I got a late start on the 27th, my first full day in Bagan, as I was tired from the long trip to get there. I rented a bike from my hotel ($1.50 a day) and about 10 began pedaling from my hotel in the town of Nyaung U. I headed down the road to Old Bagan, three miles away, on a road parallel to the Irrawaddy. The road was a lot more crowded with vehicles than I remembered it from 1994.
Bagan was the center of Burma's first great kingdom, which reached its height from the mid 11th century to the end of the 13th century. During this period of more than 200 years a frenzy of temple building occurred on the plain of Bagan next to the Irrawaddy. There are supposed to be over 3000 temples, big and small, on the plain. Many are now restored, or over-restored, with some piles of bricks being built into pagodas with little historical basis for their new construction. Even the big ones have been considerably restored. Still, the plain covered with temples is an impressive sight. Apparently, there is some dispute about what caused Bagan to decline. The story that I am most familiar with is that the king in 1273 foolishly executed envoys sent by Kublai Khan, leading to a Mongol army conquering the city and ending the kingdom in 1287.
The walled city of Old Bagan, at a bend in the Irrawaddy, was the site of the royal palace and some of the many temples. Parts of the walls remain and I entered through a restored gate guarded by the statues of two nats, Lady Golden Face and Lord Handsome. Nats are the pre-Buddhist spirits worshiped still today in Burma. Burmese Buddhism co-exists with the veneration of nats.
Just inside the walls is a recently constructed palace meant to be a replica of the palace of the vanished kingdom. It is a huge, gaudy place that costs five dollars to enter. Nearby are the excavations of what little remains of the real palace. I biked past those to Gawdawpalin Pahto, a 197 foot high temple dating from the late Bagan period. I remembered climbing this temple at sunset in 1994 as it had a good view of the many temples, big and small, to the east in the soft light of the setting sun. It is heavily reconstructed and now has a modern altar. You can no longer climb up beyond ground level. From there I biked to the Irrawaddy and a reconstructed golden stupa. The place was packed, mostly Burmese. I hadn't picked the best time of year to visit Bagan. Not only was it full of foreign tourists, many in Burma for the Christmas and New Year holidays, but many Burmese were there on their end of the year holidays. The big crowds were quite a change from twenty years ago.
I next biked just outside the walls to Ananda Pahto, one of the biggest, finest, and most revered temples. It was built about 1100 and rises to 170 feet with a corn cob type shikhara, or tower, now gilded. The central square measures 174 feet long on each side, with terraces rising above it, though you can no longer ascend to the terraces. Inside the cube, at the four cardinal directions, are standing Buddhas made of teak, coated in gold, and rising to 31 feet in height. Only the north and south ones are original. The other two are only a couple of centuries old. I spent quite a bit of time looking around, including at glazed tiles on the outside of Jataka tales (tales of Buddha's past lives). Just outside the walls of the temple compound are all sorts of sellers of souvenirs, post cards, tee shirts, and all sorts of other stuff. They can be quite persistent. There were buses and other vehicles parked in the dusty area near the entry. Nearby are several restaurants and I had a long wait for what I ordered at a vegetarian restaurant called Be Kind to Animals the Moon.
After lunch I found a small temple just north of Ananda Pahto with murals inside of palace life and everyday scenes. I biked back into Old Bagan and approached its southern exit and explored some of the temples inside the walls. It was getting to be late in the afternoon. I explored one big, dark temple with a Buddha inside and then visited the small Pahtotamya, with superb murals of Buddhas and palace scenes. It was dark inside and I had to use my flashlight to see the murals. Next I visited a temple that had been a Hindu temple. The flourishing of the Bagan kingdom came at the time Buddhism was being established as the state religion. The story is that this temple was used by the king to imprison the nat images, though eventually he compromised and allowed nat worship to continue, but subsidiary to Buddhism.
Next door is Bagan's highest temple at 207 feet, the monumental Thatbyinnyu Pahto, with two boxy stories one on top of the other and a gilded corncob shikhara. It is dated from Bagan's middle period, built in 1144. It is not particularly impressive up close or inside. The upper terraces are now closed to visitors. Just north is the smaller Shwegugyi, built in 1131, an elegant temple with a teak Buddha that you can ascend to a terrace. From the terrace are great views of the plain full of temples. I stayed up for the sunset, which was behind the inappropriately high new government museum to the west. The views of the other temples in the late afternoon sunlight, however, were great. It took me about 25 minutes to bike back to my hotel in Nyaung U after sunset, a tiring ride as one of my tires had gone flat. There was a lot of traffic, too. That road was so much more pleasant to bike along at the end of the day 20 years ago, with hardly any cars, just bikes, a few motorcycles, and horse carts.
I got an earlier start the next morning, taking off on my bike at about 8:30. (Sunrise was just before 7 and it was chilly in the mornings.) I stopped first at the only Bagan era temple in Nyaung U, Shwezigon Paya, dating from the 11th century. However, the large stupa is restored and gilded and the temple is an active one. It was filled with people, mostly Burmese but lots of foreigners, too, that morning. In little shrines facing the stupa at the four cardinal directions are 13 foot high bronze Buddhas cast in 1102. I walked around the large stupa three times, watching all the activity going on. In addition, on the temple grounds is a building housing images of the 37 principal nats.
