Yet Another Ancient City

July 19

Mingun

We went to Mingun with two Burmese friends of ours. They wanted to take us site seeing and since we had seen most of the places around Mandalay, we decided to head across the river. Unfortunately, we had to pay the historical fee that we were trying to avoid in Sagaing (the fee was for both locations). And, we were unable to take the local boat across the river and so our friends were stuck paying the tourist fee, which is three times the amount as the local boat. This is the stuff that really irked me about travelling in Burma.

Mingun Paya (temple):

Built by King Thibaw's grandfather. King Thibaw was the last king of Burma. His grandfather was from Shwebo, which is the town over the mountains. As the legend goes, he wanted to see his hometown form the top of the paya and so he began to build what would have been the world's tallest paya if it had ever been completed. Unfortunately, he died before it could be finished and no other king recommissioned the project.

All that remains of the magnificent structure is a 173 foot high stack of bricks. Some of the bricks are crumbling and there are deep fissures in the paya from an earthquake. It's a bit of an adventure climbing up the pile, but the views of the Ayeywady River and hills that block the views of Shwebo.

Myathendan Paya

Our tour guides informed us that this pagoda was built from bricks taken from the vast Mingun Paya. The paya is unusual and gorgeous. There are 7 waves encircling the paya which are said to represent the 7 oceans (though our LP says that they represent the 7 mountain ranges of the mythical world - for some reason I trust our guides more). There are three entrances followed by three staircases which lead to the top. The middle and most grand staircase was strictly for the king and queen. The left side was for the princes and the right side for their followers. Today, everyone is a king or a queen.

This is a kid trying to sell me incense to burn at the alter. I can't understand why they were so persistent. I highly doubt that most Westerners buy it considering they're usually not Buddhist, but perhaps I'm wrong. It made me feel better to know that they heckled our tour guides just as much as me. It's just their nature.

Mingun Bell

Impressive. The second largest bell in the world and the largest uncracked bell in the world. It ways 55,555 viss and is 1/3 of the size of the largest bell in Russia.

Another Ancient City

July 18


Sagaing

We loved biking around the city. We rode our bikes everywhere, since they were quicker than walking and cheaper than riding public transportation. We had enjoyed our ride to Amurapura so much that we decided to hit up another ancient city. Sagaing (pronounced Zuh-gine with a g as in girl) is situated across the Ayeyawady (Irrawaddy ) River from Mandalay and Amurapura.

Sagaing is one of several ancient in the area. Mandalay, Sagaing, Mingun, and Ava are all along the Ayeywady and they have all been the capital of various kingdoms throughout Burma's history.

One of the reasons we decided to attempt the 2 hour bike ride to Sagaing was to worm our way out of the governments tourist fee for visiting the site. We had heard if one went on tour, or possibly via public transportation the government officials would catch you and make you buy a ticket to see the city. We passed over the bridge with ease, it seemed that the officials weren't on the look out for foreigners that day.

The Burmese are very fond of paying for services, or having others pay for services. Thus, when we arrived at the Sagaing central market we parked our bikes on a spot of dirt for a fee of 50 Kyat each. We received a number, which we gave to the "garage" attendant in exchange for our bikes once we were finished looking around.

After breakfasting at the market twice (its too difficult NOT to try all of the food!), we set off to explore the city. First we road along the river until we found an old fort that was used during the second Anglo-Burmese war. There wasn't much left aside from a few canons and the surrounding wall, but it offered some nice views of the river. We met a man who tried to talk to us though our Burmese and his English were both extremely poor. He handed us a copy of the history of the fort that had been translated into bad English. As we left he held out a visitor book which gently suggested a "donation." For what, I don't know, I guess he is the grounds keeper.

