Blogs from Bagan, Mandalay Region, Burma, Asia - page 7

Bagan is the number one tourist destination in Myanmar, so the main town is dotted with Western-style shops, bars and cafes aimed at tourists - very welcome after the difficult journey to get here. The draw in Bagan is the ancient temples. Across an area a few miles square there are hundreds of these temples and pagodas, most in a similar architectural style, and mostly well-preserved (or, rather, well-renovated, though apparently some of the renovation is considered insensitive). Some are individually spectacular but it is the effect of seeing hundreds of them across the landscape that make the trip here worthwhile. We did not enjoy the main large temples as we were mobbed by sellers and touts the moment we arrived, but it is easy to get away from these and just as enjoyable to explore ... read more

"On August 9th we flew to Bagan, Myanmar. When we got there we took a horse ride to the temples. One of them had bats. I can prove it because I stepped in bat poop because we cannot wear socks and shoes in the temples. My dad downloaded an app on my ipod and we had to find these pictures or buddhas. In Bagan, there were 100s of temples. Then we ate at 'Be kind to the animals on the moon'. It was a vegetarian restaurant, but I am not a vegetarian and neither is my dad. It was good though. Then we went to other temples. What I liked about the temples was that the Buddhas had different poses. Some sit, some stand, and some lye down. Most of them sit. Then we went back ... read more

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

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

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