Ten Days in Burma - Part 14
Thursday, September 25, 2008
The sun crept in the windows the next morning and I sat up in bed feeling refreshed and ready for Bagan. Yesterday had just been a bad day. We were both exhausted from a long day of traveling. The magic of that first night was going to resurface at any moment. I was sure of it.
We stepped out on the patio to enjoy breakfast overlooking the river. Unfortunately, breakfast didn't prove to be any more enticing to my taste buds. Nothing looked like real food…not the strawberry tang or the hard-as-rocks “rolls” or the “butter” that most certainly was not. I tried. I truly, truly tried. I mean I literally think I tried everything that wasn’t meat-based that was out on the buffet. But in the end, pineapple was going to have to suffice for breakfast.
We set off in the pounding sun to explore the temples of Old Bagan. Despite the fact that all the books said that the best way to see the temples was by renting bikes or a horse drawn carriage (and I knew this because of the Lonely Planet guide that he had sent to me), Burma Boy insisted we walk. He claimed that his good friends had just been to
In addition to my questioning whether or not we should walk, the Israeli couple I met while drinking honeydew juice (yay! More nourishment!!) told me we were crazy to try to walk. When I shared this newfound information with Burma Boy, he told me (once again) that we were ALL wrong. Burma Boy had his heart set on walking. Soooo…we walked.
About 20 minutes after we embarked on our adventure, we arrived at our first temple, sweat-soaked, parched, and exhausted. From 20 minutes of walking. This was because it was about 110 degrees out. Dry heat. And we walked on pavement. With dust swirling around us from the cars that drove by and LAUGHED at us. nu=3233)739)23;)4427+%28a35374%3B32%2923233988+693+ot1lsi.jpg)
Upon arrival, a miracle occurred. Burma Boy finally agreed that perhaps I had been right and walking wasn’t the way to go. We stopped for a few liters of water and an orange fantasy soda which I literally had to force down my throat to replenish our sugar levels. Then we ventured in.
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You hear the word temple and you tend to think sacred, peaceful, holy. So I was shocked to find random people sleeping strewn all over the floors at every turn. The temples are cool and dark inside, a good 30 degrees cooler without the pounding sun, so that’s where they go to relax. As I began to explore I saw animals everywhere, also escaping from the heat. This temple was basically acting as an icebox and a tourist trap. Little Burmese children began following us trying to get money or lipstick or pins. The little pitter patter of bare feet on slate followed my every step with, “You so pretty. You have lipstick for me?? You have
When we were finished, it was apparent that Burma Boy had truly come to his senses and we hired little rickshaws to take us back to our hotel for bikes. Along the way we stopped for food and FINALLY I found something that I could stomach - fried noodles and vegetables. As I slid the noodles through my smiling lips, I felt like a queen eating the most amazing gourmet meal I've ever eaten. I had nourishment. I was happy.
After lunch, we got our bikes and ventured out to see some more temples for the afternoon. Things were starting to feel a little better. And while I wasn’t feeling completely like myself, I knew that we had made some progress. We’d taken some fun pictures, managed to enjoy each other’s company. We rode up dirt roads to temples after temple. Some were beautiful, some were decrepit and smelly.
We ended our day watching the sunset at the top of one. We climbed the stairs and looked out over the stupa (stupa=temple) filled land. The temples glittered like pieces of gold in the distance from the sun reflecting off of them. There were young, adorable monks running around. And there were tourists there to see what was supposed to be one of the most beautiful sunsets in all of
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As I looked out over the land, watching the sun go down, I was overwhelmed with confusion. This was the kind of sunset that I was supposed to share with someone that I knew, with someone that I loved. And not even necessarily in love with – but someone that I cared for deeply, be it my family or closest friends or one day, someone that I was in love with. It was Monday and I was thousands and thousands of miles away from all of those people with no means of communication. And I wasn’t even close to falling in love. Had I truly expected to? While I knew that love was a romantic fairytale, I certainly thought I’d be a hell of a lot closer than I was. My movie hadn’t included vacationing with the biggest haggler on the face of the universe. And then it hit me - I wasn’t vacationing at all. I was traveling. And they are two completely different things.
The sun set on Bagan, and we rode our bikes back to the hotel, agreeing (finally) that bikes were definitely the key to getting around. We stopped at a little hut for noodles again for dinner, however this time, even Burma Boy couldn’t stomach the food. We didn’t want to insult the owners (as we all know by now, that would be disrespectful), so we asked for our dinner “to go”. In
Posted byMeesh-elle my Belle at 5:25 PM
Labels: 10 Days in Burma, past, writing exercise, yeah...i'm a little bit crazy
thank god you found something you could eat!
i keep hoping this story with you and burma boy is going to begin to take a turn for the better. why is he being so... unfriendly? so... different from your email exchanges, from your first date? im waiting... hoping...