Burma at Last!
Nov 29th, 2009, 01:39 PM
#21
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Fantastic!!
I have printd off your report for my husband to read (he dosen't do computers!!) and this is my strongest weapon so far in convincing him that Burma should be our next trip. I can't see how I can fail with such quality ammunition - thank you.
I have printd off your report for my husband to read (he dosen't do computers!!) and this is my strongest weapon so far in convincing him that Burma should be our next trip. I can't see how I can fail with such quality ammunition - thank you.
Nov 29th, 2009, 01:58 PM
#22
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Thanks for the encouragement.
We arrived back at our hotel tired, but not exhausted like yesterday. Riding in the boat is more comfortable and more relaxing than the long car ride. I had gotten more sun that I would have liked. Despite all the sunscreen, I had a little burn on my arms, and I had forgotten to put sunscreen on my ankles and feet until the afternoon.
Over dinner, we laid out what else we’d like to do and decided it could be done in two half-days. Our half-days were long, as we were on the lake at 6:30 am and got back about noon. This would allow us to spend dome time relaxing at the resort the next afternoon.
Our priority for the next day was Indein/Inthein. We had another lovely early morning on the lake. We had carefully avoided the 5-day market that was at the Ywa Ma (the floating market) the previous day. But our boatman decided to take us though the area today. (This is the only time the boatman’s lack of English was even a minor problem. The guy at the hotel had told him we didn’t want to go to the floating market the previous day. Indeed, the Pa-O guide said something about the 5 day market at the floating market the previous day and the boatman loudly said “no.”) He just took us though the market area, but it was crazy, even at 7:15. Vendors in boats grab your boat and try to sell you gee-gaws. How this is considered a great experience is beyond me. There were German tourists standing in a couple of boats taking photos with huge cameras. I just wanted to get out of there. I was in the space for exploring another stupa forest in silence. Anyway, our transit through the floating market was mercifully short.
To get to Indien, your boat has to go up a stream to get to the village. We arrived at Indein at 7:30. The people in the shops in town were just beginning to set up. You walk through the town to the base of the hill where there is a covered walkway up the hill. Locals point the way. The covered walkway is nice, there are stalls under the cover of each side of the walkway. At 7:30, the first vendors were just beginning to be set up.
There are two places to leave the walkway to see stupas on the way up. The first is off to the right side where several picturesque decaying stupas are overgrown with jungle-like greenery. We walked through these, then back to the walkway. The second place is higher up the hill and off to the left. There you can walk through the ruined stupas, and can see that higher up the hill there are a few “renewed” stupas, painted white. As you go higher, you can see increased numbers of stupas painted white, and even painted gold. We returned to the walkway, headed to the top when we heard familiar starins of music. The workmen painting a stupa were listening to a Burmese version of “A Whiter Shade of Pale.”
At the top of the walkway, you enter a pagoda, tended by two monks, the Shwe Inn Tain Buddha Pagoda (one more variation of the spelling). Around the pagoda are over a thousand stupas. We walked among the stupas, seeing that the majority at the top had been reconstructed and painted in white or “gold” paint. Again, most of the renewed stupas were paid for by foreigners, many Europeans, a few from the US, and a number from other countries in SE Asia. It was lovely and quiet and we had the place to ourselves.
When we were ready to return, we started back down the covered walkway. We stopped and made a few purchases. The crafts here were high quality. Maybe 25% of the stalls were set up by this time. We were remarking to each other how delightful it was to have the place to ourselves as we left the walkway. At that moment, two visitors rounded the corner ahead coming toward us… then more and more. It was 9:00. By the time we got back to the boat there were a close to a dozen boats there. A little later, and our experience would have been entirely different.
Our next stop was the Phaung Daw Oo Pagoda. This pagoda holds the holiest Buddha images in the area. These images have been covered with so much gold leaf, that they are no longer recognizable. Annual at the pagoda festival, these images are transported around the lake in two golden boats, one in the shape of a duck, the other in a dragon shape.
Our last stop for the morning was In Phaw Khone, a silk-weaving village in stilted houses over the lake. The silk weavers are fun to watch, doing such fine work on looms made of bamboo and often lashed together with rope. The weights consist of stones in large metal cans. The unique product here is lotus fiber. By breaking the stems of lotus, a fine fiber can be pulled out. The fiber is spun into thread, which can then be woven with silk to make shawls or scarves.
At this point, we headed back to our hotel. We had a nice lunch and had a leisurely afternoon, enjoying the lovely resort.
Staying at a resort on the lake (rather than in Nyaungshwe) isolates you from other dining options, but we were quite happy with the food at the resort and felt the prices were reasonable. The Inle Lake View Resort was beautiful, quiet, and had lovely facilities. There are no accommodations of this standard in Nyaungshwe. Yes, the price for a boatman was higher at the resort than in than in Nyaungshwe, $75 vs. $55 for the southern lake trip and $35 vs. $25 for a whole day, but we still felt the prices were quite reasonable
We arrived back at our hotel tired, but not exhausted like yesterday. Riding in the boat is more comfortable and more relaxing than the long car ride. I had gotten more sun that I would have liked. Despite all the sunscreen, I had a little burn on my arms, and I had forgotten to put sunscreen on my ankles and feet until the afternoon.
