To market

The plan this morning was to go off to the local market at Nyaung u, where Ananda is berthed, so immediately after breakfast, we gathered in the lobby and went off with Aung to see what’s what.

One of the challenges is the continual requests to buy postcards, lacquer wares and other small things, often from children.  Education here isn’t compulsory and there is a cost – books and uniforms are needed but not provided, so many children don’t go to school and in rural areas in particular, rates of illiteracy are high.  Now, if I thought for one moment that buying a set of postcards from a child would enable her to go to school, then I’d be there but sadly, it’s not that simple, is it?

 

Our arrival at the market car park brought a rush of postcard sellers to the door then and it took a while for us to make our way into the market.  This area appears to be a centre for pottery and there was a fine selection of all kinds of functional pots outside this workshop, just across from the market proper.

Aung explained that most women shop daily.  Few families have fridges and prefer to buy their food in small quantities, fresh from the market.  So, it was a bustling place this morning and the things on offer looked appetising and fresh – to begin with, at least.

There were more children there than usual too, because the school holidays have just begun.  This boy and his Mum were comparing notes on their phones – I hope they get a better signal than we do right now!

Perhaps you’ve noticed in my photos, that the women of Myanmar wear a kind of yellow chalky substance on their face?  Worn instead of make up, it’s a skin care product, sunblock and decorative make up all in one and almost all women and many children wear it in some form or other.  This woman is selling it in its traditional form – a small log from which the bark can be ground to a paste with a few drops of water.  Ready mixed varieties are available too but I understand that few women her would consider using anything but the original freshly ground form.

Other traditional items were on sale here such as these woven balls, used for the traditional game of what sounds like “keepy uppy”.  To play, groups of people stand in a circle and try to keep the ball moving for as long as possible but the balls themselves are rather decorative, aren’t they?

Onions seem to be in season, for every second vegetable stall was full of them!

A little further on was a stall full of traditional puppets, including to grey “Kings”, wearing that particular style of outfit we had seen in the museum and  I tried to describe yesterday.

Around now, we realised that it was no accident that there was an empty can on the basket of rather attractively coloured beans here.  Measurements are simple and the milk can is a pretty standard measure of volume for dry goods such as this.

This lady wasn’t the only one using batteries as a weight measure, too.  People as so inventive, aren’t they?

I loved the way the betel nut leaves are arranged with such precision.

A little further on, there was a cafe, where the chef had an air of insouciance, wouldn’t you say?

These young men were catching up on the latest news over a cup of something and a snack.

But Aung had already moved along and was by the rice stall, explaining about the different types of rice and how it’s sold.  Eight small milk cans make up one of the larger measures, which costs $1 and will feed a family of four lunch and dinner for two days.

 

Walking quickly through the market was good to avoid the persistent sellers, but not so good for making observations!

Still, we had time to see the way of life and the woman making and selling green papaya salad here.

The beans this chap was moving were “owl beans” but we had no idea of what they’re known as elsewhere – maybe you know?

At this point, we turned right and into the rather fragrant part of the market: The fish and meat department.

I’m generally ok with this kind of thing but even so, I didn’t really want to linger.  These two young women were preparing the fish, taking off scales the size of pennies.

Elsewhere, people sat chatting, offering a cheery “mingalabar” as we passed and happy for us to take photographs.

Some posed beautifully without even knowing it.

Turning around to return through the meat and fish, we were making our way back to the car park.

No eggs or washing powder needed today.

Leaving one small boy waiting for a playmate, we were off once again, for it was getting near lunchtime.

On the way back, though, Aung had another place he thought would interest us.  Can you guess what’s made here?

The core material is bamboo.

This family make fans, specifically for advertising or for special occasions such as weddings, naming ceremonies and suchlike.

They sell for 500 for $10.  A lot of work for little gain, I’d say.

But the women and girls were happily chatting over their work and were very quick at their job!  This young girl could apply the paper “binding” in no time, achieving a really neat finish.  I guess she gets a lot of practice.

We were each given a fan as a gift, and Aung explained what occasion we were celebrating.

Mine was a souvenir from a wedding

A most attractive young couple, wouldn’t you say?

