Having seen quite a number of pagodas, we then wanted to see how they made some of their traditional Laquerware. These crafts, ranging from small simple plates up to large chest of drawers, were made over a 6 month period from the combination of either bamboo or horse hair with tree sap. Once each of the individual crafts had been shaped and the oxidation process of the sap had taken place, this black sticky paste of the sap was applied throughout the entire shape of the object. With each individual piece covered, it was then placed in an underground cellar which had the required levels of humidity and kept there for a week. This process of applying a layer of sap onto the craft was repeated between 12 and 18 times dependent on the level of quality required but was sanded down to smoothen the surface between each layer. For four of the sap layers applied after the first couple of layers, a different natural product was added each time; these included ground cattle bone, stone and sawdust which were all a requirement in order to provide the crafts with their characteristic high strength and resistance to heat. Once all the layers have been applied, it is time to give the craft its own unique design which is created by etching out thousands of small grooves in order to apply a color. This tequnique allows for the object to be submerged in a particular colour with it only sticking to the many small grooves that have been made. In order to apply further colors, the same process of etching away at the surface is carried out and then submerged in the required color. Only one color at a time is added followed by a fine resin coating in order to avoid the color being washed off or altered by a secondary color.

    On one of our drives through Myinkaba Village, between old and new Bagan, we were luckily enough to find Family Lacquerware Workshop, a tourist free workshop set back off the road where the very helpful and friendly owner showed us all the processes and talked us through it all. Despite the very impressively thorough and detailed work in this particular workshop, due to the arduous process and intricate detail, all of these products are relatively expensive in comparison to the lacquerware found being sold at stalls outside many of the pagodas. This was the case in all of the workshops in the area. Despite the owners of the workshops explaining that those sold at the pagodas were not made properly, we could not justify paying four times the price in the workshop and so we bought one at the pagoda which seemed to be very strong and had a very attractive detailed design.

    Wanting a slightly more relaxed day, after having been to  Myinkaba Village we went to meet Dennis and Barbara, our Australian friends, at their Zefretti hotel. Here we had a drink by the pool where both Lou and Dennis had a little swim as we were at a temperature of 40*C. For dinner we went to this small local restaurant, Weather Spoons Restaurant on Thi Ri Pyitsaya 4 street which served us this Myanmar beef curry which was amazing!!! To finish off a great meal we also got some tamarin flakes for the first time which were really tasty.

    For our final day in Bagan, we met up with Dennis and Barbara to go and visit Minnanthu Village, one of the main traditional local villages just a short 20 minute e-bike ride away. Before getting to the village we stopped at a relatively large pagoda which was one of a kind in the area. This pagoda had been plastered like some of the others but was painted white and had been maintained extremely white, without a single stain on it. The extremely bright white color of the pagoda along with the bright sunlight meant that the glare coming off it made it difficult to look at. From here we met this young twelve year old girl who’s English was nothing short of perfect, which was extremely surprising as such fluent English from a local was hard to come by. This young girl who lived in Minnanthu Village was off school for three months during the hot season break and so she showed us to one of the larger homes in the area and gave us a brief insight into life in the village.

    This particular village is made up of 120 homes and 600 residents with an average salary of five dollars a day but considerably more when able to con the tourists into paying high prices for their woven cotton garments and bags. When considering the low incomes throughout a village like this, it is scary to think that a family of twelve would spend around eight dollars a day on food and then have a large bill of fifty dollars a month for each child in secondary education despite primary being for free.

With the cotton sourced locally, the women’s main form of work was weaving using old fashioned techniques as well as sorting the thousands of nuts which they also grew and was then ground into oil, used for cooking.

    Here we met the eldest women in the community, a 91 year old mother and granny who was still at the wheel converting the raw cotton into reels of thread ready to be used in weaving. As well as working on her wheel, she has also spent the last seventy years smoking strong homemade cigarettes which is a combination of Tabacco and finely chopped palm branches rolled in corn leaf. It was fascinating to watch this old women working the cotton with such ease whilst smoking her fat cigarette.
 

    From one of the local areas to the next,  we visited the river bank in Old Bagan where we watched many of the locals crossing the strong river in both directions on local wooden boats. In the distance, beyond the wide sand planes towards the mountains on the opposite side of the river, we could see some small villages and so we would assume that this commute across the river was to come and trade with both the tourists and locals.