9 August 2010….After a beautiful run at dawn amongst the sleeping stupas we loaded into Oh oh’s car, such as it was, for the three hour drive up to Mt. Popa.  This was our first chance to see the countryside and it introduced us to other aspects of Myanmar.      

Do not adjust your set – this is 2010

The country’s economy is mainly based on its agriculture and here in August it is in the middle of the rainy season and the crops are full and healthy.  As we wound our way towards the mountains in the distance we passed through endless rolling fields of corn, palms, rice, sesame and peanuts.     

Bill expertly grinding peanut oil extract

But the real amazing aspect of these rural scenes was the complete lack of any mechanical device.  The narrow paved road had no cars on it except for a few tourist cars like us.  The fields were being ploughed by oxen pulling wooden plows and crops were being harvested by back-breaking hand.   And curiously, there were no side roads to our main road because no one that would want to go anywhere else had a car.  Just cart tracks and animal paths.     

The local market, doing business in the morning heat

We stopped at a little roadside family business that harvested the Sugar Palm (very similar to the Cabbage Palm in Australia).  From this tall palm they produced palm juice (sweet), palm sugar and palm alcohol (vaguely similar to schnapps).  And they made it all in their dirt floor thatched hut that would have more in place 200 years ago.      

We also stopped at the little village of Taungzin for their local weekly market.  All the people from the local village and surrounding areas were dressed in their best and buying or trading their wares.  Amongst this colourful and hectic scene there was a guy selling home made ice cream bars from an old esky on the back of his bicycle while he blared a horrible sound from his mega-horn, the local version of the ice cream truck.     

The road wound its way up the narrow switchbacks, sometimes nothing more than a single lane pot holed track, while we felt every bump and turn in the back of our zero suspension relic of a car.  And then the amazing temple on the top of Mt. Popa came into view, sitting on top of this tower of a mountain that is an old volcanic plug.  Famous for its 37 nats, or spirits, this place is much more popular with the locals than the foreigners.     

The amazing temple on top of Mt. Popa – and we walked up to the top!

The long walk up – this is the easy part with shopping and no monkeys

Up we climbed, all 777 steps, past hundreds of monkeys looking for food, negotiating the slippery steps through monkey pooh (nothing like it between your toes!) and taking in the magnificent views.  As we reached the top the thunder and lightening started directly over our head so we enjoyed an up close and personal storm experience protected under a tin roof.      

On the drive down Oh oh told us a little about his family finances.  He and his wife have two young children.  It costs them $3.00 to $5.00 per day to feed his family.  On days he works as a driver he makes about $5.00 (plus tips which would probably double that but he doesn’t work every day) and his wife has a  part time job at the airport where she makes about $40 per month.  We passed some people working by hand on a road crew repairing the pot holes (they had a big job ahead of them!) and Oh oh said they probably earn $1.50 to $2.00 per day when they work – which wouldn’t be every day.  Bottom line, the economics of living and surviving in this country are not easy.     

Another late afternoon on top of another stupa

That afternoon we spent more time visiting temples (like we missed a few yesterday), including a number of structures with huge murals painted on their walls and ceilings.  And as we climbed a couple for our favourite aerial views we could see picturesque herds of goats being brought home through the temples after a tough day of looking for something to forage on.      

At our driver’s suggestion we went down to the old Bagan jetty and privately hired an old timber 50 foot boat for a sunset cruise of the Irrawaddy (but of course came prepared after a stop in a shop to buy half a dozen tinnies).  As we cruised along the banks of this incredible river we watched the locals coming down to have a wash or for the kids just a frolicking good swim.  We motored out into the middle of the river and our driver turned off the obnoxious motor so we could just silently float down and enjoy the sunset over the temples that lined the banks.      

Is this for real - private sunset cruise on the Irrawaddy

As Julie and I have often said to ourselves, just spend a moment to think about where you are on the map and what you’re seeing.  An unbelievable experience.