Amazing Bagan …

 

Sunday morning, hop, in the plane,  direction: Bagan ! Just FYI, I completely freak out in plane ! Yes I know it is a shame for someone who loves travelling so much !  Anyway, when I have been told that I would have to fly with the local airline Air Mandalay, I admit,  I definitely panicked ! Seriously I am wayyy to young to die ! But all my good friends gave me the same speech,that is to say that the old mechanical planes are much more reliable than the modern electronic one ! Let’s admit that, no choice anyway….
 Once in the airport we experience the famous power cut.  All of a sudden  the airport is completely in the dark.  No one seems to be surprised, it is all very normal.  Electricity in Myanmar is like sun in Singapore … it comes and goes !  But lets be honest it didn’t exactly helped me relax ! Anyway we still manage to check in, we are not even asked our passports and everything is done manually (not so bad after all considering the regularity of the power supply !). When it is boarding time, the flight is announced by a young guy holding a sign with the flight number hand written  …Where am I ??  Eventually the flight goes perfectly well … The good thing about these tiny aircrafts it that it is so light, it takes off very easily. An hour and a half later we land safely in Bagan.

After check in at the hotel we go directly to the market : Strategic mistake ! Nyaung U market is so cute and full of small shitty souvenirs to buy ! We manage to get ripped off at the very first stand : Amateurs ! I end up buying a basket I will have to carry with me all trip long, one more piece of fabric I wont know what to do with, and one more jewelry box to scatter a bit more my little mess ! But it is all so cute and nothing over 5 USD :  Hard to resist. After a quick lunch we find our horse cart driver .. yes you read me well … the best transportation to enjoy Bagan temple is the horse cart ! Seriously, riding a horse cart is something unique ! First of all because it is so damn slow ! But it is quite magical as well. The slowness of the travel is only punctuated by the sound of the hoofs, that practically no car interrupts. It is relaxing, I can let everything go …

We reach the first temple .. no one . We hike to the top to have a good point of view over the plain and the thousand of temples in the middle of the vegetation. It is beautiful ! The contrast of red bricks, green trees and shiny blue sky is brilliant. We feel so bless to be here , alone.

If the 1st feeling is fantastic, the second is a massive disillusion ! The following temples (Manuha Paya & Nan Paya) are quite ugly with an ugly reclining Buddha , and some (ugly ? ) girls trying to sell us some souvenirs … we continue our tour of more or less beautiful temples, more or les touristic. It is a little bit a revival of Angkor Temples in term of tourist trap and I am getting tired of it.  Damn it, there is really no place in Asia which is still preserved … Still I know how privileged I am to be here now, and I know how different it will be in just 10 years time… so , let’s be positive and make the most of it !

Finally we reach Shwesandaw Paya, one of the highest of Bagan temple, widely considered as the best spot to watch sunset as it offers a 360 degree view over the temples. The sky soon turns red, and the countless temples stand there, there massive shadow against the glowing sky … If one manage to ignore the crowd of tourists, the view is absolutely breathtaking.

My feeling about Bagan is mixed and hard to describe. Individually, each temple is less impressive than Angkor temples, but the quantity of temples makes the all thing quite amazing … 4400 temples in this “small”piece of land, it is really impressive. And of course it is always possible to visit the less touristic temples, by bicycle for example … That is the plan for tomorrow ! 

Ready for a ride on Monday morning, we take some bicycles in direction of Old Bagan .. we are so amateurs : we leave right at 11 am, it must be already 35 degrees ! Nevertheless,the days goes just fine, we drive from temple to temple, drink a lot, avoid the tourists trap and we just enjoy, stress free. We drive until 5pm, when we reach Buledi temple for the 2nd and last sunset over Bagan. That temple is recommended as a new comer / alternative spot for sunset, not yet the place to be though … The results being , we are only around 10 people to be there to admire the sunset. It is definitely less impressive than yesterday, but the serenity of the place is priceless ! 

A couple of hour later, It is night already, time to go home , lets not forget that we have a bus for Mandalay to catch tonight !

Just in case you wonder : No, we never stop !

 

Hotel in Nyaung U – New park Hotel . Hotel ok, with a small garden. Triple room + attached bathroom with hot water and aircon + breakfast : 20 dol.

Horse cart for half a day for 3 : 7000K

Bikes for a day : 1500 k each

Excellent restaurant : Mi San restaurant, Bu Paya Road, Old Bagan. “Degustation”menu for 2000 k, best coconut rice ever for 1000k. It is located right at the beginning of the path to go to Bupaya temple.

Night bus to Mandalay, 8:30pm from the main bus station,7500 k each.