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Asia’s lost treasure trove
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By: Shivaji Sarkar
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Article published on 1/23/2009 11:58:41 PM IST
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In the late 13th century, the mighty Mongol emperor Kublai Khan rode onto this sprawling plain dotted with thousands of brick pagodas. Soon after, the Mongol hordes came crashing down, and more than 200 years of artistic flowering, akin to Europe''s Renaissance, was snuffed out almost overnight.
Time has stood still since then -- or so it can seem to modern-day visitors to the ancient city of Bagan, the center of a Buddhist empire that once stretched across a large swath of modern Southeast Asia. What remains of ancient Bagan are a few humble villages interspersed among some 2,500 Buddhist pagodas and temples, making the Bagan Archaeological Park one of the richest, and surely one of the least-visited, artistic treasure troves on earth.
The Bagan plain houses more than 2,500 temples, the result of a 200-year period of religious fervor that began a thousand years ago.
Myanmar, the former Burma, has been ruled since 1962 by a repressive military junta, and tourism here has never really taken off.
Further isolating the regime was the military''s decision to block foreign aid in the aftermath of the May 2008 cyclone that left 130,000 dead or missing. As a result, Bagan, formerly known as Pagan, today attracts only a tiny fraction of the numbers flocking to Asia''s other ancient sites, such as the famed Angkor Wat temple complex in Cambodia.
Crowds jostle to photograph Angkor Wat at sunrise, but at Bagan, it''s possible to be completely alone at almost any time of day -- especially outside the peak November-to-February season of dry, cool weather. Part of Bagan''s charm is in getting lost and happening upon a small temple with a half-finished fresco -- the artist interrupted, perhaps, by the Mongol invasion -- or an underground monastery where monks have meditated for more than 800 years.
Some say tourism to Myanmar isn''t ethical because much of the money visitors spend ends up in the hands of airlines and big hotels linked to the military.
The U.S. has imposed economic sanctions banning imports of Burmese products and prohibiting new U.S. investment in Myanmar, and some nongovernmental groups advise against travel there.
A number of Burmese, though, including some members of the National League for Democracy party of detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, say international tourism is a lifeline in a country with poor living standards. Independent travel -- staying at boutique hotels, shopping in family-owned workshops, eating at small restaurants -- is the best way to put money directly into the hands of locals, says Nyo Ohn Myint, a leading opposition figure. State-organized package tours, which generally book guests in government hotels, should be avoided, he says.
First-time visitors should set aside at least two days to see the main sites. Climb the steep steps of the Shwesandaw Paya, or "Sunset Pagoda," for an unbroken view of the gold and red stupas and temples.
The terraced pyramid, topped by a bell-shaped dome and golden finial, was erected by King Anawrahta, founder of the first Burmese empire.
After seizing power, he conquered the Mon kingdom to the south in 1057 and introduced Theravada Buddhism to the Burmese people, who previously adhered to beliefs influenced by Mahayana Buddhism, Hinduism and animism.
A period of religious fervor ensued. In time King Anawrahta and his heirs would oversee one of the world''s greatest religious building projects, completed by legions of slaves and financed by the kingdom''s mineral wealth. Bagan became a center of Buddhist learning, the equal of sites in India and Sri Lanka, with 13,000 religious structures at its height, according to some historians. Invading armies and earthquakes, most recently in 1975, have leveled many of the pagodas. The military junta has allowed inauthentic restorations -- including a rebuilding of Old Bagan''s palace in 19th-century Mandalay style and the construction of a concrete viewing platform resembling an air-traffic control tower -- prompting an outcry from archaeologists.
The tower, with its cocktail bar and $10 ticket price, is a prime example of the attractions opposition leaders want tourists to avoid -- and a major reason the United Nations hasn''t approved Myanmar''s application to list Bagan as a World Heritage site.
Ensconced inside some of the main temples are huge Buddha statues; sprinkled among the temples are small pagodas and other religious structures, some with exquisite frescoes depicting Buddha''s life. Frescoes in the single-chambered Nandamannya Paya, dating from the 13th century, tell the story of the "Temptation of Mara," in which nubile females try to distract the Buddha from attaining enlightenment.
Outside the pagoda, a guardian who opens the doors for visitors, Win Kyaw, laments the falloff in tourism since the cyclone. Like many guardians, he is a former temple restorer and tries to supplement his government salary by selling $25 reproductions of the pagoda''s murals, done with acrylic paint, sand and glue. "I haven''t sold any paintings since the cyclone," he said. "Before, I''d sell two or three a day."
Just a few meters away, in a hardscrabble village, is an underground monastery with steps descending into a rock-hewn labyrinth of corridors and cells. With an emphasis on meditation in Myanmar''s Buddhist traditions, it''s possible to see monks deep in a trance. A few years ago, a monk died while meditating in the underground monastery and wasn''t discovered for days. There are no admission fees or appointments. Just walk in.
Once you''ve had your fill of medieval temples, it''s just a short flight back to Mandalay, where Myanmar''s last kings reigned before the British deposed them in 1885.
Many tourists travel on to beautiful Inlay Lake, surrounded by the majestic Shan mountain range. But another option is to head back to Yangon to explore the more recent past. A jewel in the British Empire''s crown, Rangoon, as it was once known (the name changed to Yangon -- and Burma to Myanmar -- in 1989), rivaled Singapore for its leafy avenues and fin-de-siècle architecture.
Today, Yangon is crumbling, its colonial edifices in need of paint. Yet it rewards visitors with an acute sense of the past. One gem is the Strand Hotel, the sister establishment of Singapore''s Raffles Hotel. Built by the Armenian Sarkie brothers at the start of the 20th century, it catered to the region''s first Western tourists.
In the 1990s during a thaw in Myanmar''s relations with the West, a group of Asian entrepreneurs refurbished the Strand, in what turned out to be a bad bet. Now, the hotel is a beautiful, stuccoed white elephant, with ceiling fans and comfortable sofas in each suite and butlers on every floor. A night in the Strand, including breakfast, can go for as little as $160.
Yangon''s enormous, gold-plated Shwedagon Pagoda is the holiest Buddhist shrine in Myanmar and the site of Ms. Suu Kyi''s famous 1988 address calling for democracy. Two years ago, monks led protests here against the military and were crushed. But last year, days before the 20th anniversary of Ms. Suu Kyi''s speech, students, monks and other antigovernment forces stayed away from the Shwedagon stupa and other traditional rallying points, fearful of government reprisals.
Although violent crime against foreigners is rare, the U.S. State Department advises U.S. citizens traveling in Myanmar to register with the U.S. embassy and carry their passports at all times so that if questioned by Burmese officials, they will have proof of U.S. citizenship at hand. On my recent stay, the roads around the golden stupa were lined with army vehicles, and plainclothes policemen with short-cropped hair were all around, on the lookout for acts of dissent.
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