It brings me such great pleasure to bring you this blog. Of all Myanmar, this was the place I was most excited to see. And of all SE Asia, this place was definitely one of the highlights. It's right up there with Angkor Wat for impressiveness. Interestingly enough, there would have been some overlap in the 'construction heydays' at Bagan (approx 1050-1280 A.D.) and Siem Reap in Cambodia (800-1220 A.D.). However, new stupas are being erected in Bagan to this day- causing some controversy between people that think it should be left to admire for the historical gem it is, while others argue it should remain an active religious site.
The kind of tragic part of it all is that it's been over a year since I was actually at this 'temple-palooza' and I am having trouble looking at the pictures and trying to make sense of which temple is which. So I am going to stumble through and make the odd comment, apologies to the dead kings of Bagan if I call a temple the wrong name. Maybe they'll forgive me if I tell you this was one of my favourite places and should be on everyone's SE Asia list.
Gawdawpalin Pahto- late 12th Century. There is a common theme to the temples of Bagan in that the temple houses a Buddha where you first walk in and then you can walk around a corridor and see more Buddha images as you circle the middle of the temple.
Bupaya pagoda- one of the first sites at Bagan (850 A.D.), but was destroyed completely in the 1975 earthquake and is now a reconstruction
Htilominlo Pahto (1218) was built by the king of the same name to commemorate the spot where he was chosen by an umbrella over his 4 older brothers to be the next king. You can't make that up.
Ananda Pahto (1090-1105) had four large teak Buddhas inside, each pointing in a different position, painted gold. They are obsessed with gold here. Just wait for Yangon and Shwedagon in a future blog.
Thatbinnyu Pahto (1144)- Bagan's highest temple. See me on the e-bike in the foreground? If you're here as a tourist, you have a few options when it comes to transport- walking, private car or these sweet e-bikes. They are electric and top out at 43 km/h. I don't think they even go that fast but that's what it said on the speedometer. Apparently foreigners are too dangerous to allow real scooters!
This was our sunset spot on Shwesandaw Pagoda (1057), one of the few temples you can climb up. In 1997 the Bagan Archeological Zone closed most of the upper terraces, so you have to know which temples are still open for climbing.
This photo is not meant to be vertigo inducing, it's just to show the little passageway we climbed up while at Pyathada Pagoda to watch the sunrise the next morning.
Just a guy, plowing his field on a fine May morning. I love the pictures you look back at and realize they could be from a millennia ago.
Jared standing in as photographer
Dhammayangi Pahto (12th Cent.)- the biggest of the Bagan temples and also the one that's been left completely alone. The 1975 earthquake hit the entire place hard, but because Dhammayangi is so big, the earthquake didn't obliterate it as badly. A lot of the other temples had all their pretty spires and tops (not to mention their murals) shook down and had to have them replaced. Dhammayangi has two encircling passageways, the inner one of which has been intentionally filled. It's said that King Narathu, who commissioned the temple, was so cruel during the construction that the workers ruined it after his assasination in 1170.
Here are a series of murals on the walls of Dhammayangi, and some might be from Sulamani (.....sorry Bagan kings)
The inscription stele for Dhammayangi, that explains some details of it's construction. These are an invaluable link to the past, but unfortunately many steles here and at Angkor had been looted so some details are lost forever.
So many people in Myanmar wanted pictures with us. White foreigners are more of a novelty here. And hey, look how tall we look!
Sulamani Pahto (1181)- our favourite temple, we both agreed. It was very picturesque and imposing from outside and the murals were very interesting.
Did I mention we had rented a private car for the day? Yeah, we were ballers. It was pretty luxurious having our driver taking us from spot to spot in the A/C. Here we are on top of Bupedi chatting with a local guy selling paintings.
Our driver took us to the Nyaung U market and we wandered through the vendors selling fish paste, vegetables, dried fish. I just love how colorful and crazy they are.
Nutmeg
Shwezigon temple was the last thing we did before we took a break for the hottest part of the day. The white stones in the heat and bare feet were just too much- but look at the place!
Sitting on top of Thisawadi, taking in another Bagan sunset. This time, no people except a couple little local girls.
I really liked this place
The teensy little stairway we had to squeeze through to get to the next level of the temple
Until Next Time!
