Bago, the Golden Rock, and a "superb" ferry trip

After leaving Inle Lake I headed to the town of Bago where I would start my last adventure in Myanmar before having to return to Yangon to organize my visa to India.

I arrived in Bago at the great time of 2:30 in the morning and after finding a hotel for the night I spent the day touring around the town. The main draw of Bago are the many temples and monasteries located there. So I found a motorbike driver that was willing to give me a tour for the day of the main sights. We started the day by visiting the second largest monastery in Myanmar (Kha Khat Wain Kyaung) where around 1200 monks live year round, apparently thousands of monks apply each year to get to live here so there has to be an interview process. After visiting the monastery we headed to Shwemawdaw Paya, the tallest pagoda in all of Myanmar. From there we spent the rest of the day visiting several other pagodas and one other monastery but none of them were too spectacular other than the Shwethalyaung Buddha (the second largest reclining Buddha in the world with a length of 55 meters!). However the only draw of Bago is all of the temples and monasteries and as a result most people just visit the town as a day trip from Yangon. I did something similar although after touring around Bago for the day I headed to Kyaiktiyo to view the Golden Rock.

The following morning I awoke in Kyaiktiyo and proceeded to head up the mountain in a large truck to view the Golden Rock. At the end of the truck ride I still needed to continue climbing for about 45 mins before I was able to see the Rock. The Golden Rock itself was pretty impressive as it's a giant boulder that has been painted gold balancing on the edge of a cliff. In addition there is a small stupa on top of the boulder. The most interesting part of the journey though was seeing the hundreds of Burmese pilgrims climbing the mountain and praying at the boulder (I only saw a couple of other tourists there). After getting back to the town of Kyaiktiyo I quickly found a pickup truck to take me to Mawlamyine where I hoped to catch the ferry to Hpa-An the next day. The journey to Mawlamyine was an experience in itself as I at first had to ride on the roof of the truck since it was so full. This was a great way to travel I thought as I was up high and there was nothing to impede my views of the surrounding areas, not to mention that all of the locals on top of the truck were also very friendly. Halfway through the journey though I had to switch pickups to one that was continuing on to Mawlamyine, this didn't end up being a very good thing though as this new truck kept breaking down. It could only run for about 5 mins before the driver had to get out and bang something in the engine to keep on going. So eventually after a 6.5 hour journey (supposed to only be about 4 hours) I made it to Mawlamyine.

Mawlamyine was a fairly large city in Myanmar; however I didn't get a chance to really explore it as I was only really coming here to take the ferry up river to Hpa-An. A journey that the lonely planet claimed was the best water journey in Myanmar. The ferry also only ran twice a week so I was rushing through the previous couple of days to make it in time for the Friday ferry (I managed to arrive on Thursday night). The ferry was a large old boat complete with 2 rickety benches for comfort so it didn't prove to be a very comfortable 5 hours. In addition most of the surrounding landscape was very flat and just growing mostly sugarcane so it wasn't a very thrilling journey. The only worthwhile part was when we neared Hpa-An and limestone mountains rising out of the flat land; unfortunately though this was only for the last 30 mins of the trip and it was starting to get dark so we couldn't see much. A thoroughly disappointing trip and not worth all the effort to make it.

In Hpa-An I was able to spend 2 days before having to head back to Yangon. The first day was spent climbing the tallest mountain in the area where a pagoda had been built (surprise) called Mt Zwegabin. The mountain was about 750 meters above the surrounding countryside and offered fantastic views, although it was a little hazy due to the heat of the day. After climbing the mountain I headed to a nearby swimming hole to refresh. Arriving at the swimming hole I found it packed with local teenagers and kids as they all seemed to have the same idea on a Saturday. The afternoon spent there was quite fun playing with the kids and feeling like a celebrity as it seems everyone wanted their picture taken with a foreigner (I can't remember how many pictures I posed for but it must have been close to 50!). The second day I rented a bicycle and toured around the country side which was very beautiful with the green rice fields and limestone mountains. While cycling through the countryside I also stopped at two cave temples that contained lots of Buddha carvings on the walls and also Buddha statues all around, but nothing too spectacular.

