Myanmar 4: Bagan

Thurs 15 Feb 
We were slightly delayed on our sub-30 minute flight from Mandalay to Nyuang U (Bagan), but we didn’t care as grateful not to still be in our mad taxi (see previous report) or – worse – on the bus. The plane parked almost in the tiny terminal and the bags were carried in by hand and given to you.

Note: all visitors have to buy a $25 Bagan archeological pass at the airport, valid for a week. The free map is crap; buy a decent one in town, you will need it!

We reached Viewpoint Hostel at 7pm to check into our “economy” $16 room – but one look at the room & communal bathroom and I upgraded us to the $25 “ensuite with aircon”.  We must be getting fussy after 4 months on the road! It was still a no-frills hostel, but everything in Bagan is more costly than the rest of the country.            

Fri 16     
We booked our guide through the hostel – and spent the whole first day with lovely Ugo. The best way to explore the 50 sq km site is on electric scooters; fun to ride, quite zippy and have a 30km+ range so last all day.            

First stop – the blindingly bright gold of the recently refurbished Shwezigon Pagoda          

 

Bagan is an utterly incredible place. There are over 2,500 monasteries, temples, shrines and stupas built between the 9th and 13th centuries by a succession of Bagan (originally called Pagan) Kings and Queens. The repeat Mongol invasions from the north finally caused the collapse of the already struggling kingdom in the 13th century.

We had a wonderful three days exploring; from the relatively crowded most popular temples to the empty isolated ones which feel like you’ve discovered them yourself. I’m not going to post every picture of every temple, nor am I going to write about every one we visited – as that would be way too dull to read!  Although three days of temples sounds a lot, it was the perfect balance for us; day one with our lovely guide doing some of the main sites and learning the detail, and day two & three making our own way around.

Jess trying out Thanaka; the yellow ‘face paint’ worn by many
Myanmar  women, and some men too. 

Ananda Temple is the most popular as the only active temple – and also recently restored.

Ananda Temple, most reverred by Burmese Buddhists 

One of the four impressive gilded wooden Ananda Buddhas

Over a 1000 Buddhas in niches along the vast corridors 

 There is a big debate as to the Myanmar Government’s restoration programme. When Jess visited here 30 year’s ago, most temples were semi-ruins with countless piles of bricks at each site. There was a big earthquake in 1975 which damaged many of the taller structures. However UNESCO refuses to award Bagan the coveted World Heritage Site status and describes the restoration work as “using the wrong materials to build wrongly shaped strictures on top of magnificent ancient stupas”.

However, we’re not archeological purists so - despite the obvious new brickwork and sometimes shameful penning-in of murals – Bagan is still fantastic and should be on your top 10 list.  The bigger sites will undoubtedly get more crowded, but losing yourself among the arid countryside and ‘discovering’ the smaller temples is magical.

 

Sunrise and sunsets are the big deal in Bagan. Until a couple of years ago you were allowed to climb many of the bigger temples for viewpoints, but this has now sensibly  been stopped on a safety and protection front, although some tourists still persist.  There are earth mounds in several strategic locations, but they are rammed with tourists. We went to one of the most popular by Sulamuni to witness our first sunset

 

We returned to Bibo restaurant for dinner, just off the little main ‘street’ in Nyuang U – with a surprisingly good range of eateries.


Sat 17
Ugo delivered my charged scooter at 05.15 and recommended the same spot as last night. After a 20 minute ride in the surprisingly cold morning air, I stood in the dark on the viewing mound with a coach load of Chinese tourists. The dawn glow seemed to be obscured by trees – then suddenly they all boarded their bus and drive off! I followed their lights for 3km down a dust track, and ended up south near Pya-tha-da Pagoda. Sunrise is seriously impressive as the light spills across the Bagan plain bathing the temples, the mist clears and then twenty one hot-air balloons appear majestically from Old Bagan and glide up and over the temples. (At $310 per person for a 45 minute ride, we opted not to do this – but they are incredibly sold out most days, and have to book well in advance!)

 

 

Back for the basic hostel breakfast with Jess, and then out for a day exploring by ourselves. Great fun, and then back to the same restaurant Ugo had taken us to for an hour’s leisurely lunch and a break from the 30+ degC heat.

 

 We watched sunset across the Ayeyarwaddy River, sat at Bu Paya

Sun 18
Today we headed south, exploring at a relaxed pace in the quieter side of the area. We bought tickets to the carbuncle Viewing Tower which - despite much condemnation – provides an excellent perspective of the scale and orientation of this huge area.

Iza Gawna Pagoda 

Walls adorned with 1000’s of little Buddha pictures 

We stopped for coffee at Min Nan Thu village, watching a variety of livestock being driven past

Lunch overlooking the river at the very civilised Bagan Riverview Hotel  - which we were ‘researching’ for the Sugdens who are visiting Myanmar next month!

Lovely “hidden pagoda” No.842 

We concluded our final day by returning to the Viewing Tower, and watching an impressive sunset with a cold drink or two.

 

We took the scooters back to Ugo and his lovely wife, who also run a travel business (we booked our plane ticket through them). Then a celebratory curry at Aroma 2 followed by coffee at aptly named The Baron Café & Bar!!

What an amazing three days!

[insert YouTube Pagab e-scooter video in a few days time]


Mon 19
Our 45 minute flight from Nyuang U to Heho passed without a hitch, and then an hour’s taxi down to Inle Lake – with our first stop at the Little Eco Lodge, Nyaungshwe.