I always love visiting such places, seeing how people live their lives and especially love the colour and atmosphere. This had been no exception, but it was good to see the Ananda waiting for us, with a cool towel and a lovely “Welcome back” at the top of the gangplank! 

(here should be a photo of Ananda, and not the local ferry in the picture above!  Guess who didn’t remember to take that photo?!)

Sunset

It’s still Wednesday, I think, and we’d been promised the best vantage point to see the sun set over the temples of Bagan.  Even though we’d been up since 3.30 (and were beginning to feel like it, too) we really didn’t want to miss this highlight.

We drove through the old part of Bagan, back into the temple area and made our way to the Shwegugyi pagoda from where Aung assured us we’d have a great view.

He was right.  We climbed up the steep steps to the base of the pagoda and joined a few other tourists to stand and wait.  Whilst we did, we were offered T shirts, terrible paintings of monks, lacquerwork and all kinds of other tourist stuff – Bagan really does hold the ticket for being pestered with people selling stuff.

Being in such a beautiful place was a real privilege and the opportunity to chat to our travelling companions was fun.  All widely travelled, interesting and from different corners of the globe, the conversation never palled.  And of course, we all had one thing in common: We were thrilled to be here.

So it didn’t really matter that it wasn’t a spectacular sunset.  As the minutes passed, it was clear that the haze was going to overwhelm the view and that we weren’t going to get any of those classic photographic images tonight.

We didn’t mind one bit.  How could we, when we were standing in such an amazing place?

More people were arriving, by all manner of transport, some leaving it until the very last minute to arrive,

The sun was going to wait for no one, but it was the early birds who’d got the best view and seen the clearest sights.

We didn’t wait until the sun actually set, but headed on down those steep steps when it was still light enough to see where we were going.  Actually, someone had lit candles all the way down, which was extraordinarily thoughtful and much appreciated.

A small surprise lay ahead for us.  Whilst we’d been gone, the Ananda had moved from the riverside mooring to a nearby sandbank, so our return journey was by local speedboat.  After a quick shower and change, we assembled in the bar for what I referred to as the lifeboat drill, but which Guest Relations Manager Tim correctly called the Champagne Reception.  It did bear some passing resemblance to a lifeboat drill in that the correct use of a lifejacket was demonstrated, but the general advice was that the river is too shallow for the boat to sink and that possibly, the best action to take in the case of our taking on water is to head upstairs to the bar and order a cocktail!

Fortified with a couple of glasses of champagne, we stepped back out on board the speedboat with a little more confidence, because dinner tonight was served on the sand, where a torchlit dining room had been set up ready.

As we approached the beach, fireworks were lit and the most magical atmosphere set for what was to be a truly memorable occasion.

Dining under the stars, we enjoyed the company of a delightful couple and ate the best meal so far.  The Ananda chef was formerly at the Mandarin Oriental in Bangkok and his culinary expertise is legendary.  After a starter of assorted salads and suchlike, we progressed to a stir fry set up and cooked by the man himself.  The idea was, we were to gather our chosen ingredients and he would cook them as requested – except I had no idea what to choose, so I asked him to create something for me.

Wow.

I have no idea what he did to make those few simple ingredients taste so good.  A spoonful of this (oyster sauce?) a little of that (“seasoning”) and the end result was spectacular.

The evening went so fast, in no time at all we were being advised that we might like to make our way to the boat again, for a jolly ride back to the Ananda.  The strange thing is, when we woke this morning, she was back in her original mooring even though we never felt her move at all.

Maybe it was all a dream?

In Bagan

Our guide Aung was waiting for us after lunch, ready to show us more of what we’d really come to see: some of the 2000+ temples and pagodas here in Bagan.  There are only nineteen of us on board the Ananda and two guides, so Aung has just nine of us to manage.

Our first stop was the Htilominio Paya where Aung pointed out some of the wall paintings.  It had been constructed in the 13th century from brick which a plaster covering.

In places, the plaster had fallen off, leaving those fragments of the wall paintings I like so much.

In addition to the Buddhas painted on the walls,

there are, in the centre, four enormous statues facing the points of the compass.  Lengthy explanations have been offered by Aung regarding the significance of the various positions of hands, feet and so on but my attention has usually been focused elsewhere, I’m afraid.

because these places are just so visually appealing!

