Bagan, Myanmar

During our time in Hsipaw we made friends with many travellers, one of whom (Hilary, from England) we ended up travelling with for a few more days. We all caught the bus back to Mandalay from Hsipaw, which was almost (but not quite) as crowded as on the way up; this time we had cases of beer under our feet. We decided to get off the bus in Pyin U Lwin (formerly, Maymyo), about an hour (70km ) northeast of Mandalay. The former British hill station (founded in 1896) was frequented by George Orwell (and later by Emma Larkin) and sounded fresh and intriguing so we thought we’d check it out for a day on our way to Bagan.

When we arrived it was cool, gray and raining. The bus dropped us off an unknown distance outside of town, and the driver merely gestured us in the right direction. Twenty minutes later we were still walking and hadn’t yet come across any accomodations. We had a map of Pyin U Lwin but still didn’t know where we were on it. We found an English-signed guest house and went in to check it out. Unfortunately, they didn’t have a permit to accommodate foreigners so we were forced to keep going. He advised us that it was still at least a 20 minute walk into the center of town so we hailed a pick up. The truck that stopped was a random couple of young boys who were willing to take us into town in the back of their truck for a couple dollars. We asked them to drop us off at Grace Hotel 2, but they took us to Grace Hotel 1 instead, and it was full. They were going to take us back to Grace 2 (which they said didn't exist anymore but  there were other guesthouses nearby) but the truck broke down in the middle of the road (creating a traffic jam) and we just got out and started walking again. The next guesthouse we tried (the signs were in English) wasn’t licensed either. Tired and sore we finally found the Indian-run Golden Dream Hotel. Five dollars (US) a person was expensive for what we were getting but we agreed because we couldn't be bothered to search any further. A sign on the window in the stairwell boasted “where your dreams come true”. The rooms were large and clean enough but bare and painted in that awful pastel mint-green colour that barely belonged in the 60’s and seems to dominate Asian hotels and guesthouse. Ours faced the noisy street and the windows did little to block the noise. But the real failing point were the washrooms. We immediately decided these were amongst the worst we’d had. Old squat toilets encased by dirty concrete walls, and drowned by a outhouse-meets-back-alley kind of smell. No toilet paper or soap of course, but those aren’t all that common anywhere. To sum it up, not a hostel we’d recommend, but our choices were really limited. Book ahead maybe? In any event, I think the combination of the weather, the bus ride, the long walk and the dingy accommodation put us all off. We spent most of the afternoon in a surprisingly good (and out of place) coffee shop called the Golden Triangle Cafe and Bakery. Most of the things to see in Pyin U Lwin (the waterfalls, botanical gardens) were somewhat weather-dependent and we weren’t in the mood for seeing them in the rain. We wandered through the local market but it was dominated by the potent smell of dried fish and garbage and didn’t captivate us for that long either. Our thoughts on the whole Pyin-U-Lwin experience can be summed up by the fact that none of us took any pictures during our time there. But I don’t mean to condemn Pyin-U-Lwin completely. We’ve heard of other travellers who enjoyed it and I’m sure that with the right weather and circumstances it could be quite a nice place. The British hand-picked it, after all!

That night we checked out the night market and had a good dinner experience. A friendly local man started to talk to us and we asked him where we could get some Indian food for dinner (it’s hard to go wrong with chapatti and dal). He showed us to a little street stall where we had our fresh chapatti, dal and Chinese tea for a couple hundred Kyat (less than $0.50). We asked him to join us for dinner, and although he didn’t eat he seemed happy to join the conversation. He was a motorcycle-taxi driver by trade, and motorcycle-taxis aren’t allowed to transport foreigners in Myanmar. He also told us where we could find some good Indian breakfast (although not as cheaply). The next morning Dewey and I went to try the Indian breakfast at Krishna Restaurant and the three girls went back to Golden Triangle. We had a filling breakfast of chapatti, dosa, dal, masala tea, brew coffee, and two vegetarian curries; a really good pumpkin curry and a green bean curry. It cost a couple dollars and we completely satisfied. We were the only ones in the informal restaurant (no menus, long communal tables), and while we were eating various members of the extended family came down in their pyjamas for breakfast.

