Myanmar—Most Wondrous Bagan

Even though our experience was first-rate, I find it difficult to summarize Bagan because of its uniqueness, its strangeness, and its size.

Bagan, formerly known as Pagan, is a 42-square kilometer plain that contains over 2000 pagodas, temples, and other structures representing the rich Buddhist cultural heritage of the 11th to 13th centuries. At one time there were over 13,000 pagodas, pahtos, stupas, and zedis here but a threatened invasion by Kublai Khan from China caused people to leave and the site was abandoned.

Our entire trip was arranged by Country Holidays Ltd., reviewed in the Yangon Journal. We flew in very early from Yangon and were met by our guide, Zaw, and a driver. He hustled us along from the beginning, and I don’t see how we could have covered as much ground as we did without him.

Of the over 2000 temples, we managed to visit only 10 of them in 2 days—and that was with a guide and car. We did other things, of course; took a horse cart ride, a boat trip on the Ayeyarwaddy (Irawaddy) River, visited a market or two, were dragged to a lacquer-ware workshop, went to Mt. Popa (a must-see by the way), stopped at a palm sugar processing factory, visited the home of our guide Zaw (met his parents too), took morning walks, and ate at four different restaurants—plus had breakfast at our hotel. See the reviews for more details on most of these stops.

Now that I think about it, that’s a lot to cram-in over 2 days.

We stayed at the Bagan Hotel in Old Bagan. There’s also a New Bagan (Bagan Myothit). When the government decided this area was going to be an archeological preserve they just moved everyone living within the preserve’s limits outside of the area to New Bagan. Such is the nature of an authoritarian Government. People were given a piece of land, but no money with which to build a house. Some tore down their old house and moved it, piece by piece, to the new site. Others did what they could to shelter themselves. The new town is quite vibrant now, and we enjoyed one of our dinners there at the Si Thu Restaurant.

In spite of the blurry speed with which we explored Bagan, it stands out as one of the most outstanding travel experiences I’ve ever had.

Quick Tips:

Note: You are required to be barefoot when visiting all temples in Myanmar—no stockings or coverings of any kind allowed, including walking up the hundreds of steps to the temple at Mt. Popa.

We were on a custom tour, partially because of time constraints. If you can afford it, that’s the way to go. You’ll cover more territory and learn more from the guide. Our guide was outstanding, and a college graduate. You can arrange for a guide after your arrival. Most of them are freelancers, and may work for less on a negotiated basis than if booked through an agency.

Another plus with a guide is that he or she can arrange for boat rides, cart rides, recommend good restaurants, and get good seats for the cultural shows.

Two days was not enough. We should have given Bagan and its environs at least 3 or 4 days, but we were trying to cover four major Myanmar destinations in 11 days.

Since there are so many temples, you’ll have to pick and choose. I suggest that you not miss the Ananda Temple (most beautiful), the Shwe San Daw Pagoda at sunset, the Dha Man Yan Ghi Temple (largest), and the Shwe Zi Gon pagoda (operating and famous) near Nyaung Oo.

I highly recommend the Lonely Planet Myanmar Book. Its section on the Archeology of Bagan is excellent and it helps put things in perspective as you move from one site to the next.

We did not visit the Bagan Museum, even though it was very near our hotel. I regret that and have heard it is particularly valuable as a first stop, as it will give you an overview of the area.

Mt. Popa is worth whatever trouble you have getting there to see it.

Beware of snakes if you are out walking. Since there are few people living in Old Bagan, the snakes have returned. Many of them are poisonous. I almost stepped on one myself, but was rescued by a quick warning from our guide Zaw.

It costs to stay for 2 nights in the archaeological zone. It’s collected at the airport. Each additional night is supposedly , but nobody collects it according to Zaw.

Best Way To Get Around:

I did not see any taxis, but I know you can hire a car and driver by the half-day. The people at the hotel can arrange it for you. Zaw explained that it costs about for a half-day, but only for a full day. It may be more expensive now, with the high cost of fuel.

