Kumudara Hotel Bagan

... such a simple construction, it doesn't admit too many variations. Bagan reminds me of visiting the khmer temples in Siem Reap, a humongous amount of pagodas that dot a huge dry tropical forest. The best is to hire a bike and hit the hidden dusty roads, play again Indiana Jones and pretend to be the first one to visit some of these monuments it took you so much time and effort to find (you need to put a bit of imagination on your side otherwise the visit becomes monotonous and boring and ...

... and West are replicas. When you are up close to the Buddha, his face looks serene, when you walk away his face looks like it is smiling. There are three rings around the Temple in which you can pass. One ring was for royalty, one for monks and the third for commoners. At the entrance to each there is a statue that has a hand held out to remind commoners to stop. We were able to see the original teak doors to one entrance. We have not seen any teak doors at any of the ...

... she was swaying back and forth the entire time. She showed me the video, it was ridiculous! We met some folks from different parts of the world: Florence and Jerome from Dijon, France, they are on a vacation; Ronald and Khun (from above) are from Holland, Ronald has been a student in Bangkok; Sarah from England has been traveling for 16 months; Celestine is from France; Catherine from Ottawa/Victoria who had been teaching in New Zealand! ((Sorry if ...

... hotel tell us some nice temples to be at for sunset. We made sure we were at one. There were a few other people there, but it was really nice. The sun disappeared behind the mountain really quickly though. It was still beautiful to watch. We still had to bike home as well. We tried to figure out how far we rode, and think it was between 25 and 30 km. Most of the temples were off the main roads, down ...

... the first part *f the transacti*n t**k place. Again, against my bett** judgment, we decided t* just get it *v** with and exchange a wh*pping $300. We'd already walked this far in the swelt**ing Yang*n aft**n**n, I th*ught. The highest den*minati*n in kyat being a 1000 n*te (~$1.00), the tw* *f us and tw* shady Indian dudes st**d th**e, c*unting gin*rm*us wad aft** gin*rm*us wad *f dirty, *v**sized kyat. Jesse and I'd split the c*unting, and we'd each c*unted *ur respective ...

... a restaurant that actually was open as there were almost no tourists in the whole town. SG of course came through and found some excellent vittles - two of the nights even featured excellent traditional entertainment: a marionette show one night and a classical dancer the next. We were in Bagan a few days and had been told that a visit to Mt. Popa some two hours distant was a necessity. The Hawaiian professors had even insisted that we spend not one but two nights there, but as SG ...

... from other people. Did I also mention that its incredibly hot here? Are you getting the picture (and smell?!?!) Never mind. Its all part of the travelling spirit! We managed to get a bit of sleep although its incredibly hot and really, really dusty in Pakokku (I think I used my asthma inhaler about seven times through the night) and headed out on the 5:30am boat downriver to Bagan. More on that in the next episode! Love, K & M

... slow), and paying $27 (fast) rather than $10 (slow). I opted for the first, as it would mean one day less in (slightly boring) Mandalay in favour of more exciting Bagan, which is supposed to be a highlight of this trip. Only later did I hear that the revenues of the fast boat go to the Myanmar government... Damn... And the fast boat turned out to be packed! About half of the passengers, I would later see again ...

... any country. A 15 year old piece of absolute junk car used to cost about $700 here but now due to government taxes and fees, the same car costs about $12,000. We met a nurse that helps the elderly and she says people (and especially visiting doctors) always say they are going to send medicine to help. She says she knows that these people send their care packages but they never get to her. The government takes it for themselves. Lovely people, atrocious government.

... could use. We encountered a number of French, plus Germans, Dutch, Italians and Aussies/Kiwis to lesser degrees. Of the few Canadians we encountered most were from Quebec. Dan, a trained linguist and native of Northern Ontario, was immediately joking with them in patois. Americans and British were relatively rare. Shoes are removed in (and on) all temples. Most surfaces were reasonably clean and smooth from constant use, but sometimes ...