Day # 6 Bagan Archaeological Zone

Day #6 Bagan Archaeological Zone

We are up at 4:30 for our bus to Yangon airport for a direct early flight to Bagan. We fly in and view at sun rise thousands of magnificent red brick temples and pagodas left from the religious fervor of the Kings of Bagan during 10-57-1287 AD. These temples are scattered on a 36 square mile area around the Ayeyarwady River and it is a breath taking and unforgettable vision.

Local Market and Facial Beauty

From our airport we stop first at a busy local market selling vegetables and fruits and vendors weighing produce with traditional balance scales. Our time is limited here and I think this place is a photographer’s paradise. I would like to stay all day.  

This market is far less touristy than the Scott Market and much more interesting with daily life and bartering between locals taking place. I buy a piece of fabric I think might work as a skirt or perhaps a table cloth? I also buy a hand carved comb made out of sandalwood. The vegetables and fish make it look like people have a healthy Mediterranean diet here.

Old fashioned balance scales are used, some made of bamboo.

I am fascinated by the 

women’s faces, which

Selling thanakha for face skin 

are smeared with a white paste. In some cases they have made wonderful leaf designs out of the white paste.  Even the  babies and children wear this white paste on their cheeks.  Apparently this paste, called thanakha (or Elephant apple), is made from the bark of sandalwood logs that are ground to a paste and then smeared on the skin as a sun block and moisturizer.  It is sweet smelling and has been the subject of many folk songs. Several of the members of our tour group have this put on their cheeks but unfortunately I missed out on this opportunity, probably because I was taking pictures. 

However, such facial care doesn't prevent aging skin. Perhaps if they stop smoking?

 Too bad  .. but Nicole, Janonne and Zanny try.

 


 

Packing up produce 

Buddhist Temples

I wonder which of the over 4000 Buddhist temples and pagodas built by Bagan kings in the building frenzy up to 1287 we will visit first. The first is Shwezigon Pagoda built in the early 11^th century. The second temple is 13^th century (Gu Byauk Gyi) and finally we visit the Htilomilo and Ananda Temples. At this point I decide to stop trying to remember the names of these temples.  These brick and stucco structures are all that remain of a grand city while all the wooden buildings from that time are gone. 

Oomynt tells us that the restoration projects have been poorly done, sometimes changing the style or techniques or materials used originally. Unesco has spent 15 years and funded many restoration projects.  Some say this is the Disney-style fantasy version of one of the world’s greatest religious sites.  Still it is amazing and I wonder what caused the Bagan’s decline at the end of the 13^th century. Contrasting views blame the Mongols or China or a panicked Bagan ruler or struggles between the Burmese tribes.

John has gone native 

We check into the hotel and while John takes a nap and massage, the rest of the group goes to the pottery market.  

Pottery Market 

Shwesandaw Pagoda 




We end the day by going to Shwesandaw Pagoda one of Bagan’s most famous sunset-viewing spots. Apparently this stupa also enshrines a Buddha hair relic, that has been presented to a king. Certainly these hairs seem to be the gold of the time. This pagoda is a white pyramid-style with narrow, steep steps leading up five terraces to a circular stupa top, with good 360-degree vies. We climb to the top along with hundreds of other tourists and monks with cameras. 

What do you like best? 

I try to look as stately as the monk but am unsuccessful in getting my feet positioned correctly.










Zanny has the aura required and the flexibility. 

Surrounding this temple as with all the other temples we have seen this day are souvenir hawkers selling colorful sand paintings some representing murals from inside the temples. Unfortunately, children are doing some of this work as hawkers and I wish they were in school. 

This boy as selling Orwell's book Burmese Days. These two children are selling their own colored drawings. 

Zanny and I discuss what use could be made for the children’s education with all the gold on stupas and buddhas.