Sitting Buddha, Standing Buddha, Reclining Buddha, Buddha Pagoda, Buddha Temple, Buddha Snake........ I am Buddha'd out!

Jan 15 – 17 Bago

Today Udo and I are separating as well. He is determined to visit Ngapali Beach to see how an 'untouched' beach in Myanmar looks like. I don't feel like shelling out for the expensive airfare and am opting for the bus instead and will stop in Bago, en route back to Yangon where our flight is leaving on January 17^th.

Udo leaves early morning. My bus is scheduled to leave at 1pm from the 'highway' junction outside Nyaungshwe and get to Bago at 3am. So I have prebooked accommodation there. 3am after all is not a great time to be strolling around looking for a place to stay.

I leave on time, hop on a pick-up truck to the junction and wait and wait and wait. Around 3pm I receive a call informing me that my bus is late. Nice for them to be telling me that, but I already assumed, considering that I've been waiting for nearly three hours. Another 45 minutes later and old run down Korean bus finally arrives and unfortunately this one is mine. By now I am just happy to be leaving, but not so fast. The bus breaks down a little later on the mountain roads. Gets fixed within an hour and off we are again. At the rest stop I do buy some locally made Myanmar wine. Considering I would need that if the trip continues that way. A horrible bus ride later (seriously, if you can afford it, fly to and from Inle, the mountain roads will take their toll on you and your vacation) I get into Bago near 6am, pitch dark, hitch a cyclo cab to the guesthouse and nap for a little while.

Saying goodbye to Mama Susu 

Luxurious Myanmar toilet 

Stocking up on some Kalaw wine 

Since I only have one day in Bago and apparently there's plenty to see no time to be wasted. I set out at 10am with a motorcycle driver. After agreeing to pay him 10$ he agrees to go around to back entries of all the major sights so I do not have to pay the 10$ entrance fee. Gotta love that system ;-)

We visit the local monastery in which several hundred monks are being educated. The big show for the tourists is the feeding of the monks (whaaaat?!?!). As usual, since I am already here I might as well watch it. First my driver leads me around, tells me about his life (10 days) of being a monk, shows me the kitchen and sleeping quarters (all very basic).

And here it is. The big 'show'. At 11am, since monks are required to eat all their daily meals before noon. Hundreds of monks line up, food bowls in hand and head toward the dining hall once the huge Gong has sounded. Tourists (many Buddhist Thais) line up before the entrance of the dining hall and against donations get to sweep up rice and 'donate' it to the Monks before they enter the dining hall. After they all entered you can watch them eat their rice and fish and meat curries. The menu is the exact same every day. Rice and curry. Rice and curry. My driver admits he was tired of it after a few days, the monks in this monastery however agree to the lifestyle for many years.

Our tour of religious artifacts in Bago starts. And there's plenty of them. Pagodas, temples, Buddhas. And by this time you've seen plenty of pictures of them as well I will leave the detailed explanations out. Just to say I did not pay entrance fees and also did not pay the camera fees demanded at most sites. After all do you really want to see more close ups of the religious sights? It's been enough for you too? That's exactly what I thought. So after visiting the biggest Pagoda in Myanmar (bigger than Shewdagon in Yangon), the Pagoda which offers a great view of Bago and a temple famous for a snake (I didn't quite understand the full story) I also get to experience a cigar factory. Women rolling up the tobacco mixed with other stuff in leaves and expertly trimming it to look like a professional cigar/cigarette. Apparently they are quite light, but I've had enough from trying the one in Bagan. Yikes. The working conditions would seem crazy in our part of the world but the women hear seem content, joking in between, eating and smiling (or curiously staring at the foreigner – me).

At this point I was actually hoping that the tour would be finished, is there really so much to see in Bago. But no, we've only seen one side of the river. After lunch break we will see the other part.

Curiosity wins over tiredness and after exploring the Bago market I am ready to be shown some more. The some more is more Pagodas and more Buddhas. I wish I could ask my Moto driver if there is anything to see in Bago that doesn't involve Buddhas but he is so proud of them and showing them off I don't dare say anything. So hear I go to the Stupa with the 30 something Buddhas, the 80something sitting Buddhas, the standing Buddhas. The giant reclining Buddhas. And yes, the reclining Buddhas are impressive. The Stupa with 80something Buddhas inside, the biggest reclining Buddha in the world (real intricate details on that one). By the time we reach the 4 giant sitting Buddhas I am totally Buddha'd out.

Thankfully that's it. So I need some food and cold beer. Aaaaaaaaah!

I love Myanmar and it is beautiful. But for now I am grateful I am leaving Buddha central. For a little while I want to stay clear of more monuments to religion.

I relax for the rest of the evening and morning.

Apparently I need two hours from Bago to Yangon, another 20 minutes or so to the bus station in Bago and another half hour or so from Yangon bus station to the airport, all provided I get immediate buses and onward transport. Since they are hopelessly overcharging for scheduled buses that come once in a blue moon I do what was recommended, just head to a highway stop on a moto taxi for 500K. I leave early enough to have plenty of time to catch the flight should anything be delayed or go wrong (just think of the last bus rides). Against my expectation everything goes smooth. The bus to Yangon is empty when I get there but fills up within a matter of minutes. It's the one of the sort that should have broken down already long ago, but still sputters along. For a short ride, of far less than the planned two hours, that is fine (and only 1000K). And I have an old guy in front of me that loves to practice his English and also chitchat about the local situation, including politics. While everyone I met hates the government they all admit as well it has been getting better in the past months and people are hopeful.

