Bago (30 Jun - 1 Jul 12)

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So finally left the beautiful countryside of Hpa An and Southeastern Myanmar, and made my way back west towards Yangon. I wasn't be going back there though, instead I stopped at Bago and will turn north towards Mandalay.

I remember telling myself to travel slower since I'm in no hurry anyway, so I'll be making a couple of overnight stops (starting with Bago) in South/ Central Myanmar en route to Mandalay, instead of doing a straight 10-12h bus ride that I don't have particularly fond memories of from 2006.

Bago turned out to have quite a lot to see, and I must really chastise LP for getting the scale on its Bago map all wrong! What appeared to be 600m for the stretch of temples on the map was in reality much, much further! The cycle-taxi ride itself out to the main road was already almost a full ten minutes. You can imagine the walk in. Not that I didn't already know, but LP is certainly not perfect.

Lotsa walking, stupas, pagodas, temples, and not one but TWO giant reclining Buddhas, and so little time...

Stayed at the Myananda Guest House, with and AC single for just USD8!

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Photos

Outdoor Giant Reclining Buddha
Bago has not one but TWO!

Hpa An to Bago
C'mon, say I'm the man! This photo was taken from the moving bus on my way to Bago. And of course I had to time the shot perfectly to find the gaps in between the road-side trees. As you can imagine, I've had a lot of practice doing this...

Shwethalyaung Reclining Buddha
55m, apparently 9m longer than the famous one at Wat Pho in Bangkok.

Donation by Dr Benjie
of Simei Street! So Singaporean I couldn't resist the shot.

View from the Top of the Mahazedi Paya
Not quite as "fine" as described by LP.

Local Quench Lemonade
Tastes exactly like Sprite, but only K200 compared to K1000 for the imported stuff!