Most hotels and hostels rent bicycles, and this may be the best way to get around, especially if you have time. I have no idea what they rent for.

Trishaws are the three-wheeled, pedal-powered descendants of the rickshaw. They are available everywhere and are very cheap.

Horse-carts are also everywhere, and can be rented for as long as you wish. They are not very comfortable, but they can go places a bicycle and a trishaw cannot go like sandy, dusty trails.

I did see some busses, and according to Lonely Planet there are busses from both Nyaung Oo and New Bagan to the Archeological Museum.

Boats are available, more as a tourist activity than transportation. We took a sunset boat ride on the Ayeyarwaddi River and enjoyed it tremendously. The boats are so-called fish-tail boats much like the ones in Thailand.

Last are the sunrise hot air balloon rides, which cost per person. They are definitely not to be thought of as transportation, but rather as a once in a lifetime experience.

Bagan Hotel is rated on some sites as a three-star hotel. It felt like a five-star hotel to us. It’s located on the banks of the Ayeyarwaddy River, literally next door to both the Gawdawpalin Temple and the Archaeological Museum and within walking distance of many important sites such as the Ananda Temple. It’s a short 10- to 15-minute drive from the airport, too.

The many single-story buildings housing the hotel’s 120 rooms and suites are all faced with local sandstone with teak inlaid throughout. They are built in the manner of traditional Burmese architecture and fit in very well with the surrounding environment. According to the hotel’s website, they are very dedicated to being environmentally active. Considering the intermittent brownouts, they may be carrying their commitment too far.

Our room was a junior suite on the river level and was a truly beautifully appointed and decorated room with teak-wood flooring and wall paneling. It had all the amenities, including air-conditioning, IDD phone service, and satellite TV, not that we ever had time to watch it. We also had a small patio and the front lawn ran right down to the river. We were always away in the evenings, but I imagine watching the sunsets from the patio would be quite spectacular.

One interesting touch we'd never seen before was the flower arrangement on the bedsheets done every night. See the photo as to how it looked.

The hotel layout is most beautiful, with brick and stone walkways meandering under archways of tropical plants and interconnected trees bordered by small statues of mythical figures. The grassy area overlooking the river is used for the breakfast buffet and is in the middle of some beautiful gardens and massive old banyan trees. The venue almost made us forget how bad the breakfasts were.

The lobby is beautiful and the clerks are helpful when they can be. Their English is not that great, but they try very hard to understand. The only dining we did was the buffet breakfast, which was not that great. I hope their other restaurants are much better. There’s a swimming pool and a putting green, neither of which we used. It has a business center with all the expected services. My wife, Pam, found them to be very accommodating, but the services were relatively expensive.

The concierge services include travel arrangements, of course, but also horse-cart rides, boat trips on the river, bicycle rentals, hot air balloon rides, and arranging for cars and guides and just about anything else you might want. There’s always an up-charge, so you might want to handle some of these arrangements yourself.

They give discounts for low-season visits. Check out their website for details. These discounts are intermittently available year-round for a total of 6 months.

In summary, we would definitely return here. The only drawbacks were the aforementioned breakfasts and the brownouts, which can hardly be blamed on the hotel.

After arriving by air from Yangon at 8am, we got a quick tour of Old Bagan and then headed 4 miles northeast to look at the Nyaung Oo market and visit perhaps the most famous Pagoda in Bagan, Shwezigon. The market was not that great, but the Pagoda was indeed worth every minute we spent there. It is not only historically significant, but is also a very impressive structure.

It is considered the most important pagoda in the Bagan area. It’s not just a tourist attraction or an archaeological site, but a temple serving religious purposes and one of the most important pilgrimage destinations in Myanmar. We encountered priests, novices, and local people praying.

The pagoda and grounds cover a large area. In addition to the main gold-leaf covered stupa, there are smaller temples at each corner of the pagoda as well as minor temples elsewhere on the grounds. Allegedly, several relics of the Buddha are conserved inside it–a tooth and a number of bones.

