Bagan and Inle Lake, Myanmar – 2000 temples and villages on the water
The next day we caught a 15 hour bus ride north to Bagan to visit the famous temples there. We arrived around 5am and caught a local ‘taxi’ – a horse and buggy – to our hotel where we were pretty sure we were the only people there for 2 days as it’s almost hot season and most tourists stay away. We arranged for this same ‘taxi’ driver to be our chauffer for the next two days at a rate of about $8/day, and later found out we got ripped off a bit but didn’t feel too bad because he was a really nice man. He took us to catch the end of sunrise above an empty temple and we were completely floored when we looked across the vast, flat, open landscape which revealed around 2000 ornate and majestic temples of similar style but various sizes. 
People often compare the temples of Bagan to the more famous Angkor temples in Cambodia, but there wasn’t any view in Cambodia that even remotely compared with the view we caught of all the Bagan temples that morning. We went back to our hotel for a nap and then met our chauffer again for a few hours of visiting several temples. Some temples had paintings inside which told stories of life hundreds of years ago, and most had Buddha statues that locals visited daily to pray at. We really enjoyed two days of visiting temples here more than anywhere else in SE Asia because there weren’t many tourists and because there were locals actually using the temples unlike Cambodia where it’s just hoardes of toursists everywhere. And the locals were genuinely interested in greeting with you, chatting with you, and not always trying to sell you something. We were templed-out after two days in Bagan so we caught a 40 minute flight to Heho to then visit Inle Lake, a major tourist destination. The flight was an adventure as it seemed like the plane barely came to a full stop while everyone was getting on and then started to take off again before everyone was fully buckled in. I cant imagine why the pilot was in such a hurry as no one is in a hurry to do anything in Mynamar. We shared a beat-up car with an Italian man and French woman to the charming Aquarius Guesthouse that gave us fresh fruit and fruit shakes everytime we came back from a trip in the afternoon. The first day we rented bikes to ride out to some hot springs but were disappointed when we arrived and found out we had to pay $1 just to enter the facility and then $3 more to go into the hot springs. We paid the $1 but waited to see the springs before paying more and thank God we did because the spring was dirty and super hot which wasn’t very appealing given that it was hot season and we were already boiling. Since we had already spent $1 we decided to get the most for our money and took a nap on a bench in the shade and used the bathrooms a few times. Justice was served. We biked some more and hiked up a hill to visit a temple and get a great view of the lake, and then biked home past water buffalos having a great time wading through marshes and lots of mud.
The next day we paid a guy $9 to take us on a full-day boat trip around the lake. We visited a local market and some shops were locals weave gorgeous textiles, make cheroot (small cigars) by hand, and other crafts and cruised past young boys who rowed their boats with only one oar and only using their leg to do the rowing. It was fascinating to move through all the villages surrounding the lake that are completely on top of the water. All the houses, shops, etc are on stilts as everyone litterally lives and works on the lake. That evening we ate a delicious meal of Shan food, the ethinic group in this region not my wife, and went to an internet café whose owner also was a bookie. One of his best customers was a Buddhist monk who smoked and had a big stack of cash that he pulled out of from somewhere in his robe (they don’t have pockets you know) to bet on English soccer matches. Amazing.
For pics:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/shanlovesphotos/sets/72057594095624505/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/shanlovesphotos/sets/72057594095640286/
– Anthony
Tags: Bagan, Inle Lake, Myanmar, SE Asia, Southeast Asia, Travel
Shan