For our second day at Bagan, we rented an ebike for the whole day because it is so much more convenient to get around. Our first stop was the chldren’s house. The three local children (Yiyi, Junjun and Somsom) whom we met randomly yesterday and had lunch together, had agreed to bring us out. We met their elder sister who had to help her father to sell clothes to tourists to earn some money. Their family act as the gatekeeper to the temple in front of their house, but the government does not pay them at all. They have to rely on selling clothes and tips from tourists who visit the temple. The mother holds the key to the temple and will open the gate to those who want to visit it. We climbed it the previous day and had a nice view of the surrounding area.

a fun day out with our three local guides!

With our three local guides, me, WJ and JJ on the ebike while the other two shared a bicycle. They brought us to temples which we can climb to enjoy the panoramic views and also other temples where their friends are. We had a fun time with the children and for them, they were also very happy to go out. Yiyi spoke the best English and she’s only 10 years old. When asked how did she learn English, she told us that she picked it up by talking to tourists. She dropped out of school because her family did not have enough money and she was not learning much there.

For lunch, we went back to the local market where the old, friendly couple sold noodles and rice. Today, we had rice, curry and some chicken. The children were very happy to have some chicken because it is a rare treat for them. 1usd for three pieces of chicken. They treasured their piece of chicken very much, eating a lot of rice, curry, chilli and only some chicken each time. It was surprising that the young girls ate more rice than me. For us back home, we are more used to having lots of meat to go with our rice.

After lunch, we visited a few more temples. At one of them, we saw a young local couple getting intimate. So I realised that the temples cater to more than just tourists, they are also a local space. Since there are more than 4000 temples in the vicinity, one can easily find a quiet spot to escape after school, although we unknowingly intruded into their private session. I let the children try the ebike as they were fascinated by it, but it was more powerful than their bicycle, so I had to supervise them carefully in case they got into any accidents.

The last temple that we visited was Bulethi pagoda where we could mount it as well. The children sang local songs and enjoyed taking selfies using wj’s iphone. We decided to give them some money to help their family but decided against it, incase they develop a dependence on such forms of ‘donations’. Instead we bought some souvenirs from them before bidding the children goodbye. I think my stay at Bagan was made more memorable because of these three adorable children, without them we would just be wandering aimlessly around the temples. The children provided much joy and laughter for us. I hope that I can recommend my future friends visiting Bagan to say hi to these children for me.

Ayeyarawady river which flows south to Yangon

At night, we took the overnight bus to Yangon where we will spend our last day in Myanmar before flying home. This time, the journey to the bus station was included in the bus ticket price. However, we had to squeeze in a small minivan for the 15 minutes ride from Bagan to Nyuang-O before transferring to our VIP coach.