Built in the 11th century, its architectural style was the first to break from the older Mon style into what was to become a recognizable Burmese style. Though it was extensively damaged in the 1975 earthquake, it has been completely restored. Zaw, our guide, informed us we had just missed the pagoda’s annual festival held in early November.

As you can imagine, there are many legends associated with such a significant structure. One such legend has it that King Anawrahta requested a copy of the Tooth Relic from Sri Lanka. His most trusted councilor advised the king he should build a pagoda and enshrine the relic within it, so that it might be worshipped by the public. Accepting this advice, the king placed the relic on the back of his white elephant and vowed to build a temple wherever the elephant decided to rest. The elephant chose a sand bank, and that’s where Shwezigon Pagoda was built.

The interior pagoda was completed in 1058. Anawrahta had planned to encase this interior Shwezigon pagoda within a larger one, but he died in 1084 before his plan could be realized. His son, King Kyanzittha, finished the task of completing the unfinished pagoda in 1089.

Zaw also told us some interesting facts or myths, depending on your beliefs, about the main pagoda: its shadow never falls outside its boundary walls, regardless of the time of day; when the paper used in applying gold leaf is dropped from the spire it never drifts outside the boundary wall; the sound of a drum beaten on one side of the pagoda cannot be heard from the other side (we had no way to test it); and a tree at the south-east corner of the pagoda stays in bloom year-round. Sure enough, it was blooming when we were there.

Even though it’s not in Old Bagan proper, I believe Shwezigon is a must-see site.

This temple, whose name means endless wisdom and symbolizes the all-encompassing wisdom of the Buddha, is considered by many, including our guide, Zaw, to be the most beautiful temple in Old Bagan. During the day, and from a distance, it hardly seemed to warrant that title. It’s a grayish, streaked, whitewashed structure surrounded by sparse vegetation. But our attitude changed when we got some perspective on the building, and also saw the interior.

It suffered mightily in the 1975 earthquake, but has been restored to the point where it now appears to be the best preserved of all the Old Bagan Pahtos. Ananda was originally completed in 1091, by King Kyanzittha, shortly after he finished Shwezigon Temple, which his father had started (reviewed elsewhere in the journal). Zaw also told us that it is known as the “mother of all temples" in Bagan, because it contains representative works of all the arts, architecture, glazed plaques, woodcarvings, stucco, terra cotta, and stone sculptures found in almost all the Myanmar temples.

This temple was built as a perfectly proportioned Greek cross with a beautiful symmetry throughout. The inside is set up so we could walk totally around the central core. There are two interior parallel walkways running perpendicular to the outer corridor with niches containing images of the 28 known Buddhas. Along the outer corridor, there are over 80 sandstone relief scenes depicting Buddha’s life from birth until enlightenment.

We were most impressed with the four 31 foot high gilded teak Buddhas facing the four directions. The North and South statues are 900 year old originals, while the East and West representations were destroyed by fire and rebuilt. I’m not sure I fully understand the concept but they are meant to represent all the Buddhas, known and unknown, who have attained enlightenment since the original. There are also statues of the temple’s founder and his major adviser, Shin Arahan, as well as, on the West side, two Buddha footprints mounted on pedestals.

The walkways radiating out from the main structure are lined with vendor stalls, most of which were not open the day we were there. The vendors are low key and cater to pilgrims, as well as tourists, so some of their merchandise is a cut above the usual souvenir dreck found in the street stalls.

Later, when the sunlight reflects off the temple’s beehive, like gilded crown, we gain a much better appreciation of the temple’s beauty and importance. The crown was gilded to mark the temple’s 900th anniversary in 1990, and is impeccably maintained. The crown is also lit up at night and can be seen from almost anywhere on the Bagan plain.

Zaw tells us that next to the Shwezigon Festival, the Ananda festival in January is the most important and lively of all the Bagan festivals. On the busiest day of the festival, during the full moon, it’s almost impossible to get anywhere near the place.

Photo taking is allowed at this "don’t miss" site.