From Hpa-An I returned to Yangon to organize my Indian visa and my flight there. In addition I took this opportunity to see the sights of the old capital city, but more about that in my next post.






Standing in front of the gold covered feet of the reclining buddha at Shwethalyaung Buddha.












Pilgrims applying gold leaf to the Golden Rock.












One way of climbing the hill to the Golden Rock was to get 4 locals to carry you up in a chair as this lady was doing.











Villagers waiting to greet the ferry at one of the few stops that we made along the river.







Sunset over some of the limestone mountains while viewed from the ferry. This was the start of the nice section of the journey, about 30 mins away from Hpa-An.









Standing at the top of Mt Zwegabin with a nice but hazy view behind me.











The brilliant green rice fields of the countryside surrounding Hpa-An.









A view from one of the cave temples outside of Hpa-An.

Kalaw and Inle Lake

After taking the bus ride from hell for about 11 hours I arrived in Kalaw very glad to get off the bus. Kalaw is a small town located in some hills about 50km west of Inle Lake and as a result very few tourists stop here. The reason for me was to do a three day trek from Kalaw to Inle Lake passing through several ethnic villages. As a result when I arrived I just booked a trek starting the next day as there was already a group going that I could join so I didn't see much of the town.

The trek started the following morning leaving right from the guesthouse and heading directly into the hills. The first morning of trekking wasn't very exciting as all we did was walk along a dirt road and didn't pass through and villages; but the lunch spot was great providing superb views of the country side and some nearby villages (it was appropriately named Viewpoint). The afternoon was much better as we got to pass through 2 villages before reaching the one that we were spending the night in and we got to meet several local people and learn about their way of life. The villages were very interesting see although it seemed like they were starting to develop more quickly: in every village most of the bamboo houses had been replaced by brick houses, there was a central point of running water (instead of having to walk a long distance to streams in the dry season) and most even had electricity (if only for a short while a night).

The second day was similar to the first although a lot longer, and passing through more villages. Having to cover 22 km in one day and not getting an early start meant that we arrived at our next destination a little after nightfall. A shame as it meant that we couldn't really see the monastery that we spent the night in before we stayed there and we missed seeing the monks evening prayers. The day was a very nice trek though even if it was fairly long as we again saw more ethnic villages (mostly the same tribes from yesterday) and the scenery continued to be fairly spectacular, even if it was slightly like a desert from being so dry.

The final day of the trek was supposed to be fairly short and quick as the last hour and a half was a boat trip along Inle Lake to the town of Nyaungshwe which is where most of the guesthouses are located. However, the last section of trekking took a little longer than anticipated due to one of our group members having developed huge blisters on her feet the day before and being in too much pain to talk very quickly (no matter what we did to try and fix her feet). To add to the long day we didn't pass through any villages or see anything new except for new desert like scenery. As a result the final day of trekking wasn't as enjoyable as the first two.

At Inle Lake I spent a couple of days touring around the area. The first day there we took a boat ride along the entire lake and through a twisty canal to another lake further south (called Sunkar I think). Once here we visited a couple of old monasteries that were built on the edge of the lake and a village where they produced rice wine, the only such place in the area. But the best feature of the day was the boat ride across the lake and through the canal which took nearly 3 hours each way. While cruising along here we saw several floating gardens, hundreds of fishermen and several small villages built over the water with houses on stilts.

The next day we just rented bicycles and toured around the beautiful countryside seeing people working in the fields, a few more villages built on the edge of the lake and lots of people just going about their daily life. It was a nice relaxing day with the highlight definitely being the scenic countryside.

