Day 12 Thazi to Kalaw

I awoke c. 04:30, there was some chanting!! Our carriage awaited us at 07:15. However, there was a moment of panic as all the doors in the guest house were locked !! A packed breakfast was left for us and no one was about. I rang the reception bell more in hope than expectation! The owner appeared, opened the door and wished us an enjoyable trip. 

Outside was a pony and trap which would take us to the station. 

The driver loaded our bags, drove us to the station, showed us the ticket office (we had to show our passports to purchase the tickets K1,850 pp €1.30 for c.6 hour journey), loaded the bags onto the train and showed us our seats - again such service. 

 

The platform was abuzz with people both passengers and vendors. One could even have breakfast on the platform if one dared!!

The train is filthy!! I don’t think it has been cleaned or maintained in any way since purchase - everything including the ceiling fans are covered in layers of dirt and dust. As for the toilets - atrocious! Once one departed the main tourist areas, standards drop exponentially. People appeared poorer and not as well dressed. The train reminds me of the Tazara, which we took in Africa.  We’re now rocking along at about 20 miles an hour. The German girls are sitting in front of us and there are a few more locals in this carriage. Most passengers travel in Ordinary Class -  on hard seats! Our seats are quite comfortable.

We travel through the plains for a time. The farmers are working in the field. The land is very intensively cultivated.  Eventually, we climb into the mountains, 

Passing through tunnel after tunnel. 

Passing station after station

picking up and dropping off passengers 

The vendors come on board selling their wares They don’t trouble us!

Lunch is being prepared on the platform for passengers 

We continue to climb. As we approach Kalaw - the tree planted hills are replaced by intensive agriculture 

with a farmer ploughing with an ox and plough

and another manually irrigating the land. 

After a very scenic six hours journey, we arrived in Ka law 

The air is fresher at this altitude. It has a Himalayan atmosphere with a temperature to match.  It is a town built by the British civil servants to escape the heat of the plains. The town’s population is composed of a significant number of Nepalese Gurkhas and Indians whose ancestors built the roads and railways here during the colonial period. 

We had booked: 

an old colonial hotel dating back to 1903. The Strand Hotel (1901) in Yangon is the oldest in the country. Kalaw Hotel is the second oldest. 

The interior is splendid 

We had a walk near the hotel - seeking out a church where an Italian priest spent from 1931, a year or two after his ordination until he died here in 2,000!   We saw a Christian Brothers premised and the nearby St. Agnes’s convent - vestiges of former times, I’d venture!  

We returned to the hotel to dinner. We imbibed a cocktail in the bar. 

A  Manchester couple who set up the hotel in 1903.  Similar to all hotels we have frequented to date, there were few guests. The dining room is named after the founders of this establishment - the Sissons, 

We dined there. There were only eleven other diners. The food was delicious. I had

Danu Chicken Tea Leaf Curry and CC had Aromatic Chicken from the Shan Hills - the latter area is where our Italian chef in Yangon sources his ingredients from.( Remember him?).  Both were delicious. 

CC craved a semolina pudding - a throw back from his childhood!! 

However, the local version was very different (as a child I never enjoyed semolina, rice or any other of those traditional puddings). It was composed of a semolina cake, topped by a fantastic shortbread cup filled with fresh fruit. - delicious. 

We retired. 

Day 11 Bagan to Thazi

Last  night the hotel had a tuk tuk awaiting us. Such is the service - we had enquired as to the availability of one - the hotel is about a 5 minute walk from New Began but one should not walk at night. There are many dangers: marauding dogs, snakes, a lack of street lights and motor bikes without lights. We said we’d be ready in an hour or so. One hour later, reception called to say out tuk tuk was ready when were and that we can negotiate our own fare. The Tuk Tuk driver always has to be negotiated with. It’s a game ! 

The Black Rose was our restaurant of choice. Last night I regretted ordering prawns - my tummy felt a little queasy this a.m. - I ought to have known better but I was taken in by the waitresses assurances!!  

Tonight, on the basis of reviews, I ordered a local white fish cooked in limes. It was delicious and CC had roasted duck (a little too roasted for our liking ). There is one Myanmar  brand of wine, as far as I am aware - red and white. We’ve tried both and both are acceptable. Wine  is only produced in Lake Inle and as we’ll be there in two days time we’ll check if there are other varieties. 