Outside, we admire the other particular features of this temple, the stucco work.

Extraordinarily detailed, the light of the late afternoon was perfect to pick out every last detail.

As we stood taking photographs, business was rather slow in the marketplace behind us.  One or two salesladies gave a half hearted attempt to sell us a souvenir or two, but retreated into the shade of their stall when it was clear we weren’t interested.

One thing which has interested us is the Burmese script.  Consisting of an alphabet of 33 characters, the curves and circular form of each letter makes for quite an attractive style, I think. 

Our next stop was at the Ananda Paya, 11th century and after which our boat is named.  Our guidebook waxes lyrical about particular aspects of the architecture.

Another unrivalled shopping opportunity lined the pathway into the temple but again, we passed them by and focused on the temple.

The first feature we came across was a pile of money.  There in the main thoroughfare was a fenced off flat pedestal around a metre and a half in diameter, upon which was heaped banknotes of all descriptions.  I caught the edge of it in the photo above.  The buddhas in this temple were stunning and each one was flanked by two guardians.

The three buddhas we saw were standing and cloaked in attractive robes, the like of which we’d not seen before.

Two of the four buddhas are original and two are replacements but I’m sorry to say I don’t know which is which.  i was not being the model tourist, my excuse being that I have been up since 3.30am this morning!

Here, there were more wall paintings and Aung pointed out the way the natural light falls on the interior of the Ananda temple – one of the things which makes it special.

This light made the inside of the temple so photogenic – which could explain why I wasn’t paying attention to Aung’s commentary!

The fourth and final Buddha was undergoing restoration by a team from India.  They were setting up the bamboo scaffold, working high up there near the ceiling this afternoon.

Outside, more cleaning and restoration was going on and the upper surfaces of the temple were markedly lighter in colour than the lower ones. 

But it was time to go.  Time to move on to the last activity of the afternoon, because we had one fixed appointment with the sunset later.  Before that, though, Aung was keen to show us around a small village, to give us an insight to everyday life here.

The large CocaCola and telecom signs reveal how swiftly life is changing here but the fundamental lifestyle is the same now as it has been for generations.

The first building on the village boundary was the equivalent of the Parish Office, the place where the head of the village was to be found and where, not so long ago, people would be expected to report disloyal or disruptive behaviour of those around them.  Aung explained how the number of mobile phones were restricted so that communication was tricky but now they are more widespread and as a result there is a far greater freedom of thought and expression.

At the entrance to the village were a couple of artesian wells.  In this dry region, water is precious and at particular times of the year, difficult to acquire.

In the first house we passed, a woman was starting a small fire in her outdoor kitchen.  Behind her were a few pots and pans and one or two essentials were tucked into the woven bamboo wall.

Just across the dry and dusty path were the neighbours – the ground here is sandy and it’s hard to imagine how those living in the village can keep anything clean without a plentiful supply of water.

Aung pointed out the satellite dishes on almost every house – orange being for subscribers to the cheaper, Chinese based company, and blue for the more affluent, who chose to subscribe to SkyTV.  He explained that in most two storey homes, parents live upstairs.

Meanwhile, the occasional clang of a bell alerted us to a group of young men collecting alms for the local monastery. 

The basic structure of the houses was made of bamboo. The walls were woven, the roof created from small “tiles” and the floor was wooden boards nailed the the wood or bamboo structure.  We stopped by this open platform to hear Aung explain its purpose.  Someone from the village would be delegated each night to sit and stay awake as a watchman, particularly keeping watch for fire.  In this dry and dusty landscape where water is in such short supply, fire is an ever present concern and there, hanging underneath the platform is a piece of cast iron, ready to be struck with a metal hammer (hidden from mischievous children’s view!) as the alarm.  Meanwhile, the platform was a meeting place, somewhere to sit and chat in the evening – and for small boys to try to attract the attention of passing foreigners.

Having just spoken about fire precautions, we began to notice that every house had a couple of long bamboo tools by the fence – a beater for putting out flames and a hook, to pull off a burning roof.  Oh my.   Doesn’t bear thinking about.

