Bagan
Watching the sun set behind the temples
The ancient city of Bagan has to be one of the most special places I have visited. Given the nature of the hundreds of temples, Unesco has deemed the whole city a Heritage Site. There are thousands of temples, some in serious decay, located in the ‘Bagan Archaeological Zone’.
Given the large area to cover and considering the sweltering heat, I hired an electric scooter to cover the distance around the temples.
“Between the 11th and 13th centuries, more than 10,000 Buddhist temples, pagodas and monasteries were constructed in the Bagan plains alone, of which the remains of over 2200 temples and pagodas survive.”
Not that I did it given the four figure cost, but taking a morning air balloon trip was a top attraction. The views must have been incredible from up there. However, seeing the spectacle of the balloons take off from the ground was just as special.
Myanmar has not always been open to visitors and tourism is a nascent industry. That said, there were still a good number of people about also enjoy everything Bagan had to offer.
The temples were in fact very steep. Being respectful and taking your shoes off, made it even more challanging.