The next day I didn't really have much time to do any sightseeing as I was taking the bus at noon to head back south to Bago (near Yangon). Before I booked this bus though I made sure that it was a full proper bus and that I would be comfortable for this journey and when I got on the bus I wasn't disappointed. It resulted in a much more enjoyable journey to Bago, the next entry.







An old man sitting in his house in a village smoking a Cheroot (local cigar).














Some kids making music in one of the villages. The instruments of choice were a section of plastic pipe with some leather over it for a drum, and sections of bamboo that they could hit together.











An ox pulled cart coming up the path, pretty much the only method of transportation in the hills other than walking.












Some local people returning to their village from Inle Lake after they had stocked up on supplies and carried them all the way back (at least 12 km at this point).








Some kids playing in the lake while also taking a bath and washing some water buffalo. Note the one kid that is riding the water buffalo as he cleans it.








A fisherman on the lake. Notice that he's paddling his boat using his leg, something that all of the fishermen there do.













A little girl at the rice winery playing with a puppy.












Some stupas rising up out of the lake from one of the many temples around Inle Lake.








A family in their canoe outside of their house complete with the little boy peeking out from behind mom.









An old lady taking a break and smoking cheroot.

Bagan

From Mandalay I took a nice 8 hour bus ride to Bagan but along the way we encountered some minor problems. Part of the drive train broke and fell off the bus (it was found a few meters back down the road). The problem looked pretty serious to me and I figured we were going to be stuck in the middle of nowhere for several hours at least; but the bus company employees managed to get the part back to the nearest town where it was fixed up and brought back to the bus and reinstalled in under 2 hours! Something that I thought would be impossible.

I arrived in Bagan in the evening and saw immediatly that this place was much more touristy that the rest of Myanmar and it looked like it might even be the start of another Siem Reap (big resorts, lots of restaurants and souveneir shops, etc.). This year though it was pretty untouristy (thanks to the economy and problems in Thailand probably) as one restaurant owner said he normally had 60-70 customers a night and when I was there there were less than 10 people at the restaurant. So it was still fairly peaceful.

My first day in Bagan I rented a bicycle (actually I did this for all three days that I toured the temples) and headed out to the country side to see of them more famous temples. Bagan is known as the temple capital in Myanmar (and maybe even Southeast Asia) as there are over 4400 temples built in an area the size of Manhattan (according to lonely planet). The temples of Bagan are more interesting than the typical temple that I've seen before in Myanmar as these ones are all older and usually not painted gold or all fixed up.

On my first day I covered the following temples: Shwezigon paya, Kyan-sit-thor Umin (north), Gu-byauk-gyi, Gu-byauk-nge, Alo-pyi group, Hti-lo-min-lo, U-pali-thein, Maha-bodi pagoda, Gaw-daw-palin, Nat-hlaun-kyaung, That-byin-nyu temple, Shwe-gu-gy, and Shwe-san-daw paya. The Shwezigon paya was a fairly new temple compared to the rest with a brightly gold painted stupa and it's said to be the model for numerous other temples throughout the country. Aside from that the Kyan-sit-thor Umin is an old cave monastery complete with paintings on the walls, although the paintings here are fairly faded. U-pali-thein was the other temple that I saw on the first day that contained murals. The murals here were in very good condition and the temple was covered in red, blue and black designs; but it was mostly just patterns not paintings telling a story like some other temples. Aside from those temples the other fascinating ones were: Maha-bodi which is based on the temple in Bodghaya India where Buddha obtained enlightenment, That-byin-nyu temple which is the tallest temple in Bagan (unfortuneatly the public isn't allowed to climb to the top), and finally Shwe-san-daw paya was a superb place for sunset as I could climb up to the top and get a great view (along with most of the other tourists in Bagan probably).

