Bago Bizarre: Reincarnated snakes & Transvestite nat ceremonies.
After the good days spent in Yangon, time to backpacking again to the golden rock. But on the way it was worth a quick visit to Bago.
So we took an stressful overcrowded local mini bus, arrived to Bago, left the backpack, bought bus tickets to Kinpun for the evening, rent the bikes and went explore the village.
Sounds stressing right? If you also add riding under a sweating dry heat and really dusty bumpy overcrowded roads with cars, bikes, trucks, minivans, motos, tuktuks and people in any direction all the time, you can imagine that sometimes there is a huge sacrifice and effort under all the reports and nice travel pictures you see.
But I love this game so much! This is what makes me feel alive! Getting out of the comfort zone allows you to make lots of friends and live bizarre amazing experiences. ^_^
The front row of the local minibus xDD
Once in Bago with the bikes just rent, the first visit was to a couple of pagodas
In the second one we were sooo lucky to find a Nat ceremony, an special religious ceremony where some transvestite “mediums” drink and smoke and dance in trance under the music and the sounds of the drums. This reminds me something…^_^
Even the locals and some monks were curious watching at it (until I arrived and watched the freak, of course! xd).
But it was one of the most bizarre ceremonies I’ve ever seen, it was amazing! I really loved the guy at the drums.
Exiting the pagoda some kids playing gave us the gift of their smile. Again, anywhere, anytime, no tabus, no fears, I love it!!!!
Riding the bike again and following some dirty little roads outside the village, it was a little hard to find, but we did it, we arrived to the snake temple. It’s said that this more-than-100-years-old snake is the reincarnation of a buda, and so it is revered, and fed, and taken well care, it even has a pool. True story.
The roads to the snake temple.
Finally, the last stop, really exhausted, under the criminal heat, the reclining buddha in Myathalyaung temple, which turned to be so beautiful, amazing and incredible.
After this visit, it was time to lunch and have some little rest, as the day was not over and we still had to spend a few hours in a new bus to arrive to Kinpun, find the hostel, do the checking, etc, carrying the backpack….
But it was completelly worth it, another day full of intense experiences, from the crowded minibus where nobody speaks your language and you are not sure where it is going, to the freak nats ceremony we were lucky to attend, and the reverentiated reincarnated snake. Another unforgeatable day to share. As one friend of mine would say: for the curriculum.
