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After Cambodia we traveled to Myanmar via Bangkok. Myanmar is an isolated country, ranking 154th on the list of countries surveyed in the Heritage Foundation's Index of Economic Freedom 2005, beating only North Korea. Political freedoms are certainly not much better either.

Land of the Golden Temples

Odv
2006-04-15 18:35:02

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Pahto (the biggest in Bagan, but unfortunately one cannot climb up), Ngakywendaung Paya (with its nice view), Mimalaung Kyaung (quiet), Dhammayangyi Phato (big but missing its top), temple 730 (another 5 sided temple whose name I do not know) and Nandamannya (which was unfortunately closed). Not to forget a little side trip to mount Popa.

Out of the 2217 temples only 17 are pentagonal and I found 2 of them by pure coincidence while cycling around the Bagan area. Both were not indicated on my map, so I still have no clue how they were called and can only identify them by their numbers: temples 730 and 1976. Numbers which incidentally are written only with Burmese numerals so it pays to learn them (it also happens to be a nice way to impress the locals, who are invariably surprised).
Inlay Lake

We spent a few more days on Inlay lake, well not really on the lake as those resorts are rather expensive, but in the nearby town of Nyangshwa. A beautiful lake in the mountains littered with villages on stilts and floating gardens. Local boatmen have a curious paddling method, they use a foot to paddle. It all seems a little inconvenient, but most of them are doing it that way, so there must be something to it.

Somewhere in the lake lies a temple, nicknamed Jumping Cat Temple, where the monks have trained cats to jump through loops. Very curious.

A short bicycle ride away from Nyangshwa lies Maing Thauk village, which is entirely on stilts and still quite authentic. On the day we visited we were told that 2 other tourists had come earlier that day.
Lasting Impressions

We returned to Yangon to catch our flight back to Bangkok. As we left Myanmar, we reflected on our visit. It is a country that left us with very strong impressions, first and foremost from the people we met and talked to.

Many Burmese showed a great interest in talking with us, it gave them an opportunity to practice their English and ask ...