20th January, 2017

Our time in Mandalay came to an end rather early as we needed to check in for our flight to Bagan at 0800, which meant leaving the hotel at 0700ish as it is a surprisingly long way to the airport. All went well and we were soon aboard our propeller  propelled plane for the half hour jump southwest to Bagan. It was odd being on board a plane with propellers – haven’t done that since PNG. They seem to work ok though sitting right next to one of them was a smidgen unsettling. Nice views of the brown countryside interlaced with fields marked out by trees. It was not all that different to England after a really, really dry summer.

We arrived safely and were met by our new guide, Meung and our driver, Mr Chee, both of whom are, as one comes to expect in this country, delightful. Mr Chee is a trifle taciturn, which is fine, as he can concentrate on the driving, whilst Meung is a fount of knowledge and some good jokes, delivered in some truly excellent English. His vocabulary is astounding at times and what he doesn’t know about stupas, temples, Buddhism, legends and Bagan isn’t worth knowing.

It was straight into sightseeing, not least as Bagan is home to some 2,200 to 3,000 temples and stupas (there seems to be some debate) in an area of about 70 square kilometres, bordered to the west by the Ayeyarwady River and comprising 3 towns of Nyaung U, New Bagan and Old Bagan. The building boom started in about 1050 and lasted until around 1280, though there are earlier and later ones here too. This was the era of the Pagan Empire (Pagan is an old name for Bagan, pronounced, I believe with a short first a), during which time they built over 10,000 religious structures, reflecting the heavily religious culture of the empire, following Theravada Buddhism, though other versions coexisted. Unfortunately the empire collapsed in 1287 under a series of Mongol invasions. Not much damage was done in Bagan, but it no longer was the capital and was reduced to a number of small towns and villages. There was a bit of a revival in the 18th and 19th centuries, but the biggest influence was a series of earthquakes, especially a very big one in 1975 and another on 24/8/16. There is, though a lot of renovation going on as evidenced by the impressive bamboo scaffolding which is a masterpiece of engineering and art in its own right.

First up we visited the Shwezigon Pagoda which is considered the most powerful temple and is more like what we had seen in Mandalay. It was completed in 1089 and is very impressive, though undergoing repairs, hence the sacks covering the stupa. The king who started it was keen to encourage his people to turn to Buddhism, but was very aware of their love of the old spirits or nats, images of 37 of them being placed on the lower terraces of the stupa (though they are now housed in a rather dusty building nearby). There are a number of buildings dotted about, one of which the architect was obviously a lover of the newly-introduced wireless. I will leave it to you to spot which one.

We were a bit bushed after our early start, so we went to check in at our hotel, the Thazin Garden, which is delightful. I particularly like the odd stupa in the garden! Nice room, especially the golden bed! The pool is lovely too.

After a bit of unpacking and a short rest it was off again at around 3.00pm to the brooding presence of Dhammayangyi Paya. It was built by the homicidal King Narathu, who, having killed his father, brother and wife sought to atone for this by building the temple, though in the end he was assassinated in 1171 two years after ascending the throne by an 8 man hit squad sent by his late wife’s father. It is a huge structure with an exterior notable for its superb masonry. It is said that the King would inspect the work and if he could get a needle between the bricks, the offending bricklayer would lose two fingers for a first offence and his life for a second.

We still had time to squeeze one more temple in before our date with the sunset and this one was called Sulamani Paya, built in around 1183. This temple is often considered one of the most architecturally pleasing ones, with a double cube effect. I took advantage of someone else’s photo shoot to snap some local lovelies posing …..

And finally, it was time to head for the vantage spot of Pyathada Paya where you can climb up and join the throngs waiting to photograph the sunset over the Bagan Plains, a truly stunning experience. I make no,apologies for the over abundance of pics, because they are just so stunning. I hope you enjoy them. I would add that the cows decided to make a dramatic entrance just before the big event and added to the colour of the whole thing.

Finally it was back to the hotel for an indulgent though slightly less good massage (we had been spoiled by Mimi and Noi in Chiang Mai) and supper in the garden of the hotel  under the lights of the stupa. All very atmospheric…

More Bagan soon…