Myanmar Oct. 5, 2012

     In the morning some of our group hiked up a mountain to visit a stupa and then descend 1,000 steps to the river bank where villagers performed an elephant dance.
     We arrived in Bagan later that afternoon and transferred to an air conditioned bus for a partial tour of Bagan, a 25 square mile World Heritage Site, filled with an overwhelming array of more than 2,000 temples and stupas everywhere we looked.
     Daniel explained that one reason for so many monuments was that when one of the kings  embraced Buddhism, he told his subjects to build individual stupas to “gain merit.”  Since most structures are composed of bricks made of riverbank clay, earthquake damage has necessitated a considerable amount of reconstruction.
     Vendors selling sand paintings, lacquer ware, books, post cards and clothing were very aggressive and followed us from one site to the next.  Some enterprising salespeople sat on the riverbank and called out,”I give you cheap price,” “I see you,” “later” and so on.
     That evening two local puppeteers presented several traditional shows featuring a monkey, a flying sorcerer and deer hunting with a green spirit (nat).