Over dinner, we laid out what else we’d like to do and decided it could be done in two half-days. Our half-days were long, as we were on the lake at 6:30 am and got back about noon. This would allow us to spend dome time relaxing at the resort the next afternoon.
Our priority for the next day was Indein/Inthein. We had another lovely early morning on the lake. We had carefully avoided the 5-day market that was at the Ywa Ma (the floating market) the previous day. But our boatman decided to take us though the area today. (This is the only time the boatman’s lack of English was even a minor problem. The guy at the hotel had told him we didn’t want to go to the floating market the previous day. Indeed, the Pa-O guide said something about the 5 day market at the floating market the previous day and the boatman loudly said “no.”) He just took us though the market area, but it was crazy, even at 7:15. Vendors in boats grab your boat and try to sell you gee-gaws. How this is considered a great experience is beyond me. There were German tourists standing in a couple of boats taking photos with huge cameras. I just wanted to get out of there. I was in the space for exploring another stupa forest in silence. Anyway, our transit through the floating market was mercifully short.
To get to Indien, your boat has to go up a stream to get to the village. We arrived at Indein at 7:30. The people in the shops in town were just beginning to set up. You walk through the town to the base of the hill where there is a covered walkway up the hill. Locals point the way. The covered walkway is nice, there are stalls under the cover of each side of the walkway. At 7:30, the first vendors were just beginning to be set up.
There are two places to leave the walkway to see stupas on the way up. The first is off to the right side where several picturesque decaying stupas are overgrown with jungle-like greenery. We walked through these, then back to the walkway. The second place is higher up the hill and off to the left. There you can walk through the ruined stupas, and can see that higher up the hill there are a few “renewed” stupas, painted white. As you go higher, you can see increased numbers of stupas painted white, and even painted gold. We returned to the walkway, headed to the top when we heard familiar starins of music. The workmen painting a stupa were listening to a Burmese version of “A Whiter Shade of Pale.”
At the top of the walkway, you enter a pagoda, tended by two monks, the Shwe Inn Tain Buddha Pagoda (one more variation of the spelling). Around the pagoda are over a thousand stupas. We walked among the stupas, seeing that the majority at the top had been reconstructed and painted in white or “gold” paint. Again, most of the renewed stupas were paid for by foreigners, many Europeans, a few from the US, and a number from other countries in SE Asia. It was lovely and quiet and we had the place to ourselves.
When we were ready to return, we started back down the covered walkway. We stopped and made a few purchases. The crafts here were high quality. Maybe 25% of the stalls were set up by this time. We were remarking to each other how delightful it was to have the place to ourselves as we left the walkway. At that moment, two visitors rounded the corner ahead coming toward us… then more and more. It was 9:00. By the time we got back to the boat there were a close to a dozen boats there. A little later, and our experience would have been entirely different.
Our next stop was the Phaung Daw Oo Pagoda. This pagoda holds the holiest Buddha images in the area. These images have been covered with so much gold leaf, that they are no longer recognizable. Annual at the pagoda festival, these images are transported around the lake in two golden boats, one in the shape of a duck, the other in a dragon shape.
Our last stop for the morning was In Phaw Khone, a silk-weaving village in stilted houses over the lake. The silk weavers are fun to watch, doing such fine work on looms made of bamboo and often lashed together with rope. The weights consist of stones in large metal cans. The unique product here is lotus fiber. By breaking the stems of lotus, a fine fiber can be pulled out. The fiber is spun into thread, which can then be woven with silk to make shawls or scarves.
At this point, we headed back to our hotel. We had a nice lunch and had a leisurely afternoon, enjoying the lovely resort.
Staying at a resort on the lake (rather than in Nyaungshwe) isolates you from other dining options, but we were quite happy with the food at the resort and felt the prices were reasonable. The Inle Lake View Resort was beautiful, quiet, and had lovely facilities. There are no accommodations of this standard in Nyaungshwe. Yes, the price for a boatman was higher at the resort than in than in Nyaungshwe, $75 vs. $55 for the southern lake trip and $35 vs. $25 for a whole day, but we still felt the prices were quite reasonable
Nov 29th, 2009, 03:39 PM
#23
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While we had originally thought we could get a morning flight to Bagan to give us an additional half a day of the temples, the only flight to Bagan leaves HeHo at 3:45. So on our last day at Inle we had time for a half a day on the lake before going to the airport to catch our late afternoon flight. We started the day with a stop at the 5-day market at Mine Thauk. When we arrived before 7 am, the area was full of boats, though none of them held tourists. It’s always fun going to markets. We are especially interested in looking at all of the beautiful produce. There are, of course, also items for tourists, but the market is mostly a local market. As we were leaving, the next set of travelers arrived. It pays to be out on the lake early.
