Once we’d taken a peek around the key guy asked us to look at his hand made sand paintings, which I did….not realizing every key guy has an arm full of handmade sand paintings.

This next bit is more for James and I, we wanted to document what we saw. Every temple was different and beautiful in its own way and a year from now we want to be able to look back and remember.

1		Seinyed Temple	climbed up to top, only one with a stupa, could see from our hotel room
2		Nagayon Guphaya Temple	most beautiful statues I’ve seen, giant gold Buddha
3		Abe Yadanar Temple	built in honour of Kings wife who waited for him to come home from his hanging (didn’t say how long she waited or if he came home)
4		Nan Temple	½ brick, ½ sand stone, beautiful with black carvings
5		Manuha Temple	gold tops, 3 huge Buddhas built into the walls, and a huge reclining one
6		Gu Byauk Gyi Temple	can still see paintings inside, gorgeous top, group of small Buddha
7		Nye zedi Temple	peaceful with chanting and prayer going on
8		Dhamayangi Temple	more square building like with giant windows, filled with chirping bats
9		Phya That Gyi Temple	giant burgundy Buddha, temple surrounded by fully in bloom orange and yellow flowered trees. Alone so very quiet!
10		Bheake Mout Temple	climbed to top, watched a goat herder go by, amazing view
11		Sulanani Temple	filled with painting inside, mostly of lying down Buddhas
12		Bu Le Thi Temple	couldn’t climb, burnt my feet, James made it (but he’s a tough guy in his longyi)
13		Alodewbyi Temple	very pretty and filled with flowers from visitors
14		Gubyauk Nge Temple	very peaceful, silly kid walked up behind me and scared the crap out of me
15		Gubyauk Gyi	small, pretty with amazing ceiling paintings
16		Shezigon Temple	gold and burgundy, a bit newer, many temples big and small in a cluster
17		Kyan Sittha U Min Temple	small, low ceiling (unusual so far), unique wall paintings
18		Mystery Temple (didn’t get name)	beautiful white cream color, part redone
19		Htilominlo Temple	very large, kinda creepy with thunder in background, bought a wedding gift from sellers outside
20		Khay Min Ga Temple	10+ temples in a cluster, quiet and peaceful
21		Minochendher Temple	5 yellow cream temples with a beautiful view of Old Bagan, dog guards on centre one
22		Ananda Pagoda	big, shiny, white with gold toppers
23		Ananda Okkyang	small, old, one of my favourites, naked lady paintings on walls
24		Shwe San Daw Temple	WOW! BooBoo saved the best for last, was supposed to be sunset but rain was coming, the view was unbelievable, we sat for quite some time just looking

Feeling small and insignificant

Exhausted, tired, hot and very hungry we made our way home. A great big shout out to BooBoo and Madonna (cart #200) for a great day, he hangs out by Kumudara hotel. At the hotel we jumped into the bathwater warm pool and had a swim before a dinner at the hotel restaurant. I think I have found a new diet, the appetite-sapping Myanmar Diet. Over dinner we talked out how we could actually see a difference in the both of us. Not only was I losing weight in Myanmar but after my glass of wine with dinner I realized the heat and lack of food was making me a cheap drunk. I decided to have one more glass just make sure I was giggly enough to drive James nuts. The night didn’t last long, once in the air conditioning room with the tv on we both conked out…I think before 8 pm! As I was falling asleep I did a rough calculation – we only saw 24 temples today – we’d better pick up the pace.









May 18

We’d debated going to Mount Popa and in the end decided to take the easy way and hire a private car. To be honest once we’d paid for a pool with such an amazing room taking the cheap way to the mountain (a pick up that would add a few hours to our trip) didn’t appeal to us. So with BooBoo’s help we hired his friend to drive us.

Susan trying her hand at beating an ox

The ride was very interesting and we even stopped to see how they still make peanut oil using an ox. Just before Mount Popa we stopped at a viewing spot to take pictures of what we nick named Dr. Seuss Mountain. I was feeling a bit queasy from the jeep ride so let James walk the dirt path/road on his own. I was admiring a lizard when I heard a pack of dogs barking and moving my way and what I figured was chasing James. Yup! One in particular decided to give him a good chase and he ended up backing into the bushes and running through the woods to escape. Man stray dogs are a pain.

Volcano created Mount Popa is the spiritual home to Myanmar’s 37 nat (spirits) and literally home to 10 times that in evil beggar monkeys. Like usual we took off our shoes for the climb up the mountain steps, which I usually find a bit gross but add to that money pee and poo and I was disgusted, I get shivers now typing about it, ewwwww. Almost immediately we were overcome with about 50 monkeys. A lady selling food walked up and asked if we wanted to buy any. No way lady and get that food bag the monkeys are following away from me! It was at this point I was wishing I had taken Jess’ advice and got a rabies shot. They were after food and tried to grab purses, backpacks and bags so I threw James my purse and grabbed not one but both umbrellas.

