Power Bagan Hotel

Our flight to Bagan involved stopovers in Heho and Mandalay, so we essentially did our entire trip backwards before we'd even begun. As a result, we arrived in Bagan just as the sun was setting, and watched people descend from the Shwesandaw Pagoda as we made our way to our hotel in Old Bagan. Daniel had a crazy idea that it would be a good to reset our sleep schedule so that we started getting up just before dawn and going to sleep by 9pm or so. I was not so ...

... the king daughter,princess,No one ,no one..,days later one of the man who grow east side of Bagan capital,he is a farmer and so strong man in his village.He know that and came to palace and ask to the king,that if he claen that all he does n;t get the princess ,cause of he already has a lovely country girl and he want to marriage her.

When his request the king really love it,cause of he also do not want to give his lovely daughter to rural man,wild ...

... There is no glass on the windows, only shutters, but we do have a/c and electricity all night. We found our way back to the restaurant where Bill had enjoyed the pepper beef the first day. It was a long, humid walk and we were very hot when we arrived. We can not find pepper beef on the menu, but we are finally able to find pepper chicken and explain to the waiter what we want. We also ordered beef kabobs. The pepper beef was OK, but the kabobs were really thin ...

... at the Myanmar Buffet - there were between 15 and 20 dishes that were set in front of us. I tried the dried fish (it was OK, very salty, like chips), but did not try the grubs (GROSS). We had chicken, lamb, pork, lots of veggies and relishes, soup, fried peanuts, fermented tea leaves and bananas. We (and the horse) took a break from 2:15 until 3:15. We went for a quick dip and saw Jerome and Florence. They decided to splurge and are using the pool for the afternoon (only ...

... Up I climbed on hands and knees with the theme tune of Indiana Jones pounding in my ears. We were then standing on a platform 4 foot wide 3 stories in the air as the sun rose. It was magnificent. Joined later by a few other intrepid photographers but if you visit Bagan you must do this. Back for breakfast and a day by the pool before heading off again for the sunset at Shwe-san-daw-paya pagoda. Not as good as sunrise. It ...

... is not really in keeping with what I expect Bagan to be like. There should be temples and stupas over 1000 years old. This seems a but out of place. It is still pretty enough and after taking a few photos, I make my way over a tea shop for, er... tea. The rest of the day is spent exploring the town and taking it easy. Dinner and playing pool with some locals ends my 26th birthday in a relaxed way. I guess I'll celebrate properly when I get back to England

... are c*unt**pr*ductive, if n*t regressive, f*r a nati*n n*t *nly is*lated, but ch**sing t* be s* *f its *wn acc*rd, with v**y little incentive t* n*t be f*r the military p*w**s that be. Like m*st pe*ple, all the kn*wledge I had *f Burma's int**nal struggle was a vague, hazy n*ti*n *f the pe*ple f*r Aung San Suu Kyi (and the Nati*nal League f*r Dem*cracy), and th*se against (the l*ng reigning military junta). Th*se pr* NLD w**e the g**d guys, th*se against, the bad. I knew ...

... we explained to Zaw the situation and we disappeared into town for a couple of hours and Zaw got rid of the lacquerware man. It was a relief to be leaving Bagan. We must have seen about 20-30 pagodas and started to get really bored of them. We did visit a village though and they showed us their handicrafts and we had some tea (and bought a longee).

... Yangoon to Bagan. The same amount of time it took us to fly from Los Angeles to Hong Kong. I think distance was only around 500 miles. It was 7am when we arrived but already 80 degrees. April is Burma's cruelest month, with temperatures easily leaping over 100 degrees everyday. The landscape looked similar to Southern California desert areas. Palm dates, and shrubs with mountains in the background. Bagan had the dusty feel of a wild west town. You ...

(to see all the Bagan photos, click here) The red dry-season dust from the plains of central Myanmar gets kicked up by the kilo off the hooves of the horse carts - the only practical way to get around in this part of the country - and can easily get lodged in the back of your throat. But that's not the reason I'm gasping, having just emerged from a short two-storey climb up a set of ancient brick stairs, arriving on the rooftop of this ...