Next, we paid a visit to the Jumping Cat Monastery. We wanted to see the lovely old Buddha images at the monastery, and we had another reason to visit as well. Two weeks before we flew to Bangkok, Cheryl’s beloved cat, Bangs, died. She was 19.5 years old, and Cheryl had her since she was 6 weeks old. It was a difficult loss. I decided one of the things we could do on this trip was to stop and make a donation to the Jumping Cat monastery in memory of Bangs.
It was at the Jumping Cat Monastery that I learned about Obama’s speech at ASEAN. A monk there had listened to it on the BBC. For the monk, as for many other people we spoke with, the speech was a beacon of hope.
Again, we were fortunate to be there early. A couple of visitors had just left, and there were no others visitors during the duration of our stay. A boat pulled up just as we were leaving.
From there, the boatman took us to his village. We walked though and saw women processing different kinds of beans and corn. We had seen so much life on the lake, it was interesting to see life in a village on the shore.
Back at the hotel, we finished packing and had lunch. The hotel had arranged a car to the airport at our request. We had made this request via email before we left home. Note that you want to have this transport arranged ahead of time… this isn’t a place where you can just call a taxi on the spur of the moment!
It takes about an hour to get to the airport from the hotel. At HeHo, a man took our tickets and got us checked in. There were no assigned seats on the flight (only the flight from Rangoon to HeHo via Mandalay had assigned seats). He also asked for our passports, and two men at a desk labeled immigration spent an inordinate amount of time looking at our passports. Given that there are no international flights into HeHo, I wonder what the purpose of the immigration desk is.
They weighed our luggage, 50 kilos, which is over by 10 kilos. The man at the airline counter tried to tell me something that I couldn’t understand. Finally, he had someone else tell me that our bags were overweight, but they weren’t going to charge us. They had weighed our luggage at Rangoon and despite weighing almost 50 kilos, they said nothing. The flight was to Mandalay where we dropped off and picked up more passengers before flying on to Bagan.
Next, we paid a visit to the Jumping Cat Monastery. We wanted to see the lovely old Buddha images at the monastery, and we had another reason to visit as well. Two weeks before we flew to Bangkok, Cheryl’s beloved cat, Bangs, died. She was 19.5 years old, and Cheryl had her since she was 6 weeks old. It was a difficult loss. I decided one of the things we could do on this trip was to stop and make a donation to the Jumping Cat monastery in memory of Bangs.
It was at the Jumping Cat Monastery that I learned about Obama’s speech at ASEAN. A monk there had listened to it on the BBC. For the monk, as for many other people we spoke with, the speech was a beacon of hope.
Again, we were fortunate to be there early. A couple of visitors had just left, and there were no others visitors during the duration of our stay. A boat pulled up just as we were leaving.
From there, the boatman took us to his village. We walked though and saw women processing different kinds of beans and corn. We had seen so much life on the lake, it was interesting to see life in a village on the shore.
Back at the hotel, we finished packing and had lunch. The hotel had arranged a car to the airport at our request. We had made this request via email before we left home. Note that you want to have this transport arranged ahead of time… this isn’t a place where you can just call a taxi on the spur of the moment!
It takes about an hour to get to the airport from the hotel. At HeHo, a man took our tickets and got us checked in. There were no assigned seats on the flight (only the flight from Rangoon to HeHo via Mandalay had assigned seats). He also asked for our passports, and two men at a desk labeled immigration spent an inordinate amount of time looking at our passports. Given that there are no international flights into HeHo, I wonder what the purpose of the immigration desk is.
They weighed our luggage, 50 kilos, which is over by 10 kilos. The man at the airline counter tried to tell me something that I couldn’t understand. Finally, he had someone else tell me that our bags were overweight, but they weren’t going to charge us. They had weighed our luggage at Rangoon and despite weighing almost 50 kilos, they said nothing. The flight was to Mandalay where we dropped off and picked up more passengers before flying on to Bagan.
Nov 30th, 2009, 05:56 AM
#24
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Cheryl has uploaded a video of the potter in the village by southern Inle Lake.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y03UChFgbK4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y03UChFgbK4
Nov 30th, 2009, 07:27 AM
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Kathie, I am curious as to whether this is the same pottery village where we handed out pens to the school children. Does this look familiar?
http://craigandjeane.smugmug.com/Tra...14717957_BsUUa
http://craigandjeane.smugmug.com/Tra...14717957_BsUUa
Nov 30th, 2009, 09:47 AM
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Craig, no, the village in your photos is not the same one we visited. The one we visited was not far from Sankar.
I hope to have the next section of this report posted this afternoon.
Thnaks everyone for the encouragement.
I hope to have the next section of this report posted this afternoon.
Thnaks everyone for the encouragement.
Nov 30th, 2009, 05:27 PM
#29
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Bagan
As at other airports, when we arrived in Bagan, men found our luggage for us. We had to produce our passports and pay $10 per person admission fee to the Bagan Archaeological zone right there at the airport. Then we went to the taxi stand and arranged for a taxi to our hotel, the Hotel at Tharbar Gate. The cost for a taxi is 6000 kyat to Old Bagan. A guy jumped into the front seat next to the driver and proceeded to talk loudly and endlessly (does the guy even breathe?) right into Old Bagan. He wanted to sell us his guide services. He didn’t wait for an answer; he just kept talking. The thing he said that I liked most was “You need a taxi! How else will you get from your hotel to Old Bagan to see the temples?” I thought about pointing out that we were staying right at the Tharbar Gate, but I decided not to state the obvious. So I just smiled and said, “We’ve already made arrangements.” Those were the magic words. He stopped talking and we arrived at our hotel.