The main tourist attraction of Sagaing is Sagaing Hill. We made our way to this hill, and parked our bikes at the base because there was no way I was able to pedal up the steep slopes. I was a bit tired by this time, since we'd be riding around for half the day already, but Casey insisted we visit the top. I must admit, that I wasn't so thrilled to see yet another hillside pagoda and I was nervous that they would ask us for our "tickets", but I followed Casey anyway. I'm sure glad I did. The walk up was pleasant as much of the hill is still forested (or re-forested). The views from the top was breathtaking - we could see just how large the hill was with a backdrop of the river. After taking in the views we set off down the dusty road to Mandalay and the guesthouse we called home.

One reason we wanted to try biking to Sagaing was because

Journey up a Hill and Down Again

15 July 2007


Yankin Hill

Yankin is Burmese for "Free from Enemies." The hill is so named because legend has it that the Buddha was able to escape his enemies there. Another story states that when Buddha was a fish he was King of All Fish and he lived in a pond inside a cave on top of the mound. Clearly, this is a special hill.

The hill is not only special because the Buddha once resided there, it also has connections with many of the nats. The worship of nats predates Buddhism in Burma and is incorporated by many Buddhists. When Buddha arrived into the lives of the Burmese, he was given the rank of the highest nat. Nats are an extraordinary mixed collection of deities, including spirits of trees, rivers, ancestors, snakes, and the ghosts of people who have met a violent or tragic death. When in good spirits they can bring wealth and good luck, but when they are provoked, they can reek havoc. In order to appease the nats and to bring good luck, the Burmese set up shrines and nat houses, where they provide offerings of food, drink.

On Yankin Hill there is a shrine to the nat that inhabits the township. Worshippers visit the nat house and perform a little ritual. First one must walk around the shrine 3 times then kneel down to pray to the nat 3 times and finally lift a ball that is at the base of the statue. Only after this, and tipping the monks who "guard" the shrine, will your wish be granted.

At the top of the Hill is a monastery with three large Sambar Deers with bells around their necks. They are the closest animals to reindeer I'd seen in a long time. They were "saved" by a monk, who granted them existence on the hill where Pilgrims feed them biscuits while trying to pet them. I'm not sure if this is what most people mean when they save animals, but its the closest thing to the Humane Society that we saw.

We were brought to Yankin Hill by a Chinese-Burmese family. They took us there to woo us into teaching their daughter English. We hadn't yet visited any sites in Mandalay with anyone we knew and it we had a very interesting time. Without their explanations, the hill would've been just another sacred site, instead we were able to come away with a deeper understanding of why the locals pay tribute to shrines that dot the route to the top.

Mya Kyauck Monastery

Near the base of Yankin Hill is a monastery with an enlightened monk. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Buddhism, enlightenment is what Buddhists strive for. Only through enlightenment does the cycle of suffering end. The Buddha attained enlightenment, but chose to stay in this world in order to teach other about the way towards enlightenment. Needless to say, an enlightened monk doesn't happen everyday and it is a big deal. This is evident by the large fresco of the monk that's painted on the side of the main pagoda.

We were lucky enough to meet with the enlightened monk. Now, I don't know what I was expected from an enlightened monk, but I thought they're be an air about him, something that would radiate from his being, which would confirm his status. Instead, what I found was an ordinary monk who liked to discuss his international travels and the monasteries famous mineral water.

One day, the monk decided to build a well on the monastery land. After making this decision, he begins mediating. During his mediation, the Dragon King, who lives on the grounds, appears to the monk and tells him the best place to build the well. After the well was built, water samples were analyzed and it was discovered that it is the best drinking water in the world - even better then spring water in the Western world, so we're told. The water is so special, that once some Japanese businessmen came to the monastery with US dollars and asked to buy the water for exportation to Japan. Not wanting money, the monk refused. The monastery does bottle and sell the water and they publish a pamphlet listing the benefits of the water, which range from curing diseases to keeping one hydrated.

After our interesting discussion with the Enlightened Monk, we were able to tour a small room that was filled with boxes of stones. These tet tho are said to appear after the cremation of a monk. The more tet tho are present, the more enlightened the monk was upon his death. Somehow this monastery gained a large collection of these stones, which were placed in fish tanks labeled with the name of the monk along with Buddha paraphernalia. I wonder how many tet tho will be present upon my death?

