Day six Bagan, Myanmar

Today we slept in. We really needed to. Not just because of our alcohol consumption over the last few days but because I think the jetlag may have played its wee game with our heads.

We had a lovely breakfast at the restaurant. Usual buffet. I had the Mahinga which is a local soup. Fish based with egg, chicken, herbs, chilli, nuts and seeds along with lime. It is so yummy.

We decided to go for a wander along the street. There are some  temples right across the road as well as in the hotel garden. A guy came and asked us if we wanted a tour with him and his horse. We said no but changed our minds. The horse, Jack, looked  very healthy. The guy told us during the tour that there are over 200 horse and carts here. When we went in the temples and looked at the stories on the walls we could see that horses have been here for centuries.

Directly across the road. There are tonnes of these further back and on each side.

The guy, I can't remember how to say his name, was sooooo lovely. Down to earth, great English and so sweet. He had planned a tour for us but when he saw I was really into taking photos he stopped at all the best temples and changed his mind about the tour he was doing with us. He took us up a wee hill so we could get a better view and took us to temples that he said were better for photos. Off the beaten track a bit. Exactly what we like. We can look a tourist attractions in other people's photos but we like to see the hidden treasures. When people come to NZ that we know we like to tell them of the hidden gems to get them off the tourist trail and see NZ so we appreciate when that happens to us.

We found out from him that Bagan has had two very big earthquakes in recent history. One in 1975 that destroyed over 3000 of the 5000 temples here. Then in 2016 a big one that damaged a few of the remaining ones. No casualties luckily. I wouldn't want to be in a temple when that happened.

This temple lost its umbrella (the top part) in the 2016 quake. 

The temples are amazing. The work that must have gone into building them is unbelievable. We went to a teak temple. There are only two in Myanmar. The other one we visited in Mandalay. The carving is amazing on them. So beautiful.

I'm fascinated by the monks. The monks here wear red cloth. It looks more maroon. They are just everywhere.

When we got back to our hotel we walked down the road to a local streetfood place and got a beer and a local 'platter' of rice, broth, dried shrimp and chilli, bean kurd, a few different types of pickles. It was so nice.

We me a newly married couple who are here on their honeymoon. They couldn't afford rings and only had two days away. They offered to pay for our meal. It was such a lovely gesture. We insisted on paying for theirs and told them to buy rings!! I wish I could buy them the rings but there is nowhere here. They were so nice. Warmed my heart and humbled me greatly.

I felt quite guilty going back to our flash hotel knowing that they have only one day left of their honeymoon in a not so nice place. We are pretty privileged in NZ. I think we forget that.

Mick went to order cocktails for us to have at the pool. The translation got lost somewhere and instead of one each we got two each! Mandalay Punch and Whiskey Sour. The pool was a welcome addition to this hotel. The heat is almost unbearable in the middle of the day. 39degrees now and meant to be 41 tomorrow!

We wandered off back to the restaurant from last night that served the best food ever. They did not disappoint. Tonight we had Dragon Leaves, Hot and Sour Chicken and Hot and Sour Fried Rice with a couple of Dagan beers. 10/10 on Master Chef! Man these guys can cook a good feed. We had a couple more beers then went down the road to another bar. The football team were training there so we watched them do their thing. 

Once we got back to our home sweet home we checked out the views by night. So pretty.  Very plastic and tacky but a charm of its own :)