I spent over an hour there and then biked towards Old Bagan, searching unsuccessfully for three temples but stopping at some others before reaching Htilominlo Pahto, built in 1218 and 150 feet high. It is an attractive temple, with a square base 140 feet long on each side topped by ascending terraces, but more impressive on the outside than inside. Again, you can no longer ascend to the terraces. Nearby is Upali Thein, a small 13th century ordination hall with excellent late 17th or early 18th century murals. Apparently, Bagan was not completely abandoned after it late 13th century fall. I heard one guide say that the later murals used green, a color not available when Bagan flourished in the 11th to 13th centuries.
I ate lunch at an outdoor restaurant near Ananda Pahto where you sit on little stools under a large tree. It is very popular, with good, cheap Burmese food. The clientele was about 90% Burmese, if not more. I ordered chicken curry, with rice and several side dishes: corn, soup, vegetables, salad, and a couple of dishes with chillies too hot for me. I drank a glass of freshly squeezed sugar cane juice. My fellow diners were very friendly and helped me order. It all cost me less than two dollars and was much faster than eating at the more expensive place I had had lunch the day before.
After lunch I headed into Old Bagan again, stopping at one temple and then passing some of the temples I had visited the previous afternoon before heading out the south wall and biking south on dusty dirt roads to a little middle period temple with excellent murals called Lawkahteikpan Pahto and then, just beyond, to Shwesandaw Paya. Shwesandaw Paya has five terraces topped by a big stupa, all in white. I climbed up the steep steps to the viewing platform 60 feet above the ground. There were great views in all directions. The large terraces make this Bagan's prime sunset viewing location. The views were great in mid afternoon, too, with far fewer crowds. I sat there and enjoyed the views before heading off.
I headed west to massive Dhammayangyi Pahto, but first stopped and climbed a nearby temple for its great views of Dhammayangyi. Dhammayangyi dates from the 12th century and is an impressive pile of bricks. Its inner corridors are all bricked up, some say as a sort of insult to its builder, but perhaps only to make sure the huge structure did not collapse. There is a very high, dark interior corridor around the periphery that is not bricked in and has bats. There is not much to see in the corridors. There are Buddhas at the cardinal directions, including two together at the west. You can no longer ascend, as you could in 1994. I left about 5 and there were maybe ten buses parked outside. I biked on the dirt roads to a paved road heading back to Nyaung U, but stopped at a relatively small temple that a few people had climbed to view the sunset. I always prefer the views not towards the sunset but towards the temples lit up by the setting sun. Heading back to town, the traffic on this road (which I'm fairly sure did not exist in 1994 and certainly not as a paved road) was not as bad as the road I had taken the evening before. I got back to my hotel just at dark, at 6.
I headed back down that road the next morning and found a couple of the temples near town that I had looked for the previous morning. One had excellent early murals, with no green. Some of the murals had been cut out in 1899 by a German. Hindu figures appeared on the temple spire. As I left the simpler second temple, a wooden wheeled cart pulled by bullocks passed by.
I biked down the road some more and turned off onto a dirt road and stopped at Buledi, a temple with very steep steps leading to great views. Then I continued south on dusty, sandy roads (the sand halting my bike in places) before reaching Sulamani Pahto, a particularly appealing temple. It was built around 1181 and has two squarish stories each topped by receding terraces and spires. The brick work is particularly fine. (You can often tell what parts of temples have been reconstructed by the very poor brickwork of the reconstruction.) I walked around the outside of the temple, inside the perimeter wall, and then I walked around the inside corridor, covered with big murals dating from the 18th and 18th centuries. The murals contained giant Buddhas, including reclining ones, and lots of smaller, interesting figures such as animals and boats. I walked around twice inside to appreciate all the details of the paintings. I spent about an hour and a half there. You can't climb up any more.
I was hungry, but didn't want to bike to the restaurants near Ananda Pahto, so I settled for some pizza crackers, peanut and sesame seed brittle, and a large cocoanut for lunch at one of the snack shops outside Sulamani. The major temples now are besieged by vendors, often quite persistent ones, imploring you to buy post cards, tee shirts and all sorts of trinkets.
With my less than hearty lunch consumed, I biked on dusty, sandy roads around the southwest and south sides of Sulamani, with great views of it and encountering a man and two small children getting water from a muddy pond. There are households among the temples. I continued to Thabeik Hmauk, a temple just east of Sulamani. It is similar to Sulamani, but smaller, and was deserted. Its interior was damaged in the great 1975 earthquake that did do much damage to Bagan. An attendant with a key opened the grated gate to a dark passage that led up to the top, where the views were wonderful. Inside on the top level was a dark U shaped corridor where I encountered two bats. They were only a few feet above me, hanging from the ceiling. My flashlight disturbed them and they fluttered from place to place.
From there I headed southeast on a very sandy road to Pyathada Paya. By then, one of my tires was flat and it was hard going. Pyathada Paya is a huge rectangular brick temple, with a large terrace on top. It is late Bagan, from the 13th century, and inside are large double arches giving more space and light than in earlier temples. I climbed to the terrace and the late afternoon views were great. Only two others were on top when I arrived about 4, but soon lots of people in buses and other vehicles began arriving for the sunset. It is a long bike ride back to Nyaung U from there, so sometime after 4:30 I got on my bike and headed in the direction of Nyaung U, passing Thabeik Hmauk and lots of horse carts and goats, and after about 20 minutes reaching Buledi near the paved road at about 5. I stopped and ascended the steep stairs to the top of Buledi. There were many people on the narrow, down sloping terraces at the top, and quite a few horse carts parked below. Horse carts are a popular, but slow, way to see the temples. The sun set into haze and I biked back to town and my hotel.
