bagan, myanmar

BAGAN!

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Not sure that words can describe this. The layout of Bagan includes 3000 temples over 40 square miles and virtually every one has a Buddha in it. There were 4000 until 1975 when a major earthquake leveled 1000 and damaged the majority of them. That should have made my thesis! That’s for you Bob…

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The Burmese kings of the 11th, 12th, and 13th centuries built these temples to solidify Buddhism in the region. Many of them have been refurbished after 1975 and tourism has only been opened in Myanmar since 2010. That’s when the name was changed from Burma to Myanmar, they changed the flag, and the ruling government changed from a military regime to a democracy. Aung San Soo Kyi was also released from house arrest and now holds public office. You can almost see Myanmar changing before your eyes, but at this time, it has an amazing, almost untouched feel. Nowhere is more like this than Bagan.

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Waiting at the airport. What to do? I know! Let’s run!

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One of my favorite photos- ever!

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Jesse, Emme and Maddux rode bikes to check out some stuff

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Beautiful views from our pool. That pool was heavenly in the middle of the desert!

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Monkeys, monkeys, everywhere!

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Monkeys were jumping on the metal roofs and they would sneak up beside you to try and get food. We sat for about 20 minutes, watching two sets of monkeys groom each other. One was a mom and her baby. She kept putting the baby in a headlock to pick the bugs off. The other pair was a very aggressive female that was picking bugs off her fella’ and eating so quickly and roughly that her mate had bald spots all over his body. He seemed to be loving it.

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These monkeys are sweet….

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Emerson was nervous about the monkeys. She usually thinks they’re so cute, but she was really freaked. In the top picture I am telling her that the monkeys at this temple are super nice so I went to strike a pose. The monkey turned around and hissed at me and showed me her teeth. I jumped back and Em said “Yep. They’re super nice, mom.”

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A Cotton Flower

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Giddy up!

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The kids got a free ride on the peanut oil making apparatus. Pretty fun!

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Feeding the cow so she can keep making the oil.

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The cow walked in circles to press a batch of peanuts. Out through a little spout came peanut oil! A pretty ingenious system – although I didn’t like the rope through the cow’s nose.

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