Amurapura by Bike

July 14

We decided to bike down to the town of Amurapura from Mandalay. The street between the two towns is dirty, noisy and full of vehicles, but once in Amurapura there was a lot to see. Our original plan was to head down to U Bein Bridge but we never made it there. This was probably for the better, as we later discovered that the bridge had flooded, as it often does during the rainy season.

Our first stop was at some pagodas near the lake. We wandered around the white washed structures with some children, who were adorable. Of course, they wanted us to buy their souvenirs, but they didn't get around to showing us their wares until we were ready to leave. Mostly, they followed us around chit-chatting and showing off the many languages they could speak, which was quite impressive. They could make polite introductions in many Western languages including Spanish and Italian. They seemed like carefree kids, who enjoyed meeting with foreigners. The best part was that they didn't seem all that interested in selling souvenirs, which meant that when we politely declined they gave up relatively easily.

I must admit by this time I was reaching my pagoda threshold, but one oddly shaped structure caught my attention - the beehive. It was one of the most unusual pagodas I'd seen in a while. From a distance it did indeed look like a beehive and upclose I noticed that in each cell a miniature Buddha was tucked away like a immature bee.

We waved goodbye to the children and headed off taking a turn down a sandy path that butted up against the lake. Here memories of the Philippines floated back to us as we meandered through a large bamboo squatter village that was teeming with grunting pigs, children and trash.

On a barren inlet was a large brick factory where men, women and children gathered clay, shaped the bricks, lined them up to dry and p ut them in the large wood-fired earthen and brick kilns. We ogled the workers as they dug the clay out of the banks of the lake. The passed large clay-laden baskets to women who hoisted them on their heads. I swear you could see their necks sink a couple of inches with the weight of the clay. The women carried the clay to the only machine on the premises, which smoothed and mixed it with sand, which was continually shovelled by a pre-teen boy. Children portioned out the clay and handed it to men and women who quickly slapped it in a mold and place it on a board, which was packed onto a wheelbarrow and shipped to the end of the long lines of drying bricks. Other whellbarrows picked up the already dried bricks and brought them to shacks to await the kiln. Occassionally men hopped onto the tall kilns and fed it wood. We soon left as we were clearly slowing down the production line as everyone stopped to ogle us.

Nearby, there was a small herd of plain grey cows with calves. As I watched, a woman allowed a calf to suckle each tit for only a few moments before a man with a pail ied up the back legs of the cow and squatted next to her to milk her. The milk dropped into the pail that was suspended above the ground by the strength of the man's knees.

Soon our wanderings found us in the middle of an isloated village. Judging by the number of mosques and lack of pagodas we gathered this was a rather sizable Muslim village. It was quite apparent that although numerous tourists visit the lake and U Bein Bridge, they don't takes detours. Everyone was turning and staring.

From some of the narrow streets we could hear the clacking of looms. Amurapura is famous for its cloth, which is made into traditional longyi. We rode past various colors of thread hanging in the sun to dry, draped over bamboo poles, lining the streets like streamers.

This was the trip I had been dreaming of - a chance to get off the beaten track to see the everyday life of Myanmar. While it wasn't exciting or breathtakingly beautiful, but it was real. And that was what made the day so special.

Slithering Snakes

July 13

A while ago we were introduced to a family that was eager to have us teach English to their one and only daughter. Though we insisted that this was impossible, they tried to win us over by taking us on a few excursions around Mandalay.

The first excursion was to the famous Hmwe Paya (Snake Pagoda) in Paleik as small town about 45 minutes outside of Mandalay. It is named for the 3 large pythons that are on display around the central Buddha image inside the pagoda. When we were there, they were nestled amongst the concrete and one had made his bed on the Buddha’s head. We arrived early in the morning and so we missed the daily feeding. But, we were informed that each day, the snakes are feed chicken eggs and milk in front of hordes of tourists. They are also given a bath in a special pool built just for them. During this time, it is also possible to get one’s picture taken with one of the famous pythons. And many people do. On the walls of the pagoda is a long line of framed photographs of famous Myanmar movie stars and generals posing with the great constrictors.

