1st of June
Before we leave the hotel, a local monk is doing a ceremony for us to protect us on our further travel and life. At the airport, all smooth sailing except some delay to technical issues. The take-off is fantastic, demanding on the pilots, again flying through the valley. Flying over the plains of India and Bangladesh to Myanmar. Here we reach our most Eastern point of our journey.
Sometimes it is getting a bit bumpy but we reach Bagan on time. Upon arrival we get greeted by a whole army of people. Labor costs are obviously not too high here. Julie, the sophisticated chief-handleresse, flew especially in for us. It is the fastest clearance so far since there is no fuel available here. It is hot here; 43 degrees, felt temperature 48C. In the hotel a fine club sandwich and then the pool. It is simply too hot to do anything else and finally a half-rest-day. The Internet does not work properly here so no update possible. Again: sorry folks!! Fine dinner at the hotel restaurant and then hit the sack.
Myanmar is a country in Southeast Asia, formerly known as Burma. Previously an independent kingdom, Burma was annexed by the British Empire into the colony of India in 1886. The occupation brought social, economic, cultural and administrative changes to the once-feudal society. The Japanese Empire invaded and occupied the country during World War II but it was returned to British control until independence in 1948.
The name of the country was changed in 1989 by the ruling military government, officially recognized by the United Nations. Despite multiparty elections in 1990 that resulted in the main opposition party winning a decisive victory, the military junta refused to hand over power. Key opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize recipient AUNG San Suu Kyi, has been set under house arrest from 1989 to 1995, and was again placed under house detention in September 2000; her supporters are routinely harassed or jailed. In 2011 the military junta was dissolved following a general election in 2010 and a civilian government has been installed.
2nd of June
Today is a special day: exploring the temples of Bagan on a mountain bike. To escape the heat we have to start at 07.00h. After a nice breakfast buffet we get picked up by our guide and drive to the office of Grasshopper Adventure where we get our bikes.
The bikes are in very good condition and with our guide we head first to the local markets. Here the women from around Bagan sell their farm products. Everybody is again very, very friendly and happy to see us. Burmese people are special!! The 20 km, 5 hour tour turns into something very special. Biking through all the temples, villages and back streets is an unbelievable experience and hard to describe. Even though we suffer from the heat, again over 40 degrees, we really enjoy it. The best description of Bagan and Myanmar is given in one of the guide books:
„Marco Polo, who may or may not have visited on his travels, described Bagan as „one of the finest sights in the world“. Despite centuries of neglect, looting, erosion, regular earthquakes (including a massive one in 1975), not to mention the questionable restorations, this temple-studded plain remains a remarkably impressive and unforgettable vision.
In a 230-year building frenzy up until 1287 and the Mongol invasions, Bagan’s kings commissioned over 4000 Buddhist temples. These brick and stucco religious structures are all the remain of their grand city, with the 11th to 13th centery wooden buildings having long gone.
Many restoration projects have resulted in a compromised archaeological site that can badly be described as in ruins. Often the restorations bear little relation to the building styles and techniques used at the time of original construction. Still, Bagan remains a wonder. Working temples give a sense of what the place was like at its zenit, while others conceal colorful murals and hidden stairways that lead to exterior platforms and jaw-dropping views across the plain.“
To travel to Myanmar (Burma) is to encounter men wearing shirt-like longyi, women smothered in thanakha (traditional make-up) and betel-chewing grannies with mouths full of blood-red juice – and that is just at the airport! One of the most fascinating aspects of travel in Myanmar is the opportunity to experience a corner of Asia that, in many ways, has changed little since British colonial times. „This is Burma“, wrote Rudyard Kipling. „It is quite unlike any place you know about“ How right he was: more than a century later Myanmar remains a world apart.
The afternoon we spend cooling down at the pool, get a nice Myanmar massage at the spa and have a nice dinner with Julie, our handling lady.
