Pagan - Myanmar

Pagan, the most important historical site in Burma, is truly amazing. It lies along a major bend of the Irrawaddy River where its east-west course turns and flows south.

It lies in the most dry part of the dry zone of Central Burma, so during the dry season, the mighty Irrawaddy is nothing but a small creek. The river was a quite disappointing site when I was there.

Pagan (or Bagan) briefly became the capital in 847 AD. But it was not until from 1057 that Pagan became great. That year was when Pagan became the capital of the first "real" (i. e., united) Burmese kingdom. King Anawrahta, consolidated political and military power over all of Central Burma by conquering both the Pyu and the Mon peoples.

After Anawrahta conquered Thaton (the Mon kingdom), he brought back to his capital the Theravada scriptures in Pali, a large number of Buddhist monks, and artists and craftsmen of every description. From the Mon monks, the Pagan people received their alphabet, religion and scriptures. Moreover, an extraordinary architectural and artistic activity began. In a little more than two centuries, he covered the city and its environs with thousands of splendid monuments of every shape and size

The square temples dominated by Mon influence are distinguished by their dark corridors, which are dimly lighted by perforated windows, and by the bright frescoes with Mon writing on the walls. The typical Pagan Style temples are bright and airy within, with imposing plan and height. But there are also some temples with intermediate forms.

It all ended in1287. The Pagan kingdom fell to the Mongols, after refusing to pay tribute to Kublai Khan. Abandoned by the Burmese kings, the city declined as a political centre, but continued to flourish as a place of Buddhist scholarship.

Up to around 5,000 monuments or buildings were constructed although "only" 2,200 remain (in more or less dilapidated state) within the 40-50 square kilometer area.

What I really liked about Pagan (back when I visited) was that it was very low key, very untouristed.

I stayed in a nice little hotel with rooftop restaurant from where I could have breakfast while enjoying the view of stupas and ruins. After breakfast, I made my way around the area at a leisurely pace on my rented bicycle.

Cambodia - Kep

Kep is a former playground of the French and Cambodian elite. Crumbling mansions, razed by the Khmer Rouge, still sit atop the hill.

Over the last few years, much of the beach-side property that had for decades hosted nothing but ruined villas and tangled jungle has been snapped up by foreign royalty, merchant bankers, expatriates and wealthy Khmers among others.

But the town should not be visited for its architectural beauty. People seeking beautiful sandy beaches should also go elsewhere. 

   

Kep offers tranquility - which basically is a nice way of saying that the most exciting thing is the "local products" annual fair with rickety merry-go-rounds - and is an excellent base for motorcycle rides into the countryside. 

In fact, the sunset viewed while enjoying the food at a seafood restaurant located right on the beach is one of the best things Kep has to offer.

Phang Nga - Boxing Day Tsunami

Today, a 10 cm high tsunami hit Thailand's Andaman coast. How a 10 cm tsunami is distinguishable from a 10 cm high normal wave I don't know. But I know that the Boxing Day tsunami waves were easy to spot.

At that faithful day in 2004, I was at Ao Nang, Krabi. Due to a stroke of luck, I was half an hour late for an appointment to go on a day tour in sea-kayaks.

As I was rushing down the hill to get to the meeting point at the beach, people were running up the hill. When I came down to the beach, I saw people walking around in a daze. The beach road was wet and filled with debris from shattered long tails boats and washed out shops.

Is that a tsunami out there?

That was in Ao Nang where the three tsunami waves were relatively small – crests of only 2-3 meters - compared to the waves that hit Khao Lak, Phang Nga.

The photos in this blog were shot at the Khao Lak beach called Bang Niang. The interesting thing is the similarities between these photos and what I heard / saw in Ao Nang.

At first. people see the water recede, but don’t think much about it. Some even follow the receding water.
Then there is a wave coming, but again people don’t pay much attention – probably because the water/shore line is now so far away. Then the wave comes closer - it doesn't look tall, but it does look more “violent” and powerful than the normal waves.

Hmm, that wave is bigger than it looked

Then as the wave roars towards the beach, people suddenly realize that it is not a good idea to stand around like a dummy. But in Khao Lak, most people realized this too late and didn’t get off the beach alive.