As in the previous evening, the restaurant was patronised by foreigners. On our way in we spoke to two young girls from Bristol. They were in the final days of a three month tour of Asia. It is possible to take an early morning balloon ride over Began (US$300). I considered it but I am always worried about the safety features in countries such as this. The girls said it was their last  spurgle to end their trip on a high note. I agreed and acknowledged that I now regret not taking this balloon ride. 

We tuk tuked back to the hotel. 

This morning, we had a hotel pick up at 07:30 - a mini bus that would take us to Thazi . As we awaited the bus the balloons were returning from their journey - they leave in darkness, fly over the temples, the sun rises and return at dawn to a real champagne breakfast - more regrets!  

The mini bus arrived within minutes of the appointed time. A few passengers were aboard but the bus filled to capacity as we departed the area at 08:30.  The passenger profile was not as I expected - with the exception of one young man, the age profile was 60+ !   

At 14:30, the driver announced that we had arrived in Thazi - earlier than we had expected.  The driver had made great progress - the main road is quite good unlike the dirt roads of the towns. Were the driver not to have informed us, we’d still be on the bus!! Taking down our bags, he pointed to a nearby hostel. We had already booked Moon Light  closeby. 

We checked in. The lady and her daughter spoke excellent English. She even allocated us her only ground floor room as there are no lifts. 

NOTE: In the GB, the Moon Light had been recommended but when we tried to book through sites such as Bookings.com etc. , all sites advised us that it was full and the nearest alternative was 12 miles away!! Untrue, the hotel receptionist rang and booked us a room. On arrival, we saw another guest house next door. GB only listed the Moon Light.

We walked around the town.

It is remote.The only people who come here were those interested in taking the slow train to Kalaw, a former British station situated in the mountains, as a relief from the lowland heat.

Amazingly, we met up with two ladies, Andrea and Elka whom we had met on the boat on the Irrawaddy. It reminded me of similar meetings when we drove Route 66.  Andrea had perfect English, Elka was not as fluent but pretty good. They are from Freiburg; both met in kindergarten. The former is a financial analyst married to a German professor, the other a travel agent. As we came out of our room, they were sitting in our guest house having drinks. We left them to go to the Railway Station ! 

Foreigners are a curiosity here. The only tourists are rail buffs taking the train from Thazi.  It was a surreal experience with children waving to us in the streets and adults wishing to shake our hands!! The railway station was a shadow of its colonial grandeur - very run down but continues  to be an active station. 

Later, we walked down the town checking out a restaurant the girls had been recommended. We were not  impressed and thought our guest house was a better bet.    

En route a train passed. Having just left Tsazi station. 

On our return, the girls were already eating in our guest house. They had the only bottle of French wine in the house which we had earlier said we would have with dinner. All the other wines. didn't impress so the lady of the house went to her cousin to get bottles he had taken from her previously. She returned with one though as the girls ordered another, we needed two!!  The lady of the house took off again but returned to report that there was no more!! There is no liquor store in the town -population 20,000!! The girls then decided on whiskey - again the man  of house went off and returned with a premium whiskey and coke. In the interim, we had both eaten a fabulous soup and beef curry, a bottle of wine, a bottle of water and two large beers K20,000 The Burmese people retire early. We retired at 20:30 , the girls a half hour before. 

Tomorrow a man will collect us from the guest house, in his pony and cart, drive us to the railway station, buy our tickets and load our baggage on board - the charge  K1,000 (60cents)- we must give him more.! 

Tomorrow is another day....,

Day 10 The Temples

We’ve booked a car and driver for 14:00 to take us around the area to view some specific temples. Meantime, we’re lounging by the pool. The temperature is pleasant at 28•. 

Our driver was awaiting us as we went to the hotel exit to meet him. All modes of transport are very punctual here. 

There are temples everywhere, we even had our own temples by the hotel. 

From the 11th to the 13th century, more than 4000 temples were commissioned. The crumbling structures are all that remains of the grand city of Began. Authorities cannot agree as to what brought about its demise. 

The standard of restoration has been poor but historically the temples have always been poorly patched up as temples periodically suffer, being in an earthquake zone. Following the 1975 earthquake, UNESCO spent US$1million on restoration. During the mid 1990s, wealthy locals and some foreigners sponsored the restoration under the auspices of the government. The 2016 earthquake that struck Central Myanmar  measured 6.8 on the Richter scale damaged numerous Bagan temples but no one died here. After the earthquake, UNESCO officials returned to work with locals on repair works. 

