About Bagan...

Last Saturday, the Eggerts and I were up and out the door by 4:30 AM to travel to the northern city of Bagan. Though I usually dislike flying, the view out the plane window made up for the recycled air and unending battle for the tiny armrest. In the weak light just after daybreak we could see the tips of thousands of pagodas stretching toward the horizons, scattered amid a red desert landscape and the winding muddy Irrawaddy River. Though we got much closer to many of the temples during the course of the weekend, this birds-eye view was the only one that really displayed the manpower devoted to erecting all these places of worship. It is said that during the Bagan empire's peak, a new temple was started every few months.

Temples!

I happily noted the dry air once we got off our dinky plane and onto the tarmac. In fact, the low humidity, sandy roads, cacti and dry brush reminded me of southern Utah! (Don't worry, I was only homesick for half a second before I got distracted by some awesome local art.) Since peak tourist season is during the mild winters, after the wet monsoon months (which are now) and before the unbearable hot season in spring, the city was relatively uncrowded. Our hotel staff, whether they were just glad to have any customers during the slow season or because they're always super friendly, were incredibly welcoming and hospitable. Our room greeted us with freshly sliced fruit, tea, a river view and beautiful (but deadly) teak floors. It took me an embarrassing amount of time to figure out a safe way to walk from one end of the room to another without slipping!

Since we wanted to take full advantage of our limited time, we immediately set out into the city after we dropped off our luggage. We hopped into our mode of transport for the day, two horse carriages owned by a local named Zin Zin. Used to guiding tourists through the maze of shrines and sandy roads, he helped us navigate our way and helped weed out the less impressive temples. Without him, most of our time would definitely have been spent lost and oblivious to the history around us, since there was literally a temple or a pagoda every few hundred feet.

The sandstone temples housed thousands upon thousands of Buddhas in every shape, color and style. Some of the Buddhas were laying down, depicting the death of the Buddha, some were smiling, some were leafed in gold, some were teak, and we even saw one lacquered Buddha. Many had been recently recreated since an earthquake had struck the region several decades earlier. Some, though, were left intact to decrepitly observe the changes brought during the hundreds of years since they were first erected.

Partially gold-leafed Buddha, famous in the
region for having a head made out of solid teak.

Of course, you can't go to Bagan without seeing lacquer-ware. The region is known for producing the best quality lacquer in the country, though the trees whose sap is required to make the materials grow only in higher elevations. There were vendors on every corner and at every temple, all claiming their families crafted the pieces themselves. Lacquer producers can also train at craft shops, one of which we visited after our temple-hopping (it was a busy first day!)

The different steps each piece of lacquer-ware undergoes to become a
finished piece, starting at the bottom left with the woven bowls and progressing counter-clockwise

The lacquer process is quite long and intricate, as I discovered from the head craft artist's explanations. First, strips of bamboo or horse hair are weaved into the shape of the piece being creator. Lacquer sap mixed with ash is then applied, sanded down, and reapplied until the dish is water-tight. Next, pure lacquer is applied in layers (the better quality pieces have more layers) then set in a cool place to dry. Finally, the color and etching begins. The etching is done in waves between pigment application, since the color won't stick to unmarked lacquer or to areas that have already been colored. In the end, the process can last several months to over a year, depending on the size of the piece. While the wardrobes being created at the shop would take sixteen months, the small tea-cups would take four months (which is still a long time!)

The steps of the coloring process in lacquer-ware.

The next day went by even faster than the first. Rather than ride in horse carriages, we decided to rent bicycles for the day and explore the area at our own pace. Following a self-described guide, twelve-year-old Zu Zu, we tried to stay upright on our one-gears in the thick sand while simultaneously appreciating the surroundings. Honestly, all the temples all started blurring together after a few hours, so eventually we retreated to our favorite (or maybe only my favorite?) vegetarian restaurant. Goal of the summer: recreate their tamarind-leaf curry.

Unfortunately, that was all we had time for. We flew back that evening feeling like our time had been cut short. There's nothing like going out for a stroll (in the nice dry air) to the market and passing dozens of ancient relics along the way.

Week Two

A woman, wearing traditional Burmese sandal wood
paste on her face, selling sweet corn in Scott's Market.

Day fourteen in Yangon! The past week has been quite busy, with trips all around the city to the sites. One of these included the Yangon Zoological Garden. Over one hundred years old, the zoo had about the same square footage as Utah's Hogle Zoo, but otherwise was pretty different. Though some of the cages were small and stark, the natural foliage of Yangon provided many enclosures with the animals' preferred habitats. We saw the rare red panda and white-horned rhino, the obligatory tigers, elephants, and boa constrictors, and the strange great hornbill (which makes us remember bird's dinosaur ancestors). The most surprising part of the zoo, though, weren't the animals. It was the fact that you were invited to feed the animals.

I'm not talking about petting zoo animals either, though there was one donkey and one pony who had a soft spot for bananas. For between 500 and 1000 kyat, a visitor could buy a small basket of the animal's favorite food and toss it right in the cages. The animals, obviously used to this arrangement, came up to the walls of their enclosures to beg when people approached, showing off their cutest sides. The otters were very cute, all in a row with their front paws tucked to their tummies and standing on their hind legs. The hungry hungry hippos came up to the wall and waited for us to drop the lettuce down the (very short) wall into his open, gaping mouth. The elephants, though, were my favorite. Only separated from the human visitors by a shallow moat, the dozen or so giants were close enough to reach out and touch you with their trunks.

Happy happy hippos

Upcoming events are looking good too. The Eggerts and I rallied and managed to book tickets for a weekend trip to Bagan, the Valley of Temples. One of the most observed historical areas in the country, Bagan was once the center of one of the largest kingdoms uniting ancient Myanmar. The height of its power was during the 12th century, but it was founded hundreds of years earlier. In 847, a great archer and warrior king of one of the nearby mountain tribes traveled to a small settlement to save them from "a great bird, a great tiger, and a flying squirrel."

