11-14 March 2014 I took the 7.30 pm nightbus from Inle Lake to Bagan. The plan was to arrive in Bagan around 4.30-5 am and head to one of the temples for sunrise. But again, not everything goes as you want it. Only 4 hours after we left Inle Lake the car broke down! Some technical failure. We waited SOOOO long that we saw the sunrise coming up from the highway. It’s not what I wanted, but it was actually not that bad 🙂 And well, it was a nightbus so I had some sleep while they were fixing the car.
The massive plain of Bagan is covered by over 4000 temples, pagodas and stupas, as far as the eye can see. Truly a spectacular place! Everywhere you look, there are brick temples and stupas dotting the landscape. My way of exploring Bagan was by bike and e-bike. If you are in a tight schedule and only have 1 day to spend in Bagan, I would highly recommend the e-bike. Fun to ride on ànd you get faster to the sights than by bike 🙂
I visited so many temples and stupas that I can’t remember all their names. There is the tallest (Thatbyinnyu), the largest (Dhammayangyi), the one with the highest concentration of hawkers (Ananda Paya), the most religious site (Shwezigon) but one of my favorites is however the Sulamani Temple, the temple with the best preserved colourful murals and carved stucco on mouldings in the whole area! Although faded, you could still get a glimpse of how it used to be 10 centuries ago. Amazing!
As I didn’t see the sunrise on my first day, I had to wake up early the other to see it. It was totally worth it! Especially when you see the hot-air balloons flying over the plain. Such an amazing view! Maybe next time I’ll pay to get INTO one and see Bagan from above 🙂
Bagan’s temples and pagodas should definitely be a Unesco World Heritage Site. I’m sure it’s only a matter of time that they get this recognition!
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