4 DAYS IN THE ICONIC TOWN OF BAGAN

THE JOURNEY TO BAGAN

Having spent a few days in Pyay, I was now heading off to Bagan. I was faced with two options of getting there though:

1. The night train, which takes 12 hours, is bumpy as hell and is almost impossible to sleep on
2. The bus, which arrives in the middle of the night

Neither option being ideal, I left it to the dice to decide:

Arriving in Bagan, very fatigued, I took a cab to my hotel and split the cost by jumping in with two random guys, who were heading to a similar part of town.

It became apparent, that tourism here was much more of a thing as the taxi driver tried to rip me off. Initially he offered to take me to the hotel for 10,000 Kyat, when it was just me alone. When the other two guys were joining me he said 15,000 – which I thought was fine at just 5,000 each.

He then said to me it would be 7,500 for me and 7,500 each for the other guys. I argued and initially the driver wasn’t having it. I took off my seat belt and went to get out of the car and he backed down. Small victory perhaps.

On the way to the hotel we stopped at a ticket office. The Burmese are obviously aware what a sight the archaeological area of Bagan is and, as a tourist, you have to pay 25,000 Kyat (approx. £15) for 5 days access to the site. It’s well worth it.

Having purchased the ticket I got dropped off at my hotel. Checked in and got straight into bed for a well needed rest, after the ordeal of the night train.

I got up only to get some food in the evening. Onto day 2!

 

SUNRISE

On my first full day in Bagan, I got up early and met up with a couple of guys I’d previously met in Yangon to go and see the sunrise over the myriad temples of Bagan.

The best way to do this was to rent an e-bike, giving you the freedom to roam around and find a temple that suited.

The e-bikes were quite common in Bagan and were essentially electric powered scooters. I rented one from my hotel for 8,000 Kyat, but I found out that you could get hold of them cheaper if you shopped around.

The speed of these things is initially limited to 35 kmph, but there is a switch, which one of my friends pointed out, that lets you go up to 55kmph. Obviously, the switch was flicked as soon as I found that out.

We set off from my hotel and soon got off road and into the archaeological site. There were temples dotted around everywhere, as far as the eye could see. The area was flat, so the eye can see pretty far if it wasn’t for all the dust in the air!

We found a suitable spot, with only a couple of scooters outside so we were pretty sure it wasn’t flooded with tourists. We got off our bikes and climbed to the top of the temple.

At the top, the view unfolded to an in incredible vista. It was still a little dark, but I could see hazy images of hundreds of temples, stretching out in all directions. A truly breathtaking sight! Surely the most inspiring thing I’ve seen in my travels so far.

Before long, hot air balloons were up in the air, all around, full of tourists with deep pockets to view the sunrise from up high.

This made for an extra sight to behold as the view was filled with these:

Within moments, the sun started to rise in the distance. We had a great view for it, from where we stood. Everyone fell silent for several minutes as watched the sun bathe the temples in its golden glow:

It was an incredible experience to witness a sunrise in this location. So serene and awe inspiring.

DHAMMAYAN GYI PAGODA

After sunrise I headed back to the hotel for breakfast, but a few hours later we were back on the bikes again and this time the dice ordered me to stopped off at the Dhammayan Gyi Pagoda

This is one of the main pagodas in Bagan and I’m really thankful that the dice brought me here.

As usual there were plenty of buddhas floating around:

There were also some paintings on the walls which date back to when the pagoda was built, in the 12th century:

The main centre of the pagoda is contained within these corridors which skirt around the perimeter of the temple. The lighting created quite the atmospheric shot:

Even the dogs enjoyed bathing in the sun and looking out of the alcoves:

Inside and around the temple, there were a number of traders here, trying to sell their wares to the tourists:

Even if you weren’t going to buy anything, they wouldn’t stop there though. The traders would tell about how they have been collecting notes of different currencies and then felt compelled to show you all of the different notes that they had in their possession. Obviously they’re just trying to get your unused money from other places you’d previously visited.

With Pound Sterling, Thai Bhat and Laos Kip in my wallet, I played dumb and said that I only had Burmese Kyat with me and had spent all of my other money.

The guy I was talking to though, after finding out I was English showed me a £1 note from Jersey. I’d never even seen one of these! He’d definitely done the rounds on the tourists!

DRUNK

After leaving the pagoda we stopped at a bar for a drink. This turned into several drinks and before we knew it were pretty smashed. We dropped the bikes off, before things got too out of hand and then carried on.

By around 11pm it reached a point where I decided enough was enough and I headed back to the hotel.

Staggering on my way back, I heard a bunch of local Burmese kids singing and playing guitar. I wanted to get back, but I couldn’t resist a dice roll. If I rolled a 1 or a 2 I would go over and join them. I don’t remember specifically what I rolled, but I know that the dice commanded me to go over. And so I did.

I ended up playing a couple of songs for them. They then played a couple for me. We drank some whisky together and hung out for a while, until the police came over and told us to call it a night.

It was quite a surreal experience, to just hang out with these guys, but it was a really enjoyable authentic experience. Even though I didn’t speak Burmese and they didn’t speak much English, we managed to break down those barriers with a shared enthusiasm for music and whisky. Universal.

 

NYAUNG-U – THE WILD WEST OF THE EAST

My last full day in Bagan.

I had a friend that was staying slightly out of the main hub of Bagan, in an area called Nyaung-U. I thought I’d take the chance to see this area for myself before I headed off, so I jumped on the bike and headed over there.

THE LOCAL MARKET

This place was much more raw, than the rest of Bagan that I’d seen. We wandered to the local market, which was an eye-opener. We were the only tourists here. This was certainly a place typically only frequented by Burmese, but it was really interesting to have a look around.

The traders took the chance to try and sell us some of their craftwork, including DIY tattoo kits made from bamboo and a tiny set of scales used for weighing opium:

Walking further into the market I was overcome with the pungent smell of a fish market. Coming face to face with this sight put me off the idea of ordering fish in a restaurant, with the swarms of flys over every inch of the fish’s cadavers. I assume it’s the same for other meat, but fortunately I only saw the fish

I also spotted some locals playing a game in which they threw small shells into a dish to determine the outcome. I have no idea how it worked.

 

THE STREETS OF NYAUNG-U

Leaving the market and heading back to the main street to drink a beer; this is where I had the feeling that this was like the Wild West. There were horse drawn carriages roaming through dusty streets, surrounded by makeshift buildings.

The sepia tone helps, of course.

Another thought that occurred to me, while sitting here, was that, just when you think you’ve seen all of the vehicles that Asia had to offer, it surprises you by throwing a few more into the equation:

MOVING ON

After leaving Nyaung-U. I headed back to Old Bagan, to try and catch a view of the sunset.

Unfortunately, it was a very cloudy day and the sun failed to make an appearance for me. At least I’d caught that beautiful sunrise though!

I headed back to my hotel and relaxed. The next morning I was checking out and heading East to Kalaw.

See you there for the next instalment!

VIDEO DIARY

I assume you’ve read the above, but regardless, you might get some joy from this video that covers the few days I spent in Bagan: