Another From Bagan!

I felt seriously lucky when this surprise arrived through my door from my friend Alison on holiday in Myanmar (Burma). When I received my first ever card from the country – also by coincidence showing the site of Bagan, I was convinced it would be the only one I would ever get. Alison is a good friend from university who also studied archaeology and she made interesting contrasts between this site and the Maya sites in Yucatan, Mexico. Bagan was originally known as Pagan and was the capital of the Pagan empire from the 9th to the 13th centuries. There are 2200 temples and pagodas still standing today, which may sound a lot until you realise there were originally 10,000! Unsurprisingly, this is the biggest tourist attraction in the country and you can definitely see why! Alison – who has also sent this with a Burmese stamp – the first in my collection as my last card was sent from a Thai post office – tells me that at the top of the large temple on the left, she met a guy called Tun who asked her for a euro to add to his currency collection. When he showed her his collection, his most prized piece was a Jersey pound note because ‘no one knows that country exists’ (Jersey is also where Alison and I both did our archaeological fieldwork on our degree). Well, Tun, what would you do with a Guernsey pound note? I just love this card so much, thanks Alison!

Bagan Monuments

This beautiful card comes from 10 year old Shirly in Myanmar (Burma) who sent me this postcard with her class. It shows the ancient site of Bagan, where there are about 2000 of these beautiful monuments covering 16 square miles. Fascinating. And my first (and likely only ever) postcard from Myanmar! I love it!