Monastic Schooling

The principal and head monk of the monastic school where we volunteered said that he began the school in order to bring modern education to the poor of Myanmar. He has done a significant job. There are over 7000 children attending the school, which does not charge any fees for attendance. In order to control the unruly students, the staff consists of 150-170 teachers and there is generally 2 teachers per class. This is probably a good thing, considering most classes have between 50-60 students and there are rumors that up to 100 students may attend one class. There are so many children attending the school that they must attend in shifts (similar to the way it worked in the town I lived in in the Philippines). About half of the students attend school in the morning and the other half begin after lunch.

We were not privileged to teach a class of 50-100 students, but instead taught the “special classes.” These classes consist of 20-30 students who were identified in preschool as having a higher potential than their classmates. These students are very lucky because they still receive 2 teachers for every class and they attend classes all day.

The school is fairly well known and so foreign volunteers are a common sight. They only teach the special classes, which may or may not give these students an edge over the others in the English language.

We taught at this school for 5 weeks before we decided it was best for us and for the students if we left the teaching to the teachers. Upon agreeing to volunteer, we had only had experience teaching young adults with a basic knowledge of English. We had not expected to teach young students who were still learning their colors. Aside from this, we realized that the Myanmar teachers are very adept in their English and could command the class much better than we could Also, it appears that they are receiving training in student centered learning and activity based learning methods meaning they are now incorporating different methods into their classroom. Therefore, it seemed to us that they were much better equipped to teach English to the students than we were.

Overall, I think that it would be more beneficial if the volunteer teachers taught English to the Myanmar teachers. This way, they could teach all teachers, not just the special class teachers and thus potentially have a larger impact than direct teaching has. Another benefit is that then foreigners are not coming and going every day, week or month, which can be very disruptive to the class.

Pagodas Everywhere

Bagan, June 6-9

Background

Bagan is roughly a 42 square kilometer area filled with over 3000 temples and pagoda ruins. All that remains now are some larger, brick temples with some stuccoed patches with some faded frescoes on the inside. There are also many crumbling structures and piles of brick. Oddly enough, Bagan is also home to a growing number of new pagodas built in the same style of old time Bagan but without the stucco or the murals.

The frenzied pagoda building began when a Burmese king took over the area in 1044, at a time when Burma was transitioning into its current religion. During this time, over 4400 temples and pagodas were built in reverence to the Buddha and his teachings. It is said that the end of Bagan arrived with the arrival of Kublai Khan and his Mongol army at the end of the 13^th century.

It is hard to image what Bagan would have looked like in the prime of its life. There are recorded accounts claiming it to be “one of the finest sights in the world” and covered in gold. It’s also hard to image what kind of work force was needed to build such amazing structures. Where would such a work force have lived? Who else would have lived among the ruins? It couldn’t possibly have been a 42 square kilometer area solely for religious buildings. One day I may scrounge up enough energy to search for answers to my questions, but for now I’m content just to wonder and create my own scenarios in my head.

Bagan Legends

According to some of our students there are two legends that explain how Bagan came to be.

The first legend simply states that at one time it rained silver and gold and thus the empire because rich enough to afford all of the manual labor required to build so many pagodas and temples.

The second legend is a little more interesting. It states that there once was a monk who was an alchemist. Unfortunately for him, he was not very good at is job of making the king rich. This made the king unhappy and to show his feelings he gouged out the alchemist-monk's eyes. The now-blind monk was so angry he threw the lead in the toilet (they had toilets in ancient Bagan?) and thus gold was produced. This act of spontaneous riches turned the king's heart and he thus order the monk to be brought back into the world of sight. Eyes were searched for high and low and eventually someone brought back one from a cow and another from a goat. Apparently no one had died recently to furnish human eyes and no one cared enough to give him eyes from the same animal. But, most importantly, he could see again and he turned lots and lots of lead into gold and silver. All of these riches spurred the king into building massive monuments to the Buddha and thus was the beginning of Bagan's pagoda frenzy.


