Whistle Stop Tour of Bago

The morning after our pilgrimage to My Kyaiktiyo we jumped on a bus heading west, to Bago, a dusty town along a busy highway. With only one afternoon to see all that Bago had to offer we happily accepted a tuk-tuk tour of the sights with a young man named Tupee.

Tupee was 23 and an economics student. He told me that in order to pay for his education he alternates between one year of study and one year working as a tuk-tuk driver and tour guide.

He whizzed us around the city’s temples, most of which were not worthy of note. The one stupa offering a panorama of the city was only open to men, so Ric went up for the view while I cursed the backward government from under the shade of a tree. We visited a monastery where a 17ft long python is worshipped as the reincarnation of a monk. Crowds of locals were throwing money at the oversized snake while we looked on in amazement.

Shwemawdaw Paya Pagoda, the bricks on the right are part of the dome that collapsed in 1930.

The lucrative python.

The tour ended at the central market, which was the highlight for me. I’ve seen a lot of markets around the world but none compare to the market scenes in Burma. The sights, smells and sounds are so overwhelming that I felt dizzy after a few minutes walking around: brightly coloured flowers and vegetables, unidentifiable beige things frying in a wok inches off the ground, stale stagnant puddles of fish guts, splatters of the red beetlenut juice men spit out along the muddy path, babies sucking on the dirty nipples of mothers sitting amongst sacks of rice, shouting, motorbikes squeezing through impossibly narrow spaces, half-naked children drawing in the dirt, women balancing huge heavy baskets on their heads… it was pure sensory overload, fascinating, and very photogenic.

Girls with faces painted with sandalwood paste walk through Bago market.

Tupee proved himself quite the economist by helping us avoid paying the government fees that tourists must pay to visit Bago… and then asking us to give the $20 directly to him instead! Along with the $10 he charged us for the tour he made a tidy profit from us in just a couple of hours but I don’t hold it against him. I’d much rather our dollars went towards Tupee’s education than into the hands of a military junta.

We finished the day with chicken biryani from a roadside café and ice cream from an up-market tourist restaurant where Ric tried the local ABC Stout, which is 8% proof!

We Stayed At…

Emperor Hotel; one of the better hotels in town according to the Lonely Planet but it was dark, dirty and a rat went into my backpack and ate my apple!! £12/$20 for a double en suite, rat included.