Random Enquiry: Awesome Myanmar (Part 4): Magical Bagan!

As the sun wearily shone it's last rays over Yangon on my second day in Myanmar, I was already on my taxicab to Aung Mingalar Bus Station. Travel time to Aung Mingalar from downtown Yangon was 1-hr. due to the crazy traffic and it cost 9,000 Kyats. Knowing that I just came from the Yangon Circular Train, several places seemed familiar and being anxious that I might miss my bus, I was thinking already if I should just have stepped out of the train hours earlier than riding-off back to downtown Yangon. But, eventually I arrived at Aung Mingalar. The bus station is very typical of many of its Southeast Asian cousins, it's simply a complex of buses parked in a file with small restaurants and stores all around. Gates or Bay-areas do not have signs and you have to trust the locals when they say a particular bus company parks their buses here or there. My taxicab driver took about 5-min asking around where JJ Express Bus Co. park their buses. Eventually we got to the bay for JJ Express.

Tip: When travelling by bus to other parts of Myanmar, JJ Express is a most convenient option. I reserved my seat through Facebook, yes they have a Facebook page. All you have to do is message them, they reply promptly. They reserve your seat and instruct you to come an hour earlier to pay for the reserved tickets. They do not have additional charges for this reservation.

The Journey to Bagan

I was very impressed by the state of the bus I took, it was a VIP (2+1) bus so there was lot of legroom for a comfortable overnight journey. Blankets were provided as well as a bottle of water and snacks on board. Bagan is a 9-hr. ride from Yangon, this includes one 30-min stop and 2 shorter stops along the way. Since this was a night bus I wasn't really very particular with the stops. I alighted the bus only during the 30-min stop to light a cigarette or two, but I slept through on all the other two stops.

Sunrise in Bagan

As soon as we arrived in Bagan, a throng of horsecart and taxi drivers were already waiting at the terminal for tourists willing to hire them for the day. Following the advice of many blogs, I took a horsecart. The driver and I agreed for a price of 40,000 Kyats for the entire day. I didn't bother to haggle because, one, I was still sleepy, it was 5:00-am and two, the price is quite standard already, many blogs I read said it was 40,000 Kyats a horsecart. Ugh...that was one of the moments I regretted having traveled solo, I wouldn't have anyone to split the fee with.

As soon as we cleared-off from the Bus Terminal, and we approached Nyaung-U, we dropped by the Tourist Counter to pay for the Archaeological Site Fee of US$15.

Tip: It's good sense to keep a US$ 100 in small denominations in Myanmar. Since 2012 the Myanmar Kyats have gained dominance in the country's market, but, the US Dollar is still widely accepted. In fact, I paid my hotel in Yangon in US Dollars and this Archaeological Fee also in USD's. There's good maths involved here too. If I paid the archaeological fee in Kyats, I would have paid 15,000 Kyats, but at the time I was in Myanmar, the rate was only 994 Kyats against the dollar, so US$15 = 14,910. I saved roughly 100 Kyats in paying with US$.

Sunrise that day was around 6:02-am, so my horsecart driver, Zaw Latt, and I had a good chat going to the Phaya where I would greet the sun.

Few moments before sunrise watching a twin pagoda from where I stood.

And the sun casts its first rays of light!

The head of the sun just about to appear casting light on the many stupas of Bagan.

A view of the pagoda/phaya were I watched the sun rise. It was kind of a touristy phaya.

Tour of Bagan

Bagan is an ancient city on the bank of the Aye Yarwady (Irrawady) River. It was the capital of one of the flourishing kingdoms of old in Myanmar. If the Khmer kingdoms in Cambodia built one huge complex of temples in what is now known as the Angkor Wat, the Mon kingdoms of Myanmar built individual temples or locally known as phaya over a vast area. Bagan had at the zenith of its civilisation, about 10, 000 pagodas scattered over its vast plains. Today about 4,000 remain intact. Reconstruction is going on for some notable phayas as many of them fell victim to the 1975 earthquake that hit Bagan.

One of the well-preserved frescoe/mural interior of one of Bagan's Phayas.

The Shwezigon Phaya

A Burmese Lion guarding the Shwezigon's main stupa.

Beautifully adorned parapets or minor stupas of the Shwezigon.

Many of Bagan's Phayas are still places of worship to this day.

At around noon, my driver now doubling as my tour guide brought me to Ananda Phaya, one of the large and well-kept temples. By this time, I began to reach diminishing marginal utility of watching temples, one after another since sunrise earlier. But, Ananda offered a bit more perspective because it is home to 4 standing Buddhas. To those familiar with Buddhist art, the Buddha is most commonly depicted sitting in full lotus position, in Siamese Therevada style, the Buddha is depicted usually in a reclining position. Myanmar offers a different twist, here the Buddha is standing. The photos below are the standing Buddhas each facing a major direction.

The Ananda Phaya also offers a very majestic courtyard, half of which was undergoing renovation but gave a very magnificent view of the pagoda.

Wide courtyard of the Ananda Phaya.

Ananda Phaya seen from its courtyard.

The main stupa of Ananda Phaya.

Myanmar Buffet Lunch

After my visit to Ananda Phaya, I was brought by my driver to a restaurant offering Myanmar Buffet Lunch. For only 3,500 Kyats, the buffet was so huge, I wasn't able to finish my meal.

The entrée included a slice of stewed pork, curried chicken, braised beef and fried fish.

There were so many accompanying dishes, I couldn't name everyone of them.

The Burmese noon heat took its toll on me so I requested my driver to drop me off at my guest house and told him we shall resume our Bagan Tour at 4-pm. He happily agreed so he could rest too. Besides I was raring to take a cold shower already.

My cool hotel room waiting for me to take an afternoon nap, an interim during my Bagan Tour.

By 4-pm, my driver was already waiting for me outside the guest house, so hopped in to finish off my Bagan Tour by watching the sunset in one of the Phayas. My dirver asked me if I wanted to go to a famous Phaya, but cautioned me that there would be lots of tourist, I told him, no, I'd rather be in a quiet pagoda where I could recollect more on the beauty that is before my eyes. So my driver brought me exactly to where I asked him to bring me to. Unfortunately it was cloudy so the sunset was not really visible. So I just contented myself with the view of the Aye Yarwady River and the surroundings of the phaya. Thus, ended my third day in Myanmar and my tour of the very magical place of Bagan.