Arthawka Hotel Bagan

The 9-hour minibus from Kalaw to Bagan was one of the worst bus rides I've ever taken - this trip can be only rivalled by some minivans in Western Sichuan and maybe my Pokhara-Kathmandu stretch about six weeks ago. Somehow I still managed to endure this Burmese experience without a major nervous breakdown. The problem number one was the DUST. It was all over and everywhere. In theory, the road was mostly paved, but ...

Today we had put aside as a day off as we need to get up early to take our balloon flight the next morning. <br><br>The day consisted of having breakfast at the guesthouse, walking down the road to use the internet, walking back up the road to have lunch. Having a sleep at the guesthouse and then catching a car out the Pyathada Paya to catch the ...

... asiatic, i que fa que viatjar en transport public sigui d'allo mes desesperant a la vegada que molt enriquidor. Avui tan sols havia de recorrer les 80 milles que separen Moniwa de Pakokku i en principi hi havia 6 sortides diaries (segons el que diu la 'Lonely'). Quan he arribat a l'estacio d'autobusos a les 7:45 per agafar el bus de les 8:00 m'han dit que res de res, que tan sols n'hi havia una i que era a les 12:30. Aixi que arma't de ...

... Zu for 7000 Kyat. When we were leaving (after untangling ourselves from a guy selling figurines and a lady selling laquerware) a young man from the first temple showed up. He was selling books and I had told him that the only one I was interested in was a cookbook that I had seen at the hotel. He brought me the exact same book, brand new, and I bought it for $13 (hotel was selling for $20). We stopped to pick up our laundry and were ...

... previous Buddhas. This one has five to include the future Buddha. We were able to climb up the outside of the Temple and take a couple of pictures. The view is very good. U Kyat explained that the circles in the inner archways are to represent the wheel (teaching of Buddha). Also it is common to see lotus flowers because it was said that where Buddha walked, lotus flowers would spring up. The older paintings on the walls dating back to the 11th century are only black ...

... Bike was my way of transport on temples. Bagan was flourishing for several centuries about a thousand years ago. It is considered the first Burmese empire. Over 4000 payas (religious monuments), mostly temples and pagodas, were built that time. Approximately a half of them are still preserved. A destructive earthquake in 1975 did its part. Therefore in some buildings you can now see brick patches as a result of reconstruction. Apart from that wealthy people keep ...

... of other temples alone with your thoughts and now one to bother you; listening to horses, cows, the breeze and the occasional monks chanting in the distance. It's so remarkable that you can have such a special place to yourself. Some of the more famous temples have a few hawkers and tourists, but you can just as easily go to the one next door and have it to yourself. It was such a breath of fresh air ...

... ride that left us feeling s*mewhat smug and self satisfied at what hardened backpack**s we'd bec*me (m*re *n karmic retributi*n t* c*me c*nc**ning *ur little bl*at *f pride th**e). We t**k a trishaw ride in the s*-c**l-y*u-c*uld-see-the-n*stril-exhal ati*ns-*f-the-h*rses m*rning air *f Bagan f*r 500 kyat each, t* May Kha Lar guesth*use- *ur h*me f*r the next tw* days. A pretty charming little place, three fl**rs *f r**ms with a semi-*pen breakfast n**k and sunny balc*ny *v**l ...

... but this jutting spire is indeed natural. As it require a climb up 770 stairs to reach, and it is apparently a "standard temple" which at this point we've seen a few, we decided to admire it from the veranda of the hotel while we had an excellent Burmese lunch. On the way back to Bagan town we stopped at this building with a huge ruckus of bells and wailing instruments of unknown type and a sort of yelling-singing. Inside a woman and a man in long flowing costumes were jumping around ...

... many family groups climbing the stairs. Even though the sky was pretty overcast I still got a great view of the city, with the moat surrounding it. I had a quick lunch of noodles at one of the foodstalls and then it was back down again. My trishaw driver took me to a famous Buddhist temple which is known as the worlds largest book. This is because there are hundreds of stones there, each of which is inscribed with verses from one of the Buddhist scriptures. The cute little ...