I took a break from temple exploring the next day and joined a group of five others taking a minivan to Mt Popa, southeast of Bagan. Mt. Popa is about 5000 feet in elevation, compared to Bagan at perhaps something over 200 feet. We ascended gently through pretty country with lots of sugar palms. We stopped at a tourist oriented place where they were making palm sugar and it was very interesting. Lots of other minivan groups were also stopping there and at similar places on the way to Popa. In a hut liquid sugar was boiling, tended by an old woman sitting on her haunches and smoking a cigar. In another corner were two stills distilling palm whisky, with the whisky dripping into used whisky bottles. I tried a sample flavored by honey and it was strong, 40% alcohol. I also tried some warm cocoanut flavored sugar and that was much more to my taste. I looked around and enjoyed seeing it all. Outside a man with a bullock was leading it in circles, grinding peanuts into oil. Somewhere in this area I remember stopping in 1994 and seeing a palm sugar operation that wasn't at all tourist oriented.
We continued past lots of sugar palms, many with bamboo ladders leading up to the top, where the sap is tapped. We were not headed to the top of Mt. Popa, but to a volcanic plug on its western slope that rises to a little over 2400 feet. The climb became a bit steeper as we rose from about 1500 to 2000 feet and we had good views of the mountain and its rim. We stopped for an excellent view of the monastery-topped volcanic plug before reaching the stairs that climb up the steep, rocky plug to the monastery on the top.
Before ascending I stopped in at the little hall across from the steps where there are colorful images of the principal nats. I believe you have to die violently to become a nat. One is particularly known as a drunkard and had whisky bottles attached to his statue.
It took me about 20 minutes to ascend the covered steps up to the monastery at the top, a rise of more than 400 feet. Lots of vendors lined the path at first. There were very good views from the top and there were lots of people there, both foreigners and Burmese. It was sunny and windy. You could see Mt. Popa to the east, the plains to the west, and the little town below. There were some interesting donation plaques, several from San Francisco and others from Europe. One was from "Anou Ymous Planel Earth." I spent about a half hour on top. We were back in Nyaung U by about 2.
I had lunch, rested at my hotel, and then biked to the jetty to check about ferries. Three large barges filled with huge logs arrived and anchored. I was told that they are a hard wood, not teak, and that the barges anchor for the night here before heading further downriver. The guy I talked to didn't know where they had come from. I watched the fast ferry from Mandalay arrive. It takes something like eleven hours downriver and I've been told there isn't a lot to see. Tickets are expensive at $35. There is also a slow ferry that I think takes more like 24 hours.
Late in the afternoon I biked to Shwezigon Paya to see it all lit up. When I arrived there a nat pwe, a ceremony to attract nats, was going on at the shrine to the 37 principal nats on the grounds. An orchestra of drums, an oboe-like insturment, cymbals, a bamboo clapper and a sort of gamalan type instrument was playing while women danced, one after the other. At least, at first I thought they were women, but they may have been transvestites. I'm fairly sure at least some of them were. These dancers, called nat gadaw ("nat wives") dance to encourage the nats to possess them. I watched for quite some time, until they took a break, perhaps for dinner. As far as I could tell, no one got possessed. It was very colorful, with colorful dresses and offerings of fruit, cocoanuts, whisky, flowers and much else. I walked around the illuminated gold stupa a couple of times. In marked contrast to the morning I had been there, the crowds that evening were meager. I left about 7 and the nat pwe had recommenced.
The next morning I got an early start, about 8:30, and biked south for about 30 minutes to get to several temples clustered on the southern part of the Bagan plain. I spent about three hours there. First I searched unsuccessfully for a temple I could climb for the morning view west. There were not many tourists in the area, although one, Payathonzu, attracted some for its excellent murals. In a field just beside that temple, four women were winnowing some sort of seed or bean pod and I went to watch them. A wooden cart with wooden wheels and two grazing bullocks were nearby. The women were all covered up, with long skirts, long sleeve shirts, and conical hats. It was very interesting to watch how they did the winnowing, sometimes with wide, low baskets and sometimes just with their hands.
Payathonzu is unusual for Bagan, as it has three chambers, each topped by a tower. The 13th century murals inside are excellent. Next door is Thambala Pahto, with more excellent murals. I then went into the small 13th century Nandamannya Pahto, with more excellent murals, including "The Temptation of Mara," with partially clothed woman doing their best to tempt the meditating Buddha. This mural apparently particularly scandalized a French archeologist about a hundred years ago. He should have seen some of the sculpture on temples in India. Next door was an underground monastery, with tunnels hewed out of the rock with simple beds in them. At an above ground building I saw several older monks enjoying what looked like a very good lunch.
My final stop was at a whitewashed pagoda, also with paintings on its walls. By then it was noon. I could have stopped for lunch at one of the little restaurants in the nearby village of Minnanthu, but decided to head to the outdoor restaurant under the tree near Ananda. It took me almost 40 minutes to get there on sandy paths, heading west and passing Sulamani after about 20 minutes. I made several photo stops and between Sulamani and Ananda got behind a large herd of cattle and goats being driven by three or four young women who liberally used their sticks on the herd. They created a bit of a dust storm and a traffic jam.
