Country roads

We set off in the misty morning from our hotel to cycle the 50km to Pakkoku on the way to Bagan.  After yesterday's rain there was a dense mist over the whole of the country side and we also weren't sure just what state the roads would be in as the plan was to take the country roads.

But this is an adventure, so off we rolled.  These ladies were busy harvesting the peanut crop.

And this chap spontaneously posed for me when I turned in his direction to show off his crop of tomatoes!

Monks come in all shapes, sizes and ages.  Families often send their sons of to the Monestry for an educatioooon but this does not mean that they will eventually become a monk.  All monks however make a daily collection of food alms, and that is what these young monks are doing.

After I'd taken the young lads photograph a mum indicated that she'd like me to photograph her little girl, only the daughter in question wasn't too keen! She kept trying to hide behind her mum but eventually I managed to capture her.

As you can see, the roads were very muddy in places, so it was hard going on a bike even though we had deflated the tyres a bit.  Local road works didn't help matters either.

So some just decided to take it easy and watch the world go by.

There was lots to see today, including this Hindu style Buddist temple, all sugar pink and cream like a Viennese fancy!

The first part of the ride we were going through arable crops.  Finally I managed to find a field of floweringsunflowers, only to see that they are all looking the 'wrong' way.  humph!

 

We rolled through village after village and met another group of young monks busy collecting food for the day but not so busy that they couldn't stop for a quick photo call.

They seem to have been successful in their collecting as this tray pull of different curries and bowls of rice and fruits.

You don't see much mechanisation in the farming of this area, the bullock is the main means of power. Often they are pulling ploughs or hitched up to a wagon as in this case.

By now it was time to stop and have a snack.  Always water and juice to refill our bottles, fresh local melons and bananas to munch on and a selection of sweet snacks and crisps for salt.  It may not be sunny, but it's still very warm and humid.  

I can't remember the name of this place where we stopped today.  But being off a country road it's virtually never visited by tourists, Burmese or Western.  But what a delight.

Unlike the gold, glitzy modern shrines and temples this one was 'proper old', from several centuries  ago.

It was beautifully un-reeeenovated and had its own faded grandure.

Not sure what animal this is meant to be, but I wouldn't like to meet it in a dark night.

But come with me as we stroll through the undergrowth,

Through this rusty iron gate, 

Bend down a bit if you're tall,  and look where Alex is pointing his torch,

there, see, in here is a Buddha statue 

and the most exquisite wall murals depicting the life and story of the Buddha.  Over three centuries old and still strong and bright.

Where ever we go we collect an entourage, 

but the temple was too small so most had to wait outside.  See the little tray with flipflops on?  That has the little girl's prize possessions in it, including a half naked Barbie type doll. That's probably all the toys she had in the world.

Hidden at the back of the complex was a large reclining Buddha, don't you think he looks very feminine ?

Like me he has red toe nails even!

Here, water buffalo are off to work in the fields.

And here we become the feature f the month.  We'd had to take a detour because the road through the main village was closed to keep the area quiet as the children were taking their school exams.  So in the village we ended up in white Europeans are objects of curiosity.

This little chap was quite content to be passed around...

The rest of our journey to Began was completed by boat.  Want a noise (  uncomfortable) affair it was!

But we did get to see just how long the bridge we cycled over was.  See the wee straw house in the middle? I wonder what happens to the fails come monsoon time.

By the time Bagan was insight the sun as starting to dip, and so another day was coming to an end.