The hotel is larger than I expected. We opted for a suite, which means our room is a 10-minute walk from the lobby. The suite is huge… a big living room, a big bedroom, and two bathrooms. And best of all - there is a little private terrace in a garden with a table and two chairs and a pair of loungers.
We were scheduled for Balloons over Bagan in the morning, and they were to pick us up at 5:45, so we went to bed early.
Up early, we were ready for our Balloon ride. The phone rang. It was the front desk. The Balloon ride had been cancelled because of strong winds at the altitude the balloons fly. We were disappointed, but it seemed like we might be able to get rescheduled.
The classic way to visit the temples is via horse cart. The horse carts are covered to protect you from the sun (and you need it!) and are pretty comfortable. Some people rent a bicycle. This isn’t the greatest place to bicycle. The sun is very hot and the roads are dust/dirt/sand. The bikes they rent are narrow-tired street bikes. We saw people pushing their bikes through the sand a couple of inches deep in places. Other than early in the morning and late in the evening, the bikers mostly looked miserable. Tour groups go from temple to temple in big buses, and a few tourists use a car and driver to get from one temple to another.
I went to the front of the hotel to arrange for a horse cart driver. It was still dark out. I spoke with a man, outlined what we wanted (three days, starting at sunrise, back at noon, then out again at 3 until sunset), and asked if he could do it. He said certainly, he could adapt to any schedule we liked. We arranged to meet him after we had some breakfast.
There is a sort of lottery for horse cart drivers to determine who will be #1 at each of the Old Bagan hotels. Our driver had won the lottery, and we felt like we had won the lottery – he was great.
I’m sure you all know that horse cart drivers provide transport and know who has the key for temples that are locked. They should know which temples are most popular for sunrise and sunset, so they can steer you to a different temple with a similar view. They usually don’t know much about the temples; they are not guides.
Minthu did not fit this mold. He knows a lot about the temples. Indeed, he has many of the same books we have, including Paul Strachan’s book, Pagan, which is the best book we have found on the temples. Because we are so interested in the temples, we are pretty knowledgeable, but he had all of the info we read (and more) in his head. He charges 15,000 kyat or US$17 per day, currently the standard price for a horse cart.
Contact info: Minthu, Horse cart #54, [email protected]
We got into the cart and headed off to see the temples at sunrise. We let him set the itinerary for the morning. He took us to a temple that had just a few other people there. We climbed to the top and looked out over the plains of Bagan, the temples peeking though the mist. It looked just like my memory of the photo I saw as a child. It took my breath away. We stood and watched the changing light on the temples as the sun rose and watched the mist change from pink to peach to gold.
When we got back in the horse cart and started down a dusty lane to another temple, it struck me that I was really at Bagan. At that point I thought that if all we did was ride around in a horse cart all day, soaking up the atmosphere, I would be content.
As at other airports, when we arrived in Bagan, men found our luggage for us. We had to produce our passports and pay $10 per person admission fee to the Bagan Archaeological zone right there at the airport. Then we went to the taxi stand and arranged for a taxi to our hotel, the Hotel at Tharbar Gate. The cost for a taxi is 6000 kyat to Old Bagan. A guy jumped into the front seat next to the driver and proceeded to talk loudly and endlessly (does the guy even breathe?) right into Old Bagan. He wanted to sell us his guide services. He didn’t wait for an answer; he just kept talking. The thing he said that I liked most was “You need a taxi! How else will you get from your hotel to Old Bagan to see the temples?” I thought about pointing out that we were staying right at the Tharbar Gate, but I decided not to state the obvious. So I just smiled and said, “We’ve already made arrangements.” Those were the magic words. He stopped talking and we arrived at our hotel.
The hotel is larger than I expected. We opted for a suite, which means our room is a 10-minute walk from the lobby. The suite is huge… a big living room, a big bedroom, and two bathrooms. And best of all - there is a little private terrace in a garden with a table and two chairs and a pair of loungers.
We were scheduled for Balloons over Bagan in the morning, and they were to pick us up at 5:45, so we went to bed early.
Up early, we were ready for our Balloon ride. The phone rang. It was the front desk. The Balloon ride had been cancelled because of strong winds at the altitude the balloons fly. We were disappointed, but it seemed like we might be able to get rescheduled.
The classic way to visit the temples is via horse cart. The horse carts are covered to protect you from the sun (and you need it!) and are pretty comfortable. Some people rent a bicycle. This isn’t the greatest place to bicycle. The sun is very hot and the roads are dust/dirt/sand. The bikes they rent are narrow-tired street bikes. We saw people pushing their bikes through the sand a couple of inches deep in places. Other than early in the morning and late in the evening, the bikers mostly looked miserable. Tour groups go from temple to temple in big buses, and a few tourists use a car and driver to get from one temple to another.
