Monday, December 22, 2008

Bagan

Bagan is an ancient city with monuments dating as far back as 10th Century.
In terms of size of monuments, it is much smaller than Ang Kor Wat, but in terms of the sheer number, there are estimated 4000++ stupas & payas, and 2000++ are still recognisable.
In fact, I was surprised that Bagan was not in UNESCO's world heritage site. I believe it was due to political reasons. I have been to quite a number of less impressive world heritage site, and Bagan is definitely a class of its own.
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Bagan is supposed to the number 1 tourist spot in Myanmar, however, while i was cycling around, I hardly see any tourist. This was good for me, but really bad for the local people. It was a good experience to have the whole place to myself (ourselves).
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These are not my jeans!!!
It jus showed how the local community is living among the monuments.
that's cool!!!
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Where's the head of Buddha?
Must be in the living room of some rich people's home
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Sitting on the moon
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Souvenirs for tourists

Sadly, there was not many tourists.

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One of the many Stupas

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Inside the Ananda Paya

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Inside Ananda
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This is one of the celestial animals.
If you look carefully, it has not one, but TWO dicks!
haha... click on the photo to see clearly.
This is no accident as I checked out other statues also.
I tried to find the female ones to check out, but didn't find anything interesting.
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Amazing Sunset in Bagan
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This was the most number of tourists I ever seen in Myanmar.
This might be a common sight in any countries, but it was a rare sight in Myanmar.
On the evening, all the tourists would congregate at this Shwe-Paya to see sunset, and I was no exception, as this spot provides a great vista view.
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Jon & Boon @ Bagan

(I think this is one of the two pictures we took together in this whole trip)

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Zebra Printing on the paya???

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Ananda Paya

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Pretty Burmese Girl

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This is what I call Car-pool!!!

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Mahabodhi Paya

This is built after the Mahabodhi Temple in Bodhgaya, where Buddha attained enlightenment.

(See: http://boon-india07.blogspot.com/2008/01/bodhgaya-bihar.html)

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Shwesandaw Pagoda

where all the tourist congregate to watch the sunset.

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Plain of Bagan

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Dhammayangyi Temple at the far end.

It is the biggest temple in Bagan.

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Below are some pictures taken on the second day in Bagan:

Praying at Shwezigon Paya

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An interesting incident happened at Shwezigon Paya.

When we reached Shwezigon Paya, we saw a sign that required us to pay 100 kyat (around 10 cents) for parking the bicycle. Both of us and a french lady (now a friend) felt unhappy about it, as we knew that we did not need to pay any money at other pagoda or paya. However, the local street vendors demanded us to pay for parking. After some arguements, we decided to park far away, then the local vendors relented and decided to let us park for free.

Out of principle and abit of anger, we decided to park our bicycles 300-400m away from the Paya. And obviously, we did not buy anything from the street vendors who were quite persistent.

I did not mind the touting by the street vendors, but I was quite upset with their little tricks to earn money. I hope they realised that their little tricks just pissed people off, and they should stop doing that.

I am happy not paying 100kyats.

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Lady vs Statue
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Cycling in Bagan
We did not see any other tourist
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Family on the bull-cart
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Mural
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Cross-Road
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This was where Jon and I bid farewell.
Jon was going back to Singapore a day earlier. We wanted to explore the remote Pyathada Pagoda together before he leave, but we took a longer time than expected. The road to the left was to Pyathada Pagoda and the road to the right was to Dhammayangyi Phato (nearer to the main road).
Jon decided not to go to the remote Pyathada Pagpda, and I being stubborn (and abit selfish), decided that I would like to visit Pagoda. We bid farewell at the most unexpected place - crossroad.
I cycled left and he cycled right.
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To a certain extent, this symbolises the friendship, family ties and life.
We never know when we would bid farewell, sometime at the most unexpected places and unexpected time. At the end of the day, everybody has their own journeys and we could choose which path to take.
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I reflect about the "farewells" this year:
The last time I said bye to my boss (Kin) was Jan'08 when I was in Shanghai calling him. It was a normal phone conversation, I never knew that that was the last conversation with him. (http://ahboon80.blogspot.com/2008/10/cycle-of-life-bye-kin.html)
This Jul'08, out of sheer coincidence, I met my Indonesian Aunt on the train while I was on my way home. I said goodbye to her also, not realising that was the last time. 6 days later, she died.
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Sometime, i was blinded by the mundane life that I forgot that every day is a miracle.
Being able to wake up every morning is already a gift in itself.
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Interior of Pyathada Pagoda
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View from the top of Pyathada Pagoda
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As this Paya was quite remote, there was nobody in this huge Pagoda except myself and another local guy who was reading his book. In the end, I spent almost 1 hour there alone. And it was the best 1 hour of my whole trip.
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I was sitting on top of the Pagoda.
Overlooking Bagan.
The Sky was very blue.
Trees were very green.
Brown Field and Red Paya.
The Breeze was abit cold.
But I could feel the warm of the Sun.
And I was listening to "WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD" by Louis Armstrong
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I see trees of green, red roses too
I see them bloom for me and you
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world
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I see skies of blue and clouds of white
The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world
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The colours of the rainbow, so pretty in the sky
Are also on the faces of people going by
I see friends shakin' hands, sayin' "How do you do?"
They're really saying "I love you"
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I hear babies cryin', I watch them grow
They'll learn much more than I'll ever know
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world
Yes, I think to myself, what a wonderful world
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Oh yeah




