The driver took us to a temple where we can climb up to the roof and take pictures, unfortunately we did not know that the area has been secured by the military due to some VIP visit.
It was quite a shock as it was pitch dark when we entered the temple, and armed with torch light we marched in, only to find some sleepy soldiers who were armed with riffles.
Luckily, they were sleepy and not so on-guard. Johnny, our local guide, quickly apologised for disturbing their sleep, and we run back to the bus, not only because we are afraid having awaken some sleeping soldiers (who has guns) but also we will be wasting time and the sun will not wait for us.
The driver then took us to one of a big stupa. Apparently temples are more heavily guarded and this stupa is not. It is quite a climb. We went up when it is still dark.
I was on the third storey, with the majority of the group while 3 others went up till the 5th storey, practically the top of the stupa.
Sighing with relief for finding some high ground, we quickly find the direction, and head to the east side of the stupa, and set up our tripod and camera.
Since it is still dark, while waiting, I went to the northern side and managed to take some picture of Ananda temple, the grandest in Bagan, while it is still dark.
I also manage to take the picture of either Thatbyinnyu Temple or Gawdawpalin Temple. From the shape, I believe it is Thatbyinnyu Temple, but I am not very sure, please help me identify.
We did not have time during this trip to go to these temple, so may be next time.
Again, there are young children pedalling souvenir. They are persistent, but not annoying and they are always polite. One young girl, may be aged 13 was targetting me particularly. She kept on pestering me to buy postcards, so to get rid of her, I relented and parted with 1000 kyat.
BIG mistake. Soon after, 5 more suddenly appear, some are trying to sell me more postcards, while some younger ones probably just came and understudy the big brother/sister on their enterprenurial skill.
To appease these persistent spirit, I had to take out my secret weapon, M&M chocolate.
I told them if they are quiet, I will give one each. But to make sure they are not calling for reinforcement, since I have limited supply of ammunitions (M&M chocolate), I told them I will give only to them. Unfortunately I was short of 1, so the eldest girl in the group decide not to take, preferring the young ones to enjoy the sweets.
They were so happy and they just sit down and watch us trying to spot the sun.
When the sun is finally arise, it was worth waiting for.
The temple on the left in the picture below is Dhammayangyi temple, which is the largest in Bagan, but it was not completed. It also has the bloodliest history.
After breakfast, we went to Shwezigon pagoda. We did not really enter the pagoda, but simply had a field day at the walkway of pagoda entrace.
The 2 samanera we had as models yesterday, came again with us and continued their modelling career.
They walked up and down the corridor, outside on the ground while a local women sweep the street creating that smoke-screen effect. We kept our trigger-happy fingers on the camera's shutter button all the time, until some of use yelled in vain "I have run out of bullet", referring to having filled up a 2GB memory card with jpeg pictures. These are the result.
The locals found amusing and started to gather and we were just happy to find others too shoot. This girl was selling some kind of noodle snack which the kids enjoy.
This young boy with red sweater is just so striking, and only while editing the picture I realized that the word FASHION was written on the sweater.
The most interesting of all was this girl, who we nicknamed "watermelon queen". She carried sliced watermelon, for sale for course, which to us looked like her crown.
Then there was a woman who carry banana on top of her head, and holding vegetable as if it were a bouquet of flowers. It was really interesting.
Some monks from the temple also came. One of them become our accidental model, while others just content watching us.
We were so excited, but also tired. Because almost all of us used up our memory cards, we had to go back to our hotel to download, and to rest, as well as have lunch.
After resting, it is time to shoot again. While on the way to a temple to shoot monks with reclining Buddha statue, we came across locals cleaning the ground, preparing for a festival at Ananda Temple. They were cutting the dry grass and burning them. The smoke effect was great so we take some pictures of them too. I manage to get a candid picture of another guy, so please see my myanmar trip candid shot.
On the way to the Reclining Buddha Statue, we stopped by at a monastery, and the 2 samanera were again our model.
Above is the picture of us negociating their position and pose, and below are the results.
To our surprise, the Reclining Buddha Statue was just next to the stupa we went in the morning to take sunrise pictures. It was at Shinbinthalyaung temple. The temple was so narrow it is impossible to photograph the whole status without extreme distortion. So we end up separating our pair of monks, one at the head of the Buddha and another at the feet of the Buddha.
The kids whom I bribed M&M were around, apparently with their parents too. I did refill my ammunition (M&M Chocolates). I met the girl who did not have her share in the morning. Since it was truly her luck, I have to give her a packet. She had to wait, but she finally had her chocolate.
Since we had sunset on top of the pagoda yesterday, today it will be sunset at the river.
We went on a boat trip along Irrawaddy river and took pictures of the people doing their daily activities who lived along the riverbanks.
The picture below shows the size of the river. It is quite wide, and we were visiting during the dry season, where the water level was at the lowest. The people here are actually stay on a temporary makeshift building while they are looking for work during the dry season. During the wet season, the river will be filled up and what you see in the picture as dry riverside is filled with water.
We then went back and had dinner at the hotel, with some life music.
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