I went to the front of the hotel to arrange for a horse cart driver. It was still dark out. I spoke with a man, outlined what we wanted (three days, starting at sunrise, back at noon, then out again at 3 until sunset), and asked if he could do it. He said certainly, he could adapt to any schedule we liked. We arranged to meet him after we had some breakfast.
There is a sort of lottery for horse cart drivers to determine who will be #1 at each of the Old Bagan hotels. Our driver had won the lottery, and we felt like we had won the lottery – he was great.
I’m sure you all know that horse cart drivers provide transport and know who has the key for temples that are locked. They should know which temples are most popular for sunrise and sunset, so they can steer you to a different temple with a similar view. They usually don’t know much about the temples; they are not guides.
Minthu did not fit this mold. He knows a lot about the temples. Indeed, he has many of the same books we have, including Paul Strachan’s book, Pagan, which is the best book we have found on the temples. Because we are so interested in the temples, we are pretty knowledgeable, but he had all of the info we read (and more) in his head. He charges 15,000 kyat or US$17 per day, currently the standard price for a horse cart.
Contact info: Minthu, Horse cart #54, [email protected]
We got into the cart and headed off to see the temples at sunrise. We let him set the itinerary for the morning. He took us to a temple that had just a few other people there. We climbed to the top and looked out over the plains of Bagan, the temples peeking though the mist. It looked just like my memory of the photo I saw as a child. It took my breath away. We stood and watched the changing light on the temples as the sun rose and watched the mist change from pink to peach to gold.
When we got back in the horse cart and started down a dusty lane to another temple, it struck me that I was really at Bagan. At that point I thought that if all we did was ride around in a horse cart all day, soaking up the atmosphere, I would be content.
Nov 30th, 2009, 06:07 PM
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We spent our three full days going to temples every morning and every afternoon. We took about a 3-hour break at mid-day. Mostly, we let Minthu choose the temples. There were some we requested and let him fit them into the schedule. He is an excellent storyteller and told us many stories illustrated in the murals or the carvings. He also understands the Buddhist iconography (which is different in each Buddhist country we’ve visited).
Minthu offered the option of some other activities, visiting villages, Lacquerware workshops, a village festival etc, but we wanted temples. We knew we had limited time there and wanted as much time as we could in the temples. The only places we went other than temples were the Archaeological Museum and Minthu’s village located right in Old Bagan. We were not especially impressed with the museum.
General comments about the temples:
We met a woman from London while we were at Bagan. When I told her of my childhood vow to visit Bagan after seeing a photo she said she was here for the same reason. There is something about the temples of Bagan that gets to some of us.
There are somewhere between two thousand and four thousand temples on the plains of Bagan. The sight is just incredible. The temples are still there despite earthquakes, despite the Japanese using them for shelter during World War II, despite some ham-handed “restoration” on some temples by the government. While the smoke from the cooking fires of the Japanese soldiers has obscured the murals of some temples, others are well preserved. UNESCO has consulted with the Archaeological Department on how to clean the murals without damaging them.
Many of the temples we visited we were the only visitors. We never visited a crowded temple. There are a number of very popular temples, but Minthu would take us in a different entrance or take us at a different time of the day so we mostly had the temples to ourselves. Our first sunset, Minthu took us to a temple near the popular one for sunsets. We had the same view and only two other people at the temple, whereas we could hear and see the crowds at the popular temple.
You are required to take off your shoes before entering any of the temples. Imagine visiting the temples at Angkor barefooted, climbing those huge stairs. That’s what this was like. In a fair number of the temples there are interior staircases. We were grateful to have a flashlight to see the uneven steps. This is a trip that is hard on your feet.
Many people ask about how Bagan is similar to or different from Angkor. The temples in Bagan are generally smaller, but there are so many more of them. Angkor has both Buddhist and Hindu temples. Some started out as one and were changed to the other, so there is a real mix of Buddhist and Hindu in the temples. In Bagan all but one of the temples is Buddhist. There are a few other temples with some Hindu gods represented in the carvings or murals in addition to the one Hindu temple still standing. The Angkor temples overwhelm with size, the Bagan temples overwhelm with sheer numbers.
There is no “Dawn Rooney” for Bagan. The best book on the temples is Paul Strachan’s book, Pagan, which is long out of print in the US, but readily available in Burma. We found another useful book in Bagan, A Guide to Bagan Monuments by Min Bu Aung Kyaing.
Balloons over Bagan saga: When we got back to the hotel for lunch the first day, we had a message from Balloons over Bagan that they were full for the next day and couldn’t fit us in. We were ok with that, we were having such a wonderful time at the temples. But the next morning when we went out to get in the horse cart and saw the balloons hovering over the temples, we both felt a pang of disappointment, Later in the day we got a message from Balloons over Bagan that they could get us in the next day, as they had a couple cancel. We were delighted. Our third morning there, we were picked up by the Balloons bus and got all the way out to the launch site before they cancelled the flight. I respect that the pilots are so careful. As they pointed out, there are no emergency medical services in Bagan (talking with Minthu, it was clear there are very few medical services at all).
