8 September - Bagan (Myanmar/Burma)

There is a train station in Bagan which has four trains a day to Yangon and Mandalay. The track was built by the British in the 1920's and it, and the bridges, are still in use. It seems that the rolling stock is still the same as well. Journey time to most places is between five to 15 hours and is not for the faint hearted, in other words, not for tourists as I was informed. Even taking local buses would not help very much as they are normal buses with ordinary seats, not very comfortable for long journeys. I travelled between places by air, the planes being more like a bus than a plane as they were mainly 40 to 60 minute flights.


The first visit today was to Mount Popa, nearly a two hour drive from Bagan. Many legends are associated with this mountain including its dubious creation from a great earthquake and that the mountain erupted out of the ground in 442 B.C.

Mount Popa is considered the abode of Burma's most powerful Nats and as such is the most important Nat worship centre. The Nats are spirits worshipped in the Buddhist religion of which there are 37and which are said to have been human beings. 

Although all 37 Nats of the official pantheon are represented at the shrine on Mt Popa, in fact only four of them, the Mahagiri Nats, Byatta and Me Wunna, have their abode here.

I walked to the temple at the top of the rock outcrop. On the lower half of the steps shoes could be worn. On the upper part the shoes, and socks if worn, had to be removed as this upper part was considered to be part of the temple so feet had to be bared. In all the Buddhist monuments shoes and socks had to be removed. Other dress requirements, especially for women, were strictly adhered to with various pieces of clothing being available for people to wear so as to be covered correctly. 

Pictures of the Mount Popa Temple

The entrance to the lower part of the temple

The mountain spirits (Nats)

The temple guardian

                   

Views from Mount Popa

 Lunch was at the Mount Popa Mountain Park Resort

Harp playing at lunch

The hotel in the trees

On the return to Bagan we stopped to see local liquor being made. The liquid from the fruit of the toddy tree was harvested twice each day which required someone to climb the trees and collect the liquid. The jasmine pods were cut twice a day also and the liquid collected. Both brown sugar and toddy (liquor) was made from the collected liquids. The sugar tasted fine but the liquor was horrible, to me anyway, but others were buying bottles of the stuff.

When the tourists are watching

When the tourists are not watching

The paste being ground for the liquid residue

Collecting liquid from the toddy tree 

Jasmine plant

Making brown sugar

Making the spirit

The cook house

We were to go to Sale in the afternoon but the rain we could see in the mountains had flooded the rivers and we were unable to cross them. Eventually we gave up trying to find rivers to cross and returned to Bagan by another route. I was told to prepare myself to walk through the creek outside the hotel the following morning if the car could not get through to pick me up and take me to the airport. The creek that was flowing strongly that afternoon was dry the following morning.