The 70km drive to Mt. Popa from Old Bagan is interesting in itself.

On the way we stopped at a Palm Sugar factory, if you can call a dirt-floored shed by the side of the road a factory. The same family was also making peanut oil the old fashioned way, with a young boy on a water buffalo going around and around a stone peanut press.

After sampling the palm liquor, which will not replace any liquors I currently drink, and palm candy, likewise for my current candy preferences, and watching a young man shimmy up a palm tree for a coconut, we drove on to Mt. Popa.

We did make one additional stop at a Mt. Popa overlook so we could take our annual Christmas card picture. The view was impressive as you can see below.

Mount Popa, itself rises 1,500m high out of the surrounding plain. It is the core of an extinct volcano. However, Popa’s attraction is not so much because of its height or geology, but more because of its religious and mystical connection.

Mt. Popa is recognized as an abode of all 37 "Nats" (spirits of ancient ancestors) who dwell in various parts of the mountain. In the long ago past, it also used to be referred to as the "Mountain of Spirits". The evidence of these animistic, pre-Buddhist beliefs is in the form of Nat shrines, legends, rituals, ceremonial offerings, annual festivals, and the neverending stream of pilgrims and believers in their power—that the Nats can bring luck and prosperity to worshippers and can also bring danger to those who do not respect them. Mt. Popa is one of the most popular pilgrimage spots in the country.

The annual Nat festivals are held according to the lunar calendar sometime in late May or early June, and late November or early December. We just missed this year’s celebration.

After driving into town, which is obviously dedicated to one thing, serving the pilgrims and tourists, we park and start the climb to the top.

About 1/3 of the way up, just past all the souvenir stands, everyone must doff their shoes and socks to ascend the final 450 steps. I decide to pass but Zaw, our guide, and Pam, my inveterate walker wife, choose to press on. Pam later reports that the view is magnificent and I really missed something. She’s most likely right but I still don’t regret my decision to not climb 450 steps up the side of a mountain in my bare feet.

While I was waiting I established a relationship with some of the dozens of monkeys that hang out on the side of the mountain. They are not dangerous as long as you have an ample supply of peanuts and/or bananas. The ever-present vendors will happily sell you a supply of both.

Zaw enlivened the trip back to Bagan with a number of allegorical legendary tales relating to Nats and other more current matters.

Many years ago, then Governor Reagan of California, when asked why he was opening up tracts of Redwood trees to logging, opined, “When you’ve seen one redwood, you’ve seen them all.”

Like most generalizations, this one was mostly false, but had a germ of truth in it. The idea of it is what gave rise to my titled question. When you are on a 4 square kilometer plain, containing over 2,000 temples and other religious structures, how many of them should you try and visit?

I think the answer varies depending on interests and the time available. An archaeologist specializing in Asian religious structures would most likely want to see them all. A family with small children might choose to visit only one or two. Since Pam and I are not archaeologists, nor do we have children, our limiter was time. We had given ourselves only two days. In retrospect, I wish we had budgeted three days at least and either extended our trip or cut something out in the time we had.

Including Mt. Popa, we managed to visit ten temples. We, of course, saw many more than that but we had to choose between visiting more temples or taking a horse cart tour and a boat tour. I believe we made the right decision with one exception, we never visited the Gaw Daw Palin Temple, which was right next to our hotel and, as I mentioned in the overview, we skipped the museum, also near our hotel.

Since we had a guide, Zaw, the ones we did visit were all impressive and at least somewhat famous. I’ve reviewed two of them Shwezigon and Ananda elsewhere in this journal. They deserve separate reviews. I’ll briefly describe the remaining ones, here.

As soon as we arrived, Zaw took us to Ywa Haung Gyi Temple so we could get a panoramic view of the Bagan plain. Not as well known as many of its neighbors, this temple is still being used and the caretakers have dwellings and grow vegetables and other crops behind the temple. We liked two things about this temple. One, there were no other tourists when we arrived, and two; we were allowed to climb to the top from the inside. The temple also contains a very well maintained Image of the Buddha.