I had another good lunch under the tree and then headed into Old Bagan and the Bagan Thande Hotel on the banks of the Irrawaddy in Old Bagan's southwest corner. The Prince of Wales stayed in this hotel in 1922 and a sign notes the occasion. In fact, the main teak building was built for his visit. There are two Prince of Wales suites and one was open. The guy waiting for a guest to arrive there let me look aroundinside. The suite was very large, all teak, with an air conditioner and a flat screen television that would have puzzled the Prince of Wales. On the hotel grounds was a very nice place to sit along the river. Staff were setting up for their New Year's Eve party.
I had another flat tire, which I was able to fill with air at a bike rental place, and then headed out the city walls to three temples south of Old Bagan. The first one, Mingalazedi, has a bell like dome and about half of its original thousand or so glazed Jataka tiles in place. These little Jataka tiles illustrate episodes from Buddha's past lives. You aren't allowed to climb to the upper terraces to see the tiles there, or the view, which is a shame as the temple is near the river.
A little south, just north of the village of Myinkaba, is Gubyaukgyi, dating from 1113 with excellent murals inside. In addition, inside the dark corridor with the murals was a light bulb on a piece of wood with a long cord that you could use to illuminate the paintings. It was very bright and afforded excellent views. Next door is a gilded stupa with a stone pillar in a little building with inscriptions in Pyu, Bamar, Mon and Pali on its four sides. Pyu is the main Burmese civilization of the first millennium and Pali is the language of the Buddhist scriptures.
From there I biked back north and then east to Shwesandaw Paya, Bagan's prime viewing spot for the sunset. I arrived about 4. It affords great late afternoon views, although to me the really spectacular views are of the plain full of temples to the east, lit by the late afternoon sun, rather than the sunset to the west. I would guess that at least a thousand, maybe two thousand, people gathered on Shwesandaw's terraces. Eventually, I counted about 20 buses parked below and at least that many minivans, plus cars, bicycles, motorbikes, and horse carts. To avoid the after sunset stampede, I left about fifteen minutes before the sunset and biked back to Nyaung U, about a 25 minute trip. I again had a flat tire, so it was a hard ride back. I went to bed before midnight and slept through the start of the new year. It seemed a very quiet New Year's Eve in Nyaung U. I did hear some fire crackers, but slept through any that went off at midnight.
I got a late start the next morning and biked back to Myinkaba, about a 40 minute ride with stops for photographs here and there. I stopped first at Manuha Paya in the village. It dates from 1059 but has been modernized. Inside are Buddhas encased in very tight chambers. Three sitting Buddhas are at the front and a reclining Buddha is in a long, tight chamber in the back. One of the sitting Buddhas was covered with pigeon droppings. One pigeon sat on his head and two others on his arm.
Nearby is Nan Paya with excellent bas reliefs carved on the sandstone facing of the brick columns inside. A three-faced Brahma is the main character, giving rise to speculation that it was a Hindu temple. Others speculate that a Buddha stood in the center, with Brahma paying homage. Other bas reliefs are of ogres with flowers streaming from their mouths. This is an early temple with small windows, but you can use a shaft of light to reflect off your body and light up a panel of the bas reliefs. A flashlight also helps. Further south is Abeyadana Paya, an 11th century temple named for the Bengali wife of a king. It, too, had excellent murals, some of the best.
From there I biked south to New Bagan. In 1990 the government moved all the people who had lived in Old Bagan to this new town. I visited a stupa and shrine at the town's north end and then had lunch in town about 1. After lunch I biked further south to Lawkananda Paya, an 11th century temple standing on the river above Bagan's old port. It is now gilded and affords good river views. Nearby are two unrestored stupas whose lower parts were excavated in 1905, leading to the discovery of vaulted chambers with unglazed terracotta panels of Jataka scenes, which were interesting. It was also nice to see some unrestored stupas.
I biked further south, about a half mile out of town to Sittana Paya, a very large bell shaped stupa of brick. At its southwest corner is a large hole leading into what I was told is a U shaped corridor. I went in just partially, as I wasn't allowed to wear my sandals inside and the floor was very rough, full of bricks and debris. I did see a few bats. You have to take off your footwear to enter Bagan's temples and, in fact, temples all over Burma. The problem is that so often the floors are rough and dirty. I always seemed to be stepping on sharp pebbles and, one time, a sharp thorn. There were bamboo ladders leading up to the upper levels, but I wasn't allowed to ascend. Pity, as there would have been great views.
It was now past 3:30 and time to head back. It took me about 15 minutes to bike back to Myinkaba to see two temples I had missed on my first go through. Somingyi Kyanug is a brick monastery with good views from the top. Two friendly girls from a nearby village were on the top and fun to talk to. Across the road is Nagayon, with a Buddha sheltering under a naga (snake) and poor paintings in the dark corridors. Just east was a temple you could climb, with fair views.
By then it was about 5 and I started to bike back, stopping about 15 minutes later at the temple where I had watched the sunset after my second day of temple exploring. Only a few tourists watch the sunset from the top of that temple, so it is relatively peaceful. The sun set behind the hills, not the haze, on the other side of the Irrawaddy at 5:37. At the Bagan Thande Hotel I saw a chart with the sunset (and sunrise) times for every day of the year, with sunset ranging from about 5:30 in December to almost 7 in June. That was my last sunset in Bagan. I hadn't planned on staying as long as I did there, but I certainly enjoyed biking to and around all those temples on the plain. In 1994 I think I had spent only two days here.
