After weighing anchor at 6:00 AM, we set on our way to our final destination, Bagan, the crown jewel city in Myanmar. It seemed that everyone we met raved about the city, and guaranteed that we would love it. It is Myanmar’s main tourist attraction for both Burmese as well as international tourists. It is a small town, with a population of about 30,000 which defaults to pure guess-work since the country has not conducted a census for more than 30 years. Bagan is the place where one can purchase genuine Burmese goods, not imports from China or India. Everything is reportedly beautiful.
Bagan (also known as Pagan should you look up an older map) was the capital of the Pagan Kingdom, from the 9th to the 13th century, with a peak population estimated at 200,000. The Pagan Kingdom unified the various minor kingdoms and towns in the Irrawaddy Valley, and would ultimately define modern-day Myanmar. At its peak, it was the political, economic, and cultural center of the Pagan Kingdom. The culture was mainly based on religion – Theravada Buddhism, which was the driving force behind the building of more than 20,000 temples, stupas, and monasteries. It is located on a plain that sits on top of a highly active seismic area. Only about 2,000 religious sites remain after falling victim to earthquakes or disrepair. The area has endured more than 400 earthquakes between 1904 and 1975. As recently as last year (2016) a major earthquake, measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale, destroyed 400 temples.
In the 1990s, the military government started restoring many sites in hopes of expanding the tourist business and subsequently applied for the designation of Bagan as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Unfortunately, the shoddy restoration did not adhere to the original architectural styles, used modern materials, and was further tarnished by the addition of a golf course and a paved highway. As a result, the city has not been awarded that designation and has been thwarted in their goal of become the Anghor Wat (Cambodia) of Myanmar – with the consequential boost to tourism.
Temples, stupas, everywhere.
As we left to explore Bagan, we soon realized that this meant visiting temples and stupas. While there are about 3,000 listed monuments (temples, pagodas, stupas, archeological sites), we visited three that were clustered near each other. First up was the Gubyaukgyi temple with its interior walls and ceilings originally completely covered with frescoes dating back to the 12th century. A few walls had been whitewashed which destroyed several of the frescos. What remains is an amazing sampling. We had to use flashlights to see any of the them, and photographs were not allowed. It did raise the questions of how they created this artwork, and how anyone could see and enjoy them, given the almost complete absence of light. If created and viewed by using torches, wouldn’t the smoke compromise the art work? I asked the questions and was recognized for “asking great questions.” However, the answers were all gobbledygook. Perhaps I had reached a point of temple saturation. Intentional or not, we hit the internal ‘mute’ button while our guides deluged us with historical details and legendary stories.
Fresco covered ceiling.
Fresco artwork on the walls.
Next, an archeological important monument located adjacent to the Gubyaukgyi temple. It is six a foot tall, four-sided stone pillar, dating back to 1113 and protected with a cage of steel bars. It is frequently referred to as Burma’s “Rosetta Stone.” Each side is inscribed with the same story of Prince Yazakumar and King Kyansittha, but each in a different language: Burmese, Pyu, Mon, and Pali. With the use of this stone, they were able to decipher the written Pyu language.
Burma’s “Rosetta Stone”
On our way to the next destination, we passed through a small village, more precisely a cluster of vendors selling goods. One of the concessionaires was from the Kayan Lahwi people which is a subgroup of the Karenni people. The Kayan Lahwi’s traditional dress for women includes the wearing brass neck coils, which serve as identification of their tribe. Tourists sometime refer to the long-necked women wearing these coils as “giraffe women.” Girls as young as five years old start wearing these brass coils. As the girl grows, the coil is replaced by a longer one with more turns. While it appears that the neck is lengthening, in fact it is not. Instead the collar-bone is pushed down, compressing the rib cage. Why did they start this practice? According to our guide, Tui, and supported by a couple of articles I had read, it was originally meant to make women unattractive (some women used facial tattoos as an alternative) so that raiding tribes and conquering soldiers would leave them alone and not kidnap them. Overtime, the practice became ingrained in their culture. These days, the practice seems to be fading, as young girls want to look more modern and WANT to be attractive. Some middle-aged women, having worn the rings for most of their lives, have started removing them. They make the physical adjustment very quickly without long-term negative consequences.