Old Bagan, with its numerous temples dotting  the landscape is  hugely impressive. 

 

Three towns make up what is broadly termed Bagan. Coming from the  Ferry port the towns are New Bagan, Old Bagan and Nyaung-U. We stayed at New Bagan.  

I chose an itinerary - there is little point trying to visit all. We drove to the furthest point, past Old Bagan to Nyaung-U, to visit Shwe zi gone Pagoda (the buildings with the gold spires). This is the town’s main religious site.

The gilded zedi sits on three gilded ascending terraces.

At the Four cardinal points are stairways (closed) 

a Buddha at each. 

At the entrance to the Eastern stairway was a footprint embedded in concrete with filled with water to allow former monarchs to look st the reflection of the hti without tipping their heads backwards and having their crown fall off. 

Another interesting feature of the site is a shrine with 37 pre - Buddhist in compromising gestures as the Bamar republic wanted the country to give up Buddhism. 

 

       Above some of the compromised Buddhas 

Our next choice was Htilominio. It was severely damaged in the 2016 earthquake. It was suggested that one walk around the base to admire glazed sandstone decorations and carved.doorways 

The highlight was:

This is a spectacular working temple

The entrance is through very impressive teak doors 

 

At each of the cardinal points a Buddha is located- north and south are original - east and west were lost in the fire of 1600 and are replacements in a later style. To commemorate its 900th anniversary, the temple spires were gilded. The remainder is whitewashed. 

 

It is the most revered of all Bagan Temples. The temple and its vast courtyard is awe inspiring!  It is so vast that I couldn’t initially find where I had entered to reclaim my shoes but one of the numerous vendors kindly obliged and pointed me in the right direction. 

We continued through the walls of Old Bagan, through the Tharabar Gate to Thatbyinyu reputedly Baganda highest temple - 207ft. in height. Some scholars believe the temple was never consecrated because of the absence of plaques which would have show scenes from Jataka.  

This is an example of Bagan’s Middle period, architecturally. 

Architecturally, it illustrates the end of the early period and the commencement of the middle period. Again it’s inner passages off limits due to earthquake damage! 

Our guide was rather taciturn and at this point though it was only 17:00, he wanted to take us nearby to view the sunset!!! The sunset was timed for 17:50!! 

I told him that I wished to visit one more temple nearby and I didn’t mind if I missed the sunset as I had seen many already!  Dear reader how many have I shown you to date ? 

He drove us to: 

where having de shodded myself once more, I entered the temple At this stage CC had opted out - he was templed out!!) 

As I entered, a young man (about10 years old volunteered to be my guide) l. He was delighted to be photographed! 

His English was impeccable! In fact the younger they are the better their English. It was difficult to understand our driver’s strong accent. My ‘guide’ was very self assured, bright as a button and very knowledgeable about the Temple.  I had read up on it prior to my visit and what he told me was accurate. We walked along, pointing out the one Buddha to be seen and that all the others were all bricked up,  the tremendous height of the ceilings, the arm sized grooves, where workers who failed to fit stones together so accurately that even a pin couldn’t pass between them had their arms chopped off ! Il spare you the picture!! King Narathu had built the temple to atind  for his sins - he smothered his father and  brother to death and executed one of his wives, an Indian princess for practising Hindu rituals. He himself was later assassinated - this may be only a colorful legend.!! 

He pointed out the Twin Buddha’s (my guide had me so absorbed as he recounted their history,  I omitted to take a photo - and it’s the only temple with twin Buddha’s!! 

He pointed out the wall paintings 

No restoration work has commenced on this temple . perhaps because of its bad karma. 

As we walked the vast corridors, 

an official guide  looked with amusement at me and my young guide as we both continued our tour pretending not to notice!! 

At the conclusion, he asked me if I would come to his shop? I replied that I had only a small case and I couldn’t fit anymore souvenirs. He shook most graciously shook my hand and said ‘ thank you’ , Now here was my dilemma - I wanted  to give him something but if I give him too much, it will encourage him to come here and skip school. I remembered when we were travelling in Africa, for the same reason, we were asked not to give the children money but to donate to one of the Charities. I gave him a small donation. Given the chance, that young boy will go far.

We were then  driven to view the sunset - not another you may cry. 

Dusk with numerous temples on the plain

As we drove back to New Bagan and the hotel, darkness had fallen and we passed a stunning pagoda lighting the night sky. 

Another great day ..