My second day I visited: Iza-gaw-na, Nanda-pyin-nya, Kyat-kan Umin, Tham-bu-la temple, Paya-thone-zu group, Tayok-pyi paya, Ley-myet-hna group, Thisa-wadi, Dhamma-ya-za-ka zedi, Na-ga-yon temple, Ape-ya-da-na temple, and Ma-nu-ha temple. This day was spent visitng the temples with the most beautiful paintings on the walls, particularily the temples: Paya-thone-zu group, Ley-myet-hna group, Na-ga-yon temple, and Ape-ya-da-na temple. The paintings on Ape-ya-da-na temple were by far the best as they were super colourful and extremely well done (not to mention they had been restored/preserved by a UN group, although some other temples were similarily restored). All of the temples with paintings were completely covered by the artwork, at least at some point, as it's visible on all the interior walls, the door frames, the ceiling, everywhere and it was great. Unfortuneatly though in most of the temples that the artwork was absolutely fascinating you weren't allowed to take photos so I can't really show you the beauty. Aside from the murals the other site of interest was Kyat-kan unim which is another cave monastery but this one is still in use and monks still live here. For sunset that day I took a boat out onto the Irrawaddy river and slowly drifted downstream watching the sunset and the light change on some temples, quite nice.

My final day in Bagan I toured only a few temples: Mingala-zedi, Gu-byauk-gyi, Ananda temple, Dhamma-yan-gyi panto, Su-la-ma-ni pahto, and Tha-beik-hmauk. I had to tour around for a third day as I had left some of the most spectacular temples until the end, according to lonely planet. Ananda temple was said to be the nicest temple in Bagan and the one must see; however, I didn't think it was the best as all the walls were whitewashed and it looked like everything had been freshly painted. I much more preferred the older temples that hadn't been restored so I was a little let down. On the other hand Dhamma-yan-gyi panto is the largest temple in Bagan and it looks original (not all restored and painted) from a distance it's easily recognized as it looks like a giant red pyramid. Finally after seeing the last temple I was cycling back to my guesthouse when I managed to get a flat tire, as a result I had to walk back which took about 45 mins so it wasn't a good ending to my time in Bagan.

The temples continually amazed me, the sheer number of temples was ridiculous: yuo couldn't go one hundred meters without passing one. The temples themselves weren't as spectacular or large as those at Angkor Wat; however the sheer amount of temples made the sight just as impressive, if not more.

After my stay in Bagan I headed off to Kalaw to do a three day trek to Inle Lake. The only bus that did this trip left Bagan at 3am so at 3am the next morning I boarded what they called a bus and after arguing with the bus company for a few minutes I got a seat that I fit in and was jammed in there for a very uncomforatble 11 hours. By far the worst bus trip I've taken on my trip so far. But I managed to survive theride to Kalaw where my next entry will take you.







A view of Hti-lo-min-lo from the top of a nearby smaller temple.













A little boy that was my guide around the temples for the first afternoon. He spoke very little english (pretty much just knew the name of the temples) but all he wanted in return of showing me where the temples were located was to take pictures with my camera (something he was really excited about).











Myself standing in the doorway of Shwe-gu-gyi with a view of That-byin-nyu temple (the tallest one) in the background.










A panoramic view from the top of one of the temples. You can easily see the number of temples in the area and this is just a small amount.










Some temples seen at sunset from the top of Shwe-san-daw, the large in the back on the right is That-byin-nyu temple.











The sun setting over a temple in the distance. Taken from the top of Shwe-san-daw paya.













A picture of some of the murals in one of the temples that I was allowed to take photographs in. These weren't the best by far but they were still quite good.












Another panoramic view from the top of a temple, again tons of temples and their desert like surrounding is visible (only in the dry season is it like the desert I'm told in the wet season it's very green).

Mandalay

I first arrived in Myanmar in Yangon, the old capital city (the new one is Naypyidaw but foreigners aren't allowed there), but I only spent a day and a half in Yangon as I planned on spending 5 days there at the end of my stay while I had to wait for my India visa. So after a very brief visit of Yangon (an update for Yangon will follow at the end of my Myanmar adventure) I took a night bus north to Mandalay.