Long-necked women of ….
Our next stop was the Ananda Temple, built in 1105, which is the most revered. The layout of the building is in the form of a cruciform, with an entrance on each of the four sides, aligning along east-west-north-south coordinates and adorned with a stupa finial. After entering and walking through a fifty-foot hallway, we arrived at huge teak doors, which, in turn, led to an interior hallway that surrounded the inner cubical structure. The open teak doors revealed the ultimate destination – a 31-foot tall standing Buddha statue. Each of the four entrances leads to a different statue of Buddha. As an example, the eastern facing Buddha is the most unusual. This Buddha’s arms hang at the statue’s side with hands open and outstretched, which is not traditional in sculptures outside of this temple. This Buddha also holds what looks like a nut believed to represent an herbal pill as a cure for suffering. The interior hallway led us around the square, and allowed us to visit each statue.
One of entrances to the inner cruciform
Buddha statue facing West.
Highly unusual Buddha with arms extended.
The Ananda Temple is also the subject of an interesting, but tragic legend regarding its builders. King Kyanzittha, approached by eight monks seeking traditional alms, asked them to describe the place in the Himalayas from which they came and lived. He was so impressed with their skill at articulating the landscape and buildings, he asked them to visualize and build a temple in the middle of Bagan. They were honored by the request and used their utmost skills to design and build the temple. The finished temple was so striking and beautiful that the King wanted assurance that no other similar structure would ever be built. To make certain, he had all eight monks killed! An alternative legend (is this the same as alternative facts?) suggest that one architect and a child were buried alive to serve as guardian spirits of the temple. Which one do you want to believe?
For a change of pace, our next destination was a lacquerware manufacturing facility and store. While the roots of lacquerware are in China, it has been present in Burma since the 12th century with Bagan as the major manufacturing center. The use of lacquer dishes, bowls, and boxes has been largely replaced by items made of modern materials and manufacturing processes. Lacquerware has evolved into more of an art form and used only for special occasions, similar to how we use cut crystal stemware or fine china. Its biggest market is the tourist business – come to Bagan to see the temples, but leave with some lacquerware! Fewer than one-third of the more than 200 Bagan workshops remain, with more closing each year.
The lacquer workshop we visited today is a family business and has been for many generations. The owner and patriarch of the shop has all his children and their spouses working in the business. He described the process of how they produce their products. The raw material consists of horsehair and coiled or woven bamboo strips used to form the basic structure, and sap called Thit-Si from the native Melanorrhoea Usitata tree. These trees grow wild in the lower attitude forests of Southeast Asia. A mature tree is about 50-60 feet tall with a girth of up to 10 feet. The sap, which is light brown in color, is collected in buckets below five or more horizontal slashes in the trunk. When a tree is gouged, it ‘bleeds’ by actively producing lacquer directed at the damaged area in an attempt to seal the ‘wound.’ As the lacquer is bled off, the tree accelerates the production of lacquer to make up for the lost lacquer, constantly striving to close the area. Each tree can produce more than 60 pounds of lacquer each season (typically June through October). The amount produced in one season is an order of magnitude larger than the amount of lacquer in a tree that has not been purposefully gouged.. The tree stops growing as it increases lacquer production.
Building the bamboo framework for a bowl.
Drying chamber for lacquerware.
Inscribing patterns and artwork on the lacquerware bowls.
Once the structure of a dish, e.g. a bowl, is completed, it is coated with a layer of Thit-Si on both the inside and outside of the form, and then stored in a dry cellar for up to several weeks. At that time another layer of lacquer is applied, followed by another drying period. A typical item will have 8 to 16 layers, and take 3 to 6 months to finish. Very large pieces may take up to a year. Following each drying cycle, the bowl might be polished with ash to get a uniform, smooth surface, before applying the next layer. After the final stage, an artist draws traditional patterns with a needle. These ‘scratches’ are then filled with different colors.
