Shiyay tan Shiman, Here and There: Myanmar- Day 2 Kyaiktiyo (Golden Rock) and Bagan

January 27-28, 2014- Monday/Tuesday

After getting back to the city. We decided to head back to the airport to buy a ticket going to Bagan. We we're unlucky though since the airlines are fully booked so we decided to buy for the next day. A guy in charge of the taxi's in the Domestic entrance area offered to bring us to a hotel he knows. We didn't change the hotel anymore since it was already late in the afternoon and we need to be at the airport again at 5 in the morning. It was not a nice one though since we had to walk up till the fourth floor and I guess it's a motel since it's near a karaoke and to top it all the taxi driver who brought me again there from the shopping mall looks shocked to where I'm going. Anyway, it was a bed to sleep after a day of travel by bus and looking for flights.

So the next day was off to Bagan. We arrived at around past 8 in the morning and it was such a quiet place to go. We had to pay 15 USD to enter the Cultural Zone. As usual, we had to negotiate for the fare going to our hotel. It was 8 dollars (8 kyats) by van. When we arrived, we were served breakfast and decided to start the day going around with a horse cart (20 kyats) for 8 hours. We saw the horse cart in front of the hotel so we hired him for the day.

I highly recommend the horse cart since they usually travel along footpaths without car traffic which makes the tour very much like travelling during the olden times. The journey is also slow that you can appreciate all the things that you pass. If you're taking pictures. It's the best way to go around since it gives you enough time to take pictures and enjoy the view as well. We visited a lot of temples and there were guys offering their paintings or painting they copied from the temples in various prices. The first temple offered as high as 15 kyats (15 dollars) but as we moved on to the other temples, there are others who are actually selling them just for 5 kyats. Although I hate being bothered by people selling stuff, I think it was nice because, these people actually serve as guides explaining the pictures and history of the temples before selling them. I actually feel bad for the boy who toured as around since he was selling stuff but I didn't really buy it because I thought I wouldn't need it. I should have bought it as a way of charity.

Regarding the temples, they were actually quite different from the temples in Borobodur and in Angkor Wat. Everyone has it's charm and uniqueness in them but I find the sheer size of Bagan amazing with 2000 temples even after the Earthquake that destroyed some and after almost a thousand years of being there watching over everything that happened for centuries. The size and the number of temples, the history of each temple and the beauty of it from the top of a temple is simply breathtaking.

Some of the Buddhas inside one temple, we were told that they are just restored Buddhas and not the original

A bus in the main road. It reminded me so much of old movies.

The first temple that we had visited. It's a closed temple. Basically temples are those that you can enter and cannot enter.

We also saw that some temples have images of Buddha and some don't have. They also had drawings on the walls. They mostly depict the days of the week and months of the year. Wednesday though has two since One is in the morning and one is for afternoon. I couldn't remember exactly why. The walls have drawings of animals too and of Buddha being born. It depicts that he was born on the hip much like how Aphrodite was born on Zeus head. I did learn also that since his mother died, he was taken cared by his stepmom and he walked just days after birth and lotus grew from where he stepped. That was cool.