One last timple

Sitting alone on top of a thousand-year-old temple, surrounded by thousand-year-old temples, I wondered what the heck I'm doing with my life. Some places encourage self-reflection, and Bagan is certainly one of them. Unfortunately, none of the Buddhas had any answers, even when I gave them "lucky money."

My bus didn't leave until 3:30 pm, so I esentially had another day. And of course nobody else is going to Mount Popa. I should have left yesterday. I slowly pedaled a bike around the circuit, through the sweltering heat, but I could only motivate myself to go into one temple. When I got to New Bagan I stopped at a restaurant and lost my temper for the second time here (the first was on the boat to Bhamo when the guy selling tickets didn't like my $10 bill because it had a smudge on it). They say you should never lose your temper with Asians, because it makes them lose face, and doesn't get you anywhere.

When I sat down a kid came up an asked where I'm from. When I said America, he said something about how he liked Santa Clause and Superman, then showed me a picture of Santa with a red cape flying. As I contemplated this juxtaposed image, his friend whipped out sheets of these pictures. There are two things that really irritate me in SE Asia: cute kids selling shit, and people trying to sell me shit while I'm eating. The combination of these was too much, so I shouted at them to go away. The restaurant guys then said something to them, and they left, which was strange. Usually in SE Asia, you're on your own when it comes to touts and salesmen. They'll go onto busses, follow you into restaurants and stores, and nobody will chase them away. SE Asians are too laid back and unwilling to make a scene to do anything. Their laid back attitude also manifests on long bus rides. Since nobody wants to make a scene, and bus drivers have their bladders surgically removed, busses stop about once every six hours. Then everybody rushes to the toilets.

I decided to stop at Pyay, rather than go straight through to Yangon. There's ruins there (which is just an excuse to see a Burmese town). Plus, ten hours on a bus is enough for me. Especially since I was in the very back. This, combined with the unbelievably bad road made for a very bumpy ride. In some parts the road just disappeared for awhile, and we had to power through large stretches of deep sand. I still managed to sleep a little, though. We got to Pyay at 2 am, and I checked into a tiny cubicle just big enough for a small bed, and went to sleep.