Since this is an active workshop, we could see pieces in the various stages of completion. His workforce consists of 30 young men and women. He talked about the challenge of keeping his workshop open. First, while his children and spouses work in the business, they are not working in producing the items. Since they are all educated, their jobs are in administration or sales. Recruiting workers for manufacturing the products has become a serious challenge. The local Bagan people don’t want to do this type of work. They prefer to work in jobs that have greater potential and growth, or are focused on securing an education. As a result, he recruits workers from small villages, away from Bagan, who welcome the opportunity to learn a trade. Since most have no way of getting to his workshop, he has to arrange for their transportation to and from their village. He sees the problem getting worse. He has to go much further out of Bagan to find workers, compared to five years ago.
As you might expect, our way out of his workshop meant passing through the usual gauntlet of the showroom floor. This was different. The items produced by his business were beautiful. It was difficult not to buy many different items. We finally settled on a lunch box, which consisted of several stacked bowls. It took four months to make. It cost us $350. A deal!
That’s the lunchbox I want!
With evening approaching, it was time to make our way to the final stop of the day, the Shwesandaw Pagoda, to watch the sunset. The pagoda, built in 1057, is made of red bricks and at one time contained beautiful terra cotta depicting the birth and life of Gautama Buddha. It consists of five, square terraces, topped with a cylindrical stupa which enshrine a Buddha hair relic. Each of the four sides has a stairway leading up to the fifth terrace. In another misguided act of renovation, the government decided to spackle over the red bricks and the terra cotta, in order to make it look clean and more modern. Some of the covering has been removed, and recovered tiles moved to the national museum. The restoration effort goes on.
Shwesandaw Pagoda
Up, up, and away! Challenging path to the upper terraces.
As we drove to the pagoda, we soon found ourselves trapped in a deadlocked, impromptu parking lot full of buses, vans, scooters, horse and oxen-drawn carriages, plus people walking from their hotels – contributing to a crowd of more than a thousand, all heading for those five terraces. Once we reached the pagoda, Tin, guided us to the side that is furthest away and the least congested. As required at any pagoda, we shed our footwear – Ow! Ouch! The stairway was absolutely intimidating. The rise on each step is about 18 inches – obviously not OSHA approved. Everyone was using the steel pipe railing to help hoist up to the next step. The fact that most steps had stones and rocks which were very painful on our feet…Ow! Ouch! …motivated us to move quickly to the next step, which hopefully would give us some relief. Tui suggested that we don’t look down, just keep looking upward and keep going. Crowds were everywhere. Once I reached the third terrace I rationalized that it was going to be much more crowded further up, so it would be prudent to stay here. Oh, and it would also be much easier to make my way down. Packed in, cheek to cheek, with hundreds of close friends, it was a struggle to find a spot to see the sunset. We were fortunate to again have a clear evening and sky. It was beautiful to the watch skyline doted by silhouettes of the surrounding temples and stupas as the sun began to set. The domes and towers reaching up as if to pierce the horizon.
Sunset over Bagan!
Enjoying the moment.
Time to get back down to ground level. Just as challenging as when we came up, the pipe rail looked like a ready invitation for me to slide down. As I was getting close to trying it, I spotted Tin, waving a no-no finger at me. He was waiting for me at the bottom and told me that this is a holy place, a pagoda, so sliding down was not allowed. Oh well. He could have said that it was insanely dangerous or that I was much too old. But he didn’t – very diplomatic.
Champion technique of coming down the stairs.
Completed the day with: a towel to clean our feet, a glass of watermelon juice and cold towel on boarding, a glass of wine, dinner, and a Myanmar puppet show – our last night on board.
Kaunggsawnyapar!
B
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