Bagan was the center of Burma's first great kingdom, which reached its height from the mid 11th century to the end of the 13th century. During this period of more than 200 years a frenzy of temple building occurred on the plain of Bagan next to the Irrawaddy. There are supposed to be over 3000 temples, big and small, on the plain. Many are now restored, or over-restored, with some piles of bricks being built into pagodas with little historical basis for their new construction. Even the big ones have been considerably restored. Still, the plain covered with temples is an impressive sight. Apparently, there is some dispute about what caused Bagan to decline. The story that I am most familiar with is that the king in 1273 foolishly executed envoys sent by Kublai Khan, leading to a Mongol army conquering the city and ending the kingdom in 1287.
The walled city of Old Bagan, at a bend in the Irrawaddy, was the site of the royal palace and some of the many temples. Parts of the walls remain and I entered through a restored gate guarded by the statues of two nats, Lady Golden Face and Lord Handsome. Nats are the pre-Buddhist spirits worshiped still today in Burma. Burmese Buddhism co-exists with the veneration of nats.
Just inside the walls is a recently constructed palace meant to be a replica of the palace of the vanished kingdom. It is a huge, gaudy place that costs five dollars to enter. Nearby are the excavations of what little remains of the real palace. I biked past those to Gawdawpalin Pahto, a 197 foot high temple dating from the late Bagan period. I remembered climbing this temple at sunset in 1994 as it had a good view of the many temples, big and small, to the east in the soft light of the setting sun. It is heavily reconstructed and now has a modern altar. You can no longer climb up beyond ground level. From there I biked to the Irrawaddy and a reconstructed golden stupa. The place was packed, mostly Burmese. I hadn't picked the best time of year to visit Bagan. Not only was it full of foreign tourists, many in Burma for the Christmas and New Year holidays, but many Burmese were there on their end of the year holidays. The big crowds were quite a change from twenty years ago.
I next biked just outside the walls to Ananda Pahto, one of the biggest, finest, and most revered temples. It was built about 1100 and rises to 170 feet with a corn cob type shikhara, or tower, now gilded. The central square measures 174 feet long on each side, with terraces rising above it, though you can no longer ascend to the terraces. Inside the cube, at the four cardinal directions, are standing Buddhas made of teak, coated in gold, and rising to 31 feet in height. Only the north and south ones are original. The other two are only a couple of centuries old. I spent quite a bit of time looking around, including at glazed tiles on the outside of Jataka tales (tales of Buddha's past lives). Just outside the walls of the temple compound are all sorts of sellers of souvenirs, post cards, tee shirts, and all sorts of other stuff. They can be quite persistent. There were buses and other vehicles parked in the dusty area near the entry. Nearby are several restaurants and I had a long wait for what I ordered at a vegetarian restaurant called Be Kind to Animals the Moon.
After lunch I found a small temple just north of Ananda Pahto with murals inside of palace life and everyday scenes. I biked back into Old Bagan and approached its southern exit and explored some of the temples inside the walls. It was getting to be late in the afternoon. I explored one big, dark temple with a Buddha inside and then visited the small Pahtotamya, with superb murals of Buddhas and palace scenes. It was dark inside and I had to use my flashlight to see the murals. Next I visited a temple that had been a Hindu temple. The flourishing of the Bagan kingdom came at the time Buddhism was being established as the state religion. The story is that this temple was used by the king to imprison the nat images, though eventually he compromised and allowed nat worship to continue, but subsidiary to Buddhism.
Next door is Bagan's highest temple at 207 feet, the monumental Thatbyinnyu Pahto, with two boxy stories one on top of the other and a gilded corncob shikhara. It is dated from Bagan's middle period, built in 1144. It is not particularly impressive up close or inside. The upper terraces are now closed to visitors. Just north is the smaller Shwegugyi, built in 1131, an elegant temple with a teak Buddha that you can ascend to a terrace. From the terrace are great views of the plain full of temples. I stayed up for the sunset, which was behind the inappropriately high new government museum to the west. The views of the other temples in the late afternoon sunlight, however, were great. It took me about 25 minutes to bike back to my hotel in Nyaung U after sunset, a tiring ride as one of my tires had gone flat. There was a lot of traffic, too. That road was so much more pleasant to bike along at the end of the day 20 years ago, with hardly any cars, just bikes, a few motorcycles, and horse carts.
I got an earlier start the next morning, taking off on my bike at about 8:30. (Sunrise was just before 7 and it was chilly in the mornings.) I stopped first at the only Bagan era temple in Nyaung U, Shwezigon Paya, dating from the 11th century. However, the large stupa is restored and gilded and the temple is an active one. It was filled with people, mostly Burmese but lots of foreigners, too, that morning. In little shrines facing the stupa at the four cardinal directions are 13 foot high bronze Buddhas cast in 1102. I walked around the large stupa three times, watching all the activity going on. In addition, on the temple grounds is a building housing images of the 37 principal nats.
I spent over an hour there and then biked towards Old Bagan, searching unsuccessfully for three temples but stopping at some others before reaching Htilominlo Pahto, built in 1218 and 150 feet high. It is an attractive temple, with a square base 140 feet long on each side topped by ascending terraces, but more impressive on the outside than inside. Again, you can no longer ascend to the terraces. Nearby is Upali Thein, a small 13th century ordination hall with excellent late 17th or early 18th century murals. Apparently, Bagan was not completely abandoned after it late 13th century fall. I heard one guide say that the later murals used green, a color not available when Bagan flourished in the 11th to 13th centuries.
I ate lunch at an outdoor restaurant near Ananda Pahto where you sit on little stools under a large tree. It is very popular, with good, cheap Burmese food. The clientele was about 90% Burmese, if not more. I ordered chicken curry, with rice and several side dishes: corn, soup, vegetables, salad, and a couple of dishes with chillies too hot for me. I drank a glass of freshly squeezed sugar cane juice. My fellow diners were very friendly and helped me order. It all cost me less than two dollars and was much faster than eating at the more expensive place I had had lunch the day before.
After lunch I headed into Old Bagan again, stopping at one temple and then passing some of the temples I had visited the previous afternoon before heading out the south wall and biking south on dusty dirt roads to a little middle period temple with excellent murals called Lawkahteikpan Pahto and then, just beyond, to Shwesandaw Paya. Shwesandaw Paya has five terraces topped by a big stupa, all in white. I climbed up the steep steps to the viewing platform 60 feet above the ground. There were great views in all directions. The large terraces make this Bagan's prime sunset viewing location. The views were great in mid afternoon, too, with far fewer crowds. I sat there and enjoyed the views before heading off.
I headed west to massive Dhammayangyi Pahto, but first stopped and climbed a nearby temple for its great views of Dhammayangyi. Dhammayangyi dates from the 12th century and is an impressive pile of bricks. Its inner corridors are all bricked up, some say as a sort of insult to its builder, but perhaps only to make sure the huge structure did not collapse. There is a very high, dark interior corridor around the periphery that is not bricked in and has bats. There is not much to see in the corridors. There are Buddhas at the cardinal directions, including two together at the west. You can no longer ascend, as you could in 1994. I left about 5 and there were maybe ten buses parked outside. I biked on the dirt roads to a paved road heading back to Nyaung U, but stopped at a relatively small temple that a few people had climbed to view the sunset. I always prefer the views not towards the sunset but towards the temples lit up by the setting sun. Heading back to town, the traffic on this road (which I'm fairly sure did not exist in 1994 and certainly not as a paved road) was not as bad as the road I had taken the evening before. I got back to my hotel just at dark, at 6.
I headed back down that road the next morning and found a couple of the temples near town that I had looked for the previous morning. One had excellent early murals, with no green. Some of the murals had been cut out in 1899 by a German. Hindu figures appeared on the temple spire. As I left the simpler second temple, a wooden wheeled cart pulled by bullocks passed by.
I biked down the road some more and turned off onto a dirt road and stopped at Buledi, a temple with very steep steps leading to great views. Then I continued south on dusty, sandy roads (the sand halting my bike in places) before reaching Sulamani Pahto, a particularly appealing temple. It was built around 1181 and has two squarish stories each topped by receding terraces and spires. The brick work is particularly fine. (You can often tell what parts of temples have been reconstructed by the very poor brickwork of the reconstruction.) I walked around the outside of the temple, inside the perimeter wall, and then I walked around the inside corridor, covered with big murals dating from the 18th and 18th centuries. The murals contained giant Buddhas, including reclining ones, and lots of smaller, interesting figures such as animals and boats. I walked around twice inside to appreciate all the details of the paintings. I spent about an hour and a half there. You can't climb up any more.
I was hungry, but didn't want to bike to the restaurants near Ananda Pahto, so I settled for some pizza crackers, peanut and sesame seed brittle, and a large cocoanut for lunch at one of the snack shops outside Sulamani. The major temples now are besieged by vendors, often quite persistent ones, imploring you to buy post cards, tee shirts and all sorts of trinkets.
With my less than hearty lunch consumed, I biked on dusty, sandy roads around the southwest and south sides of Sulamani, with great views of it and encountering a man and two small children getting water from a muddy pond. There are households among the temples. I continued to Thabeik Hmauk, a temple just east of Sulamani. It is similar to Sulamani, but smaller, and was deserted. Its interior was damaged in the great 1975 earthquake that did do much damage to Bagan. An attendant with a key opened the grated gate to a dark passage that led up to the top, where the views were wonderful. Inside on the top level was a dark U shaped corridor where I encountered two bats. They were only a few feet above me, hanging from the ceiling. My flashlight disturbed them and they fluttered from place to place.
From there I headed southeast on a very sandy road to Pyathada Paya. By then, one of my tires was flat and it was hard going. Pyathada Paya is a huge rectangular brick temple, with a large terrace on top. It is late Bagan, from the 13th century, and inside are large double arches giving more space and light than in earlier temples. I climbed to the terrace and the late afternoon views were great. Only two others were on top when I arrived about 4, but soon lots of people in buses and other vehicles began arriving for the sunset. It is a long bike ride back to Nyaung U from there, so sometime after 4:30 I got on my bike and headed in the direction of Nyaung U, passing Thabeik Hmauk and lots of horse carts and goats, and after about 20 minutes reaching Buledi near the paved road at about 5. I stopped and ascended the steep stairs to the top of Buledi. There were many people on the narrow, down sloping terraces at the top, and quite a few horse carts parked below. Horse carts are a popular, but slow, way to see the temples. The sun set into haze and I biked back to town and my hotel.
I took a break from temple exploring the next day and joined a group of five others taking a minivan to Mt Popa, southeast of Bagan. Mt. Popa is about 5000 feet in elevation, compared to Bagan at perhaps something over 200 feet. We ascended gently through pretty country with lots of sugar palms. We stopped at a tourist oriented place where they were making palm sugar and it was very interesting. Lots of other minivan groups were also stopping there and at similar places on the way to Popa. In a hut liquid sugar was boiling, tended by an old woman sitting on her haunches and smoking a cigar. In another corner were two stills distilling palm whisky, with the whisky dripping into used whisky bottles. I tried a sample flavored by honey and it was strong, 40% alcohol. I also tried some warm cocoanut flavored sugar and that was much more to my taste. I looked around and enjoyed seeing it all. Outside a man with a bullock was leading it in circles, grinding peanuts into oil. Somewhere in this area I remember stopping in 1994 and seeing a palm sugar operation that wasn't at all tourist oriented.
We continued past lots of sugar palms, many with bamboo ladders leading up to the top, where the sap is tapped. We were not headed to the top of Mt. Popa, but to a volcanic plug on its western slope that rises to a little over 2400 feet. The climb became a bit steeper as we rose from about 1500 to 2000 feet and we had good views of the mountain and its rim. We stopped for an excellent view of the monastery-topped volcanic plug before reaching the stairs that climb up the steep, rocky plug to the monastery on the top.
Before ascending I stopped in at the little hall across from the steps where there are colorful images of the principal nats. I believe you have to die violently to become a nat. One is particularly known as a drunkard and had whisky bottles attached to his statue.
It took me about 20 minutes to ascend the covered steps up to the monastery at the top, a rise of more than 400 feet. Lots of vendors lined the path at first. There were very good views from the top and there were lots of people there, both foreigners and Burmese. It was sunny and windy. You could see Mt. Popa to the east, the plains to the west, and the little town below. There were some interesting donation plaques, several from San Francisco and others from Europe. One was from "Anou Ymous Planel Earth." I spent about a half hour on top. We were back in Nyaung U by about 2.
I had lunch, rested at my hotel, and then biked to the jetty to check about ferries. Three large barges filled with huge logs arrived and anchored. I was told that they are a hard wood, not teak, and that the barges anchor for the night here before heading further downriver. The guy I talked to didn't know where they had come from. I watched the fast ferry from Mandalay arrive. It takes something like eleven hours downriver and I've been told there isn't a lot to see. Tickets are expensive at $35. There is also a slow ferry that I think takes more like 24 hours.
Late in the afternoon I biked to Shwezigon Paya to see it all lit up. When I arrived there a nat pwe, a ceremony to attract nats, was going on at the shrine to the 37 principal nats on the grounds. An orchestra of drums, an oboe-like insturment, cymbals, a bamboo clapper and a sort of gamalan type instrument was playing while women danced, one after the other. At least, at first I thought they were women, but they may have been transvestites. I'm fairly sure at least some of them were. These dancers, called nat gadaw ("nat wives") dance to encourage the nats to possess them. I watched for quite some time, until they took a break, perhaps for dinner. As far as I could tell, no one got possessed. It was very colorful, with colorful dresses and offerings of fruit, cocoanuts, whisky, flowers and much else. I walked around the illuminated gold stupa a couple of times. In marked contrast to the morning I had been there, the crowds that evening were meager. I left about 7 and the nat pwe had recommenced.
The next morning I got an early start, about 8:30, and biked south for about 30 minutes to get to several temples clustered on the southern part of the Bagan plain. I spent about three hours there. First I searched unsuccessfully for a temple I could climb for the morning view west. There were not many tourists in the area, although one, Payathonzu, attracted some for its excellent murals. In a field just beside that temple, four women were winnowing some sort of seed or bean pod and I went to watch them. A wooden cart with wooden wheels and two grazing bullocks were nearby. The women were all covered up, with long skirts, long sleeve shirts, and conical hats. It was very interesting to watch how they did the winnowing, sometimes with wide, low baskets and sometimes just with their hands.
Payathonzu is unusual for Bagan, as it has three chambers, each topped by a tower. The 13th century murals inside are excellent. Next door is Thambala Pahto, with more excellent murals. I then went into the small 13th century Nandamannya Pahto, with more excellent murals, including "The Temptation of Mara," with partially clothed woman doing their best to tempt the meditating Buddha. This mural apparently particularly scandalized a French archeologist about a hundred years ago. He should have seen some of the sculpture on temples in India. Next door was an underground monastery, with tunnels hewed out of the rock with simple beds in them. At an above ground building I saw several older monks enjoying what looked like a very good lunch.
My final stop was at a whitewashed pagoda, also with paintings on its walls. By then it was noon. I could have stopped for lunch at one of the little restaurants in the nearby village of Minnanthu, but decided to head to the outdoor restaurant under the tree near Ananda. It took me almost 40 minutes to get there on sandy paths, heading west and passing Sulamani after about 20 minutes. I made several photo stops and between Sulamani and Ananda got behind a large herd of cattle and goats being driven by three or four young women who liberally used their sticks on the herd. They created a bit of a dust storm and a traffic jam.