So, I can now report to you what happens if you are not able to fly. If you purchased your tickets directly from Balloons over Bagan, they will refund your cash at their office in Bagan. If, like us, you purchased your tickets from an agent (we got a nice discount by buying through Santa Maria), the agent will refund your money. We were going back to Rangoon for a couple of days at the end of our trip, so could get our money refunded then, but I asked what happened if someone is just transiting Rangoon on the way out of the country. In that case, your agent will meet you at the airport between your flights and refund your money. In our case, Santa Maria came to the Strand and brought us a cash refund.
Tour groups: Most visitors to Burma travel in a tour group. We encountered a number of groups at Bagan, all from Europe (German, French, Swiss). You can easily avoid the groups with some help from your horse cart driver. We were never at a temple with a tour group.
One late afternoon, we saw bullock carts all decorated. We asked Minthu about them. He said that high-end tour companies like to arrange something “unusual” for their guests so they will rent bullock carts to take people to a temple to see sunrise or sunset. The bus brings people to a spot not too far from the temple, and the people get into the cart and ride maybe 10 minutes to a temple, then are brought back to the bus the same way. Minthu told us that bullock drivers are paid 3000 – 4000 kyat (US$3-4) to do this; the tourists are charged $30-$40 each.
The weather in Bagan was about 10 degrees warmer than usual, so it was quite hot at mid-day. While Bagan is very dry, we did encounter mosquitoes. We were bitten both at Bagan and at Inle.
Hotel info: The Hotel at Tharbar Gate has a dynamite location, right at the gate. The hotel is nicely decorated, very atmospheric. There is a swimming pool (much appreciated in the heat) and the restaurant tables are next to the pool. Public areas are attractive. The restaurant had either a buffet or a set menu available every night. The food from the a la carte menu was better. I had a hard time finding any booking service that books this hotel, so I emailed the hotel directly in order to reserve. The suite was $260 per night including tax and service and full breakfast.
Minthu offered the option of some other activities, visiting villages, Lacquerware workshops, a village festival etc, but we wanted temples. We knew we had limited time there and wanted as much time as we could in the temples. The only places we went other than temples were the Archaeological Museum and Minthu’s village located right in Old Bagan. We were not especially impressed with the museum.
General comments about the temples:
We met a woman from London while we were at Bagan. When I told her of my childhood vow to visit Bagan after seeing a photo she said she was here for the same reason. There is something about the temples of Bagan that gets to some of us.
There are somewhere between two thousand and four thousand temples on the plains of Bagan. The sight is just incredible. The temples are still there despite earthquakes, despite the Japanese using them for shelter during World War II, despite some ham-handed “restoration” on some temples by the government. While the smoke from the cooking fires of the Japanese soldiers has obscured the murals of some temples, others are well preserved. UNESCO has consulted with the Archaeological Department on how to clean the murals without damaging them.
Many of the temples we visited we were the only visitors. We never visited a crowded temple. There are a number of very popular temples, but Minthu would take us in a different entrance or take us at a different time of the day so we mostly had the temples to ourselves. Our first sunset, Minthu took us to a temple near the popular one for sunsets. We had the same view and only two other people at the temple, whereas we could hear and see the crowds at the popular temple.
You are required to take off your shoes before entering any of the temples. Imagine visiting the temples at Angkor barefooted, climbing those huge stairs. That’s what this was like. In a fair number of the temples there are interior staircases. We were grateful to have a flashlight to see the uneven steps. This is a trip that is hard on your feet.
Many people ask about how Bagan is similar to or different from Angkor. The temples in Bagan are generally smaller, but there are so many more of them. Angkor has both Buddhist and Hindu temples. Some started out as one and were changed to the other, so there is a real mix of Buddhist and Hindu in the temples. In Bagan all but one of the temples is Buddhist. There are a few other temples with some Hindu gods represented in the carvings or murals in addition to the one Hindu temple still standing. The Angkor temples overwhelm with size, the Bagan temples overwhelm with sheer numbers.
There is no “Dawn Rooney” for Bagan. The best book on the temples is Paul Strachan’s book, Pagan, which is long out of print in the US, but readily available in Burma. We found another useful book in Bagan, A Guide to Bagan Monuments by Min Bu Aung Kyaing.
Balloons over Bagan saga: When we got back to the hotel for lunch the first day, we had a message from Balloons over Bagan that they were full for the next day and couldn’t fit us in. We were ok with that, we were having such a wonderful time at the temples. But the next morning when we went out to get in the horse cart and saw the balloons hovering over the temples, we both felt a pang of disappointment, Later in the day we got a message from Balloons over Bagan that they could get us in the next day, as they had a couple cancel. We were delighted. Our third morning there, we were picked up by the Balloons bus and got all the way out to the launch site before they cancelled the flight. I respect that the pilots are so careful. As they pointed out, there are no emergency medical services in Bagan (talking with Minthu, it was clear there are very few medical services at all).