Mandalay is the second largest city in Myanmar (just behind Yangon) but it isn't nearly as nice. It's much dirtier and not too many sights worthwhile in the actual city however the real draws are 4 ancient cities nearby.

The first day in Mandalay I spent relaxing in the morning (the night bus didn't provide the most restful night as the roads in Myanmar are TERRIBLE) and then I spent the afternoon looking for the Maha Muni Pagoda where new gold leaf is regularly applied to the buddha. After nearly 3 hours of wandering around the streets of Mandalay I finally found the place, thanks the help of a local guy who led me there and then refused a tip, and it was really a worthwhile temple to visit. There is a large buddha there with lots of people praying and males continuously going up to the buddha to put new gold leaf on it (only men are allowed). I even got to go up to the buddha and add some gold leaf of my own. After visiting the temple I took a trishaw ride (bicycle with a side car for passengers) to Mandalay Hill where I climbed to the top for sunset. The Burmese seem to really enjoy building pagodas on the tops of hills as every larger hill seems to have a pagoda or at least a stupa that you can climb to. The sunset and the view of Mandalay from the top of the hill was very spectacular but it was a LONG climb up just for the sunset.

The following day I took a tour of 3 of the ancient towns: Inwa, Sagaing and Amarapura. Inwa was the first town that I visited and I thought was the nicest and most beautiful. Upon arriving at the town I took a horse pulled cart around the 3 main sites: a teak monastery, a leaning watchtower, and an old temple. Even though these 3 sites were very impressive and worthwhile visiting I thought the best part was riding through the country side full of rice paddies and locals working. Also the town is located on a peninsula with the most common access by boat across the river, as such there are almost no motor vehicles there which makes it very peaceful compared to Mandalay.

The second town of Sagaing wasn't as nice as Inwa I thought as the main attractions here include temples, the famous one being a temple located on a hill surprise surprise. The town was still worth a visit especially since it's located only about a 5 minute drive away from Inwa but it wasn't peaceful like Inwa and all there was to see there were temples, which I've seen lots of at this point and they all start to look the same after a while.

The third and final town that I visited on the second day was Amarapura which is famous for having the worlds longest teak wood bridge at 1.2 km long! Before arriving I had imagined a beautiful bridge with nice polished teak wood; however, after seeing the actual bridge I was slightly let down. The bridge was very simply built with just weathered pillars and planks of teak wood to make the surface, and in some places a handrail; not as picturesque as I was hoping but still quite nice I guess. The better part of the attraction was the scenery of the surrounding landscape as the bridge crossed over some green fields and part of a lake. I also happened to be there for sunset which made the scenery even nicer. Also at Amerapura are several monasteries and temples which house hundreds of monks, so it was very common to see monks walking around.

At the end of the day I was privilaged enough to have been invited to dinner at a locals house who I met the previous night on Mandalay Hill. The experience of eating dinner with the local people was extremely interesting as I got to see where and how they live and also eat the food that they eat everyday. The actual eating was a little uncomfortable though as I was the only person eating while the room of about 6 or 7 people just sat there staring at me. This is apparently normal though as they all ate before I arrived and the guests are supposed to eat seperatly from the hosts, but it still made me feel a little uncomforatble. The food for the most part was absolutely delicous, there was only one plate that wasn't very good: an extremely salty fish curry that I managed to choke down. Afterwards I treated them all to a couple of beers at the local pub and we all had a great time (or at least I did anyways).

The next day I had planned on visiting the last of the four ancient towns: Mingun. To get to this town you have to take a boat up the Irrawaddy river for an hour but I didn't know that there was only 1 ferry a day that left at 8:30am so I unfortunately missed it. Instead I spent the day wandering around the city of Mandalay and visiting some of the other well known temples although none of them were that spectacular. I also visited the Mandalay Palace which was a complete waste of time as it was only the shells of original buildings (absolutely nothing inside them) and a very tiny museum at the back.