Whilst we pondered our good fortune to live where and how we do, Aung was looking at his watch.  Half an hour to sunset – we’d better get going.

Up before dawn

We are both at sixes and sevens regarding what day it is and whether it’s morning, noon or nighttime.  Today’s travel arrangements did nothing at all to alleviate that as a 6am flight demanded a 4.30am pick up from our hotel, and that meant a 3.30am alarm.  I slept very little but needless to say was asleep when the alarm went off.  We packed our bags, collected our boxed breakfast and met Sanda to drive to the airport.  Since there were several flights leaving around the same time, it was a busy place at 5am this morning.

We said goodbye to her for now – she’ll meet us in Mandalay – and waited by gate 4 for our plane to board.

It was a small to medium turbo prop and around half full for the hour and a bit flight to Bagan.  Some were going on further, though most seemed to be getting off with us. 

We had a breakfast tray with a fruit salad and a couple of pastries.  The cake was a little dry, like a Victoria Sandwich without the jam, and what I thought was a croissant turned out to have meatpaste in the middle.  Odd, that.

We thought we were to sample another oddity when the cabin steward handed around some sweets by the name of “Pizza Candy”.  Well, you never know, do you?  I spotted mine had the magic word “mango” on it and sure enough, the only pizza characteristic was that it was shaped like a triangular slice of pizza.

Unfortunately the journey time wasn’t long enough to sleep and we were soon coming into land over a dry and dusty landscape.

As we made our way into the terminal building, we eyed those suitcases. Were our two amongst them?  If they were, then please, don’t mix them up with those which are being loaded for the next leg.

There was no need to worry.  After a short wait, a young man appeared carrying our two suitcases and calling our name.  He handed them over personally, checking the baggage receipt against the number on the label.  I guess there were days when baggage handling used to be like this everywhere?

It took little more than ten minutes to reach the riverside and our home for the next three nights.  Before we could turn around, our cases were gone from the boot and we were following after the two gentlemen who had swung them onto their shoulders like they were weightless (mine isn’t!)

The neighbours were going about their business as usual, meanwhile.

It’s now a little past 7.30am, though it feels like lunchtime.  Our room isn’t quite ready, so we hang around in the bar for a while and take the opportunity to look around before anyone else arrives.

As well as the comfortable bar, with rather interesting cushions on each chair, there’s a pleasant sun deck outdoors.

There’s a very small swimming pool too!  (Did you say you’ve seen bigger bathtubs?   Surely not!!)

The whole ship is elegantly furnished and very peaceful.  There’s interesting passing traffic, too.

Meanwhile, a few others have come on board, we’ve met the manager, Tim, and settled into our room nicely.  At nine, we go to reception as suggested and head on out with the guide, Aung, to explore a temple and to visit a lacquer workshop.

As we drive through the small town of Bagan, we remark on how different this is from Yangon.  The rapid developments haven’t quite reached here yet, though it won’t be long, I’m sure.

The whole countryside around here is littered with stupas,  Some are really small but others, well…

The Shwezigon pagoda was very much like the Shwedigon pagoda in Yangon (not only in name) and once more we were walking around open mouthed and wondering just what the best photograph could be to capture the magnificence of the place.  Unfortunately, we were without our Sanda, who would have explained things so clearly and given us a first class background to it all, but never mind.  We listened hard to Aung, our guide from the Ananda, who did his best against a little competition as his group got to know one another.

Those stones were pretty hot on which to walk barefoot and so we did our best to hurry from one cool spot to the next, having learned from Sanda that the white tiles were the coolest to stand on.

Once again, we needed to be reminded to look at the entrance hall and not focus completely on the Buddha; there is always so much to see here.

Some had come by horse and cart – yes indeed, life here in Bagan is very different from Yangon.

Our next stop was a lacquer workshop and one of those places we don’t enter willingly but are generally taken by some tour or other.  This one wasn’t too much of a hard sell and was genuinely interesting.  The young man making the coiled bamboo framework which was to be the foundation for the lacquer process was keen to show us the principles and we were a willing audience.  He was very skilled.