The only way back to Mandalay city was by pickup-truck and so once were all packed up we walked down the road to the intersection where the pickups wait. We had to barter the price down a bit (he tried to charge us “tourist price”; double fare). The pickup stopped frequently along the way, picking up more people and dropping a few off. At one point I counted 22 people (along with their luggage), in or on top of the pickup truck. There were up to 14 in the bed of the pickup with us at any time. The pickup dropped us off about 10 blocks from the guesthouses in Mandalay so we just walked. It was a matter of relative cost; the 10-block ride by city taxi would have equalled the price of our 1-hour ride from Pyin U Lwin.

We booked a bus for the following morning to Bagan and had the afternoon to relax in Mandalay. We went back to the same chapatti stand for dinner, and back to my favourite juice bar for an orange juice. This time I asked him what they had for food since the only English writing on the door read “Fresh Juice and Chinese Food”. The chipper little Chinese man said he didn’t have a menu but asked what I wanted. I asked what he had, and he thought about this for a moment, then went into the kitchen and came out bearing a big smile and a cookie sheet full of hand-made fresh pot-stickers. They looked lovely so I ordered “a row” of them and they came out steamed in a refreshing chicken broth with some bok choi. They were stuffed with chicken and spinach and made with love. My fondness for this tiny food stand grew even more. We ordered a second bowl of the pot-stickers.

The bus to Bagan left at 6:00am and Maria, Hilary, Dewey and I endured yet another challenging bus ride. The road was a single-lane track with deep ruts that was completely washed out in a number of places.

Again, they had modified the bus to decrease the passenger space and increase the cargo potential. One tourist in the back of the bus was seriously ill and we had to keep stopping so she could get off and be sick.  Half-way through we stopped for lunch and a pee break and the food was grim. It was here where I decided that being adventurous had its limits and I swore that from now on I’d just order fried rice whenever a sceptical food stand was the only dining option.  We arrived to Nyaung U (the budget town just north of Old & New Bagan) mid-afternoon and walked a short ways to Golden Village Inn guesthouse. We had to barter the price down a bit because we were certain they had tacked on a commission to pay the guy who claimed he had brought us there, when really we had found the place on our own accord.

That night we went for dinner at the Lonely Planet “our pick” Indian restaurant called Aroma 2. It claimed that we’d be satisfied or our meal was free, so why not try it! It was a nice atmosphere and the food was made with love and attention. It was pretty good too, although maybe not the best or the cheapest (about $5) Indian we’d ever had. We all ordered the Thali’s (set menus).

The next morning we rented bicycles for about $2/day and began our tour of Bagan.  We set our shortly after 9:00am but it was already scorching hot.

Our temple-exploring group: Maria (left), Hilary (center), Dewey & I



By this time the tourists were also out in full force and after one negative encounter with an overcrowded temple (Ananda Ok Kyaung) we decided to seek out the name-less out-of-the-way temples instead. Which, fortunately, there were many of. With over 2200 standing temples (an another >1800 brick mounds), you were bound to find a few hidden jems.

 

Detail on the fixture from which a bell hung at Ananda Temple

Our favourite was an unnamed temple near the old city which we could climb to the top of and enjoy the view, with absolutely no one else around. We had a lunch picnic up top and did a little photo shoot for the City Palate magazine contest.

After our picnic we headed back to our guesthouse for a nap in the air-conditioned room, then headed back out around 5:00pm when things were starting to cool down (a bit). We headed to Buledi temple for sunset. The top of the temple was crowded but the views were spectacular and we were lucky to have a very photo-worthy sunset. By this point on our trip Dewey and I had realized that if one of us used a zoom lens, and the other a regular lens that we’d get a wider variety of pictures. Dewey’s photos of the sunset with the zoom lens were fantastic. I focused more on the panoramic vistas behind the temple with the fading light of the setting sun while Dewey captured the silhouettes of the temples in the sunset.

That night we went to Pyi Wa Chinese restaurant for dinner. We had started to crave western food by this point in our trip and I went out on a limb and ordered ravioli. Dewey ordered the tagliatelle. Maria and Hilary went traditional with the fail-safe fried rice. I did not have high expectations, but for $3 I could deal with the loss. However, shortly after ordering I could see in the open-air kitchen they started to make pasta dough! He actually made the raviolis from scratch. We were wondering where Dewey’s tagliatelle would come from when we saw a man drive up on a scooter and sneakily deliver and fresh plate of noodles to the kitchen. Both were served with a fresh tomato sauce. The tagliatelle was home-made too, and was incredible. The ravioli perhaps lacked a bit of flavour (it was just stuffed with ground chicken) but I can hardly complain, they made it from scratch! All in all, a success.