Adorable cuddly monkeys

Could I turn back? Could I live through the Williams constant teasing and ridicule for how many years to come at not making the climb due to evil beggar monkeys that small children didn’t seem to have any issues with? Not likely. So like the scaredy cat I am I quickly ran up the steps waving my umbrellas around. Once at the top it started to rain and there weren’t as many. I got a few minutes to enjoy the beautiful view before we had to go back down through the monkeys. I made it most of the way and thought I’d only embarrassed myself a bit when a group of monkeys surrounded the guy in front of us and climbed up his shorts and hung there waiting for food. That was it! I looked around and saw a few inching in towards James’ backpack and I had a fit! I started to freak out, a lady with a broom grabbed hold of my arm and we “shooed” the monkeys away…..she walked me to the bottom and sat me on a chair well clear of any monkeys. James finally caught up and we tipped her nicely. As it turns out as I was being escorted down a monkey took a girl’s flip flop out of her hand and her boyfriend had to use his flip flop to whack the monkey on the head to get it back. Evil beggar monkeys!

Susan at her bravest...listen for the yelp at the end (Click on picture for link to video)

Once back in town we had the driver take us to a money exchanger and he did a little loop past a few temples. It got me excited for our bike ride through them planned for the next day.

The daily monster lineup for the ridiculously expensive gas, as opposed to the outrageously priced gas which is readily available.

Once back at the hotel we took a walk to do errands. Book bus tickets, look in a few gift shops and stock up on water and snacks. We were heading back for a swim and a quiet night in front of the tv, felt almost like home.

View from our hotel

May 19

After another delicious hotel breakfast (included) we grabbed some bikes and headed out to visit more temples. I might actually get my fix in Myanmar. We realized very quickly that the small breeze and shade BooBoo’s cart offered made a huge difference in the 40+ degree heat. But we do enjoy a good bike ride, so toughed it out.

Again this next bit might be a bit boring but mostly for our records. We were staying a few minutes bike ride from Old Bagan so asked BooBoo to leave it for us to do today.

1		Thatbynnyu Temple	Highest in Bagan at 201 feet, white cream with gold toppers, a Buddha was at the top of a stairway you couldn’t climb so a live feed was set up so you could see him and pray to him still – kinda weird
2		Shew Gu Gyi	climbed and had an amazing view towards the river, big windows, very airy and carved inside with giant lotus flower, black Buddhas
3		Dog/Lion Temple we called it	got a little lost looking for another, a favourite, on water, a bunch of small temples all guarded by dog/lions, so peaceful
4		Mahabodhi Temple	tall bit, recessed Buddahs on outside, surrounded by older ones in ruins
5		Bupaya Temple	big gold egg shaped, on river, saw 23 tourists boats and only 2 other tourists – there must be a high season

We had a small break to discuss James’ flat tire (finally his turn) and wonky handle bars. The screw on his handle bars came loose so it was hard to turn and keep control, on the sandy side roads to and from the temples it was impossible and then with a front flat tire worse than impossible. But kinda funny…and impressive. The sand was so soft and we went so slow the whole day I’d fallen off my bike 3 times already and James not once. We decided that we were really really really hot and the sun was getting hotter as the day went on so we’d slowly make our way back to the hotel pool just stopping at a few last temples on the way.

6		Gaw Daw Palin Phaya Temple	beautiful yellow cream
7		Mimaluang Temple	steps up to platform, large dogs lion guards but very basic small temple on platform
8		Nathluang Kyaung Temple	last hindu temple standing, beautiful smiling lying down Buddha in entrance

We had a nice long swim and dinner in our room in front of the tv….in the air conditioning!

Bahhhhh!!!

Country house

Oink! Oink!

May 20

On the way out the door for breakfast James mentioned exchanging our tickets and staying one more day. I jumped at it. The way we had it planned we were taking an overnight bus to Yangon then grabbing a bus right away to Golden Rock, spending one night and then have our last two in Yangon. I have fallen in love with Bagan (and our view) and would rather spend an extra night here. We asked the guy at the front desk then crossed our fingers…..it was not to be. The bus the next day was sold out and the only option would be to eat the cost of the existing tickets and try to find new ones. Not really in the budget. So we had one last meal, one last swim and hung out until our tuk-tuk picked us up.

Our third and last overnight bus in Myanmar was okay….not as nice as the first two but they were better than we ever expected as was this one. I popped in ear plugs (only had Burmese tv on very loud) and snuggled up with my travel pillow and fell asleep.