Myanmar - Beautiful Bagan (Part 1)

We had decided to travel from Mandalay down to the infamous Bagan by boat. 12 hours floating down the river, sitting back in the sunshine and watching the world go by, we enjoyed seeing both sunrise and sunset on the water.

Sunrise on the river

It was a wonderfully peaceful journey, with views of the farmers, small villages and fishermen quietly going about their daily lives on the river banks.

Our boat ($37 US) was with Shwe Kennedy and had morning tea/coffee and breakfast, and lunch included on board. It was the tourist boat, but sitting back on bamboo chairs we were very relaxed, and didn't mind that we were 2 hours later than planned (12 hours rather than 10) due to all the sandbanks and taking it slow.

Cruising along

We moored up at Nyuang-U, the main town North of Old Bagan where our hotel; Hotel Thumbula, and the majority of hotels for Bagan are located. Despite being further away than New Bagan from the temples we found it to be a great base, with plenty of e-bikes available to hire (c.8,000k for a day), definitely the best way of exploring the temples of Bagan.

Yellow e-bike 

Bagan known as the Bagan Archaeological Zone, occupies an impressive 26 square miles. One of the previous Burmese capitals, this now ancient city of over 2,000 pagodas and stupas is mostly in ruins and one of the star attractions of Myanmar.

Each temple has been given its own number, even the tiny ruined stupa stumps that cover the landscape giving Bagan its scale in terms of numbers. With so many stupas and temples in a relatively confined area, it's very easy to miss the small wonders of the little stupas each housing a reconstructed or ruined Buddha sculpture, but it was these and the smaller temples that helped us to build a picture in our mind of what this city would have looked like with its 4,000 stupas and temples in its hey-day.

Number...something!

We were lucky to have visited when we did as on the 24th February the Ministry of Culture (a week after we had left) announced a ban on climbing most of the temples of Bagan from 1st March (it started out as a total ban, but overnight they changed their mind and did a U-turn so now just 5 can be climbed). So sadly when you read below about which temples we climbed up, this may not be possible anymore!

We completely understand the reasons for the ban and to be honest were quite surprised this ban hadn't been in place earlier given the historical significance and their ambitions for UNESCO status, but the experience of watching the sunrise or sunset from a small secluded stupa with 10-15 or so people was magical.

We had three full days to explore this amazing area, so having had a quick bit of e-bike practice, Julia jumped on the back with Chris in the driving seat, map in hand and a general idea of which temples we wanted to see.

Geographers love a good map!

We spent our first day exploring the temples and stupas of the North, Central and South plains of Bagan.

We started our tour at one of the larger Payas; Hti-lo-min-lo, which you could explore inside. 

Hti-lo-min-lo

It was very busy so after a quick look we headed off the beaten track through the plains towards Su-la-ma-ni Pato; with some beautiful painted Buddha's on its inside walls and the pretty and peaceful Tha-omik-hmauk.

Tha-omik-hmauk wiith Su-la-ma-ni in the background

Heading further south we then reached Pya-tha-da Pagoda, with its large terrace and stunning views over towards Old Bagan. This was the first temple we had come across that we could go up to get a view, and a great place to stop and pause, taking in the full scale of Bagan in all its wonder.

Taking in the view from Pya-tha-da

We then travelled further south to the main road to New Bagan, passing temple 801; a renovated temple which you could scramble up to the roof for a view.

Number 801

Turning just off the main road to New Bagan and the South plains, we came across Thisa-wadi and then the pentagon shaped, and the golden stupa of Dhamma-ya-za-ka Zedi. Its iconic shape and glistening top is visible from almost anywhere in Bagan. We didn't find the ghost of the general that supposedly roams the site after he died before ita construction was completed.

The Golden Dhamma-ya-za-ka 

Behind here we found number 861 which had great views back over the grounds of Dhamma-ya-za-ka and a field of small stupas.

View from 861

And Kutha, which was one of the few ruins in the arid, dusty landscape of Bagan that had some lichens and grasses growing in the cracks of its ancient bricks.

Julia posing in front of Kutha

Our day then continued back to the South Eastern temples, where we came across a white washed pagoda (not typical of the temples) with lots of Buddha's on the inside walls - sadly we couldn't work out the name/number of this one!

The naughtily white-washed pagoda

All the little Buddhas

Following on from this we reached the Paya-thone-zu group; a line of 3 stupas connected together with 3 shrines inside, very different in design to the majority in Bagan.

Paya-thone-zu

Tham-bu-la just next door which we viewed from afar since it was locked up, but we had to see it since our Hotel had the same name - named after the wife of King Uzana.

Thum-bu-la

Nanda-pyin-nya, a very small, quaint stupa which caused some contention with the "vulgar erotic" frescos that can be found inside. In the pitch dark by torch light the most erotic images we could spot was a top less woman. Depicting the Temptation of Mara, where females attempted to distract Buddha from his meditation that led to his enlightenment.

Vulgar-erotic frescoes!

We also paused to have a quick peak at the underground monastery behind of Kyat Kan Kyaung, which seemed to be some bamboo beds in damp underground tunnels...well they do say monks live a very simple life.

The underground Monastery

With the sun starting to lower in the sky we popped by the Tayok-pyi Pagoda, a walled temple surrounded by the Lay-myet-hna Group on our way to find a good spot to see the Sunset.

Tayok-pyi in the evening sun

We had planned to go back to Pya-tha-da Pagoda but as we drew closer we saw the  huge numbers of buses and long queue of Chinese tourists fighting their way up the one staircase to get a spot for photos. We decided if we hung around we'd just end up missing the sunset so doubled back on ourselves to the Sin-byu-shin complex. 

Count the bus loads

The entrance is lined with an avenue of trees and we were able to squeeze up the stairs to our own peaceful spot. With only a handful of others, including a few we'd picked up on route having warned them of the chaos at Pya, we sat back, feet hanging down from the small but perfectly formed terrace.

Run Chris run!

After a day scooting (and sliding!) around down the dusty, sandy tracks exploring the area in the sunshine we were ready for a good night's sleep, so we could awake early enough to view them at sunrise.

Sunset over Shin-byu-shin