Bagan Hotel

... full (which means people sitting on tiny plastic chairs on the corridor) most of the time.<br><br>Finally I got to Bagan, the ancient site famous for its temples and pagodas and according to some travellers, distantly similar to Angor Wat in Cambodia. I think I&#8217;ve been a bit tired of temples since July and Japan so I didn&#8217;t really know whether I was going to like Bagan or not. Most people not on an ...

... a 1950's style outfit to have our temperatures checked with an ear thermometer, after this we have to pass the ladies at Customs (On a domestic flight mind you) and then on to the Dept of Archeology counter to get our $10 tickets for the Bagan Archeological Zone.<br><br>We got a taxi outside the airport and met a really entertaining guide by the name of Mr Win who dropped us at the guesthouse. $13 for Hot shower and A/C is not at all bad.<br><br>We wanted to take a half ...

... lluitar contra tants contratemps. S'ha de saber tirar la tovallola a temps.<br><br> *********************<br><br>It was not part of my initial plans to spend a night in this village in the middle of nowhere, but as public transport in this country sometimes doesn't make any sense, I have ended up loosing the last boat connecting Pakokku and Bagan and I am forced to spend a night in this charmless village by the Chindwin river. The ...

... The one guy had paintings that he wanted to sell us. His friend was interested in foreign currency. Bill ended up selling him $5 CDN. We started making our way toward Nyaung U. At one point there was a boy riding his bike along side Bill and the CDN currency guy showed up again. He had been going the other way on his motorbike and he turned around to talk to me. Can't we just be alone??? The boy stayed with us while we went to ...

... The new brick is much brighter and cleaner. Leimyethna (Laymyethna) Pahto was built in 1222 has well preserved frescos.We were able to see the use of blue and green in this "newer" Temple. The work here was unfinished, as people were fleeing the mongols during this time. Aside from the earthquake, the Temples have been destroyed by tomb raiders prior to WWII. We were able to see large cuts that had been made in the middle of some carvings where people were trying to ...

There are only so many temples you can see in one day. Bagan has over 4000 and so I start my day by narrowing down the ones I want to see. I meet Don, a guy I met in Yangon. He's staying at my place and we decide to see the temples together, on bikes. We set off and it's not long before we find the first of what will be many temples throughout the day. I won't bore you with the details, however, each one is different in it's own ...

... by van. Oh, the best part of Bagan. We were taken by boat to a sandbar in the Irrawaddy where singers and dancers greeted us. We were served drinks and fresh cooked appetizers, and had chairs to watch the sunset. A group of "cane ball" players were out on the sand kicking the ball "a la hacky sack". I think they were there for our benefit, since its an ancient type of ball game. Some of us ...

... a p**fect Burmese sky, the quiet *f the small temples we came acr*ss, it all c*mp*unded int* an effect utt**ly peaceful and beautiful. Riding *ur bikes in the p**fect temp**ature *f the late aft**n**n, we alm*st made it all the way t* Old Bagan, even taking in s*me maj*rs such as Ananda Paht*, al*ng the way. The best exp**ience *f temple h*pping that day, which w*uld pr*ve t* be the best exp**ience temple h*pping in all *f Bagan the next day as well, was climbing t* the t*p *f ...

It was a nightmare getting our bus tickets. Probably would have been impossible without the help of our guide Thiri. The water festival was a week away, a celebration of the Buddhist New Year in Myanmar. It's the only time the locals get to let loose and go crazy. A week of fun with a little chaos mixed in. In fact the bus was full, but two locals had not paid for their tickets, so they were bumped them to put us westerners on. We pay about triple what the ...

... when I saw a hi-so Burmese girl wearing high heals trying to cross, her shoes soon got stuck between the Teak slats and she had a problem extricating herself. At the beginning of the bridge there was a cluster of vendors, including one guy with a unique scam. He had two cages. In one were 3 or 4 owls. In the other were a bunch of smaller song birds. The owls had just finished feasting on one of the songbirds which he had given them for their afternoon meal and there was ...