11th Century Temples and 14 Year Old Boys

We made it to Bagan without a hitch.  The view is surreal. 

Temples peak out from the landscape like Hersey kisses at Halloween in Bagan. It's hard to believe the temples are all from the 11th-13th century. While Europe was in the dark ages, the king of Myanmar was introducing Buddhism to the country with grand sweeping, architectural bang. It's so impressive, I wondered why it was  not a world heritage site. Turns out, Unesco tried, but the Myanmar government did not want to play by UNESCO rules and chose to "renovate" temples their own way. Consequently, we saw lots of original temples with bright gold-painted tops and brand new Buddha staues inside. During a huge earthquake in 1975, many of the conical tops of the temples fell over and the Buddhas toppled over and broke. They were replaced with newer, better, and more gilded versions. No matter whAt rules the Myanmar government followed, nothing so far can take away from the mystique of these pagodas.

Within an hour of arriving at our hotel, Rhonda and I set off to explore them on e-bikes, electric scooters. We were quickly accosted by teenage boys selling paintings and postcards. Their English was decent, their knowledge of the history of the pagodas better, and best of all, they knew the location of secret staircases to the top of the temples. We negotiated with Zawzaw, a 14 year old boy with a gentle smile, hip hairdo, earrings, and a smart phone, along with a fervent passion for jennifer Lopez and Justin Bieber.  We came to terms and he became our tour guide. I plopped him on the back of my motorbike and we were off, the electric bike squealing in defiance of the additional weight

. 

We covered four or five temples, in which we received a in-depth cultural history from our "guide". I dare say, I would be hard pressed to find a 14 year-old American kid that could give an equally in-depth background of any US local, regional or national history.  Much less, in a second language. Zaw Zaw was an impressive kid.  The highlight of the day were the secret staircases and the freedom to scramble all over the 1100 year old temples, up to the roofs. The government is already closing down access to some of the temples and it's easy to imagine that it's just a matter of time before this kind of tourist freedom disappears.

We ended a fabulous day enjoying the sunset over the river from our hotel. It was a fairy tale ending until I woke in the middle of the night with what I will call Burma Belly😷.