Looking forward to wat’s next

I drove through Bagan one last time this morning. I’m still amazed at the number of stupas. I’m also amazed by arriving at the rural airport 20 minutes before the flight, checking in, going through security, and still having to wait 15 more minutes before the plane boards. Now that’s a small airport.

We met our driver at the Mandalay airport, which sits about an hour from town. Our first stop, though, was Amarapura. We took a short walk across the U Bein bridge, which is the oldest and longest teak wood bridge in the world. The bridge is peculiar, in that it was constructed from the ruins of a royal palace in the mid-1800’s. In the lake below, many fishermen/women were busy on their small boats. The bridge was busy with foot traffic, which made me uneasy, as there are no rails. Basically, one trip or an errant step to get out of someone’s way will put you over the side. Of course, the planks are not of equal length, so you really need to pay attention. I was happy to get back on solid ground, after our walk.

We turned up the street and entered a side gate into Mahar Gandar Yone Monastary. We walked through the grounds, until happening upon a large group of tourists. Around 10:30 each morning, the monks queue up to receive alms. The stood unfazed in line, as tourists walked right up to them and snapped cameras. It seemed a bit rude to me, but they kept their gaze forward and waited patiently. Eventually, the servers were ready, and the line snaked into the serving area. I took a few pictures and then we walked to another part of the complex, where they prepare the huge vats of food. The kitchen looked more like a barn to me. On one side were enourmous fire stoked ovens with gigantic cooking bowls and on the other side was the food preparation area, where hundreds of potatoes awaited their fate. To the right, a large pile of onion skins were all that were left from the most recent recipe.

Our next stop was the Mahamuni Pagoda, which houses a Buddha laden in gold flakes. The story of this Buddha starts with a king in mid-500 BC who was so impressed with the Budddha’s teachings that he asked for an image of the Buddha to remain. The Buddha agreed, and after the image was cast, the Buddha breathed his essence into the statue. Supposedly there were only five likenesses of the Buddha made during his lifetime; two in India, two in paradise, and the fifth is this image. Because of its importance, I was very excited to see it, but I found it to be a little creepy, when I laid eyes on it. It looks distorted, as the face cannot be altered; however, the visitors have been adding gold flakes to the rest of the Buddha for decades. As a result, his body is swollen with gold and out of proportion with his head. It didn’t seem to bother anyone else, though.

I also enjoyed our visit to Shwenandaw Temple made from teak wood. It was once covered in gold gilding, most of which has worn away, leaving the carvings exposed and raw. The temple has several objects, such as Garudas, protruding from the walls. The carving is impressive and was definitely one of my favorite stops. It was interesting to see such intricate work inside and out of the temple.

Not to be missed, we made two last stops in Mandalay. First I got to witness the “world’s largest book on Buddhism.” Carved into marble tablets that sit within 729 different pagodas, Buddha’s teachings were translated into Burmese for the local monks. The tablets were apparently a more permanent solution than the banana leaves that they were using before. The leaves are more prone to destruction from bugs. The white pagodas are in perfect lines, creating row after row of what look like Buddhist sentinels. Once we had a look into several of the the little pagodas, we drove up to Mandalay Hill. At the top is a pagoda, covered in glass mosaic. The pagoda is accessed from the car park by riding three long escalators. After our visit, we had to wait for a while, so they could reverse the escalators to take us back down. It was fun to watch the coordinating effort.

Tomorrow morning I bid a fond farewell to Myanmar. Before I left the States, several people expressed concern about traveling here, but this is what I know to be true: A country’s people are quite often different than their government’s actions. The people I have met in Myanmar have been gracious, kind, and friendly, always leading with a smile. Even the hawkers seemed apologetic, when trying to sell me postcards for the 90th time. My guide said that tourism was growing, with about 3 million visitors per year. Now, the number has dropped to just over a million. I won’t write a treatise on the ills of society, but I am very glad that I came and infused a little money into the pockets of the average Burmese.Read more