“We travel not to escape life but for life not to escape us.” —Anon
Cecile and I hired a driver named Min Min to take us to the ancient city of Bagan that was the capital of the prosperous Bagan empire from the 9th to the 13th century and controlled most of present day Burma. After the four hours drive, we checked into a deluxe old world room at the Bagan Thande Hotel on banks of the Irrawaddy River. Bagan has the highest concentrations of Buddhist temples, pagodas, stupas than anywhere in the world. We focused on visiting the most well-known antiquities.
At the end of our first day when most visitors had their fill of visiting the ancient ruins, their tour guides recommend that they take in the sunset off observation hill. A French woman next to me agreed that it was not so much the sunset but the running of the steer that took center stage. It had the feel of the “Running of the Bulls” in Pamplona, Spain I had heard so much about, only in this case the handlers of the cattle were ushering the wild, yet obedient animals to the river for refreshment.
Burmese cattle herd in Burma isn’t as much a vehicle for producing beef as it is to drive the vital non-mechanized agricultural industry for farmers to lighten their load. What differentiates Burmese cattle from some other types is that they have horns, floppy ears and a distinctive hump on its upper back located between the head and neck.
On the second day at 8:30 AM, we took in several more grand pagodas, etc., after which we agreed to have lunch with Min Min at the Mimosa Restaurant he had highly recommended as being clean, reasonable and a fun place to eat. He was right on all counts. We started out with fresh Ginger Tea, a common cold remedy his mother used to make when he was a kid and one that is easy on the digestive tract. The waiters brought out a heart shaped pile of rice to add our curry dishes to, either with chicken or vegetarian options. Min Min chose the mutton option, common in this part of the world. The owner of the restaurant brought two complimentary dishes including crispy spinach (much like crispy Kale that is so popular in California) and fresh fruit.
After lunch Cecile and I took a nap and Min Min arranged for us to take a sunset riverboat cruise on a large motor boat. The sun went down at 6 PM and we made our way back to shore where Min Min stood waiting to take us back to our hotel.
