Bagan, the old capital

It was late by the time I showered and had dinner but first impression was good and the next day revealed that the Bagan Thande Hotel is really a find. It is one of the oldest in the area (described as ‘riverside bungalows”) 1950s vintage. Suites with a river view go for $200 a night but I had one half of a small cabin set in the landscaped gardens for $24 a night (including breakfast). Air con, telly and a clean comfortable bed .. hot water here was hot (in the Pacific Hotel it was tepid). The front porch had two chairs ; great for sipping beers and watching birds in the gardens surrounding the hotel. There were lovely ferns, palm trees, acacia trees, flowering plants with several nearby pagodas providing a dramatic backdrop. Add a fine breakfast with European or Asian choices (a choice of 5 or 6 lovely fruits) on the buffet and I loved it. The restaurant is situated under huge acacia trees next to the river. The food here was very good and not wildly expensive. Their curry was not as spicy as an Indian or Thai one, but very good and had large chucks of chicken (some of the places I’d eaten in had a mound of rice and little meat). The best meal was a fish fillet from the local riverfish, the butterfish.

The swimming pool was lovely and there were beautiful pagodas next to it (there are more than 2,000 pagodas on the plains around Bagan) .. it is an amazing place. The hotel was a good reward for the rigours of the trip ; I would really enjoy a much longer stay here ; nice staff and lovely landscaped grounds. The only downside was a nightly marionette show – which grew a little tedious by the third night.

Friday 24 November

On the first day I walked to several pagodas nearby and I was surprised to find that although they look very similar from a distance, they are unique. Frankly they are not quite as interesting as Thai temples because in many cases there is either no access to the interior or the interior is bare. But it is important to say that the building skills of this culture were very impressive ; the brickwork and is complex and skillfully executed.

One temple is famous because the king who commissioned it 1057 (not a misprint .. …. 1057) insisted that no mortar be used and the brickwork must be so tight that not even a pin could be inserted between bricks.

Part of the charm of it all is the countryside with diverse lovely mature trees all around. Also, the Burmese do not seem to be bird killers the way Laotians are (even in remote parts of Laos I saw or heard no birds). Birds are plentiful here and really add charm to the whole experience. On my way back to the hotel, I found the travel agent and booked my return boat trip (only $14 to return to Mandalay) and spent some time with the travel agent in the adjacent restaurant (which may even be his operation .. it is not clear).

Saturday 25 November

I went on a half day tour ($15) with the taxi driver who originally picked me up from the boat. He was an older guy, his taxi a bit of a shambles but he proved to know the history of the area and its ruins. Like many others I talked to there, he was bitter because he was born in the area but had to move to ‘New Bagan’ when the government cleared the archeological area of all residents in 1990.

Impressions of Bagan: This is certainly worth the trip and a fascinating place, but it does not have the high artistic skills of Angor Wat (which is roughly the same vintage). I also found it hard to enjoy the ruins because of the excessive numbers of people begging, hawking and generally bothering me. In Angor Wat, these people are confined to the fringes, but here they are in the temples .. and the temples appear (for the most part) to have little or no religious significance to the locals. Constantly having to fend these people off is weary making and as one Dutch fellow said to me , ‘It is not easy to be a responsible tourist in this place’. The problem is that there could be interesting people among those who approach you but after only a short time, my answer was NO before they finished their pitch.

Luckily I did meet a nice local at the veggie bar/restaurant near the hotel. This is a basic place for locals with good cold beer at $1 for a large bottle ($3 at the hotel). This man spoke good English (he was taught by an American who was attached to a nearby monastery). He was a little more open about the fact that people did not like the government and also he thought that ‘The Lady” (no one mentions the name Aung San Sui Kyi ; the politician who is under house arrest) was wrong in telling people not to come to Burma. Like the travel agent (this fellow does freelance work as a guide), he said that independent travelers had dried up .. now there were only the tour groups and that money all went to big companies.