Paparazzi and Merchants

This morning we got up early to fly to Bagan. Our first stop was to the Shwezigon Pagoda. It is another beautiful golden stupa. This one has a golden parasol at the top, and golden trees around the base. It attacks a lot of local tourists from the rural areas of the country, many who apparently haven't seen many tourists. There was a Burmese girl who asked to take a picture of me! And here I thought the pagoda was the attraction. Another very old Burmese woman approached me with a big smile and wanted to shake my hand, after which she walked away as if she had mentally just checked off something on her own bucket list. Throughout the morning I kept noticing girls pointing to my eyes. I thought it might be because they're blue, until one girl pointed and said "mascara." It was kind of fun having my own paparazzi!

Our next stop was at the Htilominlo Temple. This is one of 2700 red brick temples that are scattered over several square miles that I'll be ballooning over tomorrow morning. It is stunning. It reminded me of the Temple of Women in Cambodia, with the all the intricate carvings and lack of gold leaf.

Outside the temple were several merchant stalls set up. Carmen and I had a ball bargaining. The first thing I purchased, a Nat (angle) head, was first quoted for 50,000 kyat ($60). I laughed at the shop keeper when he tried to tell me it was very old. He followed me all the way passed several other stalls until he finally came down to 10,000 kyat ($12). I had another fun time with a man trying to sell me a small king and queen set right as I was getting back on the bus. He wanted 20,000 kyat. I offered him 5,000 ($6). He came down a little, but I kept saying 5 is all I'll pay. Several minutes after I took my seat on the bus I heard a knock on the window. He was outside still haggling with me. He kept coming down, 1000 kyat at a time. When the bus started backing up he was at 7,000. He finally came down to 5,000 and I had to ask the bus driver to stop to make my transaction. I think I got $6 worth of entertainment just haggling through the window! It reminded me of when I was on a cruise down the Nile River and the street vendors were selling carpets to the passengers by throwing them up onto the deck of the ship.