Temples of Bagan
February 22, 2008
There is no question that Bagan was the biggest family highlight for us while in Burma. Before going there I spent many hours researching and looking at pictures of this wonderful place and had very high expectations of what it would be - and it did not disappoint at all! Simply put, Bagan is a very special place to go and visit, and I highly recommend anyone to go there and see it for yourselves. Three years ago, we traveled to Angkor Wat in Cambodia and were totally awed; well, Bagan easily offered up the same inspiration. Built some 1000 years ago, Bagan is a 42 sq km plain that has some 3000 temples and stupas jutting out of the Myothit plateau for you to explore and enjoy. Sunrise, sunset or anytime during the day, Bagan offers up ancient ruins that will simply take your breath away.
Some of the temples in Bagan are touristy (tough to avoid that these days) but much of the area remains neglected and free for you to explore on your own. In some temples you can take a torch (or flashlight for all you modernists) inside some of the temples and explore the frayed remains of 1000 year old wall paintings. Even with a lot of tourism there, the area and the amount of temples allows everyone to find their own spot and explore on their own.
While there, we used many different means to search out and explore. In the morning we usually hired a driver to take us out to some of the temples on the outer rim, and then in the evenings we would travel by horse cart and explore; on many nights Magnus would get to be our driver, which made him a very happy boy! The charm, in my opinion, of Bagan is how these ancient ruins continue to stand and all throughout them lie hundreds of upon hundreds of trails that are used everyday in daily life. Bagan is not a museum, it is still a place where people live and carry out their daily chores. Yes, tourism is a key component of that, but it is very interesting to watch some of the daily life continue on like it may have a 1000 years ago. We were fortunate enough to have stayed in Bagan for 5 days and were very sad to leave - I can only hope one day to go back and visit again.
