Bagan

The Burmese hold their wedding festivities at the ungodly hour of 5 a.m.! At first I thought that the music would stop. I actually enjoyed the first two songs through the half sleep but then the microphone came on and the live performance began. Man, singing is not something that man should do for a living. Not even the earplugs could keep the noisey squeaking at bay. Finally, curiosity and a general sense of irritation got the better of me. Francisco, Lagui and I headed into the general direction of the blaring to discover a beaming bride and her handsome suitor.


We took a picture with the couple and then were off to rent bikes to discover Old Bagan, a 42 square kilometre site of 4400 stupas, pagodas and temples that rival Ankor Wat in the wow factor department. I've never been to the Wat but what made this place great was the lack of tourists.


Bagan's temples were built some 800 years ago. The plain has survived the Mongol invasion led by Kublai Khan in 1287 and an eathquake measuring 6.5 on the Richter scale in 1975. Today less charming stupas are being added to the site by the wealthy who sponsor the consturgiton of a family pagoda.

Near the old city walls we encountered gem touting locals. The bikes had a bit of a skidding problem in the sand paths near the stupas but the views from the terraces overlooking the plain of lush jungle and hundreds of red brick spires was worth the near accidents.


We enjoyed some some great views and lovely conversations with the temple keepers. Generally speaking, hanging out with the Latin guys conversations about jiggy-jiggy (aka humping) seem to be of utmost importance. The Burmese guys were reluctant to go into much detail in front of a lady (that would be me). However, they did impart on us that they were virgins and no jiggy-jiggy before marriage was to be had in the whole of Myanmar...unless you paid. "Playing by hand", as one of them put it, is the name of the game in these parts. The Latinos nearly lost their mind.

The conversation turned quickly to change in society and then the government. Two fo the three guys sitting with us on to p of th etemple in the the middle of the jungle shot up and walked to the steep staircase. Once they had made sure that no one was around they came back to sit with us. In Myanmar talking about the government is dangerous. Bringing up political issues is a very touchy subject.


Aside from politics and sex other regularly discussed topics include defecation, or as I like to call it, the poo factor. Men in general complain about the squat toilets in Asia. These guys went into detailed technical accounts of their encounters with the poo-holes of Southeast Asia. I'll spare you the details of the helicopter position but know this, helicopters are dangerous because they often crash. I wouldn't want to be inside a toilet bowl and that's why I'll take a squat any day over a western style toilet.


The day after the wedding we were treated to a procession of girls, women, two old guys and dancing men through Nyaung U. Most of the towns people came out to watch with their families. The procession ended at the local monastery, so, I am going to take a wild guess here but I think there was some sort of Buddhist holiday that took place on this day.