After visiting the Shwe Zi Gon temple, Zaw took us to the Gu Byak Gyi Temple which has the best examples of ancient Burmese wall paintings in the area. The paintings depict scenes from the Jatakas (life stories of the Buddha). It contains one of the most exquisite, large Buddha Images we saw. It is also known for its spire, patterned after a similar spire at a famous Indian temple.

Next we drove to the 60m high Hti Lo Min Lo Temple. One of the oldest and largest surviving temples it was built in 1211 AD. It is mostly known for the plaster carvings on the arches, window frames, and the tops of the walls. We wanted to go up to the second story but were forbidden to do so. Being both hungry and weary, we didn’t spend as much time here as we might have if we’d gotten to it earlier.

Our next stop was the Dham Ma Yan Gyi Temple. Though similar in plan to the Ananda temple, this massive structure is not nearly as beautiful. It is also not in use. According to legend, King Narathu, who built it around 1163, was so demanding, requiring that the bricks fit so close together that a pin could not be inserted between them that, when he died, the workmen were still so incensed by his demanding nature that they filled the inner passageways with rubble. All that is left are hints of the fine artwork under the rubble. The Buddha image sanctums were also filled with rubble. One has been cleared and features a restored Buddha. Tourists are not allowed access to any level but the ground floor and since the incredible brickwork can only be seen on the upper terraces, other than its size, there’s not that much to recommend it.

Our first evening in Bagan, we went to the Shwe San Daw Temple to watch the sunset. We were joined by a couple hundred other tourists, which took a bit of the joy out of the proceedings. From a distance, the temple is beautiful with a bell shaped stupa and recessed terraces. However, the climb to the upper terrace is daunting and it is even more dangerous coming down—no railings or safety precautions, here. Add steep steps and crumbling masonry to busloads of tourists crawling up and down the sides, and it isn’t hard to imagine why it took us a half-hour to get down after viewing the sunset. The sunset wasn’t that great either. I think there are most likely just as good, less crowded venues to catch the sunset. Zaw agreed but he said he took us where he was told to take us. This temple has obviously become a tourist “must.”

We should have visited the Gaw Daw Palin Temple. It was right next to our hotel, so we kept thinking we’d get to it but other activities intervened and suddenly we were on our way to the airport without having seen it close up. It is 50m high so it is visible from almost everywhere on the Bagan plain. It is also lit up at night. I understand from Zaw, that you can see the Ayeyarwaddy River from its lower terraces. I also understand it has four very impressive statues of Buddha, but I’m afraid, all we have left is to imagine them. Don’t make the same mistake we did.

I’m sure that there are additional temples worth spending time in. Lonely Planet lists 24 principal monuments and has a map with 51 identified temples and stupa gardens. However to return to the central theme, there are many similarities among them: an almost square floor plan with one to four entrances and one to four Buddha sanctums. All of them have a tower, terraces at or near the top and both inner and outer staircases for ascending to the terraces. They also all contain murals and plaster carvings with the caveat that some are better preserved than others.

Someday, maybe, UNESCO or other research bodies will fund the reclamation of many of the temples that are basically disintegrating. Most likely not while the generals are running things but it would be a shame to lose what, in my mind, is as impressive and interesting a site as Angkor Wat.

As a final note, for anyone who has read this far, be aware, as I noted in the overview, that all temples, operational or not, can only be accessed in bare feet. Where there are marble or restored brick walks, this is not a serious problem. However there are many places where you must negotiate a crumbling passage or stairwell and these along with the burrs and thistles growing between the broken pieces can play havoc with your feet. I, personally, had a number of band-aids and moleskin patches on my feet after only 2 days.

Taking photos is a hit or miss proposition. If there is an attendant on the premises they sometimes forbid picture taking. I wasn’t tempted enough to try bribing them but Zaw would only say that it “might” work. In most places, if you don’t use a flash, no one knows you are taking a picture anyway.