Bagan, Myanmar
Saturday, March 31, 2007
We made our way from
Mandalay to
Bagan via an express boat down teh Irrawaddy River. The water levels were low and in some areas along the way we had to zig-zag from bank to banks in an effort to catch the deepest flowing waters. We passed magnificent barges stacked with tons of teak logs from the notrh making their way south to the Bay of Bengal with the final destinaltion being Europe. Teak has been an big industry in Burma for over a century and wars have been fought over it. In fact, the King was sent into exile in India and the dawn of British colonialism was wrapped around teak. This occured after the King called on the British to pay backed taxes. Wars over natural resources hasn't changed. Today we fight over oil and diamonds. What will tomorrow bring? Will we be fighting over water? Wind? Before the days of barges, teak would be chopped in the north around temporary settlements. A British Assistant would occupy his tai home with best view of the surround landscape and behind him would be a Burmese hsin-oug and his oo-sis' - a ban of Burmese, Karen, Pa-O or other Burmese tribesman
. After the teak was chopped down, mahouts and their elephants would drag the 50 foot longs to the flowing rivers that ran into the Irrawaddy. As written in the Glass Palace, it was then that the terrestrial handlers would pass it to the aquatic, from oo-sis and elephants to river-folkd and raftsmen. Once the logs were braought ashore, river-folkd would bundle 360 logs to form a raft. At over one ton per log, the rafts were the size of a small battleship. The raftsmen would construct a bamboo shack for him and his mates for the 4-5 day journey to the Bay of Bengal. On our journey south, we sipped Nescafe mix coffee, waved at the local people, and watched old Burmese Kung Fu movies. As wer rounded our last meandering curve, we saw the tips of pagodas and stupas poking over a ridge - we had arrived in
Bagan.
The Bagan was orinally con
Comments
welcome home
I can't wait to hear more about Burma, and welcome back to our part of the world! I'm sure you have a great big list of food you want to eat and indulge in.