Bagan, Burma

We made it to Rangon, Myanmar (Burma), and after two days there took a night bus (Gangnam Style, as in the videos on the bus) to lovely Bagan. Bagan (Pagan) was where things started to pull together in what eventually became modern-day Burma, back between 1044 and 1287. People donated land, and rulers had these amazing pagodas built across these flat plains - 10,000 of them - 3000 of which remain in various degrees of repair. We are on a fault line here, and earthquakes through the years have taken a toll on the mostly brick and stucco structures. One wants to head out as early as possible, both to catch an impossibly breathtaking sunrise over the plains, but also to do most of one's exploring before it gets impossibly hot! it is surely 95 or so today. We biked to Old Bagan this morning, and to about a dozen pagodas, before succumbing at noon.

A delicate Buddha in stone from the walls of the Ananda Pagoda, circa 1099 A.D.

And less subtly, one of the four standing Buddhas from the same pagoda - the largest Buddhas in Burma.

Almost literally, as far as the eye can see...

We even found a school, though students are on a 3-month break, many of them at the pagodas selling paintings, bells, statues, etc., etc, etc. They are so sweet, it is hard not to buy something from each of them!

We are taking a boat early in the morning to Mandalay, a 9-hour or so journey on the Ayerwaddy (Irrawaddy) River. Contrary to popular myth, Rudyard Kipling never visited Mandalay, though he did write the poem, Road to Mandalay. On the other hand, George Orwell served as a police officer in Rangon during WWII. How cool is that?

 

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