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Published: August 5th 2009
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Bagan is one of Burma’s most famous attractions. It is a notable archaeological site and has over 2000 pagodas and temples of the 11th-13th century. At one time there were 13,000 temples, pagodas (payas) and religious structures. UNESCO has been unsuccessful in trying to designate it as a World Heritage Site, which is unfortunate as it is worthy of such a title.
Bagan is located in the dry central plains of the country on the Ayeyarwady River, 145km from Mandalay. While the distance doesn’t sound too far, on the rough, rugged roads it takes 8 hours by bus. We decided to catch the plane to most of our domestic destinations because of our limitations with time. As soon as we arrived in Bagan, a $10USD fee was collected for entering the ‘Bagan Archaeological Zone.’ For the amazing ruins you see, it seems highly underpriced.
Bagan’s site competes with that of Cambodia’s Angkor Wat and has an added advantage of offering breathtaking views of ruins sprawled across an enormous dusty plain. In Cambodia it is not possible to see temples in the distance as they are isolated by thick jungle but in Bagan thousands of ruins over forty square miles
of countryside is visible.
To explore the ruins Matt and I hired a bicycle for 2 days (another moment where I was happy to not have long legs, the bikes were quite old!). Bagan is a dry zone so in the afternoon it got quite hot and we had to take regular breaks. The main attractions we visited included:
Ananda Temple: built after 1090, early style temple architecture. There are four huge Buddha images in the standing position.
Shwe Zigon Pagoda: this was the first monument built in Burmese style, completed in 1087.
Thatbyinnyu Temple: over 66 metres high and built in the 12th century it is the highest pagoda on the Bagan plain.
Manuhar Pagoda: built by King Manuhar
Shwegugyi Temple: built in 1131, decorated with fine stucco carvings, evident of Burmese architecture. We met a young girl Anaka at this temple who was very bright and didn’t miss a trick (although we were pretending to be German with an Aussie accent).
Gawdaw Palin Temple: built in 13th century and is about 60 metres high.
Gubyaukgyi Temple: known for its wall paintings, built in the 13th century.
Bupaya Pagoda: on the brink of the Ayeyarwaddy River, favourite
spot for sunset.
Htilominlo Temple: built in 1218
The only downfall to visiting some of the more famous temples was all the vendors trying to sell you things. Of course at any tourist destination you are going to find this but being religious ruins you often just wanted to experience the sites in peace. We did try to pretend we were German or could not understand English but most vendors could greet and say the basics in many languages.
On our second day in Bagan, 6th July it was the start of Buddhist lent. There were truckloads of people (many from Mandalay) celebrating the day by visiting the religious sites at Bagan. You could say we felt famous for the day as each time a truck passed by everyone would wave, yell out hello or "mingalaba" and the driver would beep the horn. We had teenage kids wanting to take photos with us when we were down at the Ayeyarwaddy River, which was quite amusing. Definitely no different to us taking photos of the many people we met.
*All pictures featuring the main attractions are correct however some of the smaller ruins have been a lucky guess
using the Bagan map. The size of the site and quantity of the runs was almost overwhelming!
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