Before I begin on our last day in Bagan, here are a few more sunset photos from the day prior.
One really cool architectural features of the Old Bagan temples were that they had internal staircases that led to the terraces of the upper levels. In Siem Reap, the staircases were always on the outside of the temples. In Old Bagan, the staircases were mostly blocked off, but every once in a while we'd find a more obscure, less popular temples where the staircase was open, and we'd go climbing up to the top. The staircases were rarely tall enough to stand upright in, so crouching while being on constant alert for your head's safety as well as spiders or scorpions? was the order of the day.
Here an old brick stupa and another old stupa that's been covered in gold plate sit side by side.
This was something of a rosetta stone for several ancient SE asian languages. Bali, Myu, Pu, and Burmese I think? I was sad because I was behind bars.
A few temples has giant, heavy wooden doors, and door grooves had been worn into the stone floors.
We always seem to notice the dogs.
Day 2 in Bagan included mostly more temple touring. We went to a few more obscure temples that day, so we got to go off the beaten track a bit and really explore the surrounding area.
Looks like an Apsara dancer from Cambodia!
This was a giant reclining Buddha housed in a tiny little building. Why the space was so small, I'm not sure.
More E-bikes!
The temple in this picture is the largest one in terms of area in Bagan. However, as the upper floors and middle sections were blocked off, the inside was quite boring. The outside, though, is amazing.
While we were always aware about our safety in Myanmar, the only time we ever actually faced imminent danger was near the end of day 2 in Bagan, where Drew almost got gored by a bull. Even now, I am still unsure how we escaped the situation unscathed, but I thank God that we did, for it would not have been pretty. Drew thinks the story is funny now; I'm not quite there yet. But it is a memorable story, and one that needs telling here. Imagine a setting like the one in the picture below, but instead of a herd of goats there was a herd of cows with two cow herders, one in the front and one in the back. Drew was passing the herd on the left hand side, which we had done probably 10 other times that day, while I was about 20 meters behind. About halfway past the herd, Drew must have gotten a bit too close, as one of the smaller females spooked and jumped into the male bull beside her. This bull decided he didn't like how Drew had disturbed his lady friend, so he started chasing after him, horns down. The cow herder in the back noticed right away, and he started running after the bull in flip flops no less, waving his herding stick and yelling at the bull in Burmese. Drew sped off as fast as his little e-bike would go, and was smart to go to the outside of the cow herder in front. She was a women though, and the cow just went right by her. At this point Drew looked behind him and he says the buill was within his reach. He turned forward and kept going as fast as the e-bike would go, trying not to spill over in the sand. Luckily, by that point the back herder had caught up, and was able to turn the bull away from Drew and back towards the herd, after which he calmed down immediately. The path split, and Drew was able to get out the way of the herd altogether, safe and sound. This whole time I was behind the herd watching the entire scene, which lasted about 20 seconds. I think my horrified eyes were the size of saucers, and I felt rooted to the spot, incapable of doing nothing but watching my husband come within feet of a bull's horns. If Drew had actually gotten hurt, the situation would have been quite dire. We were in the middle of nowhere, we couldn't communicate with the herders who only spoke Burmese, and I'm sure the hospital there in Bagan would have been top notch. Somehow the scene was over as quickly as it started, and after a shaky hug we continued on our way. Goes to show danger comes from where you least expect it as well as help. If that Burmese herder hadn't ran after the bull, I'm not sure the story would have had the same ending. And Drew must have a great guardian angel. Grandpa Erwin perhaps? :)
That evening, we took a domestic flight back to Yangon, and, after a 4 hour layover, took our international flight back to Hong Kong. Overall, it was a great trip. I'm so glad we went now, as it was so cool to see how the country is rapidly changing. They have some growing pains to go through, and it will be fascinating to see how they fare. But I've never experienced so many people willing to help us, complete strangers, in both small ways and large ones. We owe a lot to the Burmese people; they were definitely the highlight of the trip.
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