24feb2011 (Thur) - Day by the Pool in Bagan

Slept in till 9am, were the only ones at breakfast and coz late they
served us a variety of items from the packed-up-buffet: teddy bear
head pancakes, scrambled egg, papaya juice, banana, toast and jam, a
whole pot of coffee. Chilled by the pool and talked and swam and
massaged and read a page or two of Naew's Bangkok Post. Lello has a
trapped nerve in his neck that is killing him. Feels like a 5-star
hotel, blue pool with waterfall, lounge chairs, all to ourselves.

The hotel was out of bikes for sunset watching, so we walked down our
dusty road to the main street and enquired at the restaurant where we
ate last night. Across the street, another restaurant had bikes for
hire. We headed north up the road, then at the T junction took a right
onto the road to Old Bagan. The light was beautiful, and we turned off
onto a dusty track at the first large temples we came to. We aimed for
a gleaming stupa in the distance, and it was a slog biking down the
dirt road as it got sandier; but we figured the path would lead to the
main road again and it was easier to go forward than to turn back.

Found a large stupa with steps to ascend the exterior, and climbed up
for a 360 degree view over the Bagan plain and chilled and snapped as
the sun went down.

As we descended the stupa, a man was walking across the brush towards
us and invited us to visit his home and lacquerware making family.
Just 5 mins away. We followed him across the main road and into a
village you'd not know existed from the street, past the
government-owned Golden Cuckoo (or maybe not govt owned, maybe just
govt-given to that family who'd had it for generations and were very
rich, so we were told), to his family's home. It was getting dark and
we said we'd return the next day.

Biked home in the dark, a little hairy-feeling but then again the
drivers here are used to shadowy figures moving along the side of the
road, and honk to let you know they are about to pass.

Continued past our hotel junction to see what New Bagan was all about,
and stopped in at a lacquerware shop with a wide selection of
beautiful cups and bowls and boxes. They said we should come by at 7am
to see the 25 men and 40 women at work making the lacquerware. We
carried on up the road and had dinner in the 'center' at a greasy
spoon, and then the kid from the restaurant hopped on his scooter to
lead us to the internet café which was quite a way up the road. My
head was pounding by this point. Did internet for about 1hr, then went
to return the bikes but the owner said we could keep them for
tomorrow, so we paid 5000K each for the next day and biked back to
Kaday Aung Hotel.

I felt like crap coz of my head: pressure behind the eyes, plus a
head-rush pierced with daggers anytime I moved my head too quickly or
got up from sitting down. Lello felt like crap because of the pinched
nerve in his shoulder which sends shooting pains when he turns his
head.