Around Bagan & Mt Popa

By time I found accommodation in Bagan I really wasn’t feeling well and I think I was running a low-grade fever with the need for a toilet more than usual. I had no problem going to bed at 6 pm and didn’t get up until 6 am. Fortunately I was feeling much better the next morning and I was up for doing something. My appetite came back. Thankfully, whatever illness I had turned out to be a 24 hour bug.

I by chance made a very good choice of hotels. My spacious room was set back in nice traditional Burmese style courtyard. The staff consisted of mostly all young local girls who smiled a lot and spoke just enough English. The included breakfast was good.

Bagan is set on a flat plane next to the Ayeyarwady river filled with Buddhist temples dating back to different periods. There are said to be upwards of 3,000 in number. Dirt roads and trails weave all over the place which make for good access and exploration. Some temples remain untouched and overgrown while others have seen improvements and restoration. The best way to see the temples is to rent an electric scooter for less than five dollars a day and get lost. So, that’s what I did for two days.

November through January is the dry season and the time that most tourists visit Bagan. The local people are all very nice, friendly, and welcoming. At the larger and more popular temples many vendors sell souvenirs and such. Some are quite persistent without being too pushy and know when to back off.

At one of the lesser popular temples there was a young gentleman selling sand paintings on canvas. He greeted me, asked where I was from, and if I would look at his paintings. I kind of brushed him off but he was persistent in a nice way. As I was about to leave he asked if I wanted to go the top of the temple for a view. I went ahead and took him up on the offer and he began to show me around like a tour guide. The view was great and one I would have missed had he not shown me a somewhat hidden stairway.

After the tour we were back to the paintings. He claimed the paintings were done by him and his family which I seriously doubt. I am not sure how they are produced but vendors all over the temple plane were selling them. They were colorful and interesting but I don’t like picking much stuff while traveling with a backpack. Although I didn’t not want to buy a painting I was deep into the realm of feeling obligated so I gave the guy a tip which he had no problem taking, however, his expression showed that he really preferred I’d buy a painting.

I got a lot of use out of the Chinese made electric scooters I rented. They don’t have a lot of power but I was amazed how a battery could go all day. They are fairly durable and handle bumpy dirt roads and single track trail just fine with a top speed of 25 or 30 mph. The is the option of renting bikes but the scooters are just a lot more efficient because there is so much ground to cover.

After two days of rolling around on a scooter and roaming around temples. I signed up for a day trip to Mt Popa. Mt Popa is a temple built on top of a point on the slopes of an old overgrown volcano. I signed up with a small group arraned with a hostel in New Bagan called Ostello Bello. The hostel is apparently owned by some Italians and is a magnet for young backpackers in their 20’s. It’s quite a scene and set up very well for the young traveler, however, $25 to $30 for a dorm bed in Southeast Asia, is a crazy high considering you can have nice a nice hotel room at the same cost. I guess it’s safety in numbers, a comfort thing, or that everything is done up to a Western European standard that attracts the crowds. For me, I found the hostel to be totally unappealing but easy for hopping on a budget tour.

There were seven of us in the minivan for the ride to Mt Popa. I sat up front with the driver who spoke good English with an accent that was heavy but not too heavy so we could engage in reasonably good conversation. Burma is a very poor country and I was curious as to what was a average wage for a days work. In general, it comes out to be between three to six dollars a day. Someone working at a hotel might make 100 dollars salary for a month in the low season but might get a bonus in the tourist season and make $150 a month. Of course, you work every day. With drivers, guides, and vendors it can vary during the tourist season based on tips and/or how much is sold. As we passed a road crew I asked how much a worker might make. The kid boiling tar in barrels over a wood fire might make three or four bucks a day. The women in flip flops laying down stones by hand or throwing chip over tar all day long make about three or four bucks a day. The men make a dollar or two more a day for the same job.

On the way to Mt Popa we stopped at a roadside place I assume is set up for tourist to see a mill press driven by cow make peanut oil, a woman make tamarind sweets and a local moonshine still where whisky was being made from a mix of palm kernel and rice.

Eventually we made it to Mt Popa. It sits impressively atop a point with a small busy tightly packed village at its base. Our driver dropped us at the bottom of the point where we could access the 777 steps to the top. I wandered off to buy a bottle of water and immediately lost the group but for the next hour and a half we were on our own anyway.

The walk up the temple starts from a busy dirty dirt street and ascends a short flight of steps to a pathway through tightly packed souvenir vendors which creates a tunnel. At the end of the tunnel you come to a another busy entrance and the start of the stairs to the top. As with all the temples in Burma you have to take your shoes off and socks are not allowed. It’s not so bad at the temples of Bagan but Mt Popo was very busy and the beginning steps were dirty with small monkeys running about. I paused to assess the best approach.

I decided not to leave my shoes at the bottom. Too many people. Although Burmese seem very honest and theft doesn’t seem to be much of an issue I thought it best to carry my shoes. So, off with the shoes and socks. I made sure my pack was properly zipped and I had a good hand on everything because of the monkeys. The first couple of flights were kind of gross with bits of dried smashed monkey poop but not far above that were actual stairway cleaners. Why they couldn’t start a little lower I don’t know because once I started pass the cleaners the steps were ok. The cleaners asked for money. I gave one a small amount. Up the steps I climbed with the crowds.

Along the way were colorfully decorated rooms to the side with a golden Buddha. There seemed to be a real money them with the Buddha’s decorated with bills, flashing lights like you would see on a Christmas tree, donation boxes, and cleaners asking for money. Up top the Buddha’s got a little bigger with more donation boxes and a couple of people with desks accepting donations. There was one area that even had the names of individuals painted on plaques with their donation like Bob Smith from California $20. I am not sure of the real significance of the temple but it appears to be a very important place with lots of visitors. Intentional or not there’s a real money theme. Most of all the view if fabulous.

Ispent a little while enjoying the view then made my way down. Careful not to step on the dried monkey poop. By time I got to the bottom my feet were pretty filthy. Going barefoot in the temples of Bagan didn’t bother me at all but something about Popa and it’s monkeys didn’t feel so clean. I happened to have some paper napkins and a small bottle of hand sanitizer. With that I cleaned my feet before putting my shoes back on which felt much better.

After exiting the temple I met up met up with the group back at the van. The driver had to find a creative path to get us out of the village before heading  back to Bagan.

Ispent 4 nights in Bagan with three days to check out the sights. On my last evening in Bagan I whizzed off on a scooter to find a nice temple to watch the sunset from. After that I would need to decided what to do next. Head up the Ayeyarwady by boat to Mandalay or skip the big city and head to the hills for some hiking. With only a week left it would be difficult to do everything. I found myself wallowing in indecision, trying to figure out how to cram it all in, with all options being good. Too many choices not enough time.