One pagoda, two pagodas. Old pagoda, new pagoda. This one is right under a star. This one is right next to a car. From here to there, from there to here, pagodas are everywhere. That’s what you would say when you approach Bagan, the City of Two Thousand Pagodas. You could try counting them, but after a while, you will give up.
Dad took us to a lot of temples, but we breaked in a couple of villages and a lacquerware shop. In one of the villages, I helped spin cotton into thread, like Gandhi. In the lacquerware shop, we learned a lot about lacquer. We learned that it’s made from tree sap, which is white inside the tree. Then they take it out of the tree, and paint it onto the shaped material, but it turns black when oxidized! Lacquer doesn’t harden in the sunshine, though. Sunlight makes lacquer runny! For lacquer to dry, it must be kept in a humid environment, protected from direct sunlight. When I saw the lacquer getting mixed, I noticed that its consistency is very similar to the consistency of liquid chocolate, but it is so black that the color reminded me of tires.
One day, we went to a show. It was so amazing. The play was filled with local, traditional dances, and singing went along with some. I really liked a part with comedic dancers. That was funny!
On our last day, we saw a sunset on a pagoda. How glorious! It was so colorful, and the silhouettes of the incalculable pagodas were absolutely stunning. It looked like it could have been an alien world, dotted out, pagoda after pagoda. In no logical order whatsoever, it was a wonder how people knew where to build their own pagoda, or simply make their own mark on the land, two equivalent actions. Whichever you prefer to call it, after centuries and centuries of the practice, Bagan earns its name as the City of Two Thousand Pagodas, destined to join Casco Veijo, Melaka, and many, many other places a UNESCO world heritage site.
I saw a maze, and immediately walked inside, before my parents. I had to backtrack, because I had entered the wrong way! We went to the top of the “hill”, and turned left. It was a dead end, but there was a cool little meditation cave that inspired me. I included it in one of my stories, Straight from Bed to Fame. We eventually got out of the maze, but it was tough.
We ventured through the caves, eventually finding Buddhas guarded by dragons, some dragons scary, some not so much. Some dragons where also two-headed, and each neck had a fan, like a cobra’s fan. We eventually found the end. I went back to the maze, because I wanted to see the little room I had chosen for my story. I kept going back to that dead end, but I couldn’t see the entrance to the meditation cave, because of the angle I was looking at. After about three runs of the whole maze, I finally looked in the right place. It wasn’t obvious. I entered, and looked for a place that would be okay for my story. I found a tiny slide in the darkest niche of the room, perfect for my story! We walked out happy, thinking that we might go back there, because it was so amazing.
Round the World Kid 