Myanmar’s an interesting choice, I’m sure you’re thinking about the human rights stuff… why would we go there?
Well, the Global Scavenger Hunt director Bill explained that his philosophy was that the country was safe for us to visit, and that we certainly wouldn’t be able to change anything by not visiting, and that maybe there was a chance we could change something by visiting. We were to be unofficial goodwill ambassadors.
Anyways, the scavenges!
Visit the “Temple of Evil Kings,” explain.
Dhammayangyi Temple is the largest of the 3000+ temples in Bagan, and it was built by King Narathu in around 1170. He’s the evil king because he murdered his father, and his brother who was the heir, and so became king. Supposedly, he built such a big temple because he was trying to get brownie points for his bad karma.
So… we had a guide. The temple was really quite full of just normal people, sleeping inside and getting out of the hot sun. Or selling trinkets to tourists. A little boy (who I would have pegged at around 6 but he said he was 9 years old) came up to me and said hello and introduced himself as “Pyu Pyu.” I asked him to show me what was cool and he told me in really weird pidgin English about all the Buddhas in the temple. He led us around the temple and introduced me to his mother, who had a shop, and he told me the history of the temple in Burmese. But anyways, he was awesome.
Have something familiar @ Weather Spoon’s
Visit & climb Mount Popa. Explain it. (Warning: steps, wildlife)
Mount Popa itself is an extinct volcano that rises in a particularly interesting formation. Popa means flower mountain. It’s also where the spirits called nats reside, and can be thought of as the Burmese Mount Olympus.
Nats have been worshiped on the mountain for at least a thousand years. They were probably worshiped before the arrival of Buddhism. Since then Buddhism and Nat worshiping have gradually merged over the centuries. A shrine in the monastery on top of Mount Popa contains statues of the 37 most important Nats, all wearing very colorful clothing. Most of them were humans who suffered a violent death.
One legend tells that King Anawrahta who founded the Bagan empire in the 11th century ordered a runner named Byatta to fetch fresh flowers from Mount Popa every day. One day Byatta met an ogress named Mai Wunna who lived on the mountain and ate only flowers. Byatta fell in love with her and soon after the ogress gave birth to two sons in a cave on Mount Popa. According to the legend Byatta was executed and Mai Wunna died of a broken heart. Both became Nats that still live on the mountain today. When the two sons were later executed, they too became Nats.
Visit Shwezigon Pagoda, explain
The Shwezigon Pagoda was built by King Anawrahta who founded the Bagan Kingdom in 1044. After a monk converted the King to Buddhism, a campaign of massive temple building began on the plains of Bagan.
King Anawrahta built the pagoda, completed 1090, to enshrine several Buddha relics, including a copy of the sacred tooth relic of Kandy in Sri Lanka. According to legend, the spot where the pagoda was to be built was chosen by a white elephant carrying the relic on his back.
Try some toddy juice (ta-YEI), explain
Palm trees are their version of maple trees. They collect the sap and turn it into palm juice (toddy juice), palm sugar, and palm wine (40%!).
Visit Thatbyinnyu Pagoda, explain
Thatbyinnyu Pagoda was built around 1144 and is maybe the tallest in Bagan at 60m high. It was also the first two-story pagoda to be built.
Note that there were bad earthquakes in 1975 and 2016 in which the pagoda was damaged.
Locate and photograph a Burmese harp
At a dealer of your choice, price out a piece of jade, a ruby, and a sapphire
Okay we did not actually do this but I have to write about it! This morning, Michael and I were going for a walk and some guy on a scooter is coming down the street towards us. He sees us, stops, and asks if we want to buy any sapphires or rubies, and pulls out a little pouch from his pocket!
Visit Ananda Temple to explain the four standing Buddhas
In the center of the Ananda Pagoda is a large square room where four magnificent standing Buddha images are placed in arched recesses. The teak wooden 9½ meters tall gilded images represent the four previous Buddhas that have reached nirvana, namely Kassapa Buddha (South), Kakusandha Buddha (North), Konagamana Buddha (East) and Gautama Buddha (West).
Visit the Bagan Archaeological Museum. Find the Rosetta Stone of Myanmar.
Be the first team to get a photo of a team member atop a four-legged beast (live & bigger than you)
Try some Burmese curry. How does it differ from Indian & Thai curries?
Michael: “it’s smoother?”
Ali: “that doesn’t make sense”
Pictured below: we went to a street vendor and they told us they were giving us “chicken curry.” This is what we ended up with…
There were like 4 different types of spicy all in separate dishes. Michael says “there was red spicy, green spicy, and burn-your-face-off spicy.”
Ali & Michael's World Travels 
But did it taste like chicken?
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Michael says “no, it tasted like fire!”
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