In fact, watching the young men and women complete the various stages of a fine piece of lacquerwork was key to understanding why this is a pricey and very time consuming business.  I watched this particular young woman and marvelled at how she could sit like that for any length of time!

A great deal of skill was needed to refine the design ready for gilding and this team of women were completing the finer points of the pattern.  Each one was using a pencil-style tool to scratch the design and had a small stone on hand to maintain the sharp point.

Whilst they were working on that aspect of the design, across the way, another woman was carefully applying a layer of lacquer to an object using her fingers.

It’s a messy business isn’t it – and some of the items have more than fifteen layers of lacquer applied, which explains why the best pieces are so expensive.

In between each layer, in this workshop the items are placed into the temperature and humidity controlled cellar, which we were able to see from the top of the stairs.

The finished objects were on sale – now there’s a surprise – in the shop adjacent to the workshop.  I really liked this arrangement of cups on the stand by the till and much preferred them to the more elaborate items further in.

We weren’t really interested in making a purchase but were pleased to look around and admire the fine craftsmanship on view.  I appreciated the arrangements of the shapes too, for after all, we don’t always have to bring one of everything back home with us, do we?

Having finished there, it was lunchtime and time to return to the boat which was anchored on the riverside.  As we did, we said hello to the neighbours again, who were hard at work as always.

We’ll continue the story of the afternoon and evening will continue in the next post.

and finally, in Yangon today

Where were we?  Oh yes, in the market, when Sanda, our guide was feeling peckish as we passed this snack stall.  What she bought, we have no idea, but it was tasty and just that right balance between savoury and sweet.

Maybe you know what it is?

The way out was through the shoe department. No, not really our place today but we know of several who would have been interested…

There was plenty of choice, to match any outfit!

The next stall put diamonds on the soles of my shoes!  The whole floor was glittering with sparkles.

A giggle came from the pretty young woman who was decanting sequins into smaller packages and spilling them onto the floor.  Clearly she’d been doing this for a while!

There was also the unmistakeable buzz of a sewing machine coming from next door.  Good old trustworthy Singers going at full speed, creating matching tops to those longyi the ladies had been buying.

Of interest to me too was the little red machine, because I couldn’t quite work out what it was until I spotted the blue waste there underneath it.  It’s an industrial serger/overlocker.

Out onto the pavement then, to meet Dan somewhere along here, past the vegetable stalls

another one selling those kinds of things that blokes buy.

And three puppies for sale in a basket.

Oh, and the inevitable cafe, too.

We jumped in the car and sped off into the next traffic jam just yards away and made our very slow way to the National museum.  Difficult to blog about that because no photos were allowed – no cameras or cellphones allowed anywhere near the place, actually, but suffice to say that considering it’s a new structure the inside is pretty dull and dusty.  And since we’ll see many of the exhibits for real in the next few days, we didn’t stay long.  What we did see though, is the regalia worn by the 19th century queen – wow.  Rather like those puppets we saw earlier, the costumes were created from small articulated pieces, each edged and trimmed with bright sequins in spite of the age.  Beautiful, original and totally unlike anything I’ve seen before, at some point I’ll find a photograph to share – for my own records actually, because although I tried to draw them I didn’t really do them justice.

After an hour back at the hotel, were we waited for the heat to go, we met Sanda and Dan again and made the last visit of the day to the Shwedagon Pagoda as the sun was setting.

No shoes, no spaghetti blouses…

Thankfully, cool tiles to walk upon.

The first greeting was the “Tuesday people”, volunteers, born on a Tuesday who took turns to clean the grounds.  Tomorrow, it’ll be the Wednesday team and so on.

This enormous pagoda is the highlight of Yangon’s temples.  It contains three relics, though we saw none.  What we did see – and photograph – is the most glorious golden structure imaginable, set off by the fading light as the sun set.

Magical.

We took picture after picture, wanting to treasure those lovely shapes forever.

Eventually, it was time to go.

Oh go on then…just one more

Dinner at the hotel was an all Burmese affair.  Absolutely delicious but bearing in mind we have to be ready at 4.30am tomorrow morning for a 6am flight, we didn’t linger.

Travelling like this is not for cissies, that’s for certain!