The next morning Hilary and I ambitiously set out to view the sights at sunrise (Maria wasn’t feeling well and Dewey was too sleepy). We cycled out of town towards the temples in the dark around 5:00am, which was maybe a bit frightening. First we parked our bikes and climbed to the top of Htilominlo Pahto while it was still dark, a temple we had seen the day before but hadn't explored because it looked crowded. At this time of day, we had it completely to ourselves. It was amazing to be up there for sunrise; the temperature was perfect, it was so quiet, and there was absolutely no one around. The air was crisp and you could see a long ways.

After Htilo, we headed into the central plane to Sulamani Kyaung and Thabeik Hmauk. The path was very muddy and we got our bikes stuck (and ourselves covered in mud), it was a hilarious situation. The first one was larger, more popular, and the stairs to the top had been closed off to the public. We took a look around but were more interested in getting some views from up high so we headed around the corner to Thabeik. The marble path leading up to the temple was covered with tiny frogs which were yet undisturbed by the throngs of tourists.

Thabeik was the real treat. Located right in the central plane, with a great view of Sulamani, it had a formidable view. Again, we were completely alone, and the lighting was perfect.

We were so engrossed by the view and the photo-ops that we lost track of time a little bit. We had originally figured we’d be back in a couple hours, but it was about 8:30 by the time we got back to the hostel. I had worried Dewey (who had gone out to try and find us), and reasonably so, since a lot could happen to two girls out in the countryside before sunrise :( We ate breakfast then went for another cycle down through New Bagan and up to Old Bagan where we had a yummy lunch of tomato & peanut salad, mulligatawny soup, fruit salad & fried noodles at Sarabha II. The intense mid-day heat had set in and we were feeling exhausted. We stopped for ice cream in Nyaung U and headed back for a nap in the A/C.

Everywhere in Bagan street vendors are desperately trying to sell you an assortment of handicrafts; lacquer-ware, sand paintings, wood carvings and an endless assortment of tacky tourist souvenirs. Many of the arts and crafts were quite intricate and beautifully done, we especially enjoyed the sand paintings, lacquer-ware and wood carvings.



A demonstration showing how traditional lacquer-ware is made: a basket woven from bamboo and/or horsehair, then coated with layers of lacquer in varying shades. The layers are then hand-scratched to reveal the colours underneath. Later on in Yangon I bought two soup bowl in this style.

If it wasn’t so hard to get some of these larger pieces home we would have probably bought a number of pieces. The other issue we always had to worry about was the fact that there was no way to get more money in Myanmar if we ran out, so we had to stick to our budget, at least until the last few days of the trip when we’d know how much we had left over.

On our last night in Bagan we found a fabulous little restaurant right on "Restaurant Row" near our hostel that we'd wished we had discovered earlier. It was called Bibo, and it was run by an extremely friendly young couple. Maria was battling a stomach bug again and joined us, but only for tea and toast before she had to head back to curl up in bed. Dewey and I both ordered the Myanmar set menu and enjoyed a wonderful 4-course Burmese meal. My favorite part was the hand-made and and hand-wrapped tamarind "flakes" (tamarind candies) for dessert. It also happened to be two-for-one happy hour and so we had drinks as well. Dewey ordered the "Thunder Clap", a drink which the waiter/owner described as a strong mix of brandy, gin and whisky that an English traveller had insisted he put on his drink menu. He'd never made it, so was eager for Dewey's feedback. The whole dinner was so lovely and of course only cost us about $5 including drinks. We were happy to have found some reliable Burmese food in Bagan because at times we have been quite discouraged by the food in Myanmar. 


We booked a bus onward to Kalaw, near Inle Lake, for the following morning. Pick-up was at 4:30 outside our hostel. We made it about 200 meters from the hostel before the bus attempted to pull into a side alley and the road gave way. The bus collapsed into a hole, bottomed out, and knocked out the electrical system in one blow. Now the bus couldn't move, and wouldn't start. We waited around for about an hour while they contemplated this dilemma. Eventually another bus showed up to tow us out, and once out of the rut the engine did start. So began another tumultuous bus journey!