Myanmar Stories part 7 (Bagan)
Well at last I have got around to writing my last installment from Myanmar. I currently have a baby monkey called peter on my arm so I have to type one handed.
Bagan is, well I don't know how to start this. It's pretty cool, it's an area about 10km long and probably about 5km wide (just guessing really) and there are a few thousand temples and stupas ranging in age from the present to about 1000 years old.
Riding around on bikes is a very nice way to get around. We didn't see half of the area but it was nice to see what we did at our own pace and being able to scramble through the prickle bushes to see temple that hardly see any tourists. At a few temples you can still climb up the narrow stairs and onto the upper levels where the view is breathtaking every time. These photos really just don't do the view any justice.
We somehow managed to see the same temple twice, once in the morning and once near sunset when all the souvinear shops were packing up or had already left. It was much more enjoyable the second time around. We discovered that squirrels can run up the walls and jump from one piller to another. At this temple the light started streaming in through the westerly entrance and lighting up a new looking golden Budda statue which could be viewed from the southern side. It was quite cool looking and very nice to be the only people there to see it at that time.
An ogre at one of the first temples we visited.
On our second day way we took a horse cart to old Bagan and explored some more. The unfortunate part was we picked a cart with an old horse and the driver kept whipping the poor horse to keep it going which was a bit depressing to see.
Overall it was a very cool experience. One that is easy to draw comparison with Angkor in Cambodia but it is of course very different and unfair to compare except to say they are both amazing religious sites.
Dylan
Bagan is, well I don't know how to start this. It's pretty cool, it's an area about 10km long and probably about 5km wide (just guessing really) and there are a few thousand temples and stupas ranging in age from the present to about 1000 years old.
Riding around on bikes is a very nice way to get around. We didn't see half of the area but it was nice to see what we did at our own pace and being able to scramble through the prickle bushes to see temple that hardly see any tourists. At a few temples you can still climb up the narrow stairs and onto the upper levels where the view is breathtaking every time. These photos really just don't do the view any justice.
We somehow managed to see the same temple twice, once in the morning and once near sunset when all the souvinear shops were packing up or had already left. It was much more enjoyable the second time around. We discovered that squirrels can run up the walls and jump from one piller to another. At this temple the light started streaming in through the westerly entrance and lighting up a new looking golden Budda statue which could be viewed from the southern side. It was quite cool looking and very nice to be the only people there to see it at that time.
An ogre at one of the first temples we visited.
On our second day way we took a horse cart to old Bagan and explored some more. The unfortunate part was we picked a cart with an old horse and the driver kept whipping the poor horse to keep it going which was a bit depressing to see.
Overall it was a very cool experience. One that is easy to draw comparison with Angkor in Cambodia but it is of course very different and unfair to compare except to say they are both amazing religious sites.
Dylan
posted by Dylan at 6:40 PM
1 Comments:
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