Bagan - Of days gone by : Day 1

Old Bagan has over 3000 stupas/chedis littered across its environs. You have to see it to believe it. It even smells of old days gone by with characters to fit. We arrrived in Bagan and was immediately herded to a festival cum procession where young children were taking their first steps into monk/nunhood, if that is what they're called. Maybe Lee can explain this better? Some of them were so young that they looked utterly confused but their parents were oh so proud, to say the least.

The guide explained that this was a momentus period for the parents - it was also sadly an event to show off your wealth. For those not able to afford to take care of their offspring, this is an opportunity to let the monastry take over for a year till things get better. The contradiction baffled me but I decided to keep my opinions to myself. The European vacationers were nonetheless thrilled - they were everywhere, some with rather huge 300mm lenses slammed against the faces of 3-year olds.




I was too embarassed so did only manage to get some decent shots. I need to be more agressive at times but that is just not me.



We headed to the local market next. You won't believe this but they have rats on skewers - apparently quite tasty like chicken. It was eerie how they were dissected... put me off meat for the whole day.

There was also the usual cheroot smoking granny - wanting us to take her picture for US$1. I'm not much of a smoker so the thought of promoting cancer, having lost a parent to the disease, made me really upset. The partner understood and kept quiet for the next hour while I went on one of my verbal mission to ban tobacco for good. If you love someone make it known I say and keep them safe.

I refused to take her picture!!

So after having my moment, that was it for the day. We went off to have our afternoon siesta and was then left to our own devices with the expectation of early morning 5am wakeup call to go ballooning the day after. I was very excited - apart from the fact that Mr. Lee was going to be there and I can quiz him a little more for some local knowledge of customs and cultures from an expat perspective, it would be my first experience. Magic!