10th January Monya to Bagan - MYANMAR (BURMA)
Today we went from Monywa to Bagan.
Today we went from Monywa to Bagan.
We left Monwya this morning early and began our 3 hour
drive down to Pakkoku with several stops on the way.
It was to be a day of Buddhist extremes collecting the Big 3. We saw more, bigger and "golder" than anywhere on this continent.
We had quickly relaised that Burma had a lot more than we realised and now we were going to be tought a lesson in "Grand Statements"
We had quickly relaised that Burma had a lot more than we realised and now we were going to be tought a lesson in "Grand Statements"
Our first stop was the Thanboddhay Pagoda which houses more
than 500,000 Buddha images, the most in Indochina. Every nook and cranny had a
Buddha of some size in it and a little stall selling more to raise donations for
the upkeep.
Besides the usual gold big Buddhas, the monks sold small plaster of Paris ones to raise money for the upkeep and construction.
Buddah count now over 3 million !!!
(Above) The temple with half a million Buddhas - note the little plaster of paris Buddha images to the left of the gold images.
It is always interesting that whilst none of us had any interest before in the religion, we all grew to like it, understand a little more and every time we went to any temple it would always be more spectacular than the one before it - it would be an unexplained law....
So now we have seen a pretty huge collection - lets see whats in the garden......
oh, its 700 4' sitting Buddhas, what else. Now for those people who are not fully Buddised as we have become, Buddhas with umbrellas are teachers obiously...!
Joking aside, for years people have talked about the 6 concrete cows of Milton keynes, imagine our shock when you see three fields of Buddha images all the same...pretty awe inspiring although we remain unsure as to why.
Now, we have seen Buddhas that are rumored to be covered in 2.8 tonnes of gold.
we've seen Buddhas that are longer, taller, feet together, feet apart, long ear lobes, short ear lobes, sitting, reclining leaning and so on bit then nobody had prepared us for what happened next......... we were about to be just mesmerized
From 5Km away, this 535 foot freestanding Buddha came into focus like something from space and the not much shorter than the longest reclining Buddha.
On a serious note, great care has to be used when referring to Buddhas in Myanmar. Recently a Dutch guy went into business with a Myanmar guy to open a bar and used a dayglow image of a Buddha in its marketing materials...they got 5 years and will not be able to have visitors.
Besides the usual gold big Buddhas, the monks sold small plaster of Paris ones to raise money for the upkeep and construction.
Buddah count now over 3 million !!!
(Above) The temple with half a million Buddhas - note the little plaster of paris Buddha images to the left of the gold images.
It is always interesting that whilst none of us had any interest before in the religion, we all grew to like it, understand a little more and every time we went to any temple it would always be more spectacular than the one before it - it would be an unexplained law....
So now we have seen a pretty huge collection - lets see whats in the garden......
oh, its 700 4' sitting Buddhas, what else. Now for those people who are not fully Buddised as we have become, Buddhas with umbrellas are teachers obiously...!
Joking aside, for years people have talked about the 6 concrete cows of Milton keynes, imagine our shock when you see three fields of Buddha images all the same...pretty awe inspiring although we remain unsure as to why.
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| The characters at the bottom are not concrete Buddha images although if we keep eating as we are doing, we soon will be. |
we've seen Buddhas that are longer, taller, feet together, feet apart, long ear lobes, short ear lobes, sitting, reclining leaning and so on bit then nobody had prepared us for what happened next......... we were about to be just mesmerized
From 5Km away, this 535 foot freestanding Buddha came into focus like something from space and the not much shorter than the longest reclining Buddha.
On a serious note, great care has to be used when referring to Buddhas in Myanmar. Recently a Dutch guy went into business with a Myanmar guy to open a bar and used a dayglow image of a Buddha in its marketing materials...they got 5 years and will not be able to have visitors.
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(Above) The team on the steps underneath this huge construction
(Below) Just becuase its 535 feet up doesnt mean to say that bamboo scaffolding wont be used and this is the proof..a picture of workers on Bamboo 400 feet up...eeeekks!
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| As we have mentioned in the past, Military Generals make donations to ensure their safe passage through death. (Above) Proof, corrupt general chipping in money and visiting the finished project ....his way of ensuring a great afterlife!!! (this was a picture on the wall in the centre area but you could see the local people hissing as they walked past it. |
Having now seen the temple with
the most Buddha images we headed on to our next stop which was Laykyun Setkyar,
which is the largest free standing Buddha in the world at 535 feet in height. It can be seen from
miles away but is completely mind blowing up close. It has 31 floors which you
can climb up to all but the top 6 and views right over the countryside. The monk
who built this wanted to find a way of supporting the very poor local community
and decided to build a pagoda, but being very smart he realised to get lots of
visitors to come he needed it to be something out of the ordinary decided
on the largest Buddha.
