Bagan

This time we took a VIP nightbus from Nyaung Shwe (Inle Lake) to Bagan: wider seats (2-1 configuration), more space and dinner included. We were actually hoping that the additional comfort would bring us more sleep, but actually it did not. We barely slept and arrived in Bagan at 4am in the morning. At the bus terminal, the usual crowd of taxi drivers offered us their services. On a board it was written that the 4km ride to Nyaung U (where all the affordable accomodation was located) would cost 5000 Kyat (4€), but all of a sudden they all claimed this was the price per person. We did not want to get fooled by them ("it is so early, so you have to pay more", "we had to get up really early to pick you up") and as we were five we managed to negotiate the price quite sharply to an acceptable fare.

The taxi dropped us off at our pre-booked accomodation, but as they were full we could not check in yet. As it was still dark we used the opportunity, rented some bikes and set off to see the sunrise. As we were well prepared (haha) we did not know which temples were good for sunrise and went to the one that the receptionist had recommended to us. The night was actually a bit chilly and we had to cycle a few kilometers to reach the temple area and arrived at Bulethi temple at around 5:30.

It was still pitch dark and we climbed the steep stairs to reach the narrow upper ring with the light of the mobile phone only. Folks, this is quite a challenge and you should really not do this when you are drunk ;). A few people were already there, but we still got a good spot facing the east and impatiently waited for the sun to rise - mainly because it was cold! The first orange light appeared on the horizon and soon we were able to see what we thought you usually only get to see on postcards: many temples on the plains in front of us mystically covered in morning mist and a red-orange-yellow sky in the background. Just as the sun really started to rise above the ground, the well-known hot air ballons took off. Seriously, we've got such amazing pictures and had such a hard time selecting the best shots only. Our tiredness and shivering was blown away and we stared fascinatedly onto the incredible scenery.

We were the last ones to leave Bulethi temple and the sunrays started to warm up the air. We decided it was time for breakfast and a coffee and the closest place to go was Old Bagan. We decided to take a small detour to see some more temples and discovered that many of the paths around Bagan - apart from the main road - were sand tracks and not always easily driveable with our old bikes. We further realized that 98% of all the lazy tourists were renting e-motorbikes and only a handful of people used the good old-fashioned bikes like us. Even if distances were sometimes a bit long in the burning sunshine, Bagan was fairly flat,so it was good exercise :).

On the way to Old Bagan we passed some more temples, one a cute small one (Thabeik Hmauk) with beautiful architecture and a rather big one (Pyathada Paya) with a huge terrace offering perfect views over the plain of temples during the day and for sunset. It was not on the news, but Bagan had been hit by an earthquake of strength 6,9 (so quite heavy) in August 2016 and one could see that some of the temples had been affected and were closed for visitors or under renovation, but the majority was still accessible and did not suffer from much impact. You would pretty much walk into every temple and climb up to the terrace, even though the stairs were sometimes well hidden in a dark corner :).

The old kingdom of Bagan had its peak in between the 10th and 14th century and this was the period when the various kings had more than 10.000 temples built in the area. As we are talking about quite a long era the styles of the temples were a bit different in each period and this is quite visible in the size and architecture used: some temples are round pagoda-style, some are rectangular and castle-style while others are pyramid-style, huge with golden decoration and lots of love for the detail or have impressive mural paintings inside.

We passed two of the biggest pyramid-style temples (Sulamani and Dhammayanghi) and arrived in Old Bagan where the oldest and biggest temples were situated. We chose a little café and had a late breakfast to gain some more strength for the coming visits: beautiful Ananda temple which had been affected by the earthquke and the huge golden top was unfortunately scaffolded, but we could still see the impressive and detailed architecture on the outside of the building. From there we escaped the annoying sellers and headed to the tallest of the Bagan temples, Thatbyinnyu, with its cathedral-style interior and golden ornaments on the outside.

After this we decided it was about time to return to Nyaung U, check in and have a quick nap before going back to the fields for sunset. Our room was ready, we had a quick cold shower and went to bed for 1 or 2 hours (or was it maybe 2-3 hours?) and left Nyaung U in the late afternoon again to join the sunset crowd at THE sunset temple, the Shwe San Daw Pagoda with its 4 level terraces and beautiful views of the other big monuments in Old Bagan. The place was really busy and it was good that we arrived early because the upper level terrace was already full, but views from the second level terrace were equally good. Despite the crowds, we enjoyed the beautiful sunset behind the Irrawaddy River a lot and got again so many nice pictures with amazing colours, but you will see for yourself... Bagan truely is a magical place, especially when the sun rises or sets and colours the whole landscape in warm orange-red colours!

Once the sun was down, we cycled all the way back (yes we did some kilometers!), took a proper shower as we had been sweating a lot under the burning sunshine and met Alida (from our trek to Inle Lake) for a quick dinner. As we were dead tired we went to bed soon and decided to sleep "long" the next day and not get up for another sunrise.

After breakfast, we hopped on our bikes again and had a full cycling day until sunset. We passed and stopped at numerous temples in Old Bagan, New Bagan a bit further south and even in the less frequented eastern plains. It would probably be boring for you to name and explain all of the monuments we saw, so we just name the most impressive and for us most memorable ones: Mat Taung Kyaun, a tiny little teak monastery with amazing wood carvings, Gaw Daw Palin, looking like the little sister of big That Byin Nyu, Upali Thein with well-preserved mural paintings, Hti Lo Mi Lo, a masterpiece of a temple and Dhammayazika with its huge golden dome that was visible over kilometers. There are tons more that we really liked, we put some of them in the picture section, just ask us if you have any questions to a specific temple and we'll try to answer. We did another sunset, this time in the East facing all the temples in the westerm plains and it was just equally impressive as the day before. And then we had to ride back again to Nyaung U.

As cycling was quite tiring, we decided to sleep again the next morning - thank God we had done sunrise already upon our arrival :). On top we planned to take a night bus down to Yangon the next evening, so we felt like we deserved a good night of sleep beforehand. The third day consited of more cycling on sandy paths. The fact that we had stayed 3 days in Bagan allowed us to explore some off-the-beaten track temples that are much less travelled-by, but just as interesting and beautiful.

As our bus was leaving at 20:00 from Bagan, we did not have time for another sunset (but 2 were already quite good!) and cycled back in the early evening to have dinner and be ready for the pick-up on time. We had seen enough temples in Bagan, yet we were sad we had to leave this wonderful place that was so full of magic that we will always remember it and keep the beautiful memories in our hearts.

Our next stop was Yangon in southern Myanmar. We only spent one full day there, but if you want to know more about what there is to see and do, just wait for the next article.

In the meantime take care and talk to you soon,
Moni & Alex

Sunset in Bagan