Getting There
We arrived on the overnight 6500 Kyat per person from Mandalay. It was quite expensive for what it was - one of the small buses with seats that do not quite fit 2 Westerners and overstuffed with cargo so that you cannot stretch your legs under the seat in front of you.

By quite expensive, I am also comparing it to other prices in Myanmar. Of course, this transportation is quite cheap when comparing it to other SE Asia bus trips we've taken (ie the 17 hour Dimple Star Ro-Ro bus trip on equally horrible seats from San Jose, Antique to Manila).

There were four Brits behind us who got a big kick out of the whole situation and spent the first hour discussing how awful the ride was. Was great to hear them complain. Luckily, we were in the front, which was nice because I could stretch my feet out, kinda.

We arrived at 3 am and made our way to the Inn Wa Guesthouse where we got a room for $7/night with a fan and in room bathroom (in Mandalay we pay $6 for a fan and a shared bathroom outside). It was clean and the staff was very friendly and I would definitely recommend this guesthouse. They didn't even charge us for Friday night even though we arrived very early morning.

Day 1
We got up early to see the ruins by bicycle. We figured the best time for birds and heat would be just after sunrise. Though we didn't get out quite this early, we did manage to make it up before most people.

Not so soon after we began biking a young man also on a bicycle came up to us and started talking. He proceeded to follow us to the first few pagodas we visited and then offered to take us near the river so we could do some birding. We thought for sure he was trying to be our guide and so we asked him (as politely as possible) what his motives were. He explained that he is a long distance university student who wants to practice his English and would like to show us around Bagan for free in order to practice his English and to practice tour guiding.

We let him show us around and in general had a good time. He took us to some of the famous pagodas and temples and even hung around while we tried to do some birding in the morning. He usually warded off vendors, but at one temple he let a girl follow us around. It ended up that she was his cousin and he was interested in helping her make a sale (which he did, as I bought a few lacquer ware items from her). The whole day he carried around painting he said he made.

In the afternoon he showed us his painting, which we both felt obligated to buy, though I'm not sure why. I wasn't a fan of any of them and said so, but we still felt obligated (he showed us around, didn't he?) and so I finally said which painting I liked the best (although I didn't like it well enough to hang it on my wall). Unfortunately for us, this was the most expensive painting.

We were in a pickle. I really didn't want to buy any of the paintings, but we felt pressured. So, do you buy a painting you would NEVER put on display because it's cheaper or buy the more expensive painting that you MIGHT hang up, maybe someday. We went with the "maybe" painting and then discovered that neither option is the correct one. The best option would have been to FORGET THE SALE and buy nothing because we didn't find any of the paintings appealing.

After the sale I felt cheated, especially upon discovering that he overcharged us big time and even lied about his name. This discovered happened when we came across another painter with the same name as ours who was selling painting for at least half the price as our guy. Grrrrr...

Let's just say I learned a very big lesson that day: don't trust the local who comes up to you to talk. The nice ones are always the shy ones.

Day 2
This day we decided to do solo on our bicycles. Originally, we had planned to visit Mt. Popa instead of the ruins, but when we inquired about the boat trip to Mandalay, we were informed that it was a day earlier than expected. This didn't leave us with much time, so we decided to stay in Bagan for our last day.

We stopped by 5 ancient pagodas throughout the day. Our first stop was Ananda, which is very famous and thus very touristy though I didn't find it very impressive except for these very large standing Buddhas that face in each of the four directions.

