The Golden Land

I really don't have any words for Myanmar. Not in a China-postcard way, but in a, how-do-I-possibly describe-this way. Ask anyone in North America to describe the Great Wall and they might take a decent crack at it, but what the plains of Bagan? I took about 800 photos while in Bagan, over the course of three days. My travel companions and I kept catching ourselves taking the same photo over and over again, because it felt like no picture could capture what we were seeing.



What to say. Heat and haze, golden and green. Romantic and mysterious. Wondrous and disturbing.



A friend was telling me about one girl who was raving that Bagan "changed her life". I don't think it changed my life, but it certainly made me reconsider what I know about my life.

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I don't think I had ever heard of Myanmar/Burma before Semester at Sea. Like Vietnam, I had this moment of, "Where was I in school when we learned about this place?", but then I realized that we don't. There's a quote I've been sharing because it just seems so profoundly accurate,

"This is Burma. It is unlike any place you know about." - Rudyard Kipling

Dry heat that my friends compared to Arizona (I found this more bearable than the stickiness of Singapore), green like thick acrylic paint, and these enormous golden pagodas. I can see the shine of one from where I sit on the deck of the ship. They provide such stark contrast to the poverty of the people around them. For this is, truly, the first developing country we have stopped in.



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The first time in my life I've ever been tipsy I was with two close friends from Christian summer camp (although not at camp please note), the second was in Bagan, Myanmar, after realizing I drank a whole bottle of Mandalay Beer. I thought this would be fine until I realized that at it's size it basically counted for two, and at 6%, I was glad only two of us had had beer when we crossed the unlit street to our taxi. I think Mandalay Beer was the first beer I have genuinely liked, and I feel I will forever be searching for a similar taste back home.

We got back to the hotel and promptly went across the street to this rust-red pagoda, slipped our shoes off at the entrance, lied down in the dust, and watched the stars. I used my beginner astronomy knowledge and we swapped life stories.

It is those moments that I have no pictures of, but that I wish I could frame.

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Not even at camp have my feet become so dirty so quickly. Kicking your shoes off at pagoda after pagoda, walking through dust and stone, and especially after our day of renting these hilarious e-bikes (pics to come), my feet felt  one with the Bagan plains. My flip flops will never be the same.

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We have four days before we arrive in India. I'm currently sitting up on the 7th deck, enjoying the morning sun before I have get lunch and go to class. It's okay though, the sun in the afternoon is almost unbearable for me. It's bright and harsh and very unforgiving.

This is the longest break we've had between ports since Hawaii-Japan. It's relieving, this moment to relax. Yesterday, our on-ship time was 1400. I was feeling exhausted, not physically, but just drained, so I stayed on ship and watched TV on my computer all morning. It was much needed.

I am excited for India, and also relieved that I don't have to worry about planning. India is a country you can't really mess around in. I'm on a SAS trip, which now that I am prepared for that style of travel after China, I think I'll be better prepared for mentally. I just can't wait to see Varanasi.

I'll try to add some more pictures soon.