So, I can now report to you what happens if you are not able to fly. If you purchased your tickets directly from Balloons over Bagan, they will refund your cash at their office in Bagan. If, like us, you purchased your tickets from an agent (we got a nice discount by buying through Santa Maria), the agent will refund your money. We were going back to Rangoon for a couple of days at the end of our trip, so could get our money refunded then, but I asked what happened if someone is just transiting Rangoon on the way out of the country. In that case, your agent will meet you at the airport between your flights and refund your money. In our case, Santa Maria came to the Strand and brought us a cash refund.
Tour groups: Most visitors to Burma travel in a tour group. We encountered a number of groups at Bagan, all from Europe (German, French, Swiss). You can easily avoid the groups with some help from your horse cart driver. We were never at a temple with a tour group.
One late afternoon, we saw bullock carts all decorated. We asked Minthu about them. He said that high-end tour companies like to arrange something “unusual” for their guests so they will rent bullock carts to take people to a temple to see sunrise or sunset. The bus brings people to a spot not too far from the temple, and the people get into the cart and ride maybe 10 minutes to a temple, then are brought back to the bus the same way. Minthu told us that bullock drivers are paid 3000 – 4000 kyat (US$3-4) to do this; the tourists are charged $30-$40 each.
The weather in Bagan was about 10 degrees warmer than usual, so it was quite hot at mid-day. While Bagan is very dry, we did encounter mosquitoes. We were bitten both at Bagan and at Inle.
Hotel info: The Hotel at Tharbar Gate has a dynamite location, right at the gate. The hotel is nicely decorated, very atmospheric. There is a swimming pool (much appreciated in the heat) and the restaurant tables are next to the pool. Public areas are attractive. The restaurant had either a buffet or a set menu available every night. The food from the a la carte menu was better. I had a hard time finding any booking service that books this hotel, so I emailed the hotel directly in order to reserve. The suite was $260 per night including tax and service and full breakfast.
Dec 1st, 2009, 06:55 AM
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Having lived thru this saga of integrity and planning for over one thousand years, I'm SO delighted that everything has worked out. Dogster takes personal pleasure that Les Kathies followed some of his paltry suggestions to great result. See, told ya so!
Amazing report, great detail.
So, I'm hoping for the tag now on how you feel about all that soul-searching - having finally made it. Next time, go for a month. You may find even MORE shades of grey - where once there was only black and white. I'm very much looking forward to your first conclusions!
I think you might have the bug. It took me three trips of one month each to even begin to understand. There'll be second conclusions, third, fourth... ahh, what a delight to read.
Amazing report, great detail.
So, I'm hoping for the tag now on how you feel about all that soul-searching - having finally made it. Next time, go for a month. You may find even MORE shades of grey - where once there was only black and white. I'm very much looking forward to your first conclusions!
I think you might have the bug. It took me three trips of one month each to even begin to understand. There'll be second conclusions, third, fourth... ahh, what a delight to read.
Dec 1st, 2009, 05:30 PM
#38
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Back to Rangoon
After three very full days in Bagan, it was time to leave. We had stayed in Bagan four nights, hoping for an extra half day at the temples, but the flight schedules precluded that. So we crammed as much time at the temples as we could into our days.
We arranged a taxi to the airport early in the morning. The flight from Bagan to Rangoon was the only non-stop flight we had within Burma. As usual, someone took our tickets and got us checked in. The weighing of our luggage consisted of a guy lifting three of our suitcases and nodding to the agent at the desk. Again, there were no assigned seats. When it was time to enter the boarding lounge, we passed through “security.” A man behind a desk looked at each person’s boarding pass and checked it off on a handwritten list of all of the passengers!
The flight was delayed fro an hour due to “weather” though there was no sign of bad weather when we got to Rangoon. Again, our luggage was located for us, and our taxi driver was waiting for us.
Back at the Strand we were greeted as honored guests. We were assigned the suite we had previously that we loved. We were exhausted after all those days of non-stop touring at Inle and Bagan. We settled into our suite and decided the most strenuous thing we wanted to do was lunch. We had visited the beautiful J’s Irrawaddy Dream store in the Strand and picked up a card for the restaurant they have by the lake, so we went to lunch there. Frankly, it was a disappointment. The food was merely ok, though the setting on the lake was nice.
We rested and read in the afternoon and ordered room service. What a treat to have our butler deliver our food. He was really into being a butler and that made it even more fun.
Rangoon was still very hot, though not as hot as our last stay. We wanted do walk along the river, so got up at sunrise and headed out. There was a steady stream of people crossing the street, having come from across the river. We had seen this on our first stop in Rangoon and wanted to explore. We quickly discovered that there is no walk along the river. The only way to get close to the river is to take the foot ferry across. We only discovered this by blundering around a while. Anyway, we covered some ground that we hadn’t on our first stop, and the sidewalks were no better. By this time it was already getting hot.
We’d met a woman in Bagan from London and we’d agreed to meet for lunch in Rangoon at her hotel, The Governor’s Residence. Unfortunately, she had to fly to Bangkok early, so we wouldn’t be able to get together. We decided to go to lunch there anyway. Our butler made reservations for us, we climbed into a rickety cab and headed to the embassy district. This was an entirely different Rangoon than we had seen before… huge stately homes set on green lawns with beautiful trees and flowers.
