We decided to rent bikes again because we had so much fun the day before! The only plan we had was to visit the Bagan Archeological Museum (which is ok, if you need something to do), and once we were done, we did not know what to do (the only thing to do in Bagan is to visit the temples and well, we did that the day before). So we thought, let's explore the area known as New Bagan. With Jason in the lead, we followed. No real destination in mind, just the open road in front of us.
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| Vroom, vroom |
We were riding along the road when someone said "Hi! Where are you from?", which usually prompts us into defense mode with either a "no, thank you" or silence. Usually when a foreigner is asked this, our experience has been they want to sell you something or offer taxi service. The people of Bagan though are very kind, and the man continued to talk to Jason (all the while we are still biking).
Then before we knew it, we were all pulling over to the side of the road. Apparently he said something to Jason that peaked his interest. The man named Aung Htoo (sounds like On Two), told Jason that there is village nearby that is interesting and there are no foreigners there. Well, of course we are interested! He had his wife and child on the back of his motorbike so we thought, OK, this guy is probably ok. Aung is a very nice person who really wanted to show us around, and we took the chance to follow him. It turned out to be an incredible afternoon thanks to him and his wife. We visited both his wife's village, and his village learning about the different "industries" of the villages, meeting the people and seeing life.
Sometimes it is hard to let our guards down a little and trust people. We can be so skeptical and jaded about life, but when you decide to go for it after calculations are taken into consideration, they often turn into an unforgettable experience.
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| Visiting Aung's wife's village |
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| Her village specializes in peanuts & beans - picking peanuts off the greens |
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| Roasting peanuts |
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| This machine shells the peanuts! |
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| The "tops" (greens) from the peanuts are fed to the cows |
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| Pounding the beans out of the casings (first they are sundried) |
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| These are rocks! They naturally look like this! |
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| House |
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| Aung and family |
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| Next we went to Aung's village |
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| His village specializes in lacquerware - it starts out with strips of bamboo to make a bowl/plate/etc. |
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| The process is very intensive consisting of lacquering, drying, lacquering again, etc before the etching can begin |
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| This little piggy had to do #2 - yes, I took a picture |
~ Christine
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