One of my favorite temples was Dhammayangi Pahto and is said to be the largest in Bagan. It has a very mysterious story behind it. The temple is built like Ananda with an inner and an outer corridor both running parallel to the walls. Unlike Ananda, Dhammayangi's inner corridor has been sealed up with brick at each of the four entrances. No one really knows why the inner section of the temple was covered up and it has never fully been excavated. There are legends surrounding the temple as one of the teenage vendors related to us. She explained that the monarch at the time was very strict and insisted on the best work for this temple. This meant that the mortar between the bricks should not be thicker than a pin. If a pin could be placed between two bricks, then the brick layer's hand would be chopped off. Because of the king's strict ways, the people may have revolted by sealing up the inside chamber.

Many of the temples housed intricate murals, most dealing with the life of the Buddha (of course). Some of these murals were incredibly faded while others were magnificently restored. I found the murals of Sulamani Pahto to be a bit unusual. To me it was as if someone had graffitied the old murals by poorly painting large Buddhas on top of the old murals. I thought this had to be a new job, but soon learned that between 1780-1820 someone decided to white wash parts of the walls and repaint. The strange thing is, the old murals faintly protrude through the new paintings.

After biking around temples all day, we decided to head to the docks for an evening river cruise. When we arrived, we were attacked by two different boat men offering their services. Without saying a word, Casey watched as they slowly out bid each other, starting at 6000 Kyat and ending at 4000 Kyat for a half hour ride. Casey decided to pick the boatman by the fairest way conceivable - flipping a coin. Only, in Burma there is no coinage and so our room key substituted. Surprisingly, both boatmen went along with it and the loser accepted the results with relative ease (much to my amazement).

The river cruise was nice, though the boatman had informed us that we would travel farther than we did. They did this little trick where about halfway up the route they pulled out into the middle of the river and turned off their engines and just sat there for a good 10-15 minutes while we wondered what the hell was going on. They only resumed the tour once questioned about their actions. On the ride home, we ran into another tourist boat that had ceased to operate in the middle of the water. Our industrious boatmen secured our anchor line to their boat and straddled the two boats to ensure that they would stay side by side as we jetted back to the bank.

For dinner that night, we decided to treat ourselves with a little tourist fare. We had heard about Aroma II from the LP and though we had generally decided that LP restaurant guide is not to be trusted, we decided to have a go. We were both so glad that we did. It was delicious Indian cuisine! Unfortunately, the pizza we tried the previous night that LP raved about was not up to par and thus we decided to once again be wary of Lonely Planet.

Day 3

When we went back to our hotel we discovered that the boat back to Mandalay was actually the day we had heard about and therefore we had one more day to roam around Bagan. We decided it take it easy this day, well, sort of. We rode to New Bagan to a garden KC had heard about a nice place for birding. We didn't see much there except hoards of Baya Weavers which were all nesting in crazy hanging nests that filled the bushes and trees. We also saw an owl flying, possibly being chased by the hundreds of weavers.

Then we met a nice old man who insisted (through broken English and hand motions) that we look at his paya. It was a nice little place with wonderful views and some interesting stucco. We couldn't find it on any map, but it was clear that the man prepared torch lit outdoor dining experiences for tourists right in front of the paya.

We took a round-about way back to our hotel along a dirt road. Though there were tourists, they were in far fewer number than along the main road. Even better, the vendors along this path seemed lazy to sell their wares and thus didn't hound us as we passed. One temple was even full of napping locals while the children played with fruit on the front stoop! My favorite was Payathanzu, which housed more beautifully detailed frescoes.

Day 4: Trip up the Ayeyarwaddy to Mandalay

We took the fast boat from Bagan to Mandalay, as we were short on time. Apparently, everyone takes the boat from Mandalay to Bagan, which was fortunate for us since it meant that there were only 2 others on the boat and it was $10 cheaper (though about 1 hour longer since the ride was upriver).

The river trip was nice and relaxing. Some of the scenery was amazing, but it soon turned monotonous with all of the plains. The views of Bagan's pagodas was beautiful, as were the hills of Sagaing as we neared Mandalay.

All in all, the trip was very rewarding, though a bit stressful at times.