My fourth day in Mandalay was spent visiting Mingun now that I knew what time the ferry boat left. I thought that Mingun wasn't too impressive compared to the others (Inwa and Amarapura were by far the best) but also that it was more touristy, something that I hadn't really noticed in Myanmar until now (more touristy simply means a few stalls selling souvenirs and also "guides" willing to show you around). The two main sights at Mingun were a little interesting with one being nicknamed the largest pile of bricks and the other being a completely white temple. The Mingun Paya (the largest pile of bricks) was supposed to be another temple but the building never was completed and as a result a HUGE cube shaped pile of bricks sits in the middle of the town. Climbing up on top of the bricks allows some nice views of the town but that is all there is to see there. The Myatheindan Pagoda (white temple) was a nice change from all of the other temples in the area and worth a walk around and I thought it was the highlight of this town. Near the base of the Myatheindan Mingun Paya was the Mingun Bell which is apparently the second largest bell in the world and it was intended for the Mingun Paya but since it was never completed the bell just sits at the base.

After visiting Mandalay for 4 days I had planned on taking the night bus to Bagan; but when I tried to book the bus ticket I was informed that the driver doesn't take foreigners. As a result I had to spend another night in Mandalay before heading off to Bagan the next morning.










The buddha at Maha Muni Pagoda with a few male worshippers placing new gold leaf on it.













A boy walking through a green rice paddy field around the ancient town of Inwa.







The teak bridge of Amarapura with some green fields and the lake around it.









A view of a boat rowing on the lake near the teak bridge which can be seen in the background.














A couple of monks and other locals walking along the teak bridge at Amarapura.














A view of the Myatheindan Pagoda at Mingun, note this is the same temple that is on the cover of the most recent lonely planet Myanmar guide book if anyone has seen it.









The large bell at Mingun.

Bangkok

I actually passed through Bangkok twice on travels through Thailand: once between Koh Chang and Koh Lanta and again at the very end of my time in Thailand (after diving the Similan Islands).

The first time I was in Bangkok I didn't stay very long or see many sights as I knew that I would be returning there and spending more time while waiting for my Myanmar visa. Therefore during the first stop nothing exciting happened, all I did was try to shop around for a new camera and I visited the small amulet market. The amulet market was a little interesting but nothing to exciting it was just loads of stalls selling mostly tiny Buddha statues that you can make a necklace out of. There were also several other figures but Buddhas were definitely the most common.

My second time in Bangkok I did some more touristy things although I still didn't cover everything I'm sure. My first day back in the capital was spent applying for my Myanmar visa (a surprisingly easy affair) and after that I went to buy a camera now that I had decided what to buy.

The second day in Bangkok was spent visiting the royal palace and Wat Phra Kaew (temple of the emerald Buddha) and Wat Pho. The royal palace was very amazing as the grounds contain several fancily decorated buildings (mainly gold painted and covered with tinted mirrors). Wat Phra Kaew is located on the grounds of the royal palace and is the area with the most spectacular buildings. The actual palace buildings were very impressive of sights and they now contain small museums in them; but the majority of the buildings are off limit to tourists unfortunately. After the royal palace I visited Wat Pho, the temple of the reclining Buddha which is 46 meters long and completely covered in gold leaf.

My final day in Bangkok and Thailand was spent running errands and getting ready for my trip to Myanmar so nothing very exciting occurred. Finally I took an early morning flight to Yangon, Myanmar which put an end to my time in Thailand.




Sight of Wat Phra Kaew in the royal palace compound with the stupa and the wat covered in gold and tinted mirrors.





Some of the figures surrounding one of the gold buildings near Wat Phra Kaew. Statues like this were everywhere over the compound and the amount of work to build them and maintain them must be huge.







One of the murals painted on a wall in the grounds of the royal palace, complete with gold leaf in the painting.













A monk praying inside the wat at Wat Pho.













The giant reclining Buddha in Wat Pho. Completely covered in gold and 46 meters long.