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Blogs from Bagan, Mandalay Region, Burma, Asia
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May 15th 2013
Inle Lake and Bagan are Burma's top two tourist attractions, and constitute 2 corners of an almost equilateral Golden Triangle between either northern Mandalay or southern Yangon. You'd expect this frequently-plied route to boast an abundance of comfortable and efficient tourist buses. Unfortunately, our bus to Inle Lake from drizzly Mandalay ranks as one of the worst journeys either Chris or I have taken, and it left us with crippled backs and minutely short fuses when, at 4am and rattled to oblivion by the roads and knackered suspension, we stepped off the bus into the village on the outskirts of the lake. After having a few arguments with the various touts who swarm like flies, even in the middle of the night, around the newly-arrived buses, we took a trishaw to the nearest budget hotel. Chris ... read more
April 3rd 2013
Bagan has more than 3000 temples, these are known as stupas. I was given some real gold leaf but no-one can touch it! If the Gold does not crumble then i might show and tell it if we find a safe place to keep it. We went on a horse and cart of road it was bumpy but fun! The stupas were built by kings in the 11th and 12th centuries but some were damaged by earthquakes.There was even a tremble the day before we arrived.We climbed to the top of the tallest which is 61 metres high and saw the sun set. ... read more
March 31st 2013
The Plains of Bagan are dotted with pagodas, temples and monasteries in every direction. If one were to turn back time a thousand years, history buffs would discover Bagan at the centre of the Pagan empire which unified the country for the first time, and set the stage for what has become modern day Myanmar. During the height of the empire there were over 10,000 religious sites, proving to be an incredible achievement. In modern times there are still over 2,000 sites standing, and considering this is a major earthquake area in Myanmar that's a mighty impressive number. Bagan is heavily geared towards tourism, and most travellers to Myanmar have a visit near the top of their travel itinerary. The town is situated in a remote area of the country, and the roads are not that ... read more
March 1st 2013
Bagan, 21-25 January The next morning, we decided to take the other mode of transport in Bagan that seems to be very popular - the bicycle. I haven't ridden a bike since I was about ten and C since he was 15 (which, weirdly, was at the same time) but, consistent with popular saying, it turned out to be easy. The only time I have attempted to ride in the past few years was when I went to visit my friend in Copenhagen and on a very hungover January morning, we decided it would be a great idea to cycle to the beach. Turns out hangover plus freezing temperatures and a bicycle do not mix so that was that. Bagan, on the other hand, may be the most perfect place in the world to cycle. On ... read more
February 28th 2013
Bagan, 21-25 January The sun was setting as we landed at Nyaung U airport, Bagan. It says a lot about how unspoilt Burma is that the airport at one of its main tourist attractions is so tiny there are not even any baggage carousels and the entire departure lounge consists of two small-ish rooms. Our flight from Inle Lake had travelled via Mandalay – as there are so many flights every day in Burma and distances between destinations are very short, it's common to take indirect flights and just wait on the tarmac for 15 minutes while people get on and off before setting off again. It was in this way that we ended up taking the shortest flight of the trip, and indeed my entire life - the entire journey from Mandalay to Bagan including ... read more
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January 23rd 2013
Well we got the wakeup call and made our way to the airport with a near miss into the taxi on a roundabout but as I said it was a near miss. The domestic terminal was a step back or two in time. The check in was all manual – the departure hall full to the brim with tourists -Oh No! Were they all making their way to Bagan? There turned out to be 4 flights waiting there and we were the last one called with the fewest amount of people- yippee! When I say called I really mean called- This was done by a steward holding the flight number up on a board and walking around. We seemed to accompany our luggage to the plane as it was wheeled out on trolleys by ground staff ... read more
January 20th 2013
12 January 2013 After a long day on the Irrawaddy river with a boat full of older package tourists, we arrive in Bagan, to a fanfare of taxis, busses, horse carts and begging children. The first thing we notice is the dust. It is as fine as talcum powder, pink talcum powder; and is all pervasive. Sinuses ho!! The second thing we notice is the beggars - always a sign that someone has been there before you. Bagan is firmly on the Burma tourist trail. It must be the top contender for most visited of the big 4 (Yangon, Mandalay, Inle Lake and Bagan). It is a bit of a shock to us after our gentle introduction to the country. Fortunately (in hindsight) we didn't manage to get a hotel room in any of the towns ... read more
December 22nd 2012
For two days we had been constantly on the go, climbing pagodas, walking through the bush, and in and out of either a car or horse cart. Even though we had in no way seen anywhere near the three thousand pagodas remaining in Bagan our legs certainly thought different. For the next two days we decided to look around Bagan town itself. Over these two days we explored the local markets, bargaining half-heartedly for local produce and generally having a great time interacting with the locals. Many times they ask such a small price for things it is impossible to bargain for a lower price. We had quite a few interesting conversations with horse cart drivers who were concerned because they were not visit and having difficulty getting customers. They told us many people thought it ... read more
December 20th 2012
Instead of writing two separate stories of these two days it is easy to write one large one. On the first day we used a car and driver to visit the pagodas further out of NyaungShwe and New Bagan. On the second day we saw many pagodas by horse and cart. It was very hard to keep a record of all the places we visited so I will just talk about some of the more impressive and the Pagodas of Bagan overall. The only word that I can think of to describe the whole experience is awesome. We had previously seen the temples of Angkor Wat that were so impressive. I think the pagodas of Bagan are truly as impressive. The earthquake of 1975 had caused much damage much of it still evident and due to ... read more
November 29th 2012
Another early start kicked off our final day in the ancient city of Bagan, with the alarm ringing off at the ungodly hour of 4.30am. I don’t do early starts, and this is the earliest one in a long time, but it was all for a good cause, the sun was due to rise over the temples within the next hour and a half. Half awake and barely coherent, we mounted our trusty bicycles, our derrières aching after consecutive rides on hard seats and with our legs screaming in agony. This was our last day, and witnessing sunrise over 800 year old temples isn’t something one gets to see everyday. With that notion our fatigue gave way to inspiration and determination. During our agonizing ride to the temple we visited the previous day, it began to ... read more
