Flying high in Bagan

The bus station at Bagan is a little way out of the centre (the airport is closer!) so after a bit of a faff with taxis, we made it to our hotel, Bagan Vertex, in time for sunset on the roof.

The hotel was nice and new (it even had Netflix as an option on the TV) but it was sometimes challenging speaking with the staff as their English was a bit rough around the edges (but much better than our Burmese!) and it was quite a way out of the main town of Nyaung-u.

For dinner, we chose to walk into town, which was a bit challenging as it was along a main road, but we ended up safe and sound at a very tasty restaurant called Food Affair. After such a horrendous journey to Bagan, this dinner was exactly the pick-me-up I needed!

The next morning we hired electric bikes from the hostel to go exploring Old Bagan and its many pagodas. The silence of the e-bikes was heavenly after the noisy petrol scooters we’d previously used. The whole area around Nyaung-u, Old Bagan and New Bagan is littered with temples, they’re everywhere you look. It’s an incredible place to visit and it’s sometimes difficult to keep your eyes on the road!

At one time there were as many as 13,000 pagodas, but only about 2,200 remain. Some date back to as early as the 11th century. However, many were damaged by two big earthquakes, one in 1975 and another in 2016. Restoration work is ongoing and many of the temples we saw had scaffolding on them.

A common theme at all the main pagodas was the large number of tourists and hawkers trying to sell you paintings, postcards or lacquerware. This became a bit tiresome after a while, particularly when you’re visiting so many and you just can’t buy from everyone.

The other thing that we stupidly didn’t think about was having to take our shoes off to enter each temple. We’d both worn trainers and socks, which became a real faff after a while! We learnt our lesson and wore sandals the next day!

While all the temples had similarities, each one had a unique quality as well so it was nice to see so many. Here are a few photos of some of the ones we visited - Ananda, Thatbyinnyu, Mahazehi and Bu Paya.

For lunch, we drove to New Bagan. New Bagan was once situated around the temples in what is now Old Bagan, but it was controversially relocated in 1990 by the military in order to remove the local inhabitants from the temple area.

On the way back to the hotel, we visited a couple more pagodas, one of which, Shinbinthalyaung, contained a 60ft long reclining Buddha.

For dinner, we went back to Nyaung-u, this time to a restaurant called Bibo. Again, this was absolutely delicious. The food we’ve had in Myanmar has been first rate (I’m hoping that’s not because they’re using MSG!).

The next morning we were up at 4:30am to go on a sunrise hot air balloon ride. We’d ummed and ahhed about doing it, as it was quite expensive, but in the end we decided to go for it and I’m so glad we did.

We were taken to the launch site, where we had a breakfast of pastries and cereal and were introduced to our pilot, Richard. As it started to get light, the balloons were filled with cold air and then finished off with hot air to help them rise. There were about fourteen or so balloons all being raised at the same time and it was quite a sight to see.

There were 12 people in our balloon, including one guy who had just graduated and was all decked out in his graduation outfit, complete with mortar board, teddy and bunch of flowers! Unfortunately, he had to leave the teddy and flowers behind.

We climbed into the basket and then suddenly the ropes were let go and we were airborne. The whole journey was so smooth, I needn’t have worried about feeling sick. The journey itself lasted about an hour and was just breathtaking. From the sunrise, to the pagodas beneath us, to the other balloons all around us, it truly was an unforgettable experience.

We landed in a field where the ground crew met us with a glass of champagne and some fresh fruit. We each got a certificate and then jumped back in the minibus to our hotel, just in time for second breakfast!

After a brief nap, we decided to head out to some less touristy pagodas this time. There was a cave temple to the north of us so we decided to check it out. When we arrived, we were greeted by a small child monk, who, despite a sign saying tourists shouldn’t enter, seemed keen to show us inside a temple. We were soon joined by an older monk who took us to the next building and started moving me into position for a photo. It was really odd and I felt like I was back on our engagement shoot! That said, he took some nice shots.

After a bit of miscommunication, we finally realised that the monk was asking if we wanted to climb to the top of another pagoda on a hill. After some more posed photos, we followed him up some rather steep narrow steps until we came out on the roof of the pagoda. This was quite scary especially as the floor was rather hot! But we got great views over the river and across to the other pagodas.

Back on safe ground, we had a quick wander through a tunnel, where there was some accommodation built into the wall, to look out over the river. After leaving a donation to the monastery, we headed back into town for some lunch.

By now the early morning was starting to catch up with me, but we continued onto the Shwezigon pagoda, which is covered in gold leaf, making it very recognisable. From there we attempted to get to Minnanthu, an area south of our hostel with what we hoped would be quieter temples. However, after following and losing the path many times and ending up driving through large piles of sand, I’d had enough and was ready to go home! We did make it to Bagan Tower though.

That evening, we got a tuk tuk to a restaurant called Weather Spoons, just because it had to be done! The food was tasty yet again - Bagan certainly delivers on the culinary side! We returned early as we had to be up at 4:15am the next day for our boat to Mandalay.

Despite the tourists, Bagan was a pleasant place to visit, with some awe-inspiring scenery and some delicious food. The balloon ride was easily the highlight, but we enjoyed visiting the temples on the ground too. Definitely worth the trip.