For our second day we picked up another e-bike (blue this time!) and headed off down the main road connecting Nyuang-U with Old Bagan to see a few of the temples on this route before heading towards New Bagan to discover the temples of the Myinkaba area.
 |
| Blue bike day! |
We dragged ourselves out of bed for another sunrise and headed to Budeli, one of the temples that can be climbed from the outside, and perched ourselves very precariously on one of the very tiny steps to watch the sunrise over Bagan.
It was a glorious sight, with the hot air balloons rising and floating right over creating the picture postcard moment of the temples rising from the misty morning air.
 |
| Mist rising over Bagan |
 |
| A floating sunrise |
Our next stop for the day was Ananda Temple. One of the larger reconstructed temples, having suffered after the 1975 earthquake, but it is one of the larger, finer and most revered of the temples in Bagan.
 |
| Ananda |
Further south is the Dhamma-yan-gyi Pahto. Another of the large and domineering of the temples in the Old Bagan area, with a really distinctive shape in comparison to the others in Bagan. Because the top stupa is missing it gives it more of a pyramid look, squat and flat but vast in is size.
 |
| Dhamma-yan-gyi |
Just behind here are the North and South Guni. Smaller in size, but the North Guni could be climbed and gave us a great view back over Dhamma-yan-gyi and the other large sites of Old Bagan including the white and grey Shwe-san-saw Pagoda. With such a beautiful view we decided to perch ourselves on the top terrace in a shady spot for our picnic lunch of chicken floss buns from a bakery in Nyuang-U.
 |
| Hanging on the edge of North Guni |
Having looked over at the Shwe-san-saw Pagoda we headed there next. This is another of the more popular sunset stops as it can be climbed from the outside, with steps up all four sides to the multiple terraces that line it's walls, making for quite a big area for the coach loads to spread out. It's quite a steep climb up, but it had a banister rail to help and the views at the top were totally worth it. We could see why this was a sunset hotspot!
 |
| Shwe-san-saw |
We then spent the remainder of our afternoon exploring the smaller temples to the South West. Stopping at the Law-ka-ou-shaung; an alternative sunset spot to Shwe-san-saw, which had small tunneled staircase to a terrace above. However without the height of the larger temples in the area it didn't quite manage to give the postcard view that you get from the Shwe-san-saw.
 |
| Law-ka-ou-shaung |
The Myinkaba village area was where we came across quite a few temples that had some beautiful paintings inside...we needed our head torches to get a good look at them as they were all pitch black inside!
Gu-byauk-gyi which had beautiful frescoes on the inside - some of the oldest in Bagan.
 |
| Torch light artwork |
It is also just west of the of the Myazedi pagoda where two stone pillars host inscriptions written in four languages Pali, Old Mon, Old Burmese and Pyu - also known as the Burmese Rosetta Stone.
 |
| The Rosetta Stone |
Others we visited in the area, included Na-go-yon Temple and Ape-ya-da-na which both had beautiful interiors.
 |
| Na-go-yon outside |
 |
| Na-go-yon inside |
We finished our day with the sunset, and decided to brave the crowds at Shwe-san-daw. Because of the multiple terraces and staircases the crowds didn't feel as over whelming as at Pya-tha-da Pagoda which we had avoided the day before, but there were still many more people to share the sunset with than our spot from the day before.
 |
| Sunset crowds looking at... |
Finding our spot at the top we sat back and took in the view over the larger temples of Old Bagan which we planned to explore on our 3rd and final day. With the silhouette of these in front of the sun setting we got that picture postcard moment of Bagan - a magical end to another fabulous day!
 |
| ...this beautiful view! |
No comments:
Post a Comment