It's a Cold

Thursday, Sept. 15, Bagan

Sniffle, sniffle, sniffle.... That's the story of my day. I managed to sleep well last night, but I had to maintain almost the same position all night to keep both nostrils open. Today they have stayed runny, but open, all day. I guess that fever, etc., I had a couple of days ago was the beginning of a cold. And all that coughing I thought was TB was probably everyone in the mountains suffering from the cold virus I eventually got.

Breakfast was a little better than usual this morning. For the time time I got both tomatoes and onions in my omelet. Otherwise, it ws the same--tea toast, margarine, jam, and bananas.

This is a big tourist complex. About 800-1000 years ago, this was the capital of Myanmar. It was a huge city with lavish temples built by the kings. It's similar to Ankor Wat in Cambodia, a couple of places I've visited in Thailand, and a couple of places I have visited in Sri Lanka (all of them with names that are difficult to remember). Like all those places, the houses and shops were made of bamboo and palm fronds and disappeared over time. The hundreds (here, 2000) of temples are all that remain scattered over a great area, since they were more sturdily built from bricks and plaster. Most of them deteriorated and were looted over the years (the Germans got a lot from here), so what is seen today is mostly reconstructions sponsored by funds from UNESCO. They are impressive, however. Bagan is definitely worthy of being called a World Heritage Site.

The problem with any major tourist site like this in Asia is that it is difficult to enjoy it due to the touts. It started at my hotel with a man, the first of many making the same offer today, wanting to guide me in a horse-drawn carriage for 6500 kyat (6.5 times the average daily wage here). Then came the multitudes of kids wanting to sell postcards (and following up with requests for small money, then coins, then pens, then candy in hopes of getting something), the boat men wanting to give tours on the river, etc. And each monument has a double line of t-shirt, gong, paintings, etc., sellers lining the entrance for 30 yards (30 m).

I didn't really intend to do much, since my cold made me feel bad, but once I started going, I just kept going for almost 5 hours. I saw all the major temples I had marked on my map at least from a distance that allowed me to get a decent photo. It must have involved walking at least 15 km, since a simple round-trip from here to the riverfront in Old Bagan is at least 11 km. I actually made a loop using two roadways and had to branch off each of them to get to each monument. It's an amazingly large area with impressive monuments scattered over it and many smaller monuments filling spaces between them. it would be a great place to see from an airpline or a hot air balloon (which is possible at great cost some months of the year but not now). It used to be possible to climb to the tops of many of the larger monuments, but now the passages are blocked to protect them. There are still two less important monuments where people climb for sunrise or sunset views. but the hassle of getting to those and back isn't an effort I want to make. I saw great panaramas of monuments today; as I continued to walk and scan with my eyes, it all pieced together in my mind.

It was cloudy earlier, but the sun came out around 2 p.m. I wore Arne's cap all day, however, to protect my nose, face and neck. Still , the heat, humidity, walking, and my cold have left me totally exhausted. I took a long shower, first with warm water and switching to cold. Now I am relaxing under a combination of the air conditioner and the ceiling fan.
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I went out to dinner at 5:30. I chose a place about 6 blocks (one a very long block) away from here based on my guidebook. I ordered hot and sour pork with rice. It also came with soup. The pork was delicious. It was enough for two people, but I ate every bite of it. It was a stir-fry with everhthing shopped--pork, tomatoes, onions, pepper, potatoes (but not many), and I don't know what else. If you're supposed to fee a cold, I certainly did it tonight.

It started raining hard while I was there, and there didn't seem to be a chance for a let-up. Water was pouring across the roadway about 1 inch (2.5 cm) deep or more. So I took off my sandals in the restaurant, opened my umbrella, held my bag and my sandals high under the umbrella, and walked home. At the end of the first (the long) block, all the electricity in town went off. I unzipped my bag and pulled out my flashlight (which I had taken knowing it would be dark before I returned). I think everyone was surprised to see the American walk by barefotted with a headlight!

Thank goodness I have my books with me. I would be bored to death on nights like this without them. There's no TV in my room and there is heavy rain outside. But I can open In America and follow the story of the sophisticated Poles who left their elegant lives behind in Poland to come to America and become farmers in Anaheim. Will they run out of money before they begin to make a profit? Will Maryna become disenchanged and want to return to the stage? Is a vinyard in Anaheim a bad idea? If so, will they be saved by the orange grove and the olive trees the baron insisted they plant so they wouldn't be dependent upon one crop in case of failure? All the answers await me in the last 180 pages of the book!

Water (3 liters) 400 kyat
Dinner 1600
Total = $ 1.92