The transition to the airport is smooth as well for a hard negotiated 1500K (considering Mag paid 6000K three days earlier for a spot in a full taxi) I get my own cab to the airport and am there in a few minutes. About five hours before my scheduled departure. Nooooooo!

Killing some time until Udo joins me in the wait. He loved Ngapali and enjoyed his beach time loads. We also run into Nino again, so the hours pass quickly with sharing stories.

That's how fast an adventure can end.

Some beach pictures courtesy of Udo:

Myanmar is definitely worth the trip. It takes more planning than a trip to most other countries but richly rewards the person taking the effort. Challenges will be plenty, especially if you would like to venture off the tourist paths that require permits or would like to visit areas that can only be reached (by foreigners) by air with flights that are not readily scheduled but just happen when they happen. But nothing that can't be taken care of with lots of patience and a smile.

It is a very safe country. While they see any single traveler as weird they are most likely to help you. All the money you bring is safe as well, just keep your wits and street smarts on.

Put Myanmar on your travel list now, before everyone else catches on and Bagan is as overrun as Angkor Wat, Bago sees the hordes of Wat Pho, Bangkok, the developers pave over Inle Lake and Ngapali is the next Phuket.

Stalactites and Buddhas - Caving in Pindaya and Kalaw

Jan 14 Pindaya

Pindaya is famous for it's 10,000 Buddha cave (so far it's only 8096 Buddhas in the cave, but more on that later). Pindaya is also roughly 70km away from Nyaungshwe on Inle Lake and a good three hour drive. Now ponder that for a minute. 70 km, 3 hours. And then picture the road conditions. Apart from the fact that it was going uphill the road was mostly paved. Badly paved but nonetheless paved. It continued holes of various sizes so it was b..um..py. Very bumpy. The unpaved parts of the road will for sure be paved soon. Regularly you will see a big group of men and women working on paving parts of the roads, mostly financed by investments from foreign companies. Everything goes by hand, except the flattening. Heating the tar, distributing rocks of all sizes, placing them in shape, pouring the hot tar. It is fascinating to watch. Incredible hard work. On the more remote road stretches they even set up tents beside the road, one for males, one for females, so the work can go on without too many interruptions. I wonder how the road will look in a few years from now. It also seems that only patches are being paved or maintained. The patches that foreigners pay for. Other patches remain bumpy dirt tracks.

While there is not much traffic on the roads, the air nonetheless is full of particles and seems extremely unhealthy to breathe in. The vehicles available are all bad polluters. Mucus turns black after breathing here for a while. You definitely wouldn't want to work at the roadside day in and day out in these conditions. Over here they would have closed everything down already to protect people's health. Different countries, different measures. Here they are just happy they have vehicles at all, whether they be donated from Japan, China, Thailand or Korea. It makes a merry mix of left or right-hand drive vehicles, although they do drive on the right side of the road.

Back to the caves. After a seemingly endless drive uphill we reach the caves of 8096 Buddhas. We share a minibus with 3 others from the guesthouse. 2 Taiwanese, 1 Chinese, Udo and I and negotiated a price of 70,000K for the full day for all of us.

It is a natural cave and Buddhas have been placed here for thousands of years, with more being added regularly. The site itself is famous in Buddhism but it's remoteness and the road conditions keep it under the tourist radar. In peak season less than 500 people visit per day, only a handful of which foreigners.

The cave is much smaller than I expected which results in Buddhas being stacked on top of each other. Impressive sight. 2 $ entry (for foreigners only) seems reasonable here.

After the caves we visit an umbrella making factory. The make their own paper from mulberry tree bark, color it naturally, sometimes add flowers and make sun umbrellas or lamp shades. I especially enjoy that they freely explain their trade without any obligation to buy. Very rare these days.

Like all other foreign visitors we are being shipped off to the same overpriced restaurant for lunch before the long ride back starts.

We visit another cave near Kalaw, which to me personally is more impressive. There are no visitors here at all. The cave is long, stretching through a whole mountain with a narrow alley passing through, Buddhas on either side and stalactites and stalagmites lining up along the way. The stalactites and stalagmites are still growing so it is a wet cave. This makes the other four in the party turn back when they encounter the wet ground. Unbeknownst to me I suspect them still behind me and end up crossing through the whole cave by myself. No worries, the path only leads one way anyway and comes out on the other side of the hill just a few minutes walk back. I really enjoyed this. A little cave, tiny adventure and no tourists around. So should you take the difficult road to Pindaya, definitely stop at the Myin Ma Hti /Yevin Cave Pagoda as well.

We pass by Kalaw on the request of the Chinese but since the drive was quite long, once we reach the Pagoda there it is closed already. Since it's been a long day already we are happy to be heading straight back and I am looking forward to – you may have guessed it – my Avocado salad.