Bagan - Myanmar

There was still one city that we had to visit before leaving Myanmar: Bagan.

We decided to follow a guided tour through the city. The number of religious edifices in the city is striking, especially the number of temples. There are 2000 pagodas and temples in total. In the early days, there were even more than 10,000 of them. Can you believe that? A pagoda is a tower made of several tiers used as tombs or places of worship, near a temple. Some temples were well-preserved but others were completely ruined and nothing but a pile of bricks. Thieves looking for valuable things and earthquakes made the temples fall into disrepair. Moreover, the river Irrawaddy washed away about one-third of the city. It’s a pity that for these reasons, a lot of those wonderful temples are torn apart. Today, only a few dozen of temples are maintained. At the end of the 20^th century, many damaged pagodas were restored. By all means, the constructors didn’t preserve the architectural styles and didn’t use modern materials. When you know this, it’s no surprise that UNESCO didn’t accept Bagan as a World Heritage Site. In Angkor (Cambodia), we also saw a lot of temples but we all agreed that Badang is more prominent because of its wonderful views.

During the guided-tour, I observed the local people and what they were doing. I saw for example a women weaving a skirt and a man making something out of bamboo. The guide noticed that I was looking at them and told me that bamboo works and handmade cloth are a part of the local art. He also said that the citizens make nice things of lacquer.

To end our day, we made a boat trip on the Ayeyarwaddy River to see the wonderful sunset over the city.

Ulrike

Sources:

http://www.baganmyanmar.com/ 

http://sacredsites.com/asia/burma_myanmar/bagan.html

http://bagan.travelmyanmar.net/

http://www.ehow.com/info_8746490_meaning-pagodas.html

http://www.amusingplanet.com/2013/04/the-many-thousand-temples-of-bagan.html