The Ananda Temple probably ranks as one of the more important temples here in Bagan. No visit to Bagan will be complete without a visit to the Ananda Temple. the problem is, the hawkers know it. Just as I arrived at the Ananda Temple, I was swarmed by numerous vendors selling souvenir items, keychains, art, and of course postcards. I just breezed past them and many others do, to the star of the show.
The Ananda Temple is one of the more impressive temples in Bagan, this is all the more so when the spires of the temple were gilded in gold giving it a beautiful glow. The interior of the temple is certainly better than the rest with a lot of figures telling the story of the enlightenment of Buddha. When I got to the entrance, there was a young Burmese man who approached me and began telling me about the temple. His English was reasonably good so I was able to strike up a decent conversation with him.
My unofficial guide then started to tour me around the interior of the temple area. What immediately struck me was these tall statues of Buddha in each of the directions. My guide pointed out which Buddha was an original and which weren’t. I forgot. Anyway, the Buddha were extra special because of the way the faces of the Buddha was constructed. Up close the Buddha the face looks stoic or maybe even sad, but from a distance the face turns to a smiling one. This amazing fact was pointed out to me by my unofficial guide.
After going around the temple, I learned that my guide was actually a student of archeology and he is basically staying inside the temple to help tourists learn more about the temple. Afterwards, he asked me whether or not I have a “present” for him. I didn’t really understand it at first but it seems that he was asking for a tip. This is one of those special Burmese English that I came to know. I gave him a token amount, after all he did show me around and the tour wasn’t really that bad at all.
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