The tsunami wave on these photos looks deceptively small; it was the first of three waves. As I remember from Ao Nang, the third wave was the largest.

Notice the two navy patrol vessels in the photo above. The largest of these vessels ended up three kilometers inland at the foot of the hills, i.e., basically at the furthest point the waves reached.

Tsunami waters flood Khao Lak

The whole Bang Niang are was flattened as water height reached six meters. Many of the small family-owned resorts were not insured. The owners either drowned or survived but were unable to repay their bank loans and big business subsequently moved in.

The last photo was taken two weeks after the tsunami and shows what was left - basically nothing. The place was rebuilt (still called Chong Fah Resort) by the original owners.

In the Khao Lak area, I used to stay near Laem Pakarang at a family-owned resort (Pakarang Beach Cottage) and enjoyed the wonderful beach and personal service. However, this family were among the victims. After the tsunami, a Best Western holiday complex totally dominates Pakarang beach. The charm is gone.

Cambodia - Angkor Wat

After putting it off for years - due to expectations of extreme commercialism - I finally made my way to Siem Reap and to the temples of Angkor. 

While the town's backpacker center was glitzy and fake, it was somehow not as bad as I had expected and certainly not as bad as Bangkok's Khao San Road or as in Luang Prabang. And the temple complex is indeed impressive although it gets "busy" at some places.

So, I'm glad I made the trip although I most probably will not bother going there again. In two full days, you can rush through the sites with some advance planning, but if you have the time, I suggest that you allocate three days.

The southern gate of Angkor Thom (which means Great City) is one of the most famous sights. The bridge crossing the moat is flanked by 54 demons (asuras, on the right) and 54 gods engaged in an epic tug of war as they are pulling a giant seven-headed naga. They're probably churning the Sea of Milk.

This is part of the Hindu creation myth where the gods and demons cooperate for 1,000 years by alternately pulling a giant naga (Vasuki) coiled around Mount Mandara to produce the elixir of immortality. As in real life, once the objective is achieved, one partner to the deal cheats the other. In this myth, the gods refuse to share the elixir with their partners (the asuras) who then try to steal the elixir.

It makes me wonder, if you cannot trust Hindu gods, who can you trust?


Bayon looks like a pile of rubble from the distance but actually has bas-reliefs more impressive than those of Angkor Wat. Bayon has three levels and on the first level alone, the bas-reliefs stretch for 1,200 meters.

The Ta Phrohm temple is very interesting because the temple has (almost) been left in the same state as it was when it was "found" by the French around 150 years ago. This means that the jungle has only been partially cleared; in particular, several large trees have been left standing such as the silk cotton tree in the picture below.

The last picture is from Angkor Wat and is basically only chosen because the sky was so wonderfully clear and blue that day.

Cambodia - Sihanoukville

Sihanoukville Railway Station is an icon of shitty 1960s concrete architecture.

In 1955, a construction team arrived at what was then known as Kompong Som to begin work on Cambodia's first (and only) deep water port. When the port was finished in 1960, the area was renamed Sihanoukville in honor of then King Sihanouk. 

Today, with a good road from Phnom Penh, Sihanoukville is drawing a steady and growing stream of backpackers along with expatriates and locals coming down from Phnom Penh for lazy weekends. Russian tourists have also started arriving in droves.

The first time I visited Sihanoukville (over 10 years ago), I loved it; there were kilometers of white sandy beaches devoid of humans. In particular, Otres Beach was totally undeveloped as it could only be reached by motorcycle as there was no road (only a narrow dirt track) leading to the beach.

Now, seediness kinda starts to outshine the prettiness, especially at Weather Station and Victory Beach. The impacts of sex tourists and Russians with ill-gotten wealth flooding in cannot be hidden. Nor can the forces of "development".

For example the once abandoned Independence Hotel has had a makeover while a large portion of the previously public beach nearby was "sold" to a wealthy Khmer with, you guessed it, connections in the local government.

The trend is in the wrong direction, but outside town, one can still enjoy the sights of rice farmers and salt fields or go trekking in Ream National Park.