Why the townsfolk needed saving from a bird and a squirrel remains a mystery, but it did the trick. Pyusawhti, as the warrior was named, became a legend. Some even believe he the son of a sun prince and hatched from a dragon egg. With his new superhuman status among the people of the valley, he was able to unite the Burmese people. The Bagan kingdom lasted until the 13th century, when the Mongols invaded. During its long history, the kings of the valley managed to build literally thousands of religious sites, including Buddhist and Hindu temples, pagodas, and more. These sites are the last remaining evidence of the huge metropolis that once house thousands of ancient Burmese.

We will spend only two days and one night in the area, but the temples are literally right outside our hotel. Though most of the sites are Buddhist, I'm particularly excited to see the one Hindu temple in the city. When Buddhism was being introduced to the Bagan people, the king condensed all other religious relics in this one building. It includes murals, statues and other work from many different theologies. This includes images of the animist gods of an even more ancient Burma, called Naga, and elements of this traditional spiritualism remains in the modern Burmese flavor of Buddhism.

So Far

As of yesterday, I've officially been in Yangon for one week. The Eggert family and I have finally started to finally settle in; Don and Nancy are gearing up at work, we've all moved into our semi-permanent residence, and I'm starting to put a stable schedule in place for the kids, Jakob and Victoria.

We landed at the Yangon international airport at 9:30 AM on June 29th from our layover in Taipei. Even though the Eggerts and I had left Salt Lake City more than thirty hours previously, it had been a smooth and easy trip (spent mostly sleeping and reading, in my case).

If we thought we would have had time to adjust after landing, we were mistaken. Our greeter at the airport, Saya (teacher) Chit, whisked us to our hotel, the Summit Parkview, where we hurriedly changed so we could go out to lunch at My Garden across the street. While trying to look clean and well-rested, I met two of Don and Nancy's good work friends and ate some delicious "Thai-styled noodles."

The restaurants here have so far offered a huge variety of drinks and dishes, so much so that the drink and dessert menu is always separate from the extensive food menu. Most restaurants offer coffees, beer, cocktails, yogurt drinks, smoothies and "pearl" shakes for drinks. As far as food goes, many of the places we've been have fish soups, curries and noodle dishes served with sticky or fried rice. It is sometimes a challenge to find vegetarian options here; I've had to rely on the fried vegetarian spring rolls as my meal on several occasions. Jakob the "meat-atarian", however, is usually satisfied with "satays," or meat-skewers.

After our first lunch last Friday, Don and Nancy toured their new work space while I took the kids to the Shwedagon Pagoda. I hadn't planned on going to the sacred Buddhist shrine on our first day, but it so happened that our hotel was only half a block away. Without any time for background research, Jakob, Vika and I walked around the Pagoda and soaked in the sun bouncing off all the gold surfaces. It was a spectacular sight, to say the least. Though I can't wait to go back after I've had time to do a decent amount of reading about the temple, I'm glad I had the opportunity to see it through fresh eyes first.

Shwedagon Pagoda, the most holy Buddhist temple in Myanmar

We spent two days at the hotel before moving into the house we are currently staying in. Though quite simple (lacking an oven or even a microwave), it is roomy, open and furnished. It is more comfortable than it might have otherwise been, since it is usually lived in by two Canadian expats and their three kids; we have air conditioning, a TV with an abundant DVD collection, and (thank-god) Western-style toilets. There are four bedrooms, three upstairs and one downstairs where I sleep. My room, originally occupied by an 11 year-old girl, is decorated with pink camo curtains and plastered with magazine cut-outs of dogs and cats. Even so, it's nice to have my own space, which is more than I had during my stay in India.

My stay here has revealed other differences Yangon has in comparison to India. One of the first things I noticed was the traffic. Though Myanmar has recently allowed its citizens far greater access to vehicles, there are still way less cars on the road than there are in major cities in India. This is also partly is because Myanmar is less densely populated than other places; in fact, it is the least-densely populated country in Southern Asia. Additionally, though the Burmese drive on the right side of the road like Indians do, their steering wheels are located on the right side. Additionally, these streets lack rick-shaws (both motorized and bicycle). Instead, locals get rides in taxis or in a side-cart attached to bicycles (they have two seats besides the driver's: one seat faces forward, the other faces backwards). The most obvious difference between Yangon traffic and, say, Delhi traffic is the lack of motorcyles! Two-wheeled motorized vehicles were outlawed in the city when a high-ranking army official's car was hit by one years ago.

I've also noticed cultural differences. The Burmese love Jakob and Victoria, and in fact pat their heads on every outing (which the kids don't like.) Both friends as well as couples freely hold hands here, whereas in India it was only common to see close male friends touching one another. You are also far more likely to see young people dress in shorts and tank-tops here, clothes often deemed inappropriate in areas I traveled in India. However, older men here often continue to dress in the traditional bottoms: a long piece of fabric wrapped around the legs and wrapped in a knot in the front of their waist, coming to either knee-length or ankle-length.

Many of the street foods look familiar to those in India though. At the major downtown market we went to today, Bogyose or Scott's Market, I saw purees, milkcakes, chai and roasted nuts, among other familiar fruits and vegetable stalls. The market was crowded by both tourists and locals, and sold everything from fabric and houseware to artwork and jewels. I hadn't yet been to the downtown area, and I was fascinated by the mixture of traditional housing and temples, tourist-targeted restaurants and hotels, and the worn-down British buildings built during colonialism.

We're off to dinner, so I'll sign off here.