The Governor’s Residence is lovely. It was previously the home where the Governor of the Kayin state stayed when he was in the city. Lush green grounds, a big swimming pool, it felt “not in Rangoon.” It was so much cooler where there was shade and water and trees. As we approached the restaurant, we were greeted by “You must be from the Strand.” We were seated on the lovely verandah and had a wonderful set lunch… some of the best food we had in Burma (the equal of the Strand). After a long, leisurely lunch, we were shown the rooms, which are quite nice. It’s would be a great place to stay to relax.
Back to the Strand, we spent time doing some writing and reviewing photos. We had decided to just rest and enjoy being at the Strand, which is what we did.
The next morning it was back to the airport for our flight to Bangkok. Everything went smoothly and as we had become accustomed to until we got to passport control. The line was short, but it took over half an hour to get through it. The employees examined every page of every traveler’s passport. They were taking notes (on what?) and then asked a series of questions everyone had answered on the visa application and on both the entry and departure cards “What is your occupation?” was one I remember.
Finally, we boarded our Thai Air plane for Bangkok. It had been an amazing trip.
I will finish up with my reflections on visiting Burma.
After three very full days in Bagan, it was time to leave. We had stayed in Bagan four nights, hoping for an extra half day at the temples, but the flight schedules precluded that. So we crammed as much time at the temples as we could into our days.
We arranged a taxi to the airport early in the morning. The flight from Bagan to Rangoon was the only non-stop flight we had within Burma. As usual, someone took our tickets and got us checked in. The weighing of our luggage consisted of a guy lifting three of our suitcases and nodding to the agent at the desk. Again, there were no assigned seats. When it was time to enter the boarding lounge, we passed through “security.” A man behind a desk looked at each person’s boarding pass and checked it off on a handwritten list of all of the passengers!
The flight was delayed fro an hour due to “weather” though there was no sign of bad weather when we got to Rangoon. Again, our luggage was located for us, and our taxi driver was waiting for us.
Back at the Strand we were greeted as honored guests. We were assigned the suite we had previously that we loved. We were exhausted after all those days of non-stop touring at Inle and Bagan. We settled into our suite and decided the most strenuous thing we wanted to do was lunch. We had visited the beautiful J’s Irrawaddy Dream store in the Strand and picked up a card for the restaurant they have by the lake, so we went to lunch there. Frankly, it was a disappointment. The food was merely ok, though the setting on the lake was nice.
We rested and read in the afternoon and ordered room service. What a treat to have our butler deliver our food. He was really into being a butler and that made it even more fun.
Rangoon was still very hot, though not as hot as our last stay. We wanted do walk along the river, so got up at sunrise and headed out. There was a steady stream of people crossing the street, having come from across the river. We had seen this on our first stop in Rangoon and wanted to explore. We quickly discovered that there is no walk along the river. The only way to get close to the river is to take the foot ferry across. We only discovered this by blundering around a while. Anyway, we covered some ground that we hadn’t on our first stop, and the sidewalks were no better. By this time it was already getting hot.
We’d met a woman in Bagan from London and we’d agreed to meet for lunch in Rangoon at her hotel, The Governor’s Residence. Unfortunately, she had to fly to Bangkok early, so we wouldn’t be able to get together. We decided to go to lunch there anyway. Our butler made reservations for us, we climbed into a rickety cab and headed to the embassy district. This was an entirely different Rangoon than we had seen before… huge stately homes set on green lawns with beautiful trees and flowers.
The Governor’s Residence is lovely. It was previously the home where the Governor of the Kayin state stayed when he was in the city. Lush green grounds, a big swimming pool, it felt “not in Rangoon.” It was so much cooler where there was shade and water and trees. As we approached the restaurant, we were greeted by “You must be from the Strand.” We were seated on the lovely verandah and had a wonderful set lunch… some of the best food we had in Burma (the equal of the Strand). After a long, leisurely lunch, we were shown the rooms, which are quite nice. It’s would be a great place to stay to relax.
Back to the Strand, we spent time doing some writing and reviewing photos. We had decided to just rest and enjoy being at the Strand, which is what we did.
The next morning it was back to the airport for our flight to Bangkok. Everything went smoothly and as we had become accustomed to until we got to passport control. The line was short, but it took over half an hour to get through it. The employees examined every page of every traveler’s passport. They were taking notes (on what?) and then asked a series of questions everyone had answered on the visa application and on both the entry and departure cards “What is your occupation?” was one I remember.
Finally, we boarded our Thai Air plane for Bangkok. It had been an amazing trip.
I will finish up with my reflections on visiting Burma.
Dec 1st, 2009, 06:09 PM
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Fantastic Kathie!!!! Just love it. Wish I had a speck of the ability you & the likes of the Dog have to write reports. Mine are like science reports just the facts! One question can you just summarize your itinerary for me. I think I have it but would appreciate the confirmation. Burma is definately up there on our list but like you we have struggled a little with the "should we or shouldn't we" questions & other destinations have kept us happily occupied but....it is high on the list. Thanks again Kathie.
