Old Bagan by horse cart

The cart driver was Nye Nye and the cart had a covered flat cushioned platform to recline on.


Nat sat next to Nye Nye and I lolled about in the back as we spent the day going from temple to temple, climbing those stairways to heaven, many of them crumbling, none with guard rails, some with importuning sellers of 3,000 year old beads, sand paintings, lacquer ware, stone figures, some blissfully empty. The styles are Indian, Hindu, and Buddhist, a little something for everyone. Some of the murals are as vibrant as the day they were painted, others not.











Seller of horsehair lacquerware. We bought!





































The scariest moment was when we climbed one of the temples to watch the sunset. We hauled ourselves up five very
steep tiers, along with hordes of French and Japanese visitors, including quite a few small children. At the top there were hawkers trying to display sand paintings, people perched on the low ramparts, kids crying, tourists groaning from the climb, and a bright red sun sinking to the horizon behind hazy temples. I spent the entire time plastered to a wall like spider woman wondering when someone was going to sail off the edge. Spectacular!

Horse carts raising dust on the dirt trails, temple bells chiming, and the thought of a cold beer made it worth the effort. It makes me wonder what 'progress' is when you see these graceful temples, short and tall, stretching off in every direction for as far as the eye can see. Ahhhh, yes, time for that beer!

Looking down



This young man acted as a human guard rail for me as we edged our way around the top of a temple. He is an artist and makes a living by selling sand paintings ( sand is mixed with paint to act like a gesso on cotton cloth) of some of the temple murals that are no longer allowed to be photographed. When we bought one, his wife took the bills and tapped them against all the other paintings displayed on the temple floor. 'For luck', she said.





Tight fit.


















This is a kind of checkers played with tiny shells by horse cart drivers waiting outside temples.