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What more do I need?
Just enjoy the moment.
I began to appreciate everything.
The World is really beautiful.
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Inevitably, I was thinking about Kin and my Aunt.
Tears trickled down my cheeks.
I am really grateful to be alive.
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Another sunset view of Bagan
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I was exploring Bagan alone.
I went back to a vegetarian restaurant (that I went the previous day).
The restaurant people were really nice to bring me to repair my punctured tyres.
I spent my remaining afternoon talking to them and understanding the local situation.
Then, I decided to see the sunset alone.
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This time, I wanted to avoid the crowded Shwesandaw Paya (which I went the previous day). I was cycling and literally stopped at a cross-road again. I did not know where I could go, but I knew that I wanted to avoid all the tourists.
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I was pretty close to Shwesandaw Paya (where all tourists congregate for sunset), and those tourists were heading towards the Paya in bicycles, horse-carriages, cars and buses. There were 2 locals stopped by and asked where do I wanna go. I said nowhere, and they left me alone. Then, a local boy who was cycling with a group of friends at the opposite side of road called me. I instantly recognized him as the boy who wanted to sell me the sand-painting the previous day, however, I did not buy any painting.
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My immediate response was - "Hello! I don't want any painting."
He was abit disappointed, but he still came over and talked to me. I asked him about his business, and he told me that he didn't manage to sell any painting for the past few days. I totally believe him. It's hard to sell with so many painting sellers and so little tourists.
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I told him to go to Shwesandaw Paya. And unfortunately, due to some local territorial dynamics, he was not allowed to sell at the Paya and he was actually on his way home. Just like my first anthropology module in University, I was doing some fieldwork by probing more to understand the local vendors' dyanmic.
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After talking some time, he told me that he could bring me to a good spot for sunset without any tourist, so i followed him.
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View of Shwesandaw Paya (Left) and Dhammayangyi Phato (Right)

If you strain your eyes and look carefully, you will see lotsa tourists at Shwesandaw Paya.

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Let me call my new friend - "Alex" (Btw, I know his Burmese name)

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I had a good simple conversation with Alex while waiting for the sunset. Alex is in his late-teen, and he came from a poor family. His mum passed away already, and he was selling painting to help to support the family and his own livelihood. I believed that he did not have the opportunity to study much. I could not engage him to have deeper conversation, as I realised that he learnt his english on the street from the tourists.

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For instance: He would say "8.30 to 5.30", as "eight-thirteen to five-thirteen".

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When I took photograph of him and promised to send him the photos. He was really excited and happy. He told me that so far, only a French Tourist sent him the photo, and I would be the second person to do that. He gave me the email of his friend. When he showed me his address, I realised he could not read or write english alphabets.

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For instance: On his small cardboard with address and email. (I assume it was written by someone else). The address was "Lew Bagan", but it should be "New Bagan". The email was "qmail", but it should be "gmail". I told him that the spelling was wrong , and should be corrected. He did not seem to know how to do it, and I had to correct it for him. I felt abit sad.

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On a more positive note, he was telling me that he had just bought his first t-shirt for school. He was going to attend a weekly english lesson at a school. This would be his first formal english lesson. When he was telling that, I could see the GLOW on his face. He was really really happy to go to school. He was telling that the next day he won't need to cycle around Bagan and look for tourists to sell the paintings.

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For the first time, I felt I was at the other side of the fence. I was always the tourist rejecting the vendors' selling. I knew that life was difficult, but now, I have a clearer view of the reality of life in Bagan. For a moment, I felt that I was part of them, and I felt helpless about it. Alex is around the age of my younger cousin, and Alex should be a young man with a bright future, but the reality is quite grim.

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I asked him about his future. Alex said that he would continue to sell painting, and that's the only thing he knew. I asked him about being a tour guide, but he said that his english was not good enough. Then, he mentioned that he hoped to have the opporunity to learn computer, and would like to do work related to computer.

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Such a simple thing is so remote for him.

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Alex overlooking the horizon

May be he was wondering what the future holds for him...

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After the sunset, I gave him 3000 kyats (US$3) as his guide fee. I told him that this was his first income as tour guide. He was really happy and grateful. Smiling all the way. In fact, I really thanked him from the bottom of my heart. He gave me the opportunity to know more about the local people and their lives. This was really the reward for me.

It was better than the sunset.

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Alex brought me to the main road, and we bid farewell.

I told him to study hard and wish him the best of luck.

He reminded me to send him the photos. =)

Friendship was established.

The satisfaction was priceless.

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Sunset @ Bagan

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