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Roaminallover-Here, There and Everywhere
This morning we were up before daybreak to ensure we were at the jetty in time for the 7am Mandalay to Bagan sailing. After waking the hotel staff who always seem to sleep in the lobby, we piled all our luggage, including Percy Prawn, into the taxi. We were in good time, and were soon aboard the three decked boat, ready for our adventure on the AyeWaddy river.
The journey took us down the wide river alongside banks with small bamboo, and straw covered huts. The water was extremely still as the boat glided along past small fishing boats, barges, and locals in small canoe type craft. The sun shone, and all was well....at least in the world of these two semi-aged travellers.
On arrival at the boat station in Bagan we had to disembark along a narrow inclining gangplank not the easiest thing to do whilst wearing a backpack, but we both made it. We were met by the usual throng of taxi drivers. This time many were accompanied by horse and carts, rather than the usual tuk tuks prevalent across other parts of SE Asia. John declared that he was having feelings of culture shock similar to those he experienced the first time he went to India. People were sitting in small wooden shelters and cooking in woks over wood fires. Indeed at this point Bagan did seem much less developed than the areas of Myanmar we had already visited. We were quick to secure the services of a local taxi driver as we were aware our hotel wasn't walking distance from the boat drop. Shortly after setting off he pulled in alongside a small office telling us we needed to get tickets to enter the archeological zone. We soon discovered we had to pay the equivalent of around £12 each for the privilege of visiting Bagan and it's ancient monuments. The monuments are largely unsupervised and spread over a large area of Bagan so this was their way of extracting an admission fee in advance. We were never asked to show the ticket anywhere after that so we are not sure how they check whether you have one.....but hey ho......
Our accommodation turned out to be on one of the roads leading out from the main hub. Fortunately for us they had complimentary bikes. Free ones that is, not ones which flatter you all the time. I'd booked this accomodation is something of a hurry, trying to secure somewhere before the Internet decided to adopt a Trade union attitude and stop working. Consequently I'd checked the price was ok and that it had good reviews, but not got as far as checking the map. Anyway in the end, thanks to the bikes, the situation turned out OK.
We used the bikes to explore the roads and paths of the surrounding area- finding old temple buildings and stupa at every turn. Neither John not I are regular bike riders but we soon adapted, and thankfully didn't have any major hills to contend with. We even managed to cope with the loose shale, and in parts lots of loose sand, which certainly makes things interesting.
John managed to fit in another game of golf whilst we were in Bagan. It sounded like fun - golfing on a course littered with Stupa and other ancient monuments. The latter isn't a reference to us I might add. In the event it turned out to be a course littered with stupa, and sprinkler systems, so it was a bit more like obstacle golf at times. Despite that John enjoyed himself and I got a good walk- looking at the various birds and trees along the way !
The journey took us down the wide river alongside banks with small bamboo, and straw covered huts. The water was extremely still as the boat glided along past small fishing boats, barges, and locals in small canoe type craft. The sun shone, and all was well....at least in the world of these two semi-aged travellers.
On arrival at the boat station in Bagan we had to disembark along a narrow inclining gangplank not the easiest thing to do whilst wearing a backpack, but we both made it. We were met by the usual throng of taxi drivers. This time many were accompanied by horse and carts, rather than the usual tuk tuks prevalent across other parts of SE Asia. John declared that he was having feelings of culture shock similar to those he experienced the first time he went to India. People were sitting in small wooden shelters and cooking in woks over wood fires. Indeed at this point Bagan did seem much less developed than the areas of Myanmar we had already visited. We were quick to secure the services of a local taxi driver as we were aware our hotel wasn't walking distance from the boat drop. Shortly after setting off he pulled in alongside a small office telling us we needed to get tickets to enter the archeological zone. We soon discovered we had to pay the equivalent of around £12 each for the privilege of visiting Bagan and it's ancient monuments. The monuments are largely unsupervised and spread over a large area of Bagan so this was their way of extracting an admission fee in advance. We were never asked to show the ticket anywhere after that so we are not sure how they check whether you have one.....but hey ho......
Our accommodation turned out to be on one of the roads leading out from the main hub. Fortunately for us they had complimentary bikes. Free ones that is, not ones which flatter you all the time. I'd booked this accomodation is something of a hurry, trying to secure somewhere before the Internet decided to adopt a Trade union attitude and stop working. Consequently I'd checked the price was ok and that it had good reviews, but not got as far as checking the map. Anyway in the end, thanks to the bikes, the situation turned out OK.
We used the bikes to explore the roads and paths of the surrounding area- finding old temple buildings and stupa at every turn. Neither John not I are regular bike riders but we soon adapted, and thankfully didn't have any major hills to contend with. We even managed to cope with the loose shale, and in parts lots of loose sand, which certainly makes things interesting.
John managed to fit in another game of golf whilst we were in Bagan. It sounded like fun - golfing on a course littered with Stupa and other ancient monuments. The latter isn't a reference to us I might add. In the event it turned out to be a course littered with stupa, and sprinkler systems, so it was a bit more like obstacle golf at times. Despite that John enjoyed himself and I got a good walk- looking at the various birds and trees along the way !
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