Bagan, Day 2

Well, Day 2 in Bagan was much tamer than Day 1.  We had a little bit of a lazy morning.   Took some pictures of our view.  Now, remember how I said that the people live and work among the ancient ruins?  This is just an example.  Also, this is still our view from our ROOM!  Now, all of you know I don't like to brag, but this picture is pretty good. At least, I think so.  I am just waiting for the offers from the major magazines and travel books to pour in.......Crickets.....Huh.  Maybe not.  Oh well!

Then after breakfast we hired a horse drawn carriage. Oh yes we did.  For the day.  It was SO COOL!   We clippety clopped around and were passed by this clickety clackety tractor.  He was so happy to be passing somebody.

We went back to the Golden Cuckoo Laquerware shop since one of our friends had missed it the day before and like I said, you don't want to miss it.  It was great though because we learned more this time around.  This picture is the progress the same girl had made since the previous day, as shown in my previous post.  So intricate!  She may have worked on other pieces in the meantime, I don't know but it certainly would require such patience, concentration and good eyesight!

One other bonus about returning again was I got a second souvenir!  One for each visit dontchaknow!  This time I got a bracelet from the special shop in the back.  It was the cheapest  thing in the pricy section and all I could afford anyways.  Matt got the hint after I kept aimlessly sorting through the bracelet bowl and trying on this and that and asking his opinion.  Then I'd wander away, and somehow drift back.  Ahem..  I do love my bracelet though!  The way they make it laquerware is so detailed, I have tons of pictures and I would love to show them on request but I don't have time to get into it all now.  So if you want to know, feel free to ask!  After not one but 2 visits to the Golden Cuckoo we are pretty  much experts.  Almost.  Minus the artistic creative genius bit.

This is the front of the shop.  Check out the cow cruising through!

I just realized I got excited over a cow.  Must have been away from Wyoming too long!  Around the time we left and saw the cow it started to rain.  So we sought shelter and food.  Our poor driver tried to find shelter too but he got soaked.  I felt terrible for him.  But he kept smiling!  He was a great driver, we had such a nice day.

We checked out the view from one more place before we headed back to the hotel.  I found a bird to take a picture of for my dad.

Here is the view:

As we left the last site I almost got attacked by a vicious dog.  Fortunately I was able to get away unscathed, thanks to my amazing reflexes and the aid of an obliging local.  We crowded in the back of a little truck for the ride back to the bus and off we went.  9 more hours on the bus.  2 toilet stops.  One of which was very questionable.  I don't want to talk about it. 2 persistent snorers, very persistent.   Arrived at "ridiculous o'clock" in the morning.  Taxi drivers tried to rip us off again, reasoning with us that they had been waiting since eleven at night for the bus.  So naturally we should pay you more, because you don't have the sense to come for the bus when you know it will be there rather than 5 hours ahead.  Anyways.  Rant over.  We got home and were able to sleep a bit:).  That concludes the Bagan adventure! If you come to Myanmar, you might not want to miss making your own  trek to Bagan! ( Although if you have the cash, you could consider flying.  The bus is totally fine, and I recommend it to all who are interested in saving some money and don't mind the adventure of it.  But if you have the money..... )  We had a great time and would go again, given the chance.  It was great to see how normal people live here, outside of the city that is.

Til next time!