Bagan 27th Nov

Bagan - 27th Nov

Yesterday, 26 Nov, (Vivi's bday! ;) ) I watched another sunset after my afternoon in the swimming pool. Went to that temple close by as I could see some people at the top of it. When I reached I wonder how they managed to go up, they seem young and fit so I thought they actually climbed the whole thing. But no, much simpler than that, there were some stairs going up! However they were so tiny, that's why I didn't notice them, it was basically a small hole in the wall, quite tight for a European to be honest, then I had to go through tiniy door way and gates, was fun. The stairs were also so tiny and steep, I wouldn't be surprised if people fell from them before.

The sunset was nice, sorry but you gonna end up with lots of sunset pics... (and sry if they are not in order, it just put them in alphabetical order, its a pain) Then as I was leaving and the night was falling I noticed that some of the temples had light on them.

As I was starving, after not having any proper food for 48h which is NEVER seen with me... I thought I'll grab some dinner before exploring “Bagan by night”! (My dad would be proud of me!)

On the way back, a guy on his bicycle told me he was a headteacher and wanted me to visit his school. I agreed. It was a very small classroom, benches on the sand... When I asked him when were the classes he started to write the whole timetable on the board, just like a teacher do. Basically he was giving classes before and after 'government school', when I asked him why, he just said because government school is not enough. 

Obviously he asked me to make a donation so he could buy a new blackboard and some exercise books. Having learnt (or may be not) my lesson I told him, I will buy a few exercise books but that I didn't want to give him money. He said I could but that they will charge me more money because I was a foreigner...good point. So agreed to give him the equivalent of 3 euros, which I regretted soon after. Indeed as we were talking and watching the class starting, I could smell he stank of alcohol and wondered if that money will go straight into some whisky... I asked him to promise me the money will go into buying books for the kids. I will never know if it did or not. 

Anyway, I left around 20h30, on my bicycle directing myself by the light of that big temple I could see on the horizon. The road are every dark since there are no street lights, so it was the one thing helping me to know where I was going. I was getting closer and closer, when suddenly I couldn't see it anymore... how, why? What happened? I wonder... I carried on for a bit and suddenly noticed this black shape in the background. I think that was it, that was the temple, but lucky as I am they switched off the lights 2min before my arrival. I saw a moto coming out of the pathway and wonder if he was THE guy, who switched off the beautiful lights. I ventured into that sandy pathway and arrived at the temple. Some locals were surprised to see a (weirdo) foreigner at this time and asked me what on earth I was doing there. Told them about the lights and they said it was finished. They asked me if I saw a man on a moto leaving the temple, I said I did, well HE was the light man!! I was right!

As I saw a tiny temple with lights on, on my way, I thought may be i've got a chance to see that one, if I pedal hard and quick enough ,may be a can catch him up and at least see that temple. So I jumped on my bicycle and cycled as fast as I could, not caring about sand or holes in the road... that's it I could see it, it was still there, lit!! The sandy pathway going to that one was so bumpy I nearly fell over, dogs were barking, but I carried on. Thought of getting my head torch out but I would have lost precious minutes. So I carried on.. in the dark...scaring myself... an there it was, a tiny shitty temple which only had lights on the top of it and not even the bottom!

Such a disappointment...

But no, the top bit WAS beautiful, so as I cycled back … gently... I thought it would have been really nice to see some of the bigger ones lit. So I decided to see if I could change my bus ticket and stay one more night. Furthermore, I heard it was a festival for the next 2 days and thought it'll be nice to be here for that... AND $5 is the cheapest I'm ever gonna find for a room in Myanmar, so may as well stay one more day here and one day less on the beach where it's probably gonna be like $30!

Ticket changed, room booked for another night, I'm ready to hit New and Old Bagan today for a visit of a proper “Bagan by night”!!! To start this beautiful day, as it's festival I decided to go for the whole make up thing, like the locals... well I can tell you it's not easy as I thought it would be.

Also it feels a bit like 'argile' (face clay), well I guess it is really... so once you have it on, it is rather difficult to smile or if you do, you then notice how old you are as all your wrinkles show up... lovely! I do not call that make up! But I am still gonna stick to it... 

Comments

[papiloo]

thank u for the photographs of all these buddahs, especiallky in the cave.

but also the buddah inside a bigger one.

but be careful witl the lens of your camera, there seems to be a spot on it, be careful in cleaning the lens of the objectiven don't scratch it.

xxxx