Foot and Fire

The Nuns of Mandalay passed by the oldest and longest teakwood bridge  called U Bein bridge at 1.2km. *** The famous U Bein Bridge. *** Monks passed by the bridge too. *** One of the nearest temples from the bridge. *** The serene Taungthaman Lake. U Bein Bridge is a crossing that spans the Taungthaman Lake near Amarapura in Myanmar. The 1.2-kilometre (0.75 mi) bridge was built around 1850 and is believed to be the oldest and longest teakwood bridge in the world. Construction began when the capital of Ava Kingdom moved to Amarapura, and the bridge is named after the mayor who had it built.[5] It is used as an important passageway for the local people and has also become a tourist attraction and therefore a significant source of income for souvenir sellers. It is particularly busy during July and August when the lake is at its highest. The bridge was built from wood reclaimed from the former royal palace in Inwa. It feature...

Across this river are portions of the white-temple-dotted hills we conquered. *** We started the day with a van-trek to the hills of SAGAING, where a temple filled with sitting statues of Buddha and one standing Buddha, which represent his enlightenment, is located. It was a sight, not of gold temple grandeur this time, but of the numbers of serene-looking Buddhas, each represented a stage in the life of Buddha. It was sure hot but the temple housed us and our bare feet away from the sun. We saw interesting way of life such as a family eating their lunch in circle at the temple floor and a painter doing his watercolor paints using blades, and later, a lady in the restaurant where we lunched giving spoonful of rice to  the nuns who gather them. *** This is the facade of the U Min Thonze Cave that houses many Buddhas in sitting positions with the last one as the enlightened one, the Standing Buddha.  *** The Public Drinking Fountain. *** ...

This is the Bule Thi (pronounced as Buledi) Temple. If one is staying in the Wetkyi-inn village in the Old Bagan area, this pretty red temple is just a small-distance hike away. This is not a major temple that is why no information on this temple is indicated in the wikipedia and it is not even in the suggested temple to visit in the tourist map of Bagan. The first three photos in this post was taken before the sunset and the next five is taken when we had a sunrise on same spot. I cannot pinpoint which of the two adjacent temple is Bule Thi but I must say that during our visit in April 2014, the sunset is good in this first photo while in the fifth photo, the adjacent and smaller temple from this one, the sunrise is pretty. ***     This is my walkmate and climbmate.  We had a great time posing in the stupas around the Bule Thi temple. *** I cannot help but mention here that this Myanmarese is the sand-painter of the painting we bought in Bagan...

Our guide, U Bo Ni, showed us the biggest temple called Dhammayangyi Temple. We were not able to get inside because we raced for the sunset and the other girls were bargaining for something outside. While waiting, I was able to have a lone successful photo in one of the windows of the temple with ornate details on it as well as admirable brick-laying too. *** Dhammayangyi Temple is a Buddhist temple located in Bagan, Myanmar. Largest of all the temples in Bagan, the Dhammayan as it is popularly known was built during the reign of King Narathu (1167-1170). Narathu, who came to the throne by assassinating his father Alaungsithu and his elder brother, presumably built this largest temple to atone for his sins. The Dhammayangyi is the widest temple in Bagan, and is built in a plan similar to that of Ananda Temple. Burmese Chronicles state that while the construction of the temple was in the process, the king was assassinated by some Indians and thus the temple was not co...

This is where I burned my soles to numbness, literally. We went out to adore the beauty of this huge temple with wide cemented area around it at round 3 pm (Philippine Time and 4:30 Myanmar Time). Since we have to walk a short distance barefoot, we have no choice but to hop, jump, brisk walk on the pavement. Our tour guide promoted this temple as the "prettiest temple" in Bagan aside from telling us that Ananda is the wisest disciple of Buddha. ***   History of this perfectly dimensioned temple structure built in 1105 is credited to King Kyanzittha. It denotes "the stylistic end of the Early Bagan period and the beginning of the Middle period". The timing of building this temple is considered as a culmination of religious education that began during the Pahothanya temple building activity in 1080 AD. The Theravada Buddhism adopted by the King motivated him to present the teachings of Buddha to his people in an accurate and a genuine way through th...