Playing Indiana Jones in Bagan

I love watching the Indiana Jones movies (Except that last abomination. Why, Harrison Ford, WHY??) When I was younger I used to pretend that I was an archeologist, digging up buried treasure in the back yard and exploring abandoned buildings. I just knew that I would find some evidence of an ancient civilization or extinct species that they would then name after me. Even though I never made that great discovery, to this day every time I hear the Indiana Jones theme song, it makes me want to go on an adventure!

When Sarah, Megan and I were in the planning stages of our trip to Myanmar, we knew the the one place we HAD to visit was Bagan. This area of Myanmar has over 2,000 ancient Buddhist temples all built between the 11th and 13th century. Most of the temples are original, although some have been rebuilt due to earthquakes. 

Our preferred way to see the temples of Bagan was to rent a bicycle and start before sunrise. This way we not only got to watch the sun rise over the vast fields full of temples, but it was also much cooler and there were fewer touts trying to sell us sand paintings. We would set off from our hotel and randomly choose a dirt path that connected to the main road. This dirt path would lead us through farm fields and past thatch huts to temples both small and large. 

The best part of the temples in Bagan is that we were free to explore and I could live out my dream of being Indiana Jones. We walked around inside and saw the beautiful paintings and we took a tour of the outside and saw the ornate carvings that are still there even after 1000 years! And some of the temples held a super secret surprise- narrow and dark stairs that led to the top of the temple and a birds eye view of the whole area. Stunning!

Temples surrounded by farm fields

Farmer using oxen and a wooden plow

Bagan at Sunset

A young woman selling her wares

Yes, yes we did climb all of those stairs

 

Many of the temples had similar corner carvings

Burma- Stepping Back in Time

Knowing Burma's tumultuous past and uncertain present, I wasn't sure what to expect on our trip to Yangon and Bagan. Stepping out of the airport in Yangon, Myanmar (Burma)  feels like stepping back in time. The city is a hodgepodge of crumbling buildings built when Myanmar was a British colony, golden Buddhist temples, and vendors selling everything from betel to Justin Bieber CDs. The streets are filled with bicycles, trishaws and taxi's that are held together with a wish and a prayer.

Since Myanmar doesn't have a lot of visitors (only 200,000 per year compared to 12 million visitors to Thailand every year) it is a perfect country to visit if you love attention. The people we passed on the street were very quick to say hello and ask us where we were from. By the end of the day, my cheeks were sore from returning all those smiles. 

Vendor selling books in front of a crumbling building

Walking the sidewalks of Yangon is a toe-stubbing, ankle turning adventure

Sule Paya

Drinking water station inside Sule Paya

Looks like something from a Jim Henson movie

Bananas waiting for offering at Sule Paya

Looking down Mahabandoola Rd. towards Sule Paya

Workers preparing dough for some deep fried goodness

Celebration at a Hindu temple

Burmese lion guarding the Shwedagon Paya

The Shwedagon Paya is the most important Buddhist temple in Myanmar

LED lights add a modern look to Buddha statues in many Burmese Buddhist temples

This statue depicts the Burmese defeating the British, because nothing says England like green dragons

My favorite statue. It's a Sphinx- like protective statue.

Shwedagon Paya at night ( and in the rain)

Cloths drying on the grass next to a busy road

Ice water station. You pour water over the ice and cold water comes out of the bottom

Street side telephone stations are everywhere. They are a perfect way to make a call on the go

Woman selling betel leaves and cigarettes.

Our New Favorite Holiday- Songkran

For the past three days all of Thailand shut down in order to celebrate Songkran. Traditionally Thailand's new year celebration was a time for Buddhists to make merit at local temples and for the elders to sprinkle water on younger people as a form of blessing and tribute. Included in this blessing was the application of white paste or clay to the face, arms and torso as a sign of protection and to ward off evil.  

The modern Songkran celebration has evolved (or devolved depending on your point of view) into a three day water fight. In Bangkok, two of the most popular areas to celebrate Songkran are Silom Road and Khao San Road. In both areas, they close off the streets and people armed with waterguns, buckets, water bottles and firehoses wage a water fight free-for-all. If defending yourself from water attacks weren't enough, there are also people walking around with bowls of white clay that they will smear on anyone and anything.

We decided that we wanted to experience the party at both of these locations so on Wednesday we headed to Silom dressed in old clothing and armed with a waterproof camera.  As soon as we exited the MRT station at Silom, we were hit with a wall of sound and water. Each side of the street was packed with vendors who were selling food, water guns, and clay. We spent hours wandering the up and down Silom and Patpong with Megan, being bombarded with water and clay.

A before picture

Looking down on Silom towards Sala Daeng BTS

 Clay and water for sale

On Patpong, they busted out the fire-hoses

Doesn't seem like a fair fight.

Fun for all ages!

Megan looking gangster with her Pooh water gun

The aftermath- covered in clay and soaked to the core

On Thursday we headed over to Khao San Road to meet a group of friends. There were fewer people on Khao San Road than there was on Silom, but that meant there was more room to fire your weapon of choice. This time around, we bought our own water guns so we could participate in the craziness. 

We spent most of our time on a street that runs parallel to Khao San Road because we were able to find a street side bar where we could launch sneak attacks on the crowd passing by. After an hour or so of this coupled with our 10 minute water fight with the table next to us, we got kicked out of the bar! 

They didn't allow clay on Khao San Rd, so people discarded their bowls

They even had official signs!

These girls were ruthless. I think they hit us 5 times with ice cold water

Guy prepares his Doremon water gun

Disturbing doll attached to an ambulance- not sure why...

I love my new water gun!

Launching an attack on the crowd

Mike and Guy refill their guns for the next attack

Eric and I have both decided that Songkran is our new favorite holiday. How can you not love a holiday where you hang out with friends and spend all day at the world's largest water fight. Can't wait until next year!

"Camping" in Thailand

Camping has to be one of the best ways to spend a weekend. Many of our summer weekends (and even some not-so-summery weekends) were spent with friends or family at one of  the many state parks in Wisconsin.

What camping in March in Wisconsin looks like

Camping was one of the things that we thought that we would have to give up once we moved to Thailand. We were pleasantly surprised when one or our friends suggested a camping excursion to an undisclosed location in Thailand (Seriously, I promised under the threat of pain to not reveal the location, lest it become overrun with tourists and start to look like Pattaya).

I use the word "camping" very loosely when describing this camping experience in Thailand- it is nothing like the camping we are used to in Wisconsin. To me camping consists of planning meals, packing equipment in to our backpacks or car/motorcycle, making sure we have plenty of beer, sitting around a campfire roasting marshmallows and telling funny stories.

Or wandering around in the woods trying to figure out where we are...

At the resort ( yes, resort) we camped at in March, everything is provided for you. They set up your tent, provide you with a sleeping pad and pillow and breakfast, lunch and dinner are all made for you in the resort kitchen. The only thing we had to worry about was bringing enough booze, because it's not really camping if there is no beer involved, right? 

I could really get used to this style of camping, except for one crucial element which was missing from the weekend. There was NO CAMPFIRE! Other than that missing element, it was a great vacation with awesome friends in a beautiful part of Thailand.

Despite what the sign says- there was no campfire.

Our tents set up in a row

They had props for photo ops

Love this library card cabinet!

Hammock+Camping=Perfection

Loved the beautiful flowers covering the hill

Nothing makes you feel like a kid again like a merry-go-round

Beautiful view of the valley

Enjoying the view and the Singha

"I shall rule them all!!"

Sunset over the valley