Temple Hopping

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Time is flying by. I've been in this country for more than three weeks. It feels like just yesterday I was back in Thailand trying to figure out how to navigate Burma.

I'm back to calling it Burma becaause the Military regime renamed the country Myanmar and well that's just not OK with me.

I hoped on my local bus at 9am. Luckily I was early and got a good seat in the front row next to a monk. No one spoke English on the bus so I put on some music and just watched the scenery pass by. We arrived in Bagan 8 hours later. Every time I thought we couldn't pack anymore people onto the bus I was proven wrong. We stopped for every single person that wanted a ride, even when there was no more room. People sat on the roof.

I decided to treat myself to a "nicer" hotel. That means I splurged for A/C, a private bathroom and a TV, all for $7 a day, which is about double what I've been paying. The owner of my hotel was the sweetest lady, I even bought her flowers she was so nice. (May Kha Lar)

I stayed in Bagan for 4 nights. Because it was so hot I thought it would be a good idea and really take my time with this place. Waking up early going temple hunting. Then around 12pm when the heat became unbearable I would find a 5 star hotel, and bay to use their pool. Genius.

In totally I saw 3 Bagan Sunsets and 1/2 a sunrise. My last day I went out at 5am to catch the sunrise, but only ended up getting lost on the way to temple. I put 6 holes in my back tire and 2 in the front. I have had the worst luck with bicycles on this trip. I got 4 flat tires during my time in Bagan.

All in all, Bagan was amazing. Not because of any one temple in particular but just because of the sheer number of temples. I maybe in my four days here say 1/20 of the total temples.

Heading to Yangon for Water festival and then off to Thailand for the finale of my trip

See you all soon

Adam

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