“Lets get back to the hotel and in that pool!” Bert said as we climbed down from another temple.
We had flown into Nyuang U, the airport for the ancient city of Bagan the night before and had checked into the stunning Bagan Lodge for a two night stay.
Flying Air KBZ – Mandalay to Nyaung U in The Republic of the Union of Myanmar
We started the day with breakfast by the pool at Bagan Lodge which included the most delicious rice congee, complete with accompaniments, I have tasted. Shortly after breakfast we took off on a private morning tour of the the temples that litter Bagan
The first stop was Manuha Temple, built by King Manuha in 1067. The temple is home to 3 statues of Buddha including a colossal lying Buddha entering Nirvana and a large gold alms bowl which was amazing.
The next stop was the Mingalzedi Pagoda where after jostling with kids in the car park asking our names and wanting to sell us postcards, we climbed to the top for a picture perfect view of the Bagan plains pagodas and temples, namely looking right across to Thatbyinnyu Temple. A couple of cheap postcards were bought before we headed to the next stop.
When we visited Thatbyinnyu Temple we were met by a young girl who started to show us around inside the site.
“Im not a tour guide” she said as she talked about the different reliefs and explained the Burmese script is based on Indian Sanskrit, “I just want you to come to my shop and buy something” Of course we did, and for USD10 I bought a little ring box.
By this time we had been going all of around 3 of our 4 hour tour and the day was warming up into the late 30’s (celcius). Thats when we decided it was time t head back to the Lodge for a dip in the pool.
Overall we thought Bagan was stunning, scattered with ancient relics, yet the heat and the amount of kids trying to make a dollar did start to annoy us during the tour, this being the off season, we can understand why.
Nest Stop: Lake Inle, the Jewel in Myanmars Crown.
FreakyFlier and Bert paid for their trip independantly.
Matty Somewhere 