He then pan handled the military governors for donations by getting them all wanting to be recognised for being part of the largest Buddha image (good Karma for their next lives…!!) and between this and local donations built this giant Buddha which dominates the landscape. It now through visitor donations (Burmese and other Buddhist countries mainly) provides education, water and livelihood round the tourist industry for the local population – very smart.
He then pan handled the military governors for donations by getting them all wanting to be recognised for being part of the largest Buddha image (good Karma for their next lives…!!) and between this and local donations built this giant Buddha which dominates the landscape. It now through visitor donations (Burmese and other Buddhist countries mainly) provides education, water and livelihood round the tourist industry for the local population – very smart.
On then to the Boditahtaung Pagoda on the same site which houses the largest
reclining Buddha image in Myanmar, at 100m long and 27m high which is housed in
the tiniest pagoda so you can just squeeze in to see the Buddha and no more. All
very bizarre stuff !
Buddha count 5.5 million (so it seems)
Pagoda’d out for today we then went on to a local village Kyet Su Kin where due to the dry conditions in this area, the only crop they can really grow is Thanaka which is used for the skin protection/beauty aid which all the Burmese women wear on their faces but is also the material from which incense sticks are made.
This tiny village produces all the incense sticks for a major Yangon company which advertises on TV and is the main supplier to all the main pagodas. They make it sound like they make them but they buy them all from this village and all they do is package them. We couldn’t believe how manual the whole process was and everyone in the village including the small children have a small machine to roll the incense sticks and every spare moment is spent making these. When we arrived, the whole village stopped and we had green tea with them with fresh melon just out the fields, the hospitality given how little they have was just humbling. On the village site were some very old pagodas going back to the 11th century so after tea we went for a walk round the site accompanied by all the children who just wanted to hold hands & practice their English. They were so sweet. Walking through an ancient pagoda site, with children on each hand with all of us singing Frere Jaque will live long in our memories…….
This tiny village produces all the incense sticks for a major Yangon company which advertises on TV and is the main supplier to all the main pagodas. They make it sound like they make them but they buy them all from this village and all they do is package them. We couldn’t believe how manual the whole process was and everyone in the village including the small children have a small machine to roll the incense sticks and every spare moment is spent making these. When we arrived, the whole village stopped and we had green tea with them with fresh melon just out the fields, the hospitality given how little they have was just humbling. On the village site were some very old pagodas going back to the 11th century so after tea we went for a walk round the site accompanied by all the children who just wanted to hold hands & practice their English. They were so sweet. Walking through an ancient pagoda site, with children on each hand with all of us singing Frere Jaque will live long in our memories…….
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Janette is being stared out by the local children. Steve was a giant and janette with blue eyes and blond hair was decidedly weird...we all thought so as well !!!
The girl on the floor is making incense sticks with Thaneka paste(as applied to face) and some kind of oil. These are then sent off to a company and labelled as incence sticks and supplied to large retailer.
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| Our adopted family...suffice to say, we gave them a helping hand as we left |
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| Children use the 13th century stupas as play dens |
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| Now when you get to hear that you are visiting a village, you dont expect it to be an unworked ancient 13th century pagoda being used as dens but this site was a beautiful piece of ancient Burma yet to be properly restored. Fortunately most people here think ghosts occupy these temples so they dont get attacked |
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| All the locals came out to meet the strange looking people and we were treated to free food and tea. We seem then to have become adopted by the village and they then grabbed our arms and and dragged around the place. |
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| Dont buy the "Red Label" from the road side |
On then to Pakkoku to board the boat that would take us down the (no famous) Irrawaddy River to Bagan. Pakkoku was just a small working town on the edge of the river but is notable as the flashpoint for the first protests of the Saffron revolution which then spread throughout the country most famously in Yangon and Mandalay.
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| The peaceful trip down to Bagan and a few hundred more Stupas |
Janette and Mandy neared the landing jetty in trepidation waiting to see what today’s boat and boarding process would be but to our relief it looked fine and we clambered aboard via some banana leaf floats to keep us out of the mud with no dramas.
The boat trip down to Bagan was wonderful. It was a warm sunny day and we sat on the front watching the world go by on the water and the river banks, just lovely but the best was yet to come. We approached the town from the river just as the sun as starting to set which was just beautiful and a wonderful introduction to this magical place as we saw all the spires rise up in the setting sun.
We checked in to our hotel which is by one of the gates to the old city and sat in the lovely gardens with cold beers & margaritas, perfect end to another wonderful day.
As we approached the mystical sight of the outskirts of Bagan, a farmers tent on the river bank with a pagoda in the background. Its impossible to take a picture in Myanmar without a pagoda in the background.
Our boat after we got off - it does look like its sunk !!! That might be the second one we have trashed.
Bagan was chosen as our final place of our holiday because it is the most spectacular of them all.
Early night tonight – big day tomorrow !!
Our boat after we got off - it does look like its sunk !!! That might be the second one we have trashed.
Bagan was chosen as our final place of our holiday because it is the most spectacular of them all.
Early night tonight – big day tomorrow !!
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