monuments to the greatest ancient civilization in SE Asia. These 12th century temples were originally built as places of Hindu worship and later over the eons converted to Buddhist Temples. There are more than one hundred monuments spread over 3000 acres that mark where the Angkor era was born and marked by huge building projects. We managed to visit Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom and Phnom Bakheng for the sunset. After repeated attacks from Siam in the 15th century the city was abandoned and lost to the jungle. An extraordinary set of ruins one can see where the early people of Cambodia lived and worshipped and displayed their wealth and culture.
Famously crowded
Angkor Watt
Our Lovely Guide
Angkor Watt with Tuk Tuk Driver/Guide
We had a nice mix of town/country while in the Siem Reap area by shifting from the Chheung Residence to the Bong Thom Forest Lodge about twenty minutes by Tuk Tuk outside of Siem Reap. A beautiful resort hotel it had proximity to some of the lesser visited temples and was a nice respite from the hustle and bustle of the city. The food was great and we were given a “certified” cooking lesson on how to make mango salad and the national dish of fish amok, a coconut cream base mildly spiced dish served with rice.
There are buses and vans etc that will get you from Siem Reap. To Phnom Penh the capital, but since hiring a private car was a $100USD option we decided on that and it would allow us to make a couple of stops along the way. Our driver was great and our first request was to stop and see the floating villages on Tonle Sap Lake. Interestingly, the people who live in the floating villages are mostly stateless ethnic Vietnamese fishermen and their families. The homes are pretty basic and the lake is not somewhere you would want to swim but it is pretty nonetheless and bordered by green rice fields. We stuck to the land roads but you are able to catch one of many boat tours that take you up and down the lake and to a variety of villages, some genuinely floating and other on poles. We also tried to visit some Monks who live along highway 6 near Kompong but our driver was unable to locate the school where a Canadian friend had volunteered. It was a long day in the car, broken up by a couple of stops and a great lunch we finally entered Phnom Penh as dark was settling in.
Wander With Stella - Solo & Together 