I had another good lunch under the tree and then headed into Old Bagan and the Bagan Thande Hotel on the banks of the Irrawaddy in Old Bagan's southwest corner. The Prince of Wales stayed in this hotel in 1922 and a sign notes the occasion. In fact, the main teak building was built for his visit. There are two Prince of Wales suites and one was open. The guy waiting for a guest to arrive there let me look aroundinside. The suite was very large, all teak, with an air conditioner and a flat screen television that would have puzzled the Prince of Wales. On the hotel grounds was a very nice place to sit along the river. Staff were setting up for their New Year's Eve party.
I had another flat tire, which I was able to fill with air at a bike rental place, and then headed out the city walls to three temples south of Old Bagan. The first one, Mingalazedi, has a bell like dome and about half of its original thousand or so glazed Jataka tiles in place. These little Jataka tiles illustrate episodes from Buddha's past lives. You aren't allowed to climb to the upper terraces to see the tiles there, or the view, which is a shame as the temple is near the river.
A little south, just north of the village of Myinkaba, is Gubyaukgyi, dating from 1113 with excellent murals inside. In addition, inside the dark corridor with the murals was a light bulb on a piece of wood with a long cord that you could use to illuminate the paintings. It was very bright and afforded excellent views. Next door is a gilded stupa with a stone pillar in a little building with inscriptions in Pyu, Bamar, Mon and Pali on its four sides. Pyu is the main Burmese civilization of the first millennium and Pali is the language of the Buddhist scriptures.
From there I biked back north and then east to Shwesandaw Paya, Bagan's prime viewing spot for the sunset. I arrived about 4. It affords great late afternoon views, although to me the really spectacular views are of the plain full of temples to the east, lit by the late afternoon sun, rather than the sunset to the west. I would guess that at least a thousand, maybe two thousand, people gathered on Shwesandaw's terraces. Eventually, I counted about 20 buses parked below and at least that many minivans, plus cars, bicycles, motorbikes, and horse carts. To avoid the after sunset stampede, I left about fifteen minutes before the sunset and biked back to Nyaung U, about a 25 minute trip. I again had a flat tire, so it was a hard ride back. I went to bed before midnight and slept through the start of the new year. It seemed a very quiet New Year's Eve in Nyaung U. I did hear some fire crackers, but slept through any that went off at midnight.
I got a late start the next morning and biked back to Myinkaba, about a 40 minute ride with stops for photographs here and there. I stopped first at Manuha Paya in the village. It dates from 1059 but has been modernized. Inside are Buddhas encased in very tight chambers. Three sitting Buddhas are at the front and a reclining Buddha is in a long, tight chamber in the back. One of the sitting Buddhas was covered with pigeon droppings. One pigeon sat on his head and two others on his arm.
Nearby is Nan Paya with excellent bas reliefs carved on the sandstone facing of the brick columns inside. A three-faced Brahma is the main character, giving rise to speculation that it was a Hindu temple. Others speculate that a Buddha stood in the center, with Brahma paying homage. Other bas reliefs are of ogres with flowers streaming from their mouths. This is an early temple with small windows, but you can use a shaft of light to reflect off your body and light up a panel of the bas reliefs. A flashlight also helps. Further south is Abeyadana Paya, an 11th century temple named for the Bengali wife of a king. It, too, had excellent murals, some of the best.
From there I biked south to New Bagan. In 1990 the government moved all the people who had lived in Old Bagan to this new town. I visited a stupa and shrine at the town's north end and then had lunch in town about 1. After lunch I biked further south to Lawkananda Paya, an 11th century temple standing on the river above Bagan's old port. It is now gilded and affords good river views. Nearby are two unrestored stupas whose lower parts were excavated in 1905, leading to the discovery of vaulted chambers with unglazed terracotta panels of Jataka scenes, which were interesting. It was also nice to see some unrestored stupas.
I biked further south, about a half mile out of town to Sittana Paya, a very large bell shaped stupa of brick. At its southwest corner is a large hole leading into what I was told is a U shaped corridor. I went in just partially, as I wasn't allowed to wear my sandals inside and the floor was very rough, full of bricks and debris. I did see a few bats. You have to take off your footwear to enter Bagan's temples and, in fact, temples all over Burma. The problem is that so often the floors are rough and dirty. I always seemed to be stepping on sharp pebbles and, one time, a sharp thorn. There were bamboo ladders leading up to the upper levels, but I wasn't allowed to ascend. Pity, as there would have been great views.
It was now past 3:30 and time to head back. It took me about 15 minutes to bike back to Myinkaba to see two temples I had missed on my first go through. Somingyi Kyanug is a brick monastery with good views from the top. Two friendly girls from a nearby village were on the top and fun to talk to. Across the road is Nagayon, with a Buddha sheltering under a naga (snake) and poor paintings in the dark corridors. Just east was a temple you could climb, with fair views.
By then it was about 5 and I started to bike back, stopping about 15 minutes later at the temple where I had watched the sunset after my second day of temple exploring. Only a few tourists watch the sunset from the top of that temple, so it is relatively peaceful. The sun set behind the hills, not the haze, on the other side of the Irrawaddy at 5:37. At the Bagan Thande Hotel I saw a chart with the sunset (and sunrise) times for every day of the year, with sunset ranging from about 5:30 in December to almost 7 in June. That was my last sunset in Bagan. I hadn't planned on staying as long as I did there, but I certainly enjoyed biking to and around all those temples on the plain. In 1994 I think I had spent only two days here.
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