Bagan 21 to 24 September - posted from Rebak, Langkawi

With around 2600 monuments still standing of the 4400 that were constructed over a 250 year period in the 11^th to 13^th centuries AD it is difficult to do any justice to Bagan in a short blog page. Here are a few images to give a flavour.

View towards the river



Dhammayangi Temple



Gawdawpalin Temple

Thatbyinnyu Temple



Ananda Phaya



The monuments, stupas, temples and monasteries are spread over an area said to be the size of Manhattan Island, surrounded by the vast agricultural area of the ancient flood plain of the Ayeyarwady (Irrawaddy)River. The people are not now allowed to live in the monuments but still graze their cattle around them. In fact the government moved the people from Old Bagan to a peanut field in 1990 which became New Bagan.

 

Buddha image Ananda Phaya

A severe earthquake in 1976 damaged many of the structures, some of which have been partially restored, several with the help of UNESCO.  Nevertheless Bagan has not made it on to the list of World Heritage sites, possibly because some of the restorations not made with UNESCO help were inappropriate in choice of materials or an inaccurate representation of the original.  Many of the murals in the temples are very faded and, where they have been restored, photography is not allowed.  Many stuccos have been damaged or stolen over the centuries.  However, Buddha statues are everywhere, some quite stunning

Our visit crisscrossed the monument area, seeing many of the main sites, as well as local villages and markets. At a lacquer ware workshop we realised that that it is applied in layers up to 14, dried between, then engraved, we lashed out and purchased some coasters for Sea Bunny.  

Myoe Daung Monastery, Old Bagan

Cart by stupas (from postcard)

One of the most rememorable and enjoyable forms of transport was a horse-drawn cart that  took us on a route past some of the monuments not accessible by car and through small villages with their farms and monasteries.

Tractors are rare

The agriculture is largely carried out without mechanisation, using bullocks to pull ploughs and carts and with most activities done by manual labour.

Sorting plum stones - a year's work

In one farm we saw three women working with a huge pile of what we were told were sour plums.  Their task was to extract the stones, which are used in Chinese medicine.  While there was a machine to do the removal of much of the flesh, final processing involved passing the stones through a series of sieves of reducing mesh.  To process the whole pile would take these women a year, working 8 hours a day.