Bagan, Myanmar

BAGAN SUNSETS
From Mandalay we floated downriver on the 5am boat to Bagan. In one of my previous postings last year I mentioned that Bagan was one of the big three temple sites of South East Asia along with Angkor and Borobudur so I was quietly anticipating what I believed would be something memorable. I wasn't disappointed. Bagan has over 2,000 separate temples built at different times and many of them could be seen from the river as we approached.

Accommodation was a twin room at the Inwa Guesthouse which Johnny and I paid US$4 each. We joined up with a few other people, Nathalie from Germany, Fabienne from France and Brian from USA and rode our bikes around the ruins for two days. On day one we were accompanied by a 14 year old self confessed guide whose name sounded something like John Menzies so we called him by his full name so as not to get confused with our original John. He was an enthusiastic young lad, short on words but eager to keep headed towards all the interesting sights. For much of the time he ran barefoot beside us as we rode but before long Fabienne let him ride her bike while she walked. When she got tired John took John Menzies under his wing and let him ride side-saddle on the frame of his bike. We bought him lunch and dinner and he seemed to get tired after 9pm so we sent him on his way. It was hard to figure him out. He mentioned that he didn't have any parents and he slept at one of the temples at night. He was very polite with the possible exception of ordering an expensive mutton curry for himself at dinner without us knowing but it was difficult to begrudge him. He had really looked out for us.

The Bagan landscape is quite unlike any other. There are so many temples in every direction that it's difficult to know where to go. Many of the temples are very small but some are huge, some are solid, some are hollow and you can walk inside, some you can climb either on the outside or from inside a narrow stairway, some are ruins others are well preserved. On both days our final aim was to make it to a quiet temple that we could climb and watch the sun go down over the river. It was overcast the first day but sunset the following day was fantastic. As if by chance we met John Menzies again late on the second day so we took him to dinner with us and paid a bit more attention to what he ordered this time.