Today is a travel day for us over to Old Bagan, the City of
Pagodas. In previous centuries it is
thought this city held over 10,000 pagodas and temples. 3,000 remain intact with another 2,000
underground ruins. These are not the
shining, gold plated pagodas of Yangon with Vegas lights behind the Buddhas,
but ones in various conditions made of stone and brick and whatever building
materials they had available. A few
still have their golden tops but most reflect the century in which they were built with a much more ancient feel.
After checking into our beautiful resort (complete with
infinity pool, open air restaurant and spa), we walked across the street to a
market and festival. Temporary housing
had been erected for the month long festival and the living conditions appear to be
very basic. The people were friendly and
are happy to have their pictures taken.
Down one of the permanent thorough fares, shops and their keepers entice
tourists to buy the sand paintings and lacquer goods the region is known
for. We stopped to watch a youth
creating a sand painting with both paint and the sand that is applied to
it. They depict various symbols of
Myanmar life, Buddha feet, the Burmese zodiac and other scenes.
Late afternoon we headed out as a group to visit the Ananda
Temple which is known for being symmetrical with Buddha images on all four
sides. There was a mixture of tourists
and natives there to pray. At each of
these temples and pagodas you must remove your shoes before entering the
shrines. They are all left in one central
area and are still there upon your return undisturbed.
Our evening shoot was at the Shwe San Daw Phaya Temple. Busloads of tourists arrive every night to
climb the steep stairs of the temple to watch the sunset. Several levels held the onlookers waiting for
the sun to descend into the earth. As
soon as it had disappeared beyond the horizon, they left in droves to return to
their hotels. We stayed until asked to
leave so we could photograph the surrounding shrines as they began to glow from
the night lighting shining on them. It
was truly a magical evening.
Tomorrow: Bagan Ballooning
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