Monday, 26 September -- Tant Kyi/Bagan

Click here for All Photos of the Day
Click here for Video of Elephant Puppet Show 
What fun we had today! The first event was an elephant dance in Tant Kyi. Two men in an elaborate elephant costume danced and did acrobatic feats. It was astounding. Then we drove up a winding narrow rutted road in minivans to a hilltop stupa for a panoramic view of Bagan across the river. In late afternoon we set out for Bagan and had our first encounter with the persistent vendors. They met us as we left the boat and turned up at every stop along the way. "Remember me?" "Think about it." "Maybe tomorrow" "4 for $8 today, 4 for $10 tomorrow -- ha ha". And so on. Several of us bought tee-shirts, blouses, lacquer boxes etc. but it did get a bit annoying. One kid just wanted "new Canadian dollar for souvenir" very enterprising. The first stop was a 1000 year old temple, with 4 10-metre Buddha figures, 
each carved from a single piece of wood, and gold-covered. In niches along the walls, reaching up to perhaps 10 metres, were smaller Buddha figures. Mojo was guiding us and said that there are well over 1000 of them.  We enjoyed a lovely cocktail hour at the Watch Tower, with a breath-stopping 360 degree view out over the plain of Bagan. 





We could see hundreds of temples, stupas, pagodas. A few had tarps covering earthquake damage from a few weeks ago, but most are as they were. Just when we thought we'd see the sunset, we were disappointed by the arrival of heavy clouds in the west. Can't complain though, we've had good weather, with rain only during the night. We were blessed by a monk at a candlelight ceremony, then made our way to the buses to return to  the boat. After dinner we enjoyed a traditional marionette show -- very funny, and demonstrating amazing skill. Some of the marionettes even have waggly eyebrows! We were all very tired and have an early morning tomorrow, so turned in right away.
 Internet "Lurkers" outside our room.  Larry hosts a tethered internet link for the group on his cell phone.









 Typical river-side landing!



Click here